What do yellow jackets, anaphylactic shock, "As You Like it," sushi, Chicago Pile-1 (the site of the world's first nuclear reactor) & Amtrak schedules have in common?
They are all things I'm doing a bit of research on in preparation for sending The Secret Life of Suzuki England off before the end of the month. Woo-hoo! So far I have done the yellow jacket & anaphylactic shock part & am closing in on sushi. (I may have already done "As You Like It" as well; I'll see when I get to that part of the book.)
I might have to (oh, so sad) take a train trip from Chicago to Portland at some point to refine details, but for sending it out I just need a little more info.
My friend Linda is coming to visit me for a few days. I pick her up at the airport tomorrow! She & our friend Carol & I co-edited & self-published an anthology of Minnesota authors called Blossoms & Blizzards. It came out in September of 1986, a month before my twins turned a year old.
That was a project. We got a grant & solicited submissions, including some reprints from biggies like Garrison Keillor & Jon Hassler, & input every bit of type ourselves (remember that these were 1986 computers, when 64k was nothing shabby!) & promoted the heck out of it. We had 1000 hardcover & 1000 softcover published, & we had to reprint the paperbacks before Christmas! Yee-haw. We made a profit, even if you subtracted the grant, which is not exactly common with anthologies & with self-published work. Work is not a bad term for it, because it was a lot of work, including filing separate tax returns for Pegasus Prose. (I, she said modestly, designed & drew the cute little logo.)
It was a perfect experience that expanded all of our horizons, because not a one of us was comfortable driving up in the Twin Cities, where we went to bookstores & a book distributor & such. (When we'd ask people for directions to the next place, they'd say, "Just hop on 35W &--" at which point we'd blanch & gulp & interrupt with, "Can you tell us how to get there on streets?")
Okay, so I'm back to tracking the wild sushi & corralling it into the novel. Hope it cooperates. Post again, post again, bloggety-blog.
But first--
Blog alternative:
90. Go out for sushi, if you're so inclined. (If not, at least have some rice!)
