Day in the Life of an Idiot

First of all, I posted a new installment of my grand experiment up on WattPad. I might have been writing up to the very last minute, but that just means this newest installment of UnJust Cause is HOT off the press!

You can read it here: UnJust Cause Part 4: Mochas and Motorcycles.

In this installment, Alex discovers that demons have a weakness for mochas. Also, it seems that the sexy redhead werewolf biker, Mac, is stalking her!

So, there's my sale's pitch. Go read!

I have to say, it's very different, writing this way. I kind of think I might be meandering a bit, but that's alright. I mean, I intend to do revisions before publishing this as an e-book, and it's probably good for me to take some risks. Otherwise, I'd never get this out there.

Tomorrow, Mason and I will probably have another podcast for you, also. I'm all caught up on Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist, so I'll have to squee about that. That's a good manga, I have to say. Very engaging and, at the moment, a very TIGHT story.

Not a lot of other news. We're kind of waiting on snow. The weather people say it might be coming, 40% chance, anyway. Mason is looking forward to having the day off on Friday (I guess there's a holiday???) He wants to try baking bread. So, we're going to give that a go. Should be fun, if nothing else. On Saturday, I was invited to go to Minicon to be on a panel that would have been PERFECT for me, "Anime for SF Fans" (Right???!!). But, it turns out that the panel is scheduled at the EXACT same time as the one writing gig I have this month: I'm doing the Loft's First Pages thing down in Chanhassen. But, you know, it occurred to me, who is going to show up for this thing on the Saturday before Easter? Ah, well, I guess I'll find out. My luck, I'll have crickets and the Anime panel will be packed.

Right, I'm off to have lunch and post some fan fic as well. (My, aren't I busy?)

Susan yet lives.

In fact, she's staring at me right now, just hanging out on the substrate, as loaches do.

I'm actually beginning to have hope that maybe, just maybe the 30 gallon tank could have LIFE again.  Plus, damnit, Susan just has SO MUCH personality. Check her out:





Yes, she's "standing" on her fins in this picture, mugging it for the camera.  She does that.  I always used to wonder about that evolutionary moment of the fish crawling out onto land because I never realized JUST HOW MANY fish actually use their front fins this way.  Answer: a lot.  Loaches do it all the time.  There are others, too, who seem to prefer this method of locomotion.

I had no idea.

In other news, you may have heard that Minnesota got hit with "a little" snow.  I don't know what the final tally was, but they'd predicted 10 inches.  I'd believe we got close to that, because trying to get the car over to the other side of the street (for plowing), I managed to get so stuck around the roundabout, that I think I brought the entire neighborhood together to push me back out.

Also, who was the idiot who decided it was a good idea to try to go to work last night?  That's right: Moon-Moon, aka. me.  Getting there wasn't too bad. The roads were mostly slushy at 4:30 pm.  But, by 9 pm?  There were winds that gave me moments of intense white-out, particularly when I drove past the fairgrounds.  Worse, when we were doing "pros and cons" of ima calling in "sick," Mason "helpfully" calculated that, after taxes, I make about $30 a NIGHT.  As I was driving through the blizzard, I thought, "What? This for a measly $30??"

What was even stranger to me?  HOW MANY people looked out the window and said to themselves, "You know, I should go to the library right now and play some Grand Theft Auto on their computers."  Seriously, when I was shelving upstairs I saw easily a dozen people doing their library things, and I thought: "Really, your copy of Nora Roberts couldn't wait for a day when you might not DIE driving home???"

On the other hand, the bosses were happy to see me.  I think they expected a lot of people to bail.  I hope I get some brownie points for it, because my training days are over.  I now have to rely on need.  So I'm going to have a LOT FEWER hours coming March!

It's funny because that's already a good deal/bad deal.  I have to say it's easy to get used to the income.  Since staying home to write and take care of Mason, Shawn and I have always lived... tightly.  We have savings, but we've had to dip into it a lot recently, and with the little extra, we haven't  That makes life a lot less tense, because money is just one of those things, you know?

Plus, I actually secretly ADORE the work I do at the library.  None of it is particularly hard and I actually like helping people get library cards, renew books, and all the stuff I do at the front desk.  I also love getting a chance to see what people request, when I'm filing those, and browse through the non-fiction when I'm shelving that... I mean, I've come home with such a broad variety of books thanks to this job.  And libraries, like the university jobs I've had in the past, attract a very interesting crowd.  My colleagues are all smart and interesting and READERS.  Chatting with them is a highlight as well.

But, of course, not working means more writing... so... yeah.

They cancelled school today, which is no trauma for us, because Mason is still off school and will be for another week.  Hopefully, with all this snow, we'll get some more chances at sledding.  We also have movies to watch and games to play.  I've been working evening hours, so my days have been free.

I think that's all the news... oh, no wait.  I wanted to point people to this lovely review of Resurrection Code: http://booksfantastic.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/resurrection-code-angelink-universe-by-lyda-morehouse-mad-norwegian-press-paperback-isbn-9781935234098-14-95/

And to point out that, alas, Norwegian Press has put this book out of print.  So, if you want one, you'll have to contact me (best way? lyda.morehouse@gmail.com).

Also, I have a lot of up-coming appearances.  Here's the list from my web site:

MARCH 2014

On Wednesday, March 26 from 6:30 to 7:45 pm, I will be the Speculations readers at Dreamhaven Books and Comics. Dreamhaven is located at 2301 E. 38th Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406. You can get more information about the event by calling 612-823-6161 or visiting: http://dreamhavenbooks.com

APRIL 2014

On Saturday, April 19 from 1:00-2:00 pm I'll be the Loft's "First Pages" instructor for "Read to Write" a program for teens at the Chanhassen Library. The library is located at 7711 Kerber Blvd., Chanhassen, Minnesota.

The program description reads: Can reading The Hunger Games teach you to be a writer? You bet it can! By reading as much fiction as you can get your hands on, available right here at your public library, you can become the writer you’ve always wanted to be! Come learn what Harry Potter can teach you about world building in fiction; what Neil Gaiman can teach you about creating memorable characters; and what Veronica Roth’s Divergent series can teach you about plot! After this 90 minute session you’ll be inspired to write your own mind blowing fiction.

For more information call (952) 227-1500 or visit:https://www.carverlib.org/SitePages/chanhassen.aspx

MAY 2014

On Saturday, May 3, 2014 from 2:00-3:30 pm I'll once again be the Loft's "First Pages" instructor for te "Read to Write" program. This time it will be a little closer ot home at the Roseville Library (where I work as a page!). The library is located at 2180 Hamline Avenue in St. Paul, MN. The program description is the same as for Chanhassen. For more information call (651) 724-6001 or check out: http://www.rclreads.org.

JUNE 2014

If students sign up, I'll also be teaching a course called "More Than the Zombie Apocalypse: Writing the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel" for 15-17 year olds as part of the Loft's Young Writer's Program. The class is currently scheduled forJune 16 - June 20, 2014, from 1:00-2:00 pm.

The course description reads: What do Hunger Games and Dr. Who have in common? They're both science fiction! Did you love fantasy novels like Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief or How to Train Your Dragon? If writing stories with zombies, robots, vampires, fairies, (or even unicorns!) is your thing, then this might be the class for you. We’ll discuss the difference between science fiction and fantasy, learn how to build believable worlds, and make readers rip through the pages of your short story or novel. We will play story games and have idea prompts with a science fiction/fantasy edge. If one of your goals is to break in and get professionally published, we will also discuss strategies that can make that happen!

For more information check out:https://www.loft.org/classes/about_youth_classes_6-17/!

In a couple minutes I need to get up and do the dishes. These days that means watching a little "Samurai Champaloo" while scrubbing. Hulu+ did the weirdest thing with this show, though. It started with the show dubbed, which I was suffering through, and then suddenly, at about the fourth episode, it randomly switched to subbed (which I prefer.) It was almost like a test: Still watching? Okay, you get Japanese!

The only other interesting bit of news I have to share is that I got a call for an interview for a job I applied for. Yep, I kind of need gainful employment, alas. Writing isn't paying at the moment. However, this job required zero experience, so I figured I might be qualified. It's as an itinerant library page for the Ramsey County Library system. I go in tomorrow morning. Wish me luck.

Hopefully, between this, the odd dog walking and other work I can pick up here and there, we can make ends meet. That would be lovely. Money might be the root of all evil, but you kind of need it (which is why it's evil, in part.)

In happier news, I recorded more podcast on Monday night and spent a good portion of yesterday editing it. There will be another one up on the 29th, which is apparently our publication date (since that was when the first went up.) I'll post a link here, too, if you're curious and want to check it out. I have no idea what I'm doing with these, but I'm having fun and, as far as I'm concerned, that's kind of the point. This month we talk Torah with my friend Sean Michael Murphy (you were expecting something else with a name like Sean's?) The thing is, of course, is that Torah is one my fandoms, so I have no idea if anyone else will get as geeked-out excited as Sean and I. Because: angels (and we touch on satan, too. note small 's'.)

If nothing else, I may be inspiring myself.

Yeah, that's kind of all I wanted to say: CHECK OUT MY NEW ICON! Of course, in that dress, a few more of Renji's tattoos would show, but who cares, because THIS IS SO F*CKING AWESOME. Thank you, Frank Gosar! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In other news, naomikritzer, haddayr and I spoke at the Regional MENSA meeting yesterday. Naomi says of it: http://naomikritzer.livejournal.com/271725.html.

Mine was like that, only without the need for a PSA. Although I didn't spill coffee on myself right before public speaking, Shawn and I did have a kerfuffle over a painting project that I'd neglected for a long time. So, I wasn't in the best head space either, and we had to rely on Haddayr to be the brains. Luckily, she has enough to cover all three of us.

I did, however, kind of wake up at the very end of the panel discussion to completely jump down the throat of an older guy in the audience who ended up asking this question, "Where were your grandmothers? When I was reading science fiction it was the golden age: Isaac Asimov, Heinlien, etc. I can only only remember a few women--"

I interrupted him right there and said, "Perhaps you've heard of this thing called 'sexism'?"

Where was my grandmother? WTF. Seriously? My father's mother was cleaning houses and lamenting the fact she only had a fourth grade education. My mother's mother was cooking and supporting her family as a widow. It wasn't until the invention of the pill that women of MY MOTHER'S GENERATION finally had the reproductive freedom to even CONSIDER the luxury of writing science fiction for chrissake! And YET, despite all those barriers, SCIENCE FICTION WAS INVENTED BY A WOMAN: MARY SHELLEY.

So f*ck you!

My response, I'll note, was only a little more measured and thoughtful.

But, I did finish painting the hallway. It looks great in "castle path." The ceiling (which was the original project) still needs doing, but we'd been meaning to do this hallway for a long, long time. I didn't take any pictures, because I'm not sure you could tell the difference any more.

Tomorrow, I may post the pictures of the beautious and delicious brunch I made today which included: fresh homemade cinnamon swirl bread, eggs, and sage sausage patties.

Anyway, great icon, neh? LOVE IT!!

Yeah, 2013, you certainly are planning on being IN-TER-esting, aren't you?

First, there's a lovely review of Archangel Protocol (e-book) by Joanne Hall on her blog "Making Things Up For a Living," http://hierath.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/book-review-archangel-protocol-by-lyda-morehouse/

In other news, it does appear that 2013 is going to be "The Year Lyda Does ALL THE THINGS." I've got a lot of things in the hopper all of a sudden, none of them sure-things, but all of them ridiculously exciting. I don't mean to be one of those people who is super-cryptic about 'seekrit projects,' so I WILL say that I have some interest from editors for a couple of the proposals that have been sent out to various publishing houses. TWO completely differnet editors looking for sample chapters FOR TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BOOKS. So this means I'm going to be doing a lot of writing on books that may-or-may-not ever see the light of day. However, that DOES really seem to be the trend (to have something in-hand), especially when you're in the boat I'm in, which is to say, where I'm potentially switching publishing houses (and yes, that means I haven't ruled out the possiblity of sticking with Penguin, should I come up with something they might be interested in.)

So, I'm going to be head-down over a lot of POTENTIAL these next few months. Proposals going to the old publisher and sample chapters going out into the world for new editors!

I feel like those guys from BAKUMAN all of a sudden! Hopefully, I won't end up in the hospital from exhaustion (though if I do, I hope I'm writing while recovering!)

As one (or rather several) sure thing projects for 2013, I'm also signed up to be in the Loft's catalogue for the Teen Summer Program for two potential classes. The first will be a somewhat straight-forward science-fiction/fantasy class called, "Beyond the Zombie Apocalypse: Writing SF/F For Teens," and second (which I'm super-excited about becaus it may be the only one of its kind) called, "ALL THE FEELS: Fan Fic 101" a how-to class for fan fiction writers. I've also gotten a proposal accepted for an on-line class for SF/F writers in the intermediate stage of their career called "Over the Transom," which will be a six week class.

I'm also considering offering a class on how to write slash for adults. That one is in the idea stage only, though I do possibly have some people willing to host me as a teacher.

Wow, right? It's crazy around chez Morehouse right now. But crazy in a GOOD way.

I was asked to participate in SF Signal's Mind Meld in which we discuss crossovers we'd love to see.

Notice how I manage to bring up Bleach without actually mentioning it by name. :-)

I've been talking to another friend on e-mail about cosplay, and I think my problem is that I care much less for the costume and a lot more for the play. If I went in costume, (which, btw, I am considering for at least one day of CONvergence, depending on my schedule,) I would TOTALLY spend the day in character.

But, as I've determined, I'm a lot more playful than a lot of people. I was also always that RPGer who would demand to be called by my made-up name (and nearly always opposite gender pronoun) and jump up to act out various scenes during the course of the game/campaign. I also almost NEVER broke character out loud. I might pass notes to the GM about plans or plots or such, but most everything I said (outside of those moments when you HAVE to roll the dice) was in character. I came of age in a time before LARPs so I missed out on that trend, which is probably just as well, because I might never have put down the "dice," as it were, to write. I'd probably still be out in the woods somewhere in costume pretending to be someone else all day long (and well into the night.)

Now that I understand that's my own weirdness, I'll be able to cope much better at the next Detour, I think. If I decide *I* want to cosplay at Detour, I'll just be sure to bring along a posse of friends who are in on it with me.

Speaking of Anime, I feel so incredibly stupid. I only just yesterday discovered that I can stream ALL THE BLEACH at the Viz Media Anime site. See what happened was, I bought Shawn a new iPad for her birthday (technically it's a refurbished iPad, not the new, new iPad,) anyway, we were setting it up and I realized I'd forgotten my Shonen Jump password. I had to go through all the rigamaroll to reset my password and, in the course of all that, got shunted at one point to the main Anime page (as opposed to the Manga page.) Imagine my suprise (and Shawn's groan) when I discovered that EVERY TUESDAY there's a new translated Bleach direct from Japan!! Whoot. Okay, so I'm only about 200 episdoes behind where they currently are, but, what this means is, after NetFlix runs out of discs we can keep watching. Hooray. (Yes, I know Bleach is ending this year. But Mason and I aren't fast watchers, actually. We can burn through a disc in a weekend, but that's only four or five episodes usually. So basically I'm set for LIFE.)

If I may go on about this for a moment, I have to say that I think that one of the reasons this series has inspired so much energy from me is because, ultimately, it's both DEEPLY rich and UTTERLY broken. A lot like Star Wars, actually, which was very likely the last bit of fantasy/SF that stirred this kind of crazy devotion in me. The world of Bleach (particuarly the spirit world, the Soul Society,) is dense. There's a lot of cool stuff: magical swords, magical combat techniques, spectacular fight scenes, in-fighting, weird and unexplained characters who clearly come pre-loaded with a lot of issues that you never quite get all of, etc. Then, after this amazing explosion of awesome, it's like Tite Kubo couldn't quite cope with the pressure to remain super. Not unlike George Lucas. Because then he seems to fumble the pass (and I don't just mean in the Anime, which I totally get has a lot of "filler.") This sort of combination (awesome/awful) inspires a lot of fan energy, becuase a lot of fan fic (at least my own) comes out of a passion to "fix" what is broken in a show. For instance, my fav guy is clearly the Han Solo in a way. He stars out incredibly fascinating and then gets used as the punchline in all the jokes. It makes me crazy.

Okay, enough about that. In my real life (tm,) I am still a bit driftless. I sent in a couple of proposals to my agent, but today I should probably try to work on the one she wants--which is more fluffy Tate stuff. I'm having a really hard time coming up with this because I'm kind of tired of it... though I'd pretty much write to spec right now if it meant having a contract.

My Loft class is just about over. I was just asked if I'd be willing to teach on-line again, and I said yes. Despite the weirdness of teaching on-line, I think that there are some real advantages to getting to do this sort of thing from home. So, I'm going to give it another try. We'll see if this next experience gets any easier/better. I suspect it's a matter of getting the hang of things (not unlike my first experience with Detour.)

Mason is home from school today with an upset stomach. I think he just had too many weird foods last night as he got a pair of chopsticks from a tutor who'd traveled to China (she gave a pair to everyone in class, not just the kids she tutors) and so he talked us into Vietnamese food. He got pretty good at the chopsticks, but I'm not sure all the spice and whatnot agreed with him. Plus, afterwards, he had a bunch of desserts including both icecream and watermelon.

At any rate, I'm going drag him along to my Women of Wyrdsmiths meeting because I think he's actually already over it-- thanks to a bathroom trip this morning (TMI)-- and I really hate to cancel that get-together because it's one of my favorite weekly traditions.

Hey, you groovy cats, I'm going to be one of the guests on this week's "Write On! Radio" show! So, if you want to tune in, here's the info: Tuesday, March 6, from 7:00 - 8:00 pm Central on KFAI (90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul). It is also streaming live (or in archive) at: http://www.kfai.org/writeonradio.

KFAI has been delightfully loyal to my career all these years, and I'd love for y'all to tune in, particularly if you've never listened before. Steve McEllistrem (one of the hosts) is a somewhat-closeted-science fiction fan, so he's always willing to read my books, which is great. Plus, I'll be live, in-studio, which is just COOL. I get to wear the giant headphones and talk into a hanging microphone. It makes me feel like I'm Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati.

Also, I heard from my guest liason/all-around-god-of-Fandom yesterday and I will be on two panels at this year's Anime Detour. The first one on Saturday, March 31 on "Fullmetal Alchemist" at 10:00 am which means I should probably take the time to finish watching the series and get "Brotherhood" under my belt before then. Shouldn't be too hard. Once I got over my shock of "Cry of the Chimera" it's been easy to get back into it. Alas, Netflix only has dubbed streaming. The voices are OKAY, though I think I'd understand Mustang better if I knew what kind of voice he was really supposed to have. Perhaps I'll luck out and "Brotherhood" will be subbed.

The second one is about an Anime I know nothing about, but I sensed they needed a warm body to make the panel viable so I will be "the panelist with the (hopefully) insightful questions."

I'm still waiting to hear about this weekend's panels for MarsCON. But I'm expecting to be there Saturday (mostly), and possibly a bit of Sunday. If I'm scheduled for anything on Sunday, I'll have Mason in tow, since Shawn actually has to put in some weekend hours that Sunday. Hopefully, I'll see some of you there.

My guest liason also hinted that I will be on a "metric ton" of panels for CONvergence, which actually made me happy. As long as someone fetches me food (and probably more importantly caffeine) when I need it, I can pretty much talk all day. In this way, I am a true extrovert, particularly as defined by the Meyers-Briggs. I get my energy from interacting with other people. I leave the party late, with increased energy.

Speaking of weekend hours, Shawn had work on Saturday, so she's off today. Our big plans are to go fabric shopping, and possibly hit GoodWill (my pants, ehm, are too big. I need a size smaller. HOW AWESOME IS THAT???!!) I'm behind on taking care of the animals too, so the only other thing I NEED to do is change the fish tanks.

Such a glamorous life I lead!

Thursday is usually busy, but this is ridiculous. I'm just glad that we resisted the urge to curl up under the blankets last night and hauled our sorry butts to kuk sool wan, otherwise I'd be even crazier busy than I am right now.

Okay, truthfully, this VERY moment is a lull in the storm.

Let me tell you what's been happening. Apparently, the universe has decided that it was tired of hearing me belly-ache about how no one knows me and I'm not as popular as all the other SF/F cool kids. You've heard me whining, right? Well, the Powers that Be did too. And now I am so ridiculously popular I feel the need to complain about THAT now. ;-)

I got a "Big Idea" gig at Whatever for March 22. Holy f--k. Commencing freakage.

That alone is enough to keep me hopping around like an idiot for several days, however, within the past two days, I've also gotten three invitations to speak/present/do a workshop a various venues. The Minnesota chapter of MENSA is having a regional gathering on April 2, and has invited me to give a short presentation. Some folks in the library were looking for someone to give a talk on YA SF/F writing at their Forest Lake Branch, but I had to respectfully decline because the date they wanted was May 7, the same as my Tate signing at Uncle's. Out of the blue, the Loft sent me a solicitation for workshop ideas for their first annual Teen/YA writing event.

Plus, an editor I respect asked me to consider submitting some SF to his magazine in what SEEMS to be a personal letter. (Is form letter-y enough that it may have gone out to other SFWA members, but it was also personalized enough to make me say, "hmmmmm....")

AND, in a somewhat related/somewhat not note, one of the two authors I "represent" as a short story agent just got some serious interest from one of the places we submitted a story to. I put represent in quotes, because I'm not really anyone's agent. I'm just a friend who kind of likes the secretarial aspects of tracking and submitting short stories, so I volunteered to lick a few stamps and stuff a few envelopes for them, as it were.

But that's been exciting, too, you know?

Oh, yeah, and that would all be much more managable if I were actually just focusing on those things, but today Shawn had to go in for her stress echo. We've been slowly uncovering some information that various doctors neglected to tell us along the way. One, is that the reason Shawn was admitted on Saturday night for observation was that her R waves (something the EKG tracks) failed to progress. This is sometimes a sign that a heart attack has happened, despite the fact that none of the blood tests showed chemical evidence for a heart attack. Shawn found this bit of information out yesterday, when she and her nurse practicioner went over the on-call doctor's notes that got sent to her clinic.

The second, perhaps more startling/concerning bit of information we uncovered today is that one of the things this stress echo was supposed to look for was a HOLE in Shawn's heart. Her attending cardiologist at United suspected that a hole in her heart might be the cause of the numbness and other stroke-like symptoms.

No one has explained how serious any of these issues are/were, and that's a bit frustrating to be learning now -- now that we're out and blithely going along with our lives, you know? But, the nurses have been a font of information, and it sounds as though they think that if the stress echo doesn't show evidence of a hole (which I guess it's not terribly good at doing anyway), the cardiologist may request what's called a "bubble test."

And so my day has been a lot of taxi driving. We're a one car family, which is rarely an issue, and, even if we were, I certainly would not want Shawn driving herself to the hospital. But, today I really felt like I was just getting one place before having to turn around and go to another. All the while thinking about all the things I needed to be doing once I settled down in a coffee shop somewhere, you know?

So, now my big question for the day: should I try to actually write on my novel, panic about Whatever, or read my assignments for Wyrdsmiths before heading out to volunteer at Mason's school in about a half hour?? I may have to flip a three-sided die.