Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Keleyat's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
10:49 am	Vacuuming the floor, the lawn, my mind. I spent yesterday vacuuming the lawn--which is to say, taking the lawnmower in "mulch" mode and clearing the fallen leaves from the lawn. I also reversed the leaf blower and vacuumed up the leaves from the patio and the back porch -- a good thing, too, since the rains are upon us this morning. The indoor vacuum cleaner shorted out and is blowing fuses now, so I think it's reached the end of its lifespan. I've got the Roomba running through the living room/dining room/kitchen right now, doing its best (which, surprisingly, is not bad.) You have to empty it like every five minutes, but you can be doing something else during those five minutes, like updating your LJ, so it has its advantages. I am also working on my writing--the stuff I don't want to do, but have to do because of deadlines and editorial fiat and such--hence the "vacuuming my mind" credo mentioned earlier. In some ways this is exactly what it feels like, but at least I'm getting stuff done. And it's time to go empty the Roomba again. (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
9:14 pm	The Writing Retreat Pete Butler is my best friend and buddy. Just needed to say that. Thanks, Pete! I just returned from the Write-or-Die Fall 2009 Writing Retreat. It was really good this time, although it seemed to flash past at breakneck speed. It felt like I had barely arrived before it was all over and we had to leave. Also, a lot of people dropped out. They say it was the flu outbreak, but honestly, when you're stuck in an isolated cabin cut off from the outside e-world, you begin to wonder if maybe someone isn't stalking your friends and taking them out one by one. Come on, Scoob! Let's go see what made that noise outside... I managed to get an entire first draft of a story done for the Lann & Avery on Mars series that an editor has asked for--woot! A search for a title was awkward, as my cabinmates will tell you--I turned on the lights at 2:20 in the morning and got out of bed to scribble a better ending, and when i got a flash of insight to the story's theme the next morning, had to restrain myself from jumping naked out of the shower to write it down before I forgot it. Hey, Inspiration only comes when it comes, so you better grab it when it goes past. So I have a complete first draft ... more to come as it develops. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
4:12 pm	Dryer failure The dryer went belly up on me--which I realized only after it occurred to me that it had been running for around nine hours. Spent the day trying to figure out the problem. Determined that one of the two gas coils was likely bad, so I got the dryer moved and climbed in behind it, took the back apart, found the exhaust elbow broken and removed it, moved the back plate aside, went to get a flashlight, and found out that the coils are not accessible from the back of the machine. So, I put the back plate back on, fastened it in place, took the screws out of the filter assembly, got the top pried off, got the front removed, and then discovered that the coils cannot be checked without removing the drum assembly, which I then did. This in turn drew blood from one hand, proving that it's not a real repair job unless you cut or skin something hard enough to drip blood. Finally, I could check the gas coils ... which turned out to be fairly nominal (coil #1) or even dead-on for specified resistance (coil #2). Ah. So it's not the coils. Well, it could be the thermal fuse or the thermostat. So where are those? How do I get to them? Oh. I have to open up the back and remove the back plate.... Lot of muttered cursing later, I got the front reassembled and the back off, and determined that it was NOT the thermal fuse, nor likely to be the thermostat. Which led me back to the front of the machine, but at least I already had it in pieces. Could it be the flame sensor? Sure! Oh no, wait ... it tests good on the multimeter. What's left? The igniter? Didn't I replace that before? Oh, wait, that was like four years ago. Well, let's take a look at it. Hmm. It seems to fail the test for continuity. So--it looks like the igniter is broken. Well, that would explain a lot. So now I must needs find a replacement igniter.... (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
1:28 pm	ow! ow! ow! A haiku: Threw my back out Pain comes to visit. Tylenol! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
11:19 am	Well, I have been to Oz... ...and let me tell you, they do a lot of drinking there. There was a schmooze-fest on Thursday night, I got an invite to a private cocktail party with Little, Brown and Company on Saturday night, there was a social gathering for drinks with the members of the NY chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, and in between, drinking nightly in the hotel bar. Oh, and there was some classes as well. I think. It's all a little hazy.... I had fun, to say the least. Met a lot of people, did a lot of networking, met a couple of editors, including one I have been trying to meet for a couple of years. Good times! And I am beat. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
1:12 am	I'm off to see the wizard.... ...or the writing equivalent thereof. I'm heading off to the World Mystery Writers Convention, Bouchercon 2009. It's my first time at a mystery convention, so World Con seems like the best way to be deflowered (always think BIG when it's a first time at anything). I've got a lot on my plate, considering that it is my first con. I'm going to be promoting Wolfmont Press's Toys for Tots anthology THE GIFT OF MURDER (I lead off the anthology with the opening story, "The Seven Dollar Clue"). Also, one of my editors wants to finally meet with me face to face, and I have a standing invite to Lunch on Thursday with the Short Mystery Fiction Society, not to mention attending the schmooze-fest of professional crime and mystery writers gathering Thursday night at an open bar with dancing and games. Also, I got a personal invite from one of the editors at LITTLE, BROWN & CO. to attend their cocktail party on Friday night, as well an invitation to attend gathering on Saturday of the members of the NYC Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, and as I was nominated for the Derringer Award this year, I will be attending the presentation of the Derringer Awards Saturday evening. It's just as well I stayed up late tonight to vet the editorial changes the editor e-mailed me regarding my crime story "Grave Consequences" and got them back in the mail, since it looks like I'm going to be too busy the rest of the week to be doing any actual writing. (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
1:01 pm	Win! My short story "Grave Consequences" won Third Place in the American Mensa 17th Annual Fiction Contest. Three cheers and a tiger for me! What makes it doubly nice is that the contest judge specifically commented on "the banter between Joi and Mark and the way you portrayed the interplay of culture and tradition between "East" and "West." The reason I comment on this is the fact that the first draft of the story was critiqued by my writers' group WorD, and EVERYONE there told me to rewrite the interplay between Joi and Mark, and to trim up the stuff on East/West cultural differences. Apparently, you guys were all right. (See what happens when you listen objectively to a critique of your work?) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
12:46 pm	Sale! My speculative fiction story "Shadows of Revolution" has just appeared in Golden Visions Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy Issue #8. They've also bought the next story in the series, "An Arbitrary Deprivation of Life" for the January 2010 issue, and have requested another story using the same main characters. Given that one is a male human apparatchik in a Marxist revolutionary government and the other is a female alien delegate come to meet with Humanity, it should be interesting to see where things go... (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
12:34 pm	PUD... ...and internal hemorrhaging. Again. I had to be rushed to Emergency for a second time with internal bleeding. A normal hemoglobin level should be between 15 and 17; mine was down to 6. So I got to spend more time in the hospital again, being probed and treated. I have a mucosal erosion in my gastrointestinal tract -- peptic ulcer disease -- and it's been bleeding out. But the biopsy came back negative, so I'm not doing as bad as I could be. At least it's not cancerous. I'm home again for more recovery, and hopefully this time I will start getting better. (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 13th, 2009
8:26 pm	Vomiting Blood I spent Monday & Tuesday being draggy, and it turns out that I was apparently hemorrhaging internally; on Wednesday I started vomiting and shitting blood, and in the hospital collapsed on the floor of the ER in a vomiting spray of blood, which as you can imagine was Not Good. As a result I spent the rest of the week in hospital, and discovered that I have a massive ulcer that let go and hemorrhaged blood. It appears to be under control now and I am home again, but I am damn weak and often dizzy, which makes going upstairs to the bathroom bad--I have been fainting and dropping to the floor from the exertion. (I had forgotten that bathroom floors could be so damn cold.) So I have a lot of bedrest ahead of me. I'm not likely to answer replies here--too much effort getting to the computer. But I have avoided a nasty brush with dying and am home, trying to recuperate. At the moment, I am trying to get my HMO to pay for my meds, and I am longing for food that I don't have. And sleep. Lots of sleep. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
10:11 am	Saint Francis of Assisi time, again I was sitting out on the porch waiting for the plumber (don't ask) when I heard a HUGE swoosh of wings ... the kind of noise you get when, say, a pigeon flies into your face. The noise came from the porch roof over my head, so I looked up and of course (since I don't have x-ray vision) saw nothing, so I shrugged it off. A minute later, I got another swoosh of wings, and a red-tailed hawk glided off the roof next to my head, swooped across the yard and perched on my neighbor's roof. I ran out and he and I exchanged stares for a moment, and then he turned and stared off across the head of the valley while I just stood gawking. Then he (she?) took to wing, with the most beautiful wings, flaring out and clawing into the wind and sailing off, crossing over to the tall pine on the far side where he perched again, long enough for me to get other people outside to see it, before it spotted its prey and dove into the trees and vanished from sight. I have the coolest hawk living at the top of the valley here. It is truly awesome. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 28th, 2009
7:34 am	Vaccines I received a tetanus toxoid, diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap) inoculation yesterday, so lockjaw, whooping cough and ... diphtheria (no vernacular term, it seems) beware! I'm also starting an antibacterial today, getting blood drawn, and am going onto the list for the Influenza vaccinations. Maybe it's just me, but either my doctor is making up for lost time, or else she's getting kickbacks from somebody for each of these. This morning, I'm dealing with the side-effects of the toxoid. (Ever try sleeping with sudden muscle spasms in the back and shoulder?) I'm also going out to have my eyes checked today, see what can be done about my vision problems. Fun fun fun! (Comment on this)
Friday, August 21st, 2009
11:29 am	Rejection Time Check this out: back in December, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine sent me a form rejection slip on one of my stories, with the following hand-written on the bottom: We enjoyed this story 12/02/08 Well, today, I got another rejection slip from them. Again, it is a form rejection slip ... and again, penned in at the bottom, is a hand-written note from the editor: Dear Mr. Benedetto, We enjoyed the story and hope you'll keep sending more stories. Sincerely, Laurel Fantauzzo Assistant Editor 8/18/09 Wow. Sure, it's a rejection slip, but when it contains a personal note from the editor encouraging more submissions, it's a sign that you're risen above 99% of all the other stories that got rejected there. I seem to have impressed an editor with my abilities ... now, if I can just craft a story that fits what they are looking for! (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
11:10 am	Triangulation 2010 For those of you who are looking forward to Triangulation 2010, we are currently ramping up the new guidelines. Please be aware that we are NOT open to submissions at this time and will not open to subs until December 1, 2009. As I say, we're revamping the guidelines and will have them posted to the Internet soon. In fact, we will be posting the guidelines several weeks before we open to submissions, in an attempt to get the majority of submissions in early, rather than during the last week before we close to subs. This is important to us, because we usually get swamped with last-minute submissions--literally, we had 130 stories sitting in our in-box on the last day when we closed to submissions, at a point at which we had pretty much all of the stories we needed to make an anthology. The reason that this should be important to you, the potential submitter, is that by the end of the submission period, the chances of getting in are pretty slim. When the anthology first opens for submissions, we are fresh and cheerful and have not accepted anything yet, which means that we will be extremely open to working with someone whose work is close but just not *there* yet. BUT--by the time the submission period closes, we will have accepted the vast majority of stories we need to fill the anthology. We will also have read--and rejected--hundreds upon hundreds of stories. Last year our odds ran at around 29 to 1: for every 29 stories we read, we rejected 28 of them and accepted only 1. That's around a 3.5% acceptance rate against submissions. And that rate is actually author-friendly compared to some other markets in the industry.* So when do you want us to read your work? When we are fresh and have no other stories to compare it to, or when we are tired and have just about filled the anthology? When do you think your chances of getting accepted will be better? *Woman's World Magazine, for example, pays half-a-dollar a word for fiction; it also rejects more than 99% of the fiction stories sent to it. The last time I computed the odds, the acceptance rate was hovering at 0.003%. And yes, that is three one thousands of a percent. They get well over 2,500 submissions a month, and reject almost every one of them.** **And yes, I have been published by them. Three times so far, and they're considering a fourth story of mine. That is one of the reasons my peers felt I was qualified to be one of the editors of this anthology series. (Comment on this)
Monday, August 17th, 2009
6:29 pm	Oh, look! Someone broke into my home... ...and found out that I have a guard dog. I wondered how these huge mosquitoes were getting into the house last night, and this morning found someone had jimmied open one of the window screens in the back of the house to climb into the dining room. They did not get very far, it turns out; nothing is missing. That's one of the joys of having a protective dog in the house. They live for this sort of thing. Today she's working her way through a package of hot dogs that I am happily feeding her. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
11:48 am	Rejection Time My flash fiction "Skewed Perspective" got a form rejection slip from The First Line, just to break my winning streak. (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 9th, 2009
9:10 am	A sale! And another sale!! My science-fiction mystery story "Shadows of Revolution" (involving my characters of the political apparatchik Avery Granitski and the female Keleyat alien Lann Harrnt of Clan Plori) went out to Golden Visions Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy, which notes in its guidelines that submissions will be responded to within two to four weeks. Less than three hours later, the editor Christine Lajoie Golden sent me an e-mail accepting the story. (It's a terrific feeling when you run into an editor who really likes your work.) She also asked if I had written anything else involving the characters of Avery and Lann. Well, "Shadows" was a follow-up to a science fiction mystery story I had done previously, "An Arbitrary Deprivation of Life". I sent her a copy of the story and asked if that was the sort of thing she was looking for. Oh, yes. She's buying "Arbitrary" as well! She has already plotted out the magazine's story needs for the rest of 2009, so starting in 2010 she's going to run "Arbitrary" to introduce the character of Avery Granitski, and then follow it up with "Shadows" to introduce the female alien Lann Harrnt of Clan Plori, of the Second Royal House of Urdo. And she wants me to write more stories involving Avery and Lann. Damn. Time to get back to my writing. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
1:14 pm	The Gift of Murder Okay, I'm betting that got your attention. Probably more than "Toys for Tots" would have, I'd wager. But the two are linked. Specifically, Wolfmont Press has been doing a series of Christmas-themed crime anthologies for the past few years in which authors donate their work for free, and the profits from the anthology are given to the USMC "Toys for Tots" program. Last year's anthology Dying in a Winter Wonderland brought in $3000 for underprivileged children, and they're hoping to do even better this year. This year's anthology is titled The Gift of Murder ... and I am going to be in it. And yes, I am FREAKING excited by this! We're raising money for a great cause, and providing an anthology of terrific crime and mystery stories. The anthology will be trade paperback, around 230 pages long, in the $12 price range, and is scheduled for release on 1 October 2009, so it'll be available early as gifts for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice... Well, you get the idea. This is soooo cool. (Comment on this)
Monday, July 27th, 2009
8:50 pm	Writing Assignment.... It's been one of those days. I was on the phone with my fellow writer Jamie and was lamenting just finding out about a contest that closes in four days, and how I should be writing something for it--and she let me know that indeed, I should be writing something for it, that she was going to hang up now, and that I had to go and start writing it (and let her see it when it was done). What does she expect from me? That I'll put my butt in a chair and start typing and force myself to write on demand, to meet a deadline? So I sat down, and two hours later typed "End" at the bottom of a finished 1700-word crime story. The ending is a touch weak, but for a first draft cranked off in a couple of hours, I think it's actually not bad at all. And if Jamie had not been there to push me to try, I would not have gotten anything done. Instead, thanks to her prodding, I have a story. Thank you, Jamie. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 17th, 2009
4:04 pm	If I could talk with the animals... ...it would no doubt be to find out that I can speak to injured bluejays and, using whistles, calm them down so that they can be safely picked up and transported to the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania. It would also be to find out that the cries of injured bluejays bring on feral cats, who made the mistake of trying to come up onto the porch and attack a bird under my protection. Like hell, Cat. So the wounded bluejay is now in the capable hands of the Animal Rescue League. They will take care of it, and hopefully it will recover from its injuries and be able to be released back into the sky in a few days. Walking out of the building, I spotted one of the hawks that live in my hollow sailing upward, catching a thermal over Rosedale. I take that as a very beautiful sign that I have done something good. (Comment on this)