Month: January 2015

saudade

Dear Internet,
I have no home.
I have people who love me; places I can stay temporarily, but I have no place I can call mine when the chips are down. No place I can recoup and regather. No place that is mine and mine alone. No place for for my things.
I am tired of minimizing my stuff to the point where everything I own can be tied to two bags to be checked at airports around the country. I am tired of feeling like I’m on vacation when I’m not. I’m tired of feeling like I’m interrupting other people’s lives with my own messiness.
I am in Louisville, staying with TSTBEH for the remainder of my sojourn and then, on Wednesday, I fly back to Grand Rapids and move into my apartment.
My apartment. Mine. My things. My stuff. My garbage. My shit. My dirty laundry.
I left the east coast early because my heart was breaking. I left the east coast because I did not know when I would see TheBassist again after this trip. I left the east coast because the thought of maintaining a long distance relationship with TheBassist especially when I didn’t know I would see him again ripped at my being. We have plans, he and I, but those plans have to be on hold. I can’t fix me while maintaining a relationship of any kind, specifically a long distance relationship.  With him.
With anyone.
What I need, what I have to have, is to be alone. Live with no man. Be with no man.
I left the east coast because TheBassist is so part of its culture, its mythos, its world that that is his home. Louisville is now where TSTBEH is finding his culture, his mythos, and his world.
I came to Louisville to hope to find some peace, but find I am still an interloper. I still do not belong.
Maybe I do have a deeply rooted self-persecution complex or I am deeply, deeply, entrenched in saudade.
xoxo,
lisa

This day in Lisa-Universe in: 2014

Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes for January 10, 2015

Johann Georg Hainz's Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Johann Georg Hainz’s Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

During the Renaissance, cabinet of curiosities came into fashion as a collection of objects that would often defy classification. As a precursor to the modern museum, the cabinet referred to room(s), not actual furniture, of things that piqued the owners interest and would be collected and displayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes is my 21st century interpretation of that idea.
Dear Internet,
It’s a slow week as I’m getting back in the groove of doing CoCC. This week, it’s just links!
You can follow me on Pinterest on what I’m reading, watching, and listening.

Links

What have you read/watched/listened to this week?
x0x0,
lisa

This day in Lisa-Universe in: 2014

Issue #3 The Meet Cute


 
Dear Internet,
Happy Svein Forkbeard Day! Happy Saturnalia! Happy Festivus! Okay fine, Merry fucking Christmas! Happy Kalends of January! Happy New Year!  The holidays are always slow going for me but at least this can be fixed with great gifs from The Holiday.

How can you not love Kate Winslet?


The holiday weeks have been pretty sloth-like in terms of work but I’ve been plodding away at getting at least the line edits done. The book is a hot mess, there is no two ways about it. Despite it being a hot mess, I’ve got a system worked out, pretty well I think, of doing line edits with an orange pen, and then marking the corrections in the digital file. This let’s me do both things at once and I am not getting burned out by one of the other.
As it has been, unsurprisingly, slow going and I expect that as time ticks on in the next few weeks, it’ll get even worse as the deadline draws near. I’ve also got plans to rewrite the forward and I still have to finish the glossary of terms that is going to be appendixed. I’m also thinking of redoing the cover and plus I have to figure out a promo items, PRing, and other fun things.
The other book I’ve plotted and that has been brewing in my brain, I need to just sit down and write. But honestly, with my living situation in a kerfuffle at the moment and not being settled until closer to the end of month, it will have to wait.
So! To recap!  The Lisa Chronicles Vol 1: 1998 comes out on January 31, 2015. It’s a very true memoir of a single year of my life in San Francisco during the height of the dot com boom. While it will remain free on my site in its original diary form, if you wish to read it in eBook, you can pre-order it from Amazon for $2.99. It may be available from other eRetailers shortly after and also possibly in print.

At least for future releases, I have a plan of sorts in place to make it more streamlined. But this is all very much hard work indeed.
Don’t forget that submissions are still currently being accepted for so glad is my heart! The submissions cannot be any longer than 500 words and the visuals should be relevant to the ‘zines themes. If you would like more information, check out the ‘zine’s about page.
Jude Law as Napkin Man in The Holiday.


Here are new posts at Exit, Pursued by a Bear from this past few weeks:

That’s it for this holiday week and I’ll see you here soon!

xoxo,
Lisa
 

year in review: 2014

Dear Internet,
Working at home today and getting supremely in the groove. Re-discovered that I used to do a round up, by month, of things that went on in the previous year as a year in review. This seems like a good idea to continue insofar as giving me a perspective for the year and helping me figure out what I need to improve or cut back on.
Previous years: 2000, 1997, 1996

Neil Gaiman’s New Year’s wish for 2015:

Be kind to yourself in the year ahead.

Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others. It’s too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand.

Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin.

Meet new people and talk to them. Make new things and show them to people who might enjoy them.

Hug too much. Smile too much. And, when you can, love.

It’s been a helluva a year. Here’s to 2015 being boring and slow.
xoxo,
Lisa

This Day in Lisa-Universe: 2014, 2013, 1999

WIP: December writing schedule summary / January writing goals

Dear Internet,
Getting back on track after a several month temporary setback. You can get the full scoop of there temporary setback here. This won’t be as complete since I’m starting so late, but it’s a good start.
Italicized is the original list. Regular text is add-ons. Bold is completion and totals.
Projects for January:

  • Plow through current library loans and ARCs from NetGalley and get reviews written
  • Collate notes on the Edwardian mystery, continue with research, and get most of the structure sorted
  • Collate notes on the 45th parallel project and continue with research
  • Research (aka read) stream of consciousness novels
  • Finish or shelve in-progress short stories and submit completed ones; submit at least one a week
  • Get most of Vol 1 of secret Kindle project formatted and edited
    • Line edits started. Publication date set for January 31, 2015.
    • Vol 2 (year 1999) and Vol 3 (2000) started.
  • Continue note carding ideas / quotes / etc for future projects
  • Query/submit non-fiction pieces
  • Blog writing count for December
    • Words written: 7510
    • Number of posts: 12
  • Continue shilling to get more submissions for so glad is my heart
  • Outline and begin 3rd Triangle novel

January projects:

  • Plow through current library loans and ARCs from NetGalley and get reviews written
  • Collate notes on the Edwardian mystery, continue with research, and get most of the structure sorted
  • Collate notes on the 45th parallel project and continue with research
  • Research (aka read) stream of consciousness novels
  • Finish or shelve in-progress short stories and submit completed ones; submit at least one a week
  • Publish Vol 1 of Kindle project
  • Continue note carding ideas / quotes / etc for future projects
  • Query/submit non-fiction pieces
  • Continue shilling to get more submissions for so glad is my heart
  • Outline and begin 3rd Triangle novel
  • Blog writing count for January
    • Words written:
    • Number of posts:

 
Previous WIP

xoxo,
Lisa

This Day in Lisa-Universe: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2003