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Sep. 11th, 2015 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonelvisI would title this post "burying the lede," but honestly, there's no point in it; might as well just say it, which is that yesterday I submitted an original story to Uncanny Magazine for publication. Honestly, I don't expect them to buy it, because the odds are always against slushpile entries. But you never know -- it's spelled and punctuated correctly, which is probably better than some entries they get; it's a story that "make[s] you feel," which is the type of stuff they're after; and who knows, maybe now that they've hit their Kickstarter stretch goal of an extra story per issue, they'll be open to giving unpublished authors a shot. (I did mention my published nonfiction in my cover letter, but I have no published fiction, which is probably what they most care about.)
So anyway, that happened, and the final story prep and submission was utterly terrifying, but I did it. I should hear back in about a month, although they say authors should contact them if they haven't heard back in 45 days. And I suppose if it doesn't sell to Uncanny, I can always try another market.
Other things: I have a new lead at work that is basically already sold without my having to do a damned thing, as well as a possible small continuation of an existing project. I still need to send out marketing email Real Soon Now, but because last year was such a financial disaster, we are actually owed a huge refund on our taxes (GOD BLESS CPAs) that we will apply to next year's taxes, which makes it much easier to coast by over the next few months.
Also, we had an utterly lovely day today.
Because I had three projects colliding right before Labor Day, I worked two days of the long weekend (okay, one of those days was partially devoted to the taxes, but that counts as work, IMO), so I took today off. I started at PT, where the physical therapist was very pleased with my progress over the past month, and says I don't need to come back unless the pinched nerve flares up again. After that,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
columbina and I headed down to the new Primark store that opened this week in the old Filene's space in Downtown Crossing. Primark was amazing, although I winced every time I looked at the prices, because there is no goddamned way they are hitting that price point without some sketchy labor practices in Bangladesh and China.
(I bought two adorable skirts and blouses anyway, but even though I love their aesthetic (and prefer it to H&M's), I won't be back until I do some research on the working conditions in their factories.)
After Primark, we walked to South Station, where I got lunch at the Mei Mei food truck, which offers something called "the Double Awesome": two soft-poached eggs, pesto, and cheddar cheese sandwiched in a scallion pie. You cannot actually put this down while you are eating it, because it will get yolk everywhere, but sweet lord, it is worth it.
We continued along the Greenway to As If It Were Already Here, a string sculpture by Janet Echelman suspended between several office buildings.
It sways and changes shape in the wind, and I think it's gorgeous. It reminds me a great deal of a minimalist version of Do-ho Suh's work, which I also love.
From there, it was time for the Greenway carousel, where none of the animals are horses. Instead, they're all local animals based on children's drawings and sculpted by an artist from Newburyport, MA. It is possibly the finest carousel I have ever seen.
Our last stop was the new Boston Public Market, which just opened a few weeks ago. It was really difficult to confine myself to a few purchases (everything is local!), but I picked up various cheeses, some sopressata, some amazing smoked bluefish spread, and bread for dinner tonight. ... okay, also a maple bacon doughnut and a brown-butter hazelnut doughnut (tomorrow's breakfast) from Union Square Donuts, which despite being not terribly far from me, is a pain in the butt to get to, so I'd never been there before. Verdict on the maple bacon doughnut: excellent yeast doughnut, properly thick and well-cooked bacon slices, but topping was too sweet and not mapley enough. Possibly they used Grade A instead of Grade B syrup. (WRONG.) Still, a very good doughnut. Solid B+/A-, would eat again.
So, that was today. Pretty good, all things considered.
So anyway, that happened, and the final story prep and submission was utterly terrifying, but I did it. I should hear back in about a month, although they say authors should contact them if they haven't heard back in 45 days. And I suppose if it doesn't sell to Uncanny, I can always try another market.
Other things: I have a new lead at work that is basically already sold without my having to do a damned thing, as well as a possible small continuation of an existing project. I still need to send out marketing email Real Soon Now, but because last year was such a financial disaster, we are actually owed a huge refund on our taxes (GOD BLESS CPAs) that we will apply to next year's taxes, which makes it much easier to coast by over the next few months.
Also, we had an utterly lovely day today.
Because I had three projects colliding right before Labor Day, I worked two days of the long weekend (okay, one of those days was partially devoted to the taxes, but that counts as work, IMO), so I took today off. I started at PT, where the physical therapist was very pleased with my progress over the past month, and says I don't need to come back unless the pinched nerve flares up again. After that,
columbina and I headed down to the new Primark store that opened this week in the old Filene's space in Downtown Crossing. Primark was amazing, although I winced every time I looked at the prices, because there is no goddamned way they are hitting that price point without some sketchy labor practices in Bangladesh and China.(I bought two adorable skirts and blouses anyway, but even though I love their aesthetic (and prefer it to H&M's), I won't be back until I do some research on the working conditions in their factories.)
After Primark, we walked to South Station, where I got lunch at the Mei Mei food truck, which offers something called "the Double Awesome": two soft-poached eggs, pesto, and cheddar cheese sandwiched in a scallion pie. You cannot actually put this down while you are eating it, because it will get yolk everywhere, but sweet lord, it is worth it.
We continued along the Greenway to As If It Were Already Here, a string sculpture by Janet Echelman suspended between several office buildings.
It sways and changes shape in the wind, and I think it's gorgeous. It reminds me a great deal of a minimalist version of Do-ho Suh's work, which I also love.
From there, it was time for the Greenway carousel, where none of the animals are horses. Instead, they're all local animals based on children's drawings and sculpted by an artist from Newburyport, MA. It is possibly the finest carousel I have ever seen.
Our last stop was the new Boston Public Market, which just opened a few weeks ago. It was really difficult to confine myself to a few purchases (everything is local!), but I picked up various cheeses, some sopressata, some amazing smoked bluefish spread, and bread for dinner tonight. ... okay, also a maple bacon doughnut and a brown-butter hazelnut doughnut (tomorrow's breakfast) from Union Square Donuts, which despite being not terribly far from me, is a pain in the butt to get to, so I'd never been there before. Verdict on the maple bacon doughnut: excellent yeast doughnut, properly thick and well-cooked bacon slices, but topping was too sweet and not mapley enough. Possibly they used Grade A instead of Grade B syrup. (WRONG.) Still, a very good doughnut. Solid B+/A-, would eat again.
So, that was today. Pretty good, all things considered.