I've been interviewed!

Go to http://www.novelspot.net/node/3917 to see it in full! :D

Great news!

Let me proudly link you to the first poem I have ever sold (though it was written on commission rather than a completely original work): http://www.metta-physics.com/2011/07/poetry-e-equals-empty-scared-by-donaya-haymond/

You may remember some earlier blog posts about sci-fi stories and poems I was hired to write on Elance. Five short works for $100. I'm very pleased. I presume the other works will be meted out.

A Mess of Links

I now have a Goodreads author page. Check it out. Since posts on this blog are now linked to it and show up there, is this an example of recursion? XD

Another new video, as well. This one is a celebration of all four currently out books. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v​=5Nc5qJ1TMKw

And I now have a tumblr, called Geek Nip. It is mostly focused on stuff I find entertaining rather than promotion, but you might enjoy it.

Clarion UCSD Write-A-Thon

What: Like a walk-a-thon, a write-a-thon has participants set certain goals that will tax their abilities and ask others to sponsor them for a good cause.

Who: Me, and hopefully 99 other writers. At the moment there are only 35 total, so you should go join! They'll take anyone who loves to write and is willing to put in the time and effort.

Why: This allows underprivileged young writers who show speculative fiction writing promise to attend a workshop to hone their skills under great instructors. I have had the benefit of lovely creative writing teachers, mentors, and resources. Not everyone has. Also, Neil Gaiman put an announcement on Twitter about it, and when I replied saying I joined, he thanked me personally and donated $50 to get me started. I nearly died of squee. There are drawings for prizes for both participants and donors, but if that's the only reward I get I will still be thrilled.

Where: My page is at http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=8145

How: I will be posting 750 words a day from June 26 to August 1 on this very blog. If my gentle readers are willing, I would love to raise at least $150 this year, though of course more would be great. There is a donation button on my page. They take PayPal and are fully tax-deductible.

The 300-for-30 challenge will be put on hold for the duration of the Write-A-Thon, but since you'll be getting even more from me, I doubt there will be complaints. :D

300 for 30: Day 12

I spent ages on the new TV Tropes page for Laconia today. I'm hoping that counts, 'cause I'm beat.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LegendsOfLaconia

Book Reading: Success!

Twelve people came, not counting my mother, and though I knew all but one of them I am told this is a very respectable showing. It was also pouring rain in a largely pedestrian area at the time. I don't currently have photos of the reading itself, but here are a few of the bookstore:

They let me sit in that big read armchair for the reading. It was like having a throne!

I made $55 in sales and donations. Happy times. I will definitely do another next semester.

My second book reading Friday!

I'll be reading extracts from all three published novels, and a bit from Humans and Demons and Elves. Only two people attended my first reading, but that was on a Monday and the store didn't have time to promote it heavily beforehand. Fridays are better, they said, and I have put up a score of flyers and written in chalk all over campus.

To RSVP, go to this page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170054053044827&index=1

A Fictional Snippet

(Written for extra credit in a creative writing class. Thought it might provide some amusement.)

My first date with a nonhuman woman went as well as can be expected. I didn’t really go into it with a heart open for love, because I was of the last generation that did not grow up with the Magics as an integral part of society; the vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, magically talented humans, Elves, Eudemons, Archaedemons, dryads, Greymalkin, selkies, garudas, djinn, etc. etc. No, that had happened to me when I was in my late twenties. I realize how that marks me as an unhip oldster, at least for a human, but at least I’m not like those geriatrics who insist on All Humans Here and that “those goddamn pointies” go back into the woodwork where they were for the majority of modern civilization. I’m not prejudiced. I’m just not a natural at interacting with them.

However, two things forced my hand. First, I was running for mayor of Laconia, the small city where the Elves had first revealed themselves and begged for help against the Eudemons. I’m not from around here – coincidentally, I’m from the much-less famous Laconia, New Hampshire – so my election committee thought I should make some gesture to show how I’m in tune with the spirit of the community. Second, I recently divorced, and the American public likes to see politicians at least attempting to have a social life.

There were significant cons to every type we considered, though. Even the most well-behaved vampires get uncomfortable at a dinner date and can’t be anywhere with strong light. I had to schedule the date for a full moon night, since nothing else fit my schedule, so that barred werewolves for anything not disturbingly kinky. Eudemons are peaceful these days, mostly, and every bit as physically attractive to humans as Elves, at but going on a date with one in the thirtieth anniversary year of their defeat by the U.S. Marine Corps might look sleazy for a politician. Personally, I get the willies around a woman who bleeds corrosive acid at any time, even though we have their traditional antidote for the effects readily available. Greymalkin are deaf, and they have a tendency to make cryptic clairvoyant predictions all of a sudden, which derails my small talk skills even with those new Audi-Aider devices that help them communicate with people who don’t know sign language. And they’re kind of…fuzzy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just not my thing. Dryads get into romances with each other but they don’t even have the necessary parts to be remotely sexual, since they’re all gender-she’s that come from trees (I hear there’s a dryad porn industry in Canada; I’m not quite sure what they do). Shape-shifters have a tendency to get upset if you don’t treat them as human whenever they’re in human form. The djinn are only corporeal on our plane of existence if they put a lot of effort into it.

An Elf seemed the best idea. They are the most major of the minorities in Laconia - if we simply count humans as humans and don’t break it down by race – and in general they are a peaceable and pleasant people. I failed to see the thing that doomed me from the start, though. When they were still mythical, one of our names for them was The Fair Folk.

Her name was Verity, and she was lithe and refined, a little black silk dress and dark plum lipstick to set off her coppery skin. She smelled of lavender and spearmint. Her silver eyes were filled with caring. Her walk was almost a dance. I had barely gasped at the sight of her when she burst out laughing. “Oh, you poor man, how long has it been?” she asked, composing herself. “Sorry. I did not mean to be rude. Which table would you like?”

But I blushed like a kid at Prom and slinked away the moment she turned her back to examine the room, driving away as quick as possible. For the Elves can sense your every emotion, and you cannot knowingly lie to them. There was no way I could have excused myself to get a change of underwear without her redoubled laughter haunting me until I died.