If you don't have your health (insurance)...

I know I promised a return to semi-normal blogging, but life never seems to be semi-normal. This week -- health worries! Nothing too major and I'm very much improved, but as someone who's normally in pretty good health, the basic fact of being unwell and needing a doctor's diagnosis was surprisingly stressful. However, it does put things in perspective. For one thing, if this hadn't happened, this week I'd have been worried about gaining weight or getting a pimple before heading off to Austin. Instead, my thought process has been clear and focused: "fuck me, I hope this is better before Friday." (It totally is, for the record. Yay modern medicine!)

For another thing, health insurance! No one gives you anything. You have to take it. Or, you know, visit ehealthinsurance.com. Whichever floats your boat.

Let's see. Other important facts to jot down:

• It turns out I went to high school with Ozzy from Survivor! We were in the same graduating class! What the hell!
• In the space of a week, I've gone from zero to 60 on a short film project that we'll hopefully (!) be able to shoot next weekend. It's something I wrote with the intention of producing with minimal funds and effort, which is good because I have little time or money to expend. Well, except for the fact that we may be shooting 16mm. I am PSYCHED about that.
• My interview with David Nadelberg of Mortified is in this month's issue of Bookslut.
• One-act play is almost done. I think. There are a few holes to fill in still. The current draft contains notes like "HERE IS WHERE HE GOES CRAZY AND TRIES TO KILL HER." I should probably try and add those bits in, at some point.
• Saw a bunch of movies. Maybe, during one of my four plane flights this weekend, I'll get a chance to blog about them.
• Over the past month, I have been struggling with a decision which was oddly comparable to a plot point in the BBC miniseries Casanova (put briefly: marry the dull man with money, or marry the sexy rascal?). For those who listened to me rant about this and wondered how it got resolved, it looks like I have found a way to hook up with Casanova while still continuing to take Grimani's money. Just this once, everybody lives.

Labels: in which our heroine, projects:dear chelsea, projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 9:41 PM 2 Comments

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"Missed" is done, writing is fun, and I'm hanging in there

On any given day, a good indication of my mental state can generally be gaged by the amount of emails in my inbox, as I use my Gmail account as sort of an ad-hoc to-do list. Less than ten messages, and I've got a good handle on my life. Less than twenty, and it's a typical day. More than twenty? Oy.

Right now, I'm at 18 and climbing fast. Need to sort things out. While I do so, though, let me check some items off my list and tell y'all that:

• I've agreed to cover this season of Survivor for Variety, and my first two pieces have already gone live. Come see me mock and summarize! It should be a fun assignment. I like hating people in public.
• I also wrote a freelance article for NYC Midnight, about the Los Angeles participants in their 2008 Short Story competition. It was a really pleasant experience -- got to talk to a bunch of writers about writing, and then write about it. Article came out alright too. Go team.
• And, finally, for those who have ever cared about that short film of mine, "Missed" -- well, after a long wait, you can now watch it on the YouTube.
  
  
  However the final product might have turned out, a lot of people helped me make this happen and deserve the chance to see it. To them, I say thanks. To anyone watching blind, well, I hope you enjoy.

Labels: projects:missed, projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 8:17 PM 2 Comments

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Meh. Tuesday.

But hey, two links of differing nature to check out:

• New issue of Joie de Vivre, featuring another short story by me plus gobs of great writing and etcetera. Note to anyone who might actually read my story -- this one is significantly more cheerful than the last one.
  
  
• If you're a Decline to State Angeleno, your vote might not have been counted in last Tuesday's primary! That is dumb! But, via the fabulous Dan, there's an awesome petitionm for you to sign demanding a recount! No matter who you voted for, I think we can all agree that votes should be counted. So go sign it!

And that's about all I got for today. Tomorrow will be much more dynamic. Fingers crossed.

Labels: not quite like the west wing, projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 9:49 PM 0 Comments

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Joie de Vivre: joy in small pleasures

Even if I didn't have a short story running in the first issue, I would still tell you to check out Joie de Vivre, a new webzine celebrating "small pleasures." My good friend Tara Avery has crafted something very sweet for the holiday season (and more seasons to come), and you should reward her by going and reading and linking.

Other small pleasures I have enjoyed today:

• This book I'm reading about a snarky 1930s English gardener. In today's chapter, the guy built a rock garden solely out of spite towards his neighbor. The chapter was entitled "How Not to Build A Rock Garden." SO CHARMING.
• Leftover lasagna.
• Rain.
• Maybe, just maybe, coming up with a really good solution to the latest tech problem to befall "Missed." THIS TIME FOR SURE.
• Having an extra ten minutes to kill at the Target megaplex, and using that time to find Christmas presents for people I hadn't initially planned on gifting.
• Remembering that Christmas is coming. And actually being pretty happy about it.

Labels: projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 6:47 PM 0 Comments

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I'm only a little bit boring

But you know, the blog posts must roll on...

• The past two weeks have been really busy. Like, look at your Google Calendar and feel really confused as to how all that stuff ended up on it. But it's also been nice. The blog has suffered, but worry no more! Things should start getting dull again any day now.
• Missed update: We have sound! We're mere days away from being all done with sound! Oh, kalloo-kallay. Then it will be time to enter festivals. Yay opportunities for rejection!
• I finished my one-act play about time travel. At least, I finished a vaguely complete draft of it. Now to see if it'll be produced. I have my hopes. But they are fragile little tendrils.
• Saw Wicked at the Pantages this weekend, which was interesting -- my incredibly low expectations were almost met. I am currently planning Operation: Avenue Q, which will have to meet my incredibly high expectations, but I am confident it's got a chance.
• I went to Palm Springs this weekend, for a whole day and night! It was really hot, and we played board games. It was really really nice.
• I don't want to talk about how hot my apartment is. I really really don't.
  • Margaritas have been my teddy bear for the past few days. This is not a healthy way to live. But they are COLD and they make me SLEEP. Sigh.
• Oh, so if you are not watching Mad Men, then why the hell not? This is seriously fine television. Plus, nerds can enjoy the fact that Connor from Angel, Zoey Bartlet from The West Wing, and YoSafBridge from Fireflly are all interacting in fun and interesting ways. Nerd team-ups go!
• I got a new iPod. Well not new. Used, courtesy of my local iPod doctor, and a very good deal it was. It is a slim black Nano, much like a ninja. Except that I couldn't call it "Ninja" so I called it "Kunoichi," which is Japanese for "lady ninja."
• This is about the level I've been operating on all week. Did I mention that it's HOT at home?

Labels: in which our heroine, projects:missed, projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 3:50 PM 0 Comments

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A round-up of stuff I've done recently (and not-so-much)

I've been trying not to be so self-promote-y, but every once in a while it's nice to put together a collection of links, for those interested.

For example! I'm pretty happy with my review of Warren Ellis's Crooked Little Vein, if you want to check that out.

And I wrote up my Comic-Con experiences on Thursday and Friday for the Bookslut blog, then realized how frightfully boring they were and decided to stop. Still, you can see me plug my friends' work on Shin Chan and coyly mention seeing Masi Oka, if you're in the mood.

A shorty-short short story I wrote got published on 365tomorrows, which is an interesting site for sci-fi fans who need regular daily fixes.

And, just remembered about this: a knitting pattern I, um, crafted (?) was published in the book Chic Knits for Young Chicks. The whole book is really charming (in fact, last night I started a shrug pattern contributed by my friend Alexis), but you can see the instructions for my pattern here.

And most of these things are also documented on the revised Projects page here on this site. For future reference.

Also, hey, how about these new link colors?! Shiny, right?

Labels: in which our heroine, projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 3:58 PM 0 Comments

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Random thoughts

Accumulated items from my day:

• How to turn Liz off a movie starring Hugh Laurie and Adrian Lester and Matthew McFayden -- make it about a screenwriter who decides to write about the plot of the movie to conquer his writer's block. Oh, how I hate scripts that don't bother to exceed that first level of postmodernity. This means YOU, Maybe Baby.
  
• I cannot pick what I want my new buddy chat icon to be. This has been bugging me ALL MORNING.
  
• Writing is going well. New TV stuff with Jonestown is rocking, I did some very satisfying screenwriting for a friend recently, and I'm finally getting a chance to write a one-act play about time travel. This'll look fantastic on my filmography, next to the one-act play about a zombie apocalypse.
  
• The sheer fact of the matter is that I am EXCITED about writing, and doing it pretty well. This is an exciting change from that month we call June.
  
• Officially open to suggestions on what I should write my next Bookslut column about. Book adaptations! Whoo.
  
• Over the course of April-June, I lost about five or ten pounds, I think -- exercise and losing my appetite and being sick and a hundred other things, but all of it pretty much unconscious. Now that I'm all sleek, of course, I want to KEEP that weight off, but now that I'm paying attention of course I'm having the worst time of it. Right before Comic-Con, too!
  
• Comic-Con's this weekend! Excellent. Who's going? And more importantly -- where the party at?
  
• Fixed the buddy chat icon problem! I am now Simpsons Liz. Very swank.
  
• In the course of making my Simpsons avatar, it came to my attention that I haven't been actively wearing my glasses in a while. Maybe it's because I've been going to see fewer movies. Or maybe my vision got better? Probably not that last thing.
  
• How not to lose weight: all you can eat sushi for lunch.
  
• How to make life worth living: all you can eat sushi for lunch.
  
• How not to have a blog: update it once a week.

Labels: in which our heroine, projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 3:43 PM 0 Comments

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Do you enjoy short fiction podcasts?

Then you might enjoy this audio adaptation of Hand of God, otherwise known as "The short story I sold to the Canadians," previously known before then as "The short story about soccer and time travel." Free! Download! Enjoy!

Labels: projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 5:05 PM 0 Comments

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An update on Project Liz

Gah! Who's behind on the times? That would be me. But it's not like I've been lazing about, doing nothing! No sir! Been writing lots for Daily Reel, and my latest Bookslut column also just went up. LizWriting, all over the web! Dig it!

What else to report? Well, the Canadians are totally for sure buying "Hand Of God" -- I received the contract and their copy-edits this week, which were so polite. No idea when it will be on Alberta newstands, but I'm still very psyched. Aimee and I are damn close to finishing a readable-by-others draft of our Office spec, which is exciting as can be, because it means that we finally have the necessary samples to start showing around to agents and managers. This is actually pretty impressive, when you realize that Aimee and I have only been writing together for about a year, and in that time have written many drafts of four different scripts. Go team!

Too Little Too Late news: we have money! Full financing is being provided by a fine little commercial production company that I shan't mention by name. We are still incredibly on the cheap, but now the things that need purchasing can actually be purchased! There is still an absolute ton of work to do before shooting (which is now scheduled for the first two weekends in March). But it is still exciting!

Missed news: we have a new editor! This is not very exciting, I suppose, but the sheer fact that there is any news about Missed should be good enough for you.

Other news: It's Valentine's Day! It's Eric's birthday! It's Wednesday! It's the day I read about this!

So. A good day, I think. Punch someone you love tonight! I know I will.

Labels: in which our heroine, projects:missed, projects:too little too late, projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 5:41 PM 5 Comments

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In which Canada gets me, and Dog Jesus does what he can

Odd weekend, but not bad overall. Dad was in town, and we went to The Huntington Gardens and Library, which is just as gorgeous as they say. I want to go back in spring, to see the wisteria in bloom, but it was still lovely and culture-fying. I especially enjoyed the brief stop in the library, which contains a Guttenberg Bible and several other rareities; I love looking at the handwriting of famous authors, the actual words they put on pages. Charlotte Bronte had a delicate thin line. Jack London had a big loopy scrawl, like he wrote with magic marker. The things you learn.

Nice thing that happened this weekend: On Spec - The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic has expressed interest in buying the short story I wrote last summer about time travel and soccer. They want to buy it with real Canadian dollars! Now I can write off all those 6 AM World Cup bar-tabs! It really is true what all those writers say: one acceptance is totally worth the hundred rejections that come beforehand.

The comic book auction was an interesting time, especially the actual auction, which proved to be vaguely exciting. It made me want to attend actual auctions, just for the thrill of spectatorship. It's like sports! But with money!

Speaking of sports and money, the Super Bowl was fun, though I forgot how beer in the afternoon just makes me a napface. Though it didn't help that after a first great quarter, that game slowed down for serious. I did decide that if I were ever to get a dog, I'd name him Jesus D. Christ -- Dog Jesus for short. Dog Jesus will be a basset hound mix of some sort, because Dog Jesus should look sad all the time.

But you can do something to make Dog Jesus happy! Go and sign this petition protesting "drive-thru mastectomies". After all, if Jewel and my cousin Julie say you should do something, then you should probably do it.

And thus concludes our weekend round-up. Don't worry, I won't make a habit of it. Four times a month, max.

Labels: in which our heroine, projects:writing, sports

posted by Liz  # 11:09 AM 1 Comments

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