Drowned in Work

In news of a professional type: Not One of Us rejected “Verse Found Scratched Inside the Lid of a Sarcophagus (Dynasty Unknown)” and “Clown, Considered as a Memento Mori”, so they’re back on the market (maybe try Apex?); I have also yet to hear back from Tesseracts 13 re “When I’m Armoring My Belly”, which makes me think that’s probably not going anywhere. Luckily, I have an alternative market which might allow me to hit Ad Astra with published material in hand…and that reminds me of The Agenda, which I said I would update (now with actual date-sensitive deadlines!). So:

RFN (The Default)
Year Zero rewrite—Michael McMaster wants this done in two weeks (ha!). Work on as required.
A Book of Tongues—work on consistently, 500/1,000 words per day, one chapter per week. Aim to get Draft Zero in 90 days or twenty-five weeks (understand: I am very bad at math).
Something small but new—3,000/5,000 words maximum—finished in time for Ad Astra (March 27 to 29), so that it can be packaged as a fifty-cent flyer, as per Rue Morgue’s Festival of Fear. Possible candidates: “The Underneath”, if it doesn’t place; “Signal to Noise”, if it does.
“Strange Weight”—needs to be finished in time to be packaged/published for World Horror Convention (April 30th to May 3). Goal set: 1,000 words per day, to 25,000/30,000 words maximum.
“History’s Crust”—would also be great to be finished for WHC. Goal set: 1,000 words per day once “Strange Weight” is done, to 10,000/15,000 words maximum.
Next “Cool and Dark” column—due by end of month.
CBC adaptation—as required.

ON THE BACK-BURNER:
The Clot (next novel pitch—transdimensional possessive ghosts/zombies vs. dysfunctional costumed vigilantes and tac-nuke-wielding Toronto SRT team; psychic and magical contamination causes people to develop actual superpowers)
The Mercy Seat (next screenplay—ghost-driven riot in a women’s prison, now with extra religious mania, cyber-crime and not-so-vague manga influences)
“A Feast for Dust” (sequel to “Sown From Salt”, with all that entails)
“Chorazin” (sequel to “Armoring…”; child vampire takes refuge with dreadful sire, then decides conflicted Renfield would be better off with freelance ghouls)
“Kryptonite” (the Cornish sisters meet Mac Roke, fallout from “Crossing the River”)
“Montezuma was a Man of Faith” (sequel to “Kryptonite”, Samaire Cornish POV, drunk and looking for Daddy in Mexico)
“Helpless” (sequel to “Maps & Legend: Dead Voices on Air”)
“Hungry Ghosts” (sequel to “The Narrow World”)
“Oil of Angels” (sequel to “Words Written Backwards”, now incorporating “Chimera” and much of Last Things)
“Trouble Again” (gay mercenary werewolves, oh my!; definite Loonie Dreadful territory)
“Those Others” (Amazons vs. Lilim)
“All On That Day” (American Gangster vs. goofer-dust golem)
“Under These Rocks and Stones” (Euwphaim Glouwer’s revenge against Glauce Druir comes to fruition)

Also: I need to update my damn site, keep on top of shit with Cal, keep working out. Getting another job might be a smart idea, but you know? I don’t think I’ll have the time.;) Oh, and hopefully get my boobs reduced, too…Man, I need a secretary. And a stipend. And some sleep.

Final count on A Book of Tongues for tonight: 950 new words, almost to the end of Chapter Two’s first section. Lots of notes to work from tomorrow. My hands hurt.

A Book of Tongues: Thud

Roughly 1,000 words so far today just on transcribed notes alone, so I'm switching over to "Strange Weight" for a while (and then breaking for chores, food, a shower). I have to pick Cal up at 3:00 PM because Mom comes over at 3:30; tonight is A) the last official Grissom episode on CSI and B) new Supernatural, which means there probably won't be a whole lot of slack picked up afterwards. Plus, I really should re-watch that copy of Mirrors I rented, mainly for the mis-en-scene, which will be the subject of my next FearZone column...not just in Mirrors, obviously, but the way that location and set dec are absolutely central to horror generally. My only problem with this is how/what to restrict myself to, because I could literally talk about that sort of shit all day (and all of the night).

The other thing that's been filtering around in the back of my mind is possibly spending some time talking about which of my favorite singer-songwriters or bands is suited to or merits an Across the Universe-type meta-musical based on "the best" of their library. At the moment, the ones I'd most like to see get that treatment are definitely Warren Zevon on the one hand (you could fish in Waddy Wachtel and Linda Ronstadt too, with a bit of Jackson Browne, the Eagles and Randy Newman on the side, because they've all either collaborated with Zevon or competed with him), Peter Gabriel on the other; it'd also be good fun to get an Andy Prieboy/Concrete Blonde double-shot off the ground. Ooh, or Emmylou Harris/Gillian Welch! The big trick is to choose people who both have amazing personal stories (which they've often cobbled into their songs anyways) and have also lived through extraordinary eras, then comb through the songs themselves for characters, plot points and scenes. But I think that's a bit more than I want to bite off right now, 'cause, y'know--I'm busy.

(Or better yet--why has nobody applied to Telefilm with a Gwendolyn MacEwen biopic script yet? Man, I'd write it just so I could finally get a visual of her writing her own poems in heiroglyphics.;))