I did, technically, get a job with The Goblin King, and long story short it didn’t work out. Maybe someday when I’m willing to completely drop massaging, or the crematorium, and can fully put the effort into a very finicky job… (What I did learn was very cool, though, and I liked using the saws and the cutters. But if I thought my dyscalculia made sewing patterns difficult, hoo boy is there more at stake with framing.)

Basically all my scheduling and contingency plans for scheduling have been thrown into complete disarray. It won’t be ’til mid-November or December that I can plan a new work schedule for the various places. Feels weird. I’m trying to make the most of this unexpected free time, though – got my vaccines updated, discovered there’s a year-round farmer’s market not too far from me, and I’m going to be painting a friend’s bathrooms in the spare time I currently have.

BUT ALSO! I came home to an unexpected package on my doorstep, which contained Penumbric‘s Best Of Volume IX, which contains moi’s prose poem “You Must Be This Tall.” Always very cool to get a physical copy!

AND MORE ALSO! I got a story acceptance from Heartlines Spec! (Yes, I’m friends with the publisher, and I’ve also had stories rejected by her. So it goes. She did commission an essay from me last year, so no hard feelings 😛 ) I’m very very pleased that this new story brings back my favourite cowboy werewolf and the talking snake. It’s been too long since I’ve hung out with these weirdos.

(Should you need your memory jogged, “Long Dry Waste” is still available FOR FREE from Apparition Lit, who is sadly defunct but still has their site up and running, and “Long Hot Wait” can be found in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. I don’t think the other two Acton stories are available any more… guess you gotta wait for the anthology…)

So yes. It’s been a weird month two months six months period of time (counting from around April, when I took on more crematorium work and the massage work got waylaid and I started freaking out about income but also have had quite a number of story acceptances). Some kind of routine would be nice. Until then uhhhhhhhh yee-haw (note to self: find better way to close post but need to head off to paint bathroom)