Vylar Kaftan

I got this from Sam Henderson.

I will send a gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment here on my blog.

I don’t know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days (likely sooner than later). This may end up being almost anything. It could be a gift box, a hand made craft, a thrift store/garage sale find, a holiday oriented fascination, a poem, a book, a photo, or something else I find. Anything.

The only thing you have to do in return is “pay it forward” by making a similar agreement on your Journal.

[Note: This isn't a trick to get people posting here. It's just an excuse to send my friends prezzies!]

Today I saw Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Way late, but at least I finally saw it. I just about cried at the poor guy whose retirement savings went from $348,000 to $1,200, while the execs granted themselves bonuses. Shannon wants to piss on Ken Lay’s grave, but I think that’s too pedestrian. I plan to eat an entire bag of black jellybeans and then make electric green poop on his headstone.

Take THAT, Kenny-boy.

Two stories are now drafted, of the eight I plan to complete in the upcoming weeks.

“Kill Me” will appear in an upcoming issue of Helix. I’m extra-pleased because “Kill Me” was my Clarion West submission story, and I reworked it based on what I learned at the workshop.  I’m glad to see it get published.

Donald Schneider reviews “Lydia’s Body”:

“I find Ms. Kaftan’s handling of difficult and disturbing subject matters to be most competently and effectively managed within the confines of Clarkesworld’s restrictive length limitations, largely accomplished by virtue of her crisp and lucid writing style. I can find no fault with this taut, imaginative effort. Five stars out of five.”

Not much except for Turkey. Hint: If someone wants to park the Trojan Horse near the building you’re guarding, JUST SAY NO.

Yesterday I drove to Santa Cruz and wrote with Rachel Swirsky, Erin Cashier, and Katherine Sparrow–all Clarion West grads. We ate brunch at Zachary’s, then wrote at the Octagon. After that we moved to Katie’s house, where we wrote in her living room overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I made peach cobbler for everyone. We visited the Bay Tree Bookstore and passed the Santa Cruz Shakespeare outdoor theatre. In the evening we had a delicious feast of Indian food and pizza.

Man, I wish I could do that just about every day.

I woke way too early and ate reheated leftover nachos. It was like those parties I used to go to when I was in my mid-twenties, except I hadn’t been up all night and I hadn’t been drinking.

I name my files after the protagonist, or a key theme in the story, or a keyword from the title if I already know it when I start the story. Here’s the list of file names in reverse alphabetical order.

yeti, willow, terraform, swamp, spellsketching, shift, sacrifice, roadtrip, rapture, peacocks, ni, necklace, monstrocracy, jinsook, indigo, high, fireworks, feast, dreambreak, buildings, brand, antarctica, anais, american, amaterasu, alhambra, abduction, abby.

I don’t know why there are so many A’s. I think it’s coincidence.

Some of these I remember, and others I have no clue what they are. It’ll be fun when I open them up and “discover” them.

Shannon had to help me remove a splinter which I got from… my pajamas.  Yes, really.  A bit of fiberglass or something from the apartment dryers.  At least it was in my finger and not somewhere worse.

When your pajamas give you splinters, it’s time to go back to bed. Wearing different pajamas.