Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Administravia in April.

April is the cruelest month. It is also, apparently, the month where I spend half my time dealing with the pieces and paperwork that I spend the other half of my time ignoring. Yippee for me!

In a weird way, I really do mean that. I am a creature of essential chaos, bounded and defined by an equally essential degree of order. I can't have an artfully disorganized shelf of stuffed toys unless I know where they are to artfully disorganize them in the first place. I can't make room for more Monster High toys (and I am about to make room for a lot more Monster High toys*) unless I have the ones I already own put where I want them. My intellectual life is very similar. I can't tell the stories I want to tell unless the ones I've already told are where they're supposed to be.

So last night I processed edits and approved page proofs and made my word count (which I've been pushing hard lately, to try to buy myself a day off on Sunday for Jeanne's wedding), and then I set up the spreadsheet for the Wicked Girls shirts and started confirming people's requests. Remind me next time I say "I don't know if twelve people will want this..." that the answer is almost certainly "yes, they will" and "hire an assistant for the duration." I may have to cut orders off after two weeks, rather than waiting a whole month, just so I'm not still mailing them come time to head for San Diego. (Yes, I have lots of other trips between here and there. That's just sort of the big 'un for this summer.)

I also managed to place my order for convention ribbons for the next year (or two, or three). Wow, did I order a lot of ribbons. Like, even the person who handles the ribbon orders was all "that's a lot of ribbons." But it means I will have AWESOME RIBBONS, so that's okay, then. Not all of them will be handed out with joyous abandon, since some are specific to events or panels or states of mind, but there should be plenty to share with all. Yay, ribbons!

Today, I will go to the passport office and apply for my new passport, go by the DMV and get an actual state ID for the first time in ten years, and then go home, write 2,000 words, and update my T-shirt spreadsheet a whole bunch. This is going to be the way my week goes.

How about you?

(*See, this is how you know I don't have any advance copies of upcoming books. Because if I did, I would so be trying to BRIBE THE WORLD FOR TOYS. I'd be like, "Who wants to swap me a zombie novel for a zombie in her prom dress?", and I'd have the Dawn of the Dance Ghoulia Yelps to love and hug and shamble for me.)
Tags: being productive, busy busy busy, con prep, geekiness, writing
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  • 28 comments
I really hope I get to have a t-shirt. If I have to lose 50 lbs just to have a Wicked Girls t-shirt I'll be a bit mad. (But I'll do it...)

I've been trying to cure myself of my squick about zombies. I loathe them as much as you love them. So the other day I watched six back-to-back episodes of High School of the Dead on Hulu. Before bed.

Yeah...
I think that you should be able to fit in the unisex shirt just fine regardless of size, given that they go up to 6XL. It's just the girl-cut that thinks we're all eighty pound fashion models.

...wow. Did you SLEEP?
I'm hoping. I'm a 2X, but I like to get 3X so I have room to move and I can layer if I have to. (When in Maine, yo...)

Yes, I did. Thank you Advil PM. But fitfully and with disturbing dreams. Although I'm liking the series, actually. The zombies aren't *that* bad, and the human relationships that are evolving because of them are intriguing.
My conviction that there is a deep similarity between fen and atevi just continues to grow.
Hee.

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Awesome!

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...okay, who else wants to see My Little Toby?

dornbeast

6 years ago

lysystratae

6 years ago

There will definitely be ARCs, but I'm not currently bartering them out. ;)
I have much homework for my classes, the vast (and I do mean vast) majority of which involves reading. Sadly, this is not the reading that ends with me looking up at the clock and going, "Where did the time go?*" My quantitative research methods book regularly puts me to sleep, and most of my textbooks are only somewhat better.

Plus, I absolutely must write a personal statement for scholarship applications really soon now only I have no idea how I'm going to break the mold of the standard triumph over adversity trope. And at the same time, tell a tale of how I triumphed over adversity, even though my life has been relatively adversity-free.**

So instead, I'm apparently using my time to post on this LJ, rather than, y'know, actually working. Heh.


* Exception that proves the rule: _A Different Mirror_ by Ronald Takaki. It's a fascinating and heartbreaking look at the absolute variety of experiences lived by other cultures in the history of the U.S. Very well written, too.

** Relative adversity quotient in comparison to people who have been homeless, suffered life-altering illnesses, abuse and so forth. Adversity may vary by economic and social class. Adversity may not be a good fit for you, but it's not like you can return it if you don't like it. A good social network is recommended if you are experiencing adversity. Do not taunt adversity (this draws its attention to you).
Hey, man, a little judicious wasting of time just makes you all the more productive. It's SCIENCE.
Sending off the lab documents we have to hand out tomorrow so jerusha doesn't growl at me. But the copy center doesn't close for what-another 4 hours yet. Plenty of time.

It's a balmy 34 deg F here in the Chicago 'burbs and I can hear the rain pouring down on the roof. Hope your weather's better.
It's finally dry!
I will cheerfully hunt down toys for you and trade them for ARCs of either One Salt Sea or the first InCryptid book whenever such ARCs exist. And after being read by multiple people, the ARCs will be turned into paper art by my fabulous paper-crafting roommate who is also a huge fan of yours.
I'm holding you to this "Yay!". Post your wishlist or email it to bookwyrm_cm@hotmail.com sometime. :)

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

I plan on working outside if its not raining here... trying to finish filling up the two new raised beds in the garden. (and trying not to imagine who I could have put down in them as the first layers..)

I got the Cleo de Nile doll... she is right next to my Ursula now.
Awesome!

I'm so excited about the new dolls.
Having just recently applied for a passport I share your pain.
The whole process sucks.
I'm not certain that I'm secure enough to wear the T-shirt, but I so want one.
Aw.
Wow, if I hadn't taken Chaucer last quarter, and 20th Century Poetry this quarter, I would not have gotten any enjoyment out of that first sentence.

Guess those thousands of dollars of tuition are worth it!
Totally!