Welcome Gentle Readers

This blog tends to wander from its main purpose -- updates on my fiction. I do have updates and excerpts of my work. But I also write about my obsessions -- food, friends and pop culture and my weird life in Los Angeles. Enjoy!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Thankful Thoughts, Updates and Indie Promo

It's odd writing a blog today. Usually, I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving madness or recovering from the food coma. I wasn't sure I would have the time to write one, but there are large lulls in cooking. Having two shoots in the apartment in a short time left it fairly clean. Thus, I don't have to run around dusting and what not. Mind, we are going to a friend's for the dinner itself on Thursday. Why clean? I just never know who might turn up at my door that hasn't been following my comings and goings closely or who needs safe harbor despite my plans. They know that I roast one size turkey – huge. And the sides and desserts are plentiful. I'm used to cooking for the family back east who were healthy eaters and liked to have a plate and dessert to take home.

I wrote the paragraph at 9am on Wednesday when I believed everything was going well. I hit a wall not too long afterward struggling with the pie dough discs. I tired a new recipe that proved to be more delicate that the norm. That put me behind schedule. I also didn't have my sous chef, Jon, to do the dishes. I had far more to do by the time Jon got home that I would have normally, and my energy was fading. I never caught up to my original notions of a schedule, but everything got done by the time we left for dinner at Marie's. I was just left with zero time to write the blog. I'm sure that my US readers were busy getting ready for or travel to the holiday feast. The rest of my gentle readers are very patient and forgiving, right?

Being Thankful

It was on Thanksgiving in 2009 that I realized I was in real trouble physically. I was diagnosed with Appendix Cancer a little over a week later. Thus, this time of year has a solemn under tone for me. While this time of year begins a season filled with all manner of stress, it is also the time of year when my perspective on life is at its sharpest. Money could be tight. Finding what I need for the meal may be problematic. Costco could be full of the Walking Dead. I'm not sure that it isn't on a routine basis. None of that really matters when I remember what was happening in 2009. I'm not saying that I don't get peeved anymore, but I usually shake it off after I vent – and not to the person I'm peeved at. I have managed to learn to not sweat the small stuff. Actually, large stuff has to be pretty fricken' terrifying to vex me beyond the initial moment. I am still a world class worrier, but that is mainly about the next batch of test results.

I was extremely fortunate to be diagnosed when I was. Despite the previous misdiagnoses, I was incredibly fortunate. My type of Appendix Cancer is so rare that 99% of doctors go through their careers without seeing one case of it. There was a doc at a community clinic who happened to have trained with the one doc in LA who had treated a case. I was even more fortunate that it was a slow growing cancer. I liked the term lazy tumor. And having such a rare cancer gave me free care at a major teaching hospital, because I was a great teaching tool. All of that good fortune should not be squandered worrying or fuming about small stuff.

I am very thankful for all that good fortune and the chance I was given at life. I am very thankful for all of the wonderful people that are in my life. I have an extraordinary support system here and back east on online. I am finding great creative satisfaction since 2009. In fact, I have found more creative satisfaction than I have since my graduate school days. And my Hubs and I have better prospects creatively than ever before. I can't say that life is perfect. I'd love to be a size 10 again without being the skeleton I was in 2009. But what isn't perfect, can be improved. Overall, I am pleased with my lot and grateful to be here.

Updates
We will be posting the teaser for the web series next week. A week after that, I will be posting a sample of the interview with Sean Ferrer Hepburn. I am finally working on fiction though I have no ETA on when the current novels will be in the publishing pipeline.

Stay tuned.

Promotional Message

the following is a promotional message about an anthology eMagazine that I really enjoy reading and writing for. Please, give this a read. It needs and deserves support.


Full-Metal Orgasm is a sexy and intelligent adult fiction eMagazine for the digital age. Inspired by a multitude of media and figures such as Heavy Metal magazine, Shirow Masamune, ReiQ, Penthouse Comix, Jun Tsukasa, Demitys, Toshio Maeda, Jin-roh, Pop Chaser and Robot Sex Life, it encapsulates the best of otherworldly sex. From stories featuring gynoids to tentacles, transhumans and aliens alike, FMO calls upon new and veteran writers, artists and other creatives to spawn new worlds and new sexual fantasies, without boundaries all downloadable to your favorite device in DRM-free PDF and mobi formats. Available on the Kindle, and for direct sale from the publisher. More information at http://sexpunk.tumblr.com or search online for Full-Metal Orgasm. Full-Metal Orgasm eMagazine www.facebook.com. Kickstarter here: http://kck.st/TJZTDW GMAIL: sexpunksexfi .

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