Queer and Loathing in America

Escapade

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:53:33 GMT

I am about to head out to the gym, once I eat an English muffin slathered in peanut butter for some morning energy.

I am very pleased with how readjusting and changing my daily habits has been working for me so far. It's also nice to get out of the rut one has been in for a long, long time. When I first started working out, I always worked out in the morning before work, and always preferred that. It's much, much easier to blow the gym off when you've had all day to work out a reason and a rationale for doing so; in the morning I am usually so foggy I simply fall into the creature of habit thing, which is a good thing when it comes to going to the gym. Plus, working out wakes you up and makes your mind sharp like nothing else I have found--including the morning pot o'coffee. In fact, since I started going in the mornings, I can honestly say I haven't been drinking the full pot, which could be a good thing. I have also managed to increase my water intake (which wasn't hard, since it was practically non-existent before).

I haven't been so good with the other things I resolved to do--you know, like wasting lots of time on line, but hey, it's a process, right?

And I am getting there. Slowly but surely, I am getting there.

I did work on Vieux Carre Voodoo yesterday for a bit, and I think I'm going to be getting into the groove on that soon enough. I should be able to get all the BBB stuff finished by next weekend, which is a good thing, as I have social engagements on both Friday and Saturday evening next weekend, and then the next weekend its off to Orlando, and the weekend after that it's Fairhope.

Sigh.

Okay, gym, here I come!

Dreamweaver

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:44:50 GMT

And he's back. Did you miss me terribly, Constant Reader?

The trip was very nice, but at the same time I was terribly delighted to get home. The one thing that is truly wonderful about living in New Orleans is that I am always glad to come home. When I lived in other places and went away on trips, I always hated when the trip was over and I had to head home and back to reality. While reality is still not something I am a big fan of, I never regret the end of a trip now, no matter how much I might be enjoying it--because then I get to come home to New Orleans.

I have a gazillion things to do, but as always, the long hours in the car somehow managed to recharge my batteries. It also doesn't hurt that the rains have finally come to New Orleans, cooling it off enough so that the Lost Apartment is finally at a decent summer temperature (60 degrees), so I have finally gotten some extraordinary sleep since returning Monday night. I also made some decisions about things while I was gone, and hopefully will remain motivated enough since the return to stick to the plans and decisions I made. One important decision involved the gym and working out; ironically, beckycochrane just made a post about the wonderful panel she moderated at Saints and Sinners, where the divine Jess Wells commented that "if you want to be a writer while working full time, you can't go to the gym everyday"--because my decision is to change my workout regimen into a more serious one. I've felt very stale at the gym for a long time now, and while I have been just kind of going through the motions, wasting time (damn you Facebook!) instead of going to the gym so I wind up going at the last minute and can only handle a twenty minute maintenance workout, I want to make a change and commit myself to it. So, I am going to attempt a five day per week workout schedule; chest one day, back one day, shoulders one day, arms one day, legs one day--with cardio and abs every day as well. I also need to get back on my healthy eating schedule. I am also going to try to incorporate a full stretching routine as well. This is very ambitious, I realize, but I think if I can commit seriously I can do it.

I also need to manage my time better, which means I need to avoid Facebook, which is like Internet crack. The truth is I have over 800 friends on Facebook now, and the vast majority of them are people I don't know--they are either readers of mine or friends of friends, and so reading everyone's status updates every half hour while constantly hitting refresh is kind of pointless. So, I am going to restrict my Facebook time. I have to get all this work done this month on the BBB, have to get to work on Scotty IV, and have a couple of short stories I need to finish by the end of this month. I also have to finally finish the revision of Wanna Wrestle?; Lethe Press has been more than gracious in waiting for me to get that turned around and in. I have to go to Orlando week after next for Golden Crown; and the very next weekend Paul and I are off to Fairhope for a long overdue visit with Joe and Suzanne.

This afternoon I am being interviewed on a radio station in Detroit along with a local LGBT bookseller about the sad state of affairs in gay publishing and gay bookselling. I really don't know if I will actually have anything pertinent to say, but what can I say? I am a media/attention whore.

Focusing also means cutting out activism for a while; no more hours spent on the Huffington Post and the New York Times website. I'll still watch MSNBC and The Daily Show; and while I am certain I will get myself worked up into a fine righteous rage from time to time about something stupid the Right Wing is doing, and may post about it on here, I am not going to spend hours following stories and reading commentaries on them. Instead, I need to spend that time writing or more effectively, like cleaning the house and keeping up with my personal responsibilities so that I have the time to keep up with my professional responsibilities.

Sometimes, when you're a writer, you just have to be selfish.

It also turns out that I am NOT past deadline for that particular anthology I mentioned last week, so I am definitely going to get "An Arrow for Sebastian" finished as well.

We are very close as well to finish Season 2 of Burn Notice, and then we are going to start watching Season 1 of Reaper, an under-watched and under-appreciated show we both love. I also have the Elizabeth Taylor version of Cleopatra sitting on the coffee table; I think we will spend four hours watching that this weekend; Paul's never seen it.

Okay, I need to pay bills, clean the kitchen and do some laundry before heading to the gym and the grocery store before work today.

Le Bel Age

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:17:36 GMT

Well, things appear to be calming down somewhat around here. Monday was a rather hellish day (thanks to epic fail on behalf of Cox Cable, which resulted in my missing a day of work, dealing with a tech who not only didn't have a clue but didn't solve the problem, which raised my ire in a most significant manner), but that ended finally and Tuesday turned out to be just fine. I got something in the mail yesterday that I should have gotten in the mail a long time ago (but it's done now, huzzah)--a proposal that was asked for that I just never seemed to get around to finishing. It's been so long now that it's entirely possible that the interest in said proposal is no longer there, but we'll see. At least I tried, right? And now I can focus for the rest of this month on BBB, the way I had hoped to, before I have to buckle down and get Vieux Carre Voodoo rolling.

And tomorrow I am off to Kentucky for the weekend. Obviously, the digicam is coming with me. My plan (we'll see how that works out, shan't we?) is to leave relatively early tomorrow morning so that I can stop along the way at 'scenic stops', especially in the Tennessee mountains, to take lovely photographs of scenic vistas. I also want to leave early so I can make it through the hell that is Chattanooga before rush hour. I have to go into the office for a few hours today, but most of the day will be spent frantically finishing some contracted work that I want to get done before I leave. I should be able to get it all finished if I focus and don't get lazy.

I got a call for submissions for an anthology from Lethe Press that looks rather interesting this morning, which also reminds me that today is the deadline for another anthology that I apparently am going to miss, which is disappointing. My story "An Arrow for Sebastian" would have been pretty good had I been able to finish it and turn it in. Ah, well, guess it'll be yet another one of those unfinished stories that will just sit in a folder until another anthology it might be appropriate for turns up.

While the malaise has lessened somewhat, it's still kind of there in a way, which, needless to say, is pretty annoying. I am hoping that this long drive tomorrow and the long drive home will reinvigorate my somewhat stagnant creativity; now it's more along the lines of burn out, I think. Between the relentless heat, the inability of my central air to cool the Lost Apartment effectively, working full time, working part time, dealing with nonsense like the mini-dramas of last week, and the hellish Monday I had this week--I have really been feeling fried. One would think driving twenty hours in a five day period would make it worse, but long drives tend to recharge me rather than fry me further.

I have also named the upcoming mini-tour for Murder in the Garden District this fall: the Politics Are Murder (PAM) Tour. I've already got my debut signing lined up for Garden District Books the first Saturday in October, and will be attending the Novelists Inc conference in St Louis (hopefully signing somewhere there as well), going to Bouchercon in Indianapolis, going to Murder by the Book in Houston in November, and am still waiting for a confirmation from Outwrite in Atlanta for my annual signing there. I'd hoped to make it out west this time out, but alas, the demise of A Different Light in WeHo effectively ended that hope. The store in San Francisco always wants me to come there, but I don't know if that's even a remote possibility. Maybe in January? I don't know. Maybe I should wait and go out there in the spring for Vieux Carre Voodoo; I don't know. It depends on money, I suppose, and the two conferences in October are going to be a significant expense.

Sigh.

Okay, I need to get focused. I need to get to the gym and get moving on everything. That contract work is not going to do itself, after all.

Search for the Hero

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:56:35 GMT

Yesterday, after working at the CareVan, I headed down to the CAN office to finish out the rest of my work day. Mary Mother of God, it waas hot.

So, anyway, as soon as I got to the office, I wanted to see my friend and co-worker Jacob--you remember him, Constant Reader? The pretty one with the big smile and the mop of curly hair who has appeared on here in pictures from NO/AIDS events? Part of the reason I wanted to see him was because I'd heard he'd shaved off all his hair.

Little did I know what else was going on with Jacob.

One of my co-workers (I don't remember which) responded to my query 'where's Jake?' this way:

He's up running the lab. He got shot last night.

WHAT?

For more, here's the story, plus video:

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/video_for_pals_shooting.html

I finally got the chance to talk to him around five yesterday afternoon. (The shaved head looked great, by the way).

Happy birthday, Jake. Very proud to know you.

Saturday in the Park

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:54:33 GMT

Today is gonna be a long 'un. Well, not really, but I do have a lot of running around to do today.

Today is National HIV Testing Day, in addition to being Sidewalk Pride. As a result of the former, I am going to work today for a few hours in the CareVan at 7800 Earhart to do counseling and testing. After my stint there, I have to dash down to the Marigny to sign books for Sidewalk Pride. (Gay Pride in New Orleans has had a rather checkered past, and all we are doing this year apparently is a sidewalk fair on Frenchmen Street in the Marigny.) I agreed to sit at a table in the broiling sun and sign books from 4-5 today.

We actually do have something to celebrate here in Louisiana today. The legislative session, thanks to the hard work of several rights organizations (not the least of whom was Forum for Equality) defeated some ugly right wing evangelical legislation that could have turned Louisiana into an even more backward state than it already is. To do so, some Republicans in Baton Rouge had to jump ship, or forced compromises. Needless to say, this was a huge defeat for our evil governor, Bobby Jindal, and dealt yet another blow to his presidential aspirations. (At this point, the only person who still thinks he has a chance in 2012 is him...poor delusional man.) Needless to say, Tony Perkins and his radical right followers are not happy about their defeat--he is going to challenge Vitter in the primary, rumor has it--but it looks as though Louisiana is slowly moving towards joining the twenty-first century.

Actually, the only outright success for the Republicans and the Guv in the legislature was 1) defeating a proposed ban on smoking cigarettes in bars and 2) defeating an increase in the tax on tobacco in the state. Needless to say, this was also a victory for Big Tobacco and hardly something you'd want to brag about. It's almost possible to even start to think that the legislature could well be taken over by the Democrats next time out, and if they actually can come up with a viable opponent, Jindal could easily go down as well.

Yesterday morning there was some minor internet drama. As you will recall, Constant Reader, I sent out the CFS for Blood Sacraments the other day. I posted it on here; I sent it to Bold Strokes for their website; and I posted it on Facebook. I also emailed it directly to writers I have worked with before. Yesterday morning, I woke up and checked my email. You can only imagine the shock to discover that I had received a number of emails excoriating me for my decision not to accept electronic submissions. Some of them were so incredibly insulting that it was very hard for me to believe that the sender had ever worked in publishing in any way, shape or form before. The basic tenor was that in refusing to accept electronic subs, I was discriminating against 1) people who couldn't afford printers; 2) people who couldn't afford international postage; 3) people who might not have easy access to the post office; and 4) the homebound disabled. Each one demanded an explanation for my discriminatory decision; one of them went so far as to give me a lecture about how I could be a better person and a better editor. The one that was the most polite was the only one I answered; and when I reread it this morning I realized that it only seemed polite in comparison to the others; when taken out of that context it was just as insulting.

So, one can only imagine the trepidation when I saw, after dealing with all of that, that I had an email from an old friend and colleague; a professional writer/editor who barely makes enough to keep the bill collectors at bay and every month is a struggle for her financially. She is also homebound due to a disability (has been for the last ten years) and also does not own a printer. She is also smart, savvy, and one of the few people I know personally who is further to the left than I am politically. So, after these other emails, I was rather nervous about reading her email, but I opened it.

Is this a boy book only, or is it mixed? was all she asked.

So, I emailed her back explaining it was a boy book, and then explained to her about the other emails I'd received, and forwarded the one I'd answered to her. Five minutes later I got a response:

What a bunch of horseshit. It's a question of being a professional or not. If you want to be in the book, you do what the editor wants. It's that simple, and the editor does not owe you an explanation--and questioning his decisions is the mark of an unprofessional amateur playing at being a writer. You certainly don't accuse the editor of bias or call him names. That's just juvenile and childish. I'm poor, don't have a printer, don't have easy access to the post office, and am homebound because of my disability--but if I want to be in your book I will do what I have to to make sure I am. Period. When will these people wake up and realize that submitting work to an editor is the same thing as applying for a job? You would NEVER tell a potential job interviewer 'oh, it's inconvenient or difficult for me to make it to your office for my interview; will you come to my house?' You also don't owe anyone an explanation for your decision, and they have no right to ask. I always assume there's a valid reason the editor wants it done this way, and even if there ISN'T a valid reason, even if it's just a silly whim of said editor, again, you do what the editor wants, and you aren't 'entitled' to an explanation from the editor. Period. Look at it this way: obviously you made the right decision because now you've eliminated these people from consideration and they probably can't write for shit anyway.

My friend is one of the few people whose tongue I fear.

I had, in the wake of the emails, thought about posting today my reasons for not accepting electronic subs, but now realize that I don't owe anyone an explanation. If you want to think I am a disciminatory hateful bastard, be my guest--but don't expect me to think you're a professional, either.

I got a really good laugh this morning at Governor Sanford comparing himself to King David to justify his adultery and decision not to resign as governor of South Carolina. Um, Guv? You might want to go back and reread your Bible to see what your God thinks about adultery. Oh, and you aren't 'king" of South Carolina. David was not elected King of Israel. His son Solomon had a harem; does that mean you can have one as well?

To quote Bugs Bunny: what a maroon.

Paperback Writer

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:56:38 GMT

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Blood Sacraments
Editor: Todd Gregory
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Publication Date: October 2010

Length: 2500-10,000 words
Payment: $50, on publication
Deadline: October 1, 2009

LOOKING FOR: Gay erotic tales of the vampire, by new or established writers. Think sensuality and eroticism, rather than hard-core porn. Don’t be afraid to step outside of the box and create a new mythos for your story. Strong writing, plot, and character development is more important than the erotic content; we are looking for stories to engage the mind as well as the nether bits. Reprints are okay, but original stories will be given priority.

GUIDELINES: Stories must all be double-spaced in either Times, Times New Roman, or Courier 12 point fonts. Each page must be consecutively numbered in the lower right hand corner. Header line must appear on each page with the name of the story, the author’s name, and an email address. First page of story must also have all contact information for author: name, address, email address, and phone number. Submissions must be mailed to: Todd Gregory, c/o Greg Herren, 5500 Prytania Street #215, New Orleans, LA 70115. Questions can be emailed to gregwrites@gmail.com. Electronic submissions will not be accepted, will be deleted unread, and will not be responded to. All submissions will be recycled unless return envelope with adequate postage is provided. Any failure to follow stated guidelines will result in automatic rejection.

Now Here You Go Again, You Say You Want Your Freedom

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:06:24 GMT

I just signed the contract for Beautiful, the next Todd Gregory opus, and will be putting it in the mail today. Hurray! Maybe now I can afford an iPhone. Whee!

I slept well last night. Yesterday's brief thunderstorm somehow managed to cool things off (despite the sauna-like aftermath) long enough for my a/c to finally cool the Lost Apartment down to a livable indoor temperature, and as a result, I was able to sleep. Fabulosity.

I had my picture in the paper again yesterday, along with J. M. (Jean) Redmann. This weekend is something called Sidewalk Pride in the Marigny, and Jean and I are both signing books on the sidewalk somewhere for FAB Books. My time is like 3:30 to 5, I think. Before that I have to go out with the Carevan to do CTR on the Earhart somewhere.

The vampire anthology that I am doing as Todd Gregory has an official name now: Blood Sacraments, and I will be composing the CFS for distribution sometime in the next few days; not exactly sure when that is going to happen (my to-do list is gigantic) but once it is ready, it will be posted here, on Facebook, emailed to preferred contributors, on and on and on. I am actually going to do an open call for the first time in recorded history since Full Body Contact a gazillion years ago--pray for me--but (and this is an important BUT) I will not be accepting electronic submissions. Yes, I know, how 1990's of me, but I don't want to clutter up my computer with a bunch of short stories I won't be using. (I also see this as an opportunity to cut down the amount of submissions I will receive.) Any thoughts on this, people? I also don't want to increase my time at the computer. I already spend WAY too much time on it, and I like to read submissions whilst ensconced in my recliner chair while MSNBC plays in the background.

And here are some bullet points:

1. Ayatollah Khameini--how can you even think of yourself as a man of God? You are a despicable cretin, and I can only hope your regime is toppled and your fate is turned over to the families of your victims. Enjoy hell, fuckwad.

2. Senator Ensign and Governor Sanford--I don't really give a fuck who you sleep with, or what you do in your private life, but when your public persona is 'family values,' you might want to consider keeping it zipped and practicing what you preach. When was the last Democrat sex scandal, anyway? I guess we should all be grateful you didn't keep your idiotic sanctimony going and blame gay marriage in Iowa et al for undermining your marriages? And oh, by the way, there is a hell of a lot more in your Bible about adultery than there is about homosexuality; in fact, adultery made God's Top Ten, didn't it?

3. I find it absolutely vile and disgusting that a gay man would use the word faggot as a slur against a heterosexual. Okay, Perez, how exactly do you justify calling Carrie Prejean a bitch and a homophobe when you yourself use faggot as a slur? Do us all a favor and go away, bitch.

4. Mary Landrieu: you are a disgrace. You oppose a public option for health insurance? Do I really need to remind you you are from New Orleans, and that the failure of the federal levees shut down Charity Hospital IN YOUR HOME TOWN permanently? That's right, you stupid Democrat In Name Only, all the poor and uninsured in New Orleans have no access to health care now...and do I really need to remind you that your decisive wins in Orleans Parish in all three senatorial elections put you in Washington in the first place? Way to piss on the people who put you in office. Take some more campaign donations from the health care industry, bitch. This is why we opposed your opponents? I hope to God you get a primary challenge next time--because I will campaign against you. I call on everyone in Orleans Parish to send her an email reminding her of where she's from, and what she is doing to her home city.

5. Senator McCain and other Republicans: shut the fuck up. You LOST the election, and every time I read a news report on Iran, or see one on television, I thank every deity I can think of that you and your scumdog party are no longer in power.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:45:45 GMT

Tonight, I have to work late; CTR at a bath house. Woo-hoo! That is always an interesting experience, I assure you.

Yesterday, my day off for this week, I went to Aunt Julie's, ran some tedious errands in Uptown, and then came home to go over the official edits for Murder in the Garden District. It's been about two months since I turned the thing in to the publisher, which was just about the right amount of time for me to stop being heartily sick of it and be able to read it again without vomiting up my most recent meal. I had the great privilege of working this time with Patrick Merla, and if you've never heard of him, for shame. Patrick is someone I simply adore. He worked for many different publishers for many different years, and is a firm fixture on the gay publishing scene in New York. He discovered, among others, Christopher Bram and Sarah Schulman; and we became acquainted when I worked for Lambda Lit--he was editor of The James White Review, and one of my tasks was being his assistant. The great irony was the other people at Lambda Lit all warned me that working with him was going to be incredibly difficult and probably the hardest part of my job; it turned out to be the best part of my job--the ones who warned me about him turning out to either be psychotic or useless or both. (Someday I will tell the tale of the horrible nightmare that year and a half was...) Obviously, after I left Lambda Lit we lost touch; so you can imagine the joy I experienced when I got the email from my editor telling me I would be again working with Patrick. I emailed him immediately and expressed my enormous delight.

And then came the trepidation. After all, I reasoned, he is used to working with literary writers. What is he going to think about my little New Orleans noir-esque mystery?

But it's been a wonderful experience--one which I am enormously pleased with. I read over the entire manuscript yesterday and am very happy with it. Hurray!

Since I have to work late tonight, and won't be home until around midnight, this morning I am making dinner, and have some other errands to do as well as go to the gym. I slept late both yesterday and today (nine am, go figure) but am in a pretty good mood. The heat isn't bothering me nearly as much as it was (yesterday the heat index topped 110), the discs for Season 2 of Burn Notice should arrive today, and my house is relatively tidy. I have a rather lengthy to-do list I need to get done, but am confident I can tear right through it once I finish my coffee this morning. I also think that part of the malaise has been knowing that the editing process of this book was hanging over my head; it was why I wasn't able to really dive into anything else because I knew (or feared) that once I got a roll going on something new I'd have to stop and go back to work on Garden District. All that's left to do now is the galleys, I believe, and this one will be ready to drop on October 1.

Hurray!

Help!

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:46:31 GMT

Needless to say, the following is very, very important. If you live in Louisiana, or have friends that do, please alert them to take action:

Everyone:

Please read the below and take action. It is very, very important. Send it to everyone you know.

Thanks,

Greg Herren

Arts Council of New Orleans Grant Applicants,
If you have not already sent this urgent message to Governor Jindal or to your representatives, please do this now.

JINDAL TO VETO ARTS FUNDING

Governor Jindal has stated he will veto the Legislature's reinstatement of Decentralized Arts Funding (DAF) and Statewide Art Grants (SAG), and political maneuvering has delayed the review of this portion of the budget until it's too late for the Legislature to override the veto without calling a special session.

The Governor originally cut 83% from these funds. Legislators were sent over 70,000 unique e-mails apiece urging them to support DAF and SAG funding. The result? The Legislature reinstated arts funding at 100% due to popular demand.

But if we don't get a huge response from all over the state to persuade the Governor NOW, we could be in serious trouble.

Please tell Governor Jindal TODAY that you want the Decentralized Arts Funding and Statewide Art Grants programs included in the state's budget:

Visit www.lparts.org and type your zip code into the box titled "Write Your Legislators." 1) Select "Contact Governor Jindal" and a sample message will pop up that you can send as-is, or re-word however you prefer. 2) The option below it, "Arts Funding in Jeopardy," will go to your Legislators.

DAF and SAG funds are crucial to our state's cultural economy. They support nonprofit arts organizations that increase tourism, enhance quality of life, educate children, and provide tax income for communities. The state's own economic impact studies show that these grants are an investment, earning Louisiana $6 in additional tax revenue for every $1 spent. Our culture is what makes our state special.

Please write today! It only takes a few moments, and with only 3 days left in the Legislative Session, we're almost out of time.

Please forward this message to everyone you know...friends, family, boards, artists, educators...we need to generate another 40,000 e-mails if we're going to make an impact on Governor Jindal.

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:20:17 GMT

I am apparently a bad gay man.

While quite naturally and understandably I was quite disappointed and angry with the Obama administration's DOMA brief filing of last Friday (prior to that, I had a 'wait and see' mentality with the President about my civil rights, recognizing that there is a lot on the White House plate), I did what I could: I fired off emails to the out people in Congress (Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, and Jared Polis--whom I met when I was in Denver and liked quite a bit); I wrote an email to the White House; I wrote another email to Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (there was no point in sending one to the whoremonger David Vitter); and I removed myself from all White House and Democratic Party donor email lists.

Despite doing these little things, I really found myself unable to muster the usual Greg outrage and anger. As you will have noticed, Constant Reader, I didn't blog about any of this other than a few Facebook updates; my post the other day when I simply blogged my answer to a fundraising appeal from the DNC being the primary exception. Why is this, you may well ask?

Because I have focused the majority of my attentions on what is going on in Iran.

I spent the weekend monitoring the situation over there. I did some on-line activism; setting up proxy sites for the protestors to access and use and report on until they were blocked by the Iranian censors, and then setting up a new one. Every few hours I would change my Twitter account settings to Tehran and their time zone so that the Iranian government would waste some time trying to block it--assuming that during that time they were trying to block my Twitter they would not be trying to block actual Iranian accounts, and then would change it back to the normal settings for an hour and then go back and switch them again. I have feared for the protestors, and watched and monitored the situation, all the while worrying that these brave people would be murdered and beaten by a truly repressive government.

And it also, by extension, gave me a perspective on our situation here in the United States of America, and our on-going fight to get true equality under the law here.

It also made me think about why exactly we haven't achieved our rights here as well.

Every movement has a leader. Gandhi, Dr. King, Mousavi in Iran, etc. Since Harvey Milk was murdered, our community truly has not had one; a focal point to rally around. We are not organized; we do not speak with one voice through an impassioned leader committed to our struggle. Yet despite this lack of cohesiveness--and the petty in-fighting (some of the things I read during the ENDA-lite debacle about throwing the trans community under the bus was some of the most vile and despicable bigotry I have ever had the misfortune to read, and what made it even more sickening was that it came from within the community; not from the religious right; or the right wing bitterness of the Log Cabin Republicans--who will endorse an anti-gay Republican over a pro-gay Democrat every time; and don't bother emailing or commenting with any of their pathetic talking points; there are little to no pro-gay Republicans and their campaign to 'change from within' has been a complete and unsurprising failure. If anything, the Republican party has become even more homophobic) we have made progress.

And when one takes into consideration the almost 100 year struggle for African-American civil rights (if one dates it from the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation through the Civil Rights Act being signed into law), we truly have come a long way since Stonewall. No, we haven't come far enough. We must continue to put pressure on Washington. We must continue to put pressure on our local elected officials. We must continue to recruit straight allies. We must make the Democratic Party aware that we (our money and our votes) will no longer be taken for granted. And while there are those who apologetically state that we as a community are not a large enough voting bloc to scare the Democrats, I posit this: President Obama won the election by 4 percentage points. If every LGBT voter and our straight allies had stayed home on November 4, 2008, John McCain would be in the White House RIGHT NOW.

As someone said on the Huffington Post yesterday, it is wrong to assume that the LGBT community is this tiny minority that doesn't matter. Every LGBT American has a lot of straight relatives who love them; every LGBT American has straight friends who also love them. Those straight allies actually outnumber the actual queers. There is no way to count them, there is no way to enumerate them--and Washington needs to know this.

Prop 8 indeed passed in California, but I find it hard to believe that the 48% of Californians who voted against it were all gays.

That's a shitload of straight support, people.

All polling (other than the ones run by Faux News and the religious fanatics) show that there has been a shift in the mindset of the American people about marriage equality and DADT.

And ultimately, I realized that the horrible brief filed last week by the Department of Justice in favor of DOMA was actually a good thing. It has awakened the community from its long torpor. People who were content to just sit on their asses and let other people fight for their rights are waking up and participating in the system.

We have to be pro-active. We cannot depend on Frank, Polis, Baldwin, the Task Force and the HRC to fight our battles for us. If we want full equality, we have to fight for it. We have to protest. We have to combat homophobia and the religious right on every front, wherever it appears.

No one ever won their rights by sitting on their asses and waiting for someone else to get those rights for them.

It took a war to free the slaves. It took massive protests and action in India to drive the British out. It took a war to create this country and get the rights Parliament refused to give us.

And right now, hundreds of thousands of Iranians are risking their lives every day by standing up to oppression and repression to fight for their freedom.

I salute you, Iranian protestors, and I call on every American who believes in full equality to take action of our own to let Washington know that bigotry and discrimination of any type is unAmerican, unconstitutional, and morally reprehensible and wrong.

Who's Sorry Now?

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:20:37 GMT

I just received an email asking for money from the President.

Here is my response:

With all due respect. as a gay American who not only donated money to this campaign, but worked on it, I am afraid I will not donate another dime for any Democratic Party initiative or candidacy given the horrible brief filed on behalf of this administration regarding DOMA.

I do not appreciate having my loving relationship of 16 years compared to incest or pedophilia--and I seriously doubt that you would, either.

And while I certainly recognize the importance of health care reform in this country, my wallet is officially closed.

Respectfully,

Greg Herren

Set Me Free Why Don't You Baby

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:11:09 GMT

Okay, so yesterday in my never-ending quest to find something--anything--to do other than actually write, I rediscovered the fact that our cable package has Soapnet, and so while I cleaned, I had a marathon of this week's episodes of The Young and the Restless on. I had absolutely no idea what was going on, and all kinds of weird shit apparently has happened that totally fucks with the continuity from the days I remember; but this show is notorious for forgetting its own history.

Ugh. My own laziness has struck me down yet again. And while the Lost Apartment is much neater and more dust-free than it was two days ago, all the things I planned on getting done whilst Paul was on the North Shore--that just didn't seem to happen. Of course, I could still somehow manage to get through it all today, but that would mean actually trying rather than just talking about it, and I think we all know what methodology I prefer. There is still some cleaning that needs to be done, and as soon as I finish this, I will go ahead and do that. Then I am going to shave and shower and (sigh) open Word and go to work before heading to the gym and the grocery store later. I have to also put the trash out, and run the vacuum in the living room. I did, however, manage to develop a system for keeping track of the books I am judging for that award I can't talk about. I also cleaned out all the drawers in the coffee table yesterday while watching Victoria Newman try to trap an art thief only to wind up trapped under a pile of empty crates. (I was also glad to see the old soap stable of 'something awful happening in slo-mo' hasn't gone away; or the helpless victim not even trying to move or anything, just throwing up their hands in a fruitless effort to save themselves as their eyes widen in terror and they say "Oh no! EEEEEEEEK!" I howled. And sorry, Peter Bergman will always be Dr. Cliff Warner to me.)

Okay, best get moving.

Hot Child in the City

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:09:16 GMT

For the second day in a row, I woke up feeling rested and with energy. I don't know what's different, but I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth. I took today off from work, and plan on getting a lot done today. That's the plan at any rate. In a little while, I am going to head to the gym and then run my errands before coming home and parking my ass in my desk chair and working, working, working. Paul is off to Hammond later today on the City of New Orleans (I love the fact that it's not just a song, but the real name of a train); I have to work tomorrow which is why I am not going with him. He'll be returning on Sunday, so I have a lot of time to be bored, which inevitably results in getting a lot done.

Ugh, the house is such a mess. I am trying to get caught up on the dishes and the laundry, and I am making homemade sloppy joes in the crockpot, which will get me through the weekend food-wise so I won't have to cook anything else. I'll probably make a big thing of salad today; then on Sunday morning since Paul's coming home I'll make those chicken breasts in soy sauce.

I also made a massive to-do list yesterday and I plan on getting through the whole thing. This morning I even emailed Outwrite in Atlanta to start the process of arranging a signing for Murder in the Garden District, Midnight Hungers, and Rough Trade. Whee!

Hopefully, I won't get sucked into the Huffington Post or Facebook today. Both are evil.

I also have a couple of movies to watch: Queen Margot and Frost/Nixon. I may even spend some time this weekend playing with pictures in Adobe Photoshop. Whee! That's always fun, you know.

Aunt Julie advised me on Thursday that she's planning on turning back into Simon Legree and cracking the whip on the BBB, so I absolutely HAVE to finish that other proposal this weekend so I can get her some pages on Tuesday--and hell hath no fury like Aunt Julie denied her pages. I also got an idea for a new short story this week, and I am going to play around with it as well this weekend. Big plans....

Okay, nuff of this. Off to the gym.

Vulnerable

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:32:48 GMT

The new Pet Shop Boys album rocks, as does the new Depeche Mode. I downloaded them last weekend, and they are awesome.

Finally, I got a good night's sleep last night. I woke up bright-eyed and bushy tailed (which is kind of a weird thing to say) this morning, and feel like I can get my act together. I also discovered what, I think, was the problem. I'd been sleeping with two pillows; last night I only slept on one. Hurray! Wide awake at eight thirty in the morning, and I am feeling motivated. Huzzah! Maybe I can indeed tear through all the things that I have been intending to get done this week. I've also decided to take a mental health day tomorrow and not go into the office. I am also going to make the to-do list I've been threatening to make all week--the malaise robbed me even of the desire to do that.

Hell, I may even COOK dinner tonight.

Stop the insanity!

As I am sure you are aware, Constant Reader, Carrie Prejean was dethroned yesterday. I had hoped to never say another word on here about that imbecile, but this firing has prompted me to make one last post about her, and after this, unless she provokes me publicly again, no more.

First of all, I want to make it abundantly clear that I never once thought Carrie Prejean should have been dethroned for saying what she said about gay marriage. When I watched the pageant and she said it, I thought, poor thing, she was kind of ambushed there, but she's not the only person who thinks that in this country and shrugged it off. When Perez Hilton went on the warpath the next morning, I thought that's really uncalled for. You asked, she answered, but then again, what can one expect from a publicity whore who will do or say anything to get his name out there? and again, shrugged it off. Perez Hilton does not speak for the gay community; he certainly doesn't speak for me, but then again, he has a right to his opinion and he can speak his mind.

And then the entire thing turned into something else entirely.

The right wing anti-marriage Christofascists went apeshit. They seized on this stupid beauty pageant contest controversy (and let's face it, beauty pageants are an archaic left over from the days when women were second-class citizens in law and considered by society to be nothing more than sperm receptacles/baby incubators) and rather than going after Perez Hilton's decided lack of class, they lumped all of us together into 'the gays' to advance their own agenda--and then Miss Christian Values This Was How I Was Raised No Offense joined forces with them. Sure, plenty of gays were in fact offended by what she said, as WE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE. Suddenly, she saw herself as this oppressed Christian martyr in a society that was going to hell, and painted herself as a victim of the gays. She signed up as the spokesperson for NOM (which only differs from the KKK in that they have not turned to violence--yet), and she loved every bit of the attention. She decided this was her chance for fame and fortune, and jumped on board with both feet, painting herself as this "moral upright Christian" being picked on by the gays who were trying to take away her right to free speech.

And like all right wing fascists, HER right to free speech was more important than anyone else's. NO ONE had the right to be offended by what she said, or had the right to exercise their right to free speech to criticize her.

And when sordid truths about her began to come out--she lied, and her lies were easily exposed. But like every other Christofascist, she was 'being victimized'. Sob, sob, sob. Those horrible, oppressive gays. Hey, the gays didn't make you pose half-naked. The gays didn't force you to get implants. The gays didn't force you into the pageant circuit. The gays didn't force you to become the spokesperson for NOM. The gays didn't force you to go onto Faux News, every hour on the hour.

When her crown as Miss California was jeopardized, I didn't think she should have lost her crown for what she said at the pageant. I thought she should have for everything she had done and said since then. But again, they didn't have the right to terminate her for that. What she had done, however, was breach her contract by not doing her job; blowing off appearances she was required to do as Miss California. And when Donald Trump gave her a second chance, I thought, well, so be it. That's the end of the story.

Instead, she continued to blow off her contractual obligations, and yesterday Trump axed her. It was very smart of Trump (the king of opportunism). Had he fired her last month, she would have been a martyr to the gays. Instead, they waited and amassed enough ammunition to fire her on grounds she could not argue with and play the victim again. The emails that were released yesterday between her and the Miss California pageant regarding her refusal to do what she was supposed to definitely exposed her as a charlatan, an egomaniac, an opportunist, and frankly, a bitch who thinks she's better than everyone else. Her contempt for her original platform, the Special Olympics, was implied by how quickly she forgot about it when she had the chance to become famous. And her attitude towards the Special Olympics comes across very clearly in one particular email when she taunts pageant director Keith Lewis, I'm presenting medals at the Special Olympics and I don't need to clear that with you. What are you going to do, stop me from presenting medals to special needs kids? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

That is DESPICABLE, and hardly moral, and certainly not Christian.

Obviously, to her the Special Olympics was something to be USED for her gain.

Christianity, and morality, are not simply a cloak to put on when it's convenient. It's about who you are, and how you live your life. You cannot just talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.

A true, moral Christian, in the wake of Perez Hilton calling her a 'dumb bitch' on his blog the morning after, would have said, "I'm sorry Mr. Hilton felt the need to say that. But he's entitled to his opinion just as I am entitled to mine. Can we talk about the Special Olympics now?"

In fact, had she conducted herself in the wake of the Miss USA pageant in a classy, dignified manner, and steered everything back to the Special Olympics, she would have won a lot more sympathy from people and could have done a lot of good for the Special Olympics, which was supposedly the most important thing to her.

Instead, she showed her opportunistic colors. She, and anyone else, is perfectly entitled to think same-sex marriage is wrong. You can hate blacks, Asians, hispanics, Jews--whoever the hell you want to hate, you can. There's no law against being a bigot in this country; there are only laws to prevent you from using your bigotry to actively discriminate against whatever group it is you hate. But she became the spokesperson for a group determined to enshrine bigotry and prejudice into the law of the land, which is a violation of the basic premise of the United States Constitution. She turned herself into the very public face of homophobia and then somehow seemed to think she was above criticism.

No one, my dear Ms. Prejean, is above criticism in this country. You aren't Queen. It's the other side of fame, and if you want fame, you have to pay the price. And if you seem to think otherwise, you haven't been paying attention. I often deplore the tabloidization of the news media in this country; look at what Lindsay and Britney and Madonna and other public figures have to go through and deal with. How did you think that you were above criticism? Exposure as a hypocrite?

Remember the old Let he who is without sin cast the first stone?

Just like how all the right-wingers get all pissy when someone takes a potshot at Sarah Palin or her family. Letterman referred to her look as 'slutty flight attendant' the other night and the right wing is up in arms about how shitty that was--but those same people are the ones who call Hillary Clinton a bitch, ugly, a lesbian, mock her hips and ankles, etc. etc. etc. They call foul when Bristol Palin is mocked and they say 'children should be off limits'--but where was their outrage when Rush Limbaugh called twelve-year-old Chelsea Clinton the White House dog? No, they laughed and thought that was funny. They thought it was funny when JOHN MCCAIN joked publicly that the reason Chelsea Clinton was so ugly was "because Janet Reno is her father." But it's an outrage when someone mocks Bristol Palin being the spokesperson for abstinence when she clearly wasn't abstinent. Do I think it's right that people make Bristol Palin jokes? No, I don't, just as I didn't when they were mocking a twelve year old girl who had no say in becoming a public figure. And ask yourself this: what would these right wingers be saying about her were it Chelsea Clinton who was unwed and pregnant?

I think "whore" would be the nicest thing they would say.

I'm sick of the double standards. I am sick of the right wing mentality that they can go into the gutter, do and say anything they please about anyone on the left, and then when the left comes after them, it's "evil and cruel."

I can assure you, had the right attacked Rush Limbaugh and John McCain and made them apologize to Chelsea Clinton, I would be right there beside them defending Bristol Palin against attacks. But they didn't. They laughed, and encouraged it.

But now that the show is on the other foot, they can't take it. The left is horrible.

Same with Ms. Prejean. You go out there and become the public face of homophobia, and then get your feelings hurt when the gays and the left attack you? Fuck you, bitch.

Take your fake tits, go home and stop playing then.

Summer in the City

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:04:01 GMT

Yesterday, Kedley and I discussed how everyone we seem to know (including ourselves) seemed to be trapped in a malaise of some sort. "Maybe," I finally said, "June is just a rehearsal for the laziness that comes with July and August."

I also haven't been sleeping particularly well lately, which doesn't exactly get me going on getting things done. And while I usually wake up between seven and eight, and am wide awake when my eyes open, the last five or six days I've slept later, haven't wanted to get up once I did kind of groggily open my eyes, and even the coffee doesn't seem to do much good. Each of those days, as I kind of lazily drifted through the days with a singular lack of productivity, or without any desire to achieve productivity, I kept thinking to myself, well, tomorrow I'll just tear through everything and then will feel ever-so-much better about things."

How's that working for you, Greg?

I hate the malaise.

Some Are The Melody, Some Are The Beat

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:18:31 GMT

Well, the proposal still isn't finished. Sheesh. This is remarkably sluggish, even for me--and that's saying a lot. Perhaps today I can get it done. I have another one to do right behind it, and this is not getting me anywhere. I don't understand why I've been so lazy the last few weeks. Heavy heaving sigh.

Perhaps its the lack of a to-do list (see? I told you I was being sluggish). Mayhap today I will have to break down and do a list so I can start getting all of these things crossed off, as they need to be. I have to work late tonight and tomorrow night (AUGH) and figure out some other things as well. I hate that for me, seriously I do. But this lethargy has got to go.

I put on a pair of shorts yesterday and was stunned that they were loose; the last time I wore them I thought I was going to have to have my legs amputated. I also weighed myself at the gym the other day and had gained another two pounds. What I am assuming this means--and what I would ordinarily take it to mean--is that I've gained some muscle and burned off some fat tissue; but considering how lame and lazy my workouts (the few I've bothered to do in the last few weeks) have been, I find it rather hard to believe. My T-shirts are all now obnoxiously tight in the chest and shoulder areas as well. (Okay, I admit, they were always tight, but when I notice they are tight it's probably not a good thing.)

Sigh. Get over yourself already, fat ass.

Not sure what to do about dinner tonight, but I am sure I'll figure something out. I won't be home until after eight, which is really too late to start cooking. There is some left-over homemade pizza in the refrigerator; I could always make a salad and have a nice healthy dinner (one would think that would be a priority given my obsessing about weight, but one would be wrong). Or I could order take-out from Snug Harbor, which sounds even better, frankly.

I think I am going to take the camera to work with me tomorrow--Kedley and I will be doing testing at Good Friends tomorrow night from 6-8, come on down and get tested--so I can take some more pictures of the Marigny and the Quarter. I've really been a slug regarding the camera lately (why should it be any different than anything else, right?), and maybe making myself do something easily creative will turn the switch back on.

Maybe part of the malaise is all this judging I am having to do. The stack of 'to be judged' books is getting smaller, but every day more arrive in the mail. I had hoped to have every book on hand evaluated by the end of the week, but at this rate I don't know that I'll ever be able to get through them all. Note to self: learn how to say no.

Jackass.

In exciting Saints and Sinners news for 2010, i can confirm that Michael Nava will be attending. This excites me; as Michael is one of my mystery heroes, and one of the few I've never actually met in person. Whee! Isn't that awesome? Hurray!

I'm also working on a couple of others that I hope will get everyone excited. Hey, wait--I am doing something; trying to sign up folks to speak at S&S next year. So perhaps I am not as big a slug as I think I am.

Go Greg, go Greg, go Greg.

Okay, best try to get something done before I head to the office.

Pilot of the Airwaves

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:59:25 GMT

It's raining, and the kitchen roof is leaking again.

Grrrrr. Someone's head is going to roll. Perhaps it will be best to let Paul deal with this, as he can be diplomatic.

We had a Popular marathon yesterday (there are two discs left in Season One, and six in Season Two), and can someone explain to me why this show was not a gay cult classic? First of all, the creator and head-writer helped develop and still writes for Ugly Betty; and this show has such a delightfully wicked and sly sensibility and sense of humor (think Addams Family Values, hitherto the best example of this) that I cannot for the life of me understand why the gays did not embrace this show when it was on, or why they haven't since it was cancelled. The show takes the classic stereotypical high school story (jocks vs. nerds) and not only dissects it, it also dismembers it and blows it up. Every episode examines the stereotype, as well as an 'issue' that derives out of the social divide (there was an absolutely brilliant one about body image; which included not just the girls but the boys as well) with humor and intelligence; it can make you laugh one minute and break your heart the very next. The young cast is all extremely talented (the guy who plays Betty's boyfriend Henry on Ugly Betty is on the show, playing, of course, nerdy Harrison), their chemistry together is sizzling, and you find yourselves rooting for all of the kids--and all of the characters (with a couple of exceptions) are well developed and explored. (The exceptions to this are, of course, uber bitch cheerleader Nicole Julien and her co-hort, Mary Cherry; Nicole is a bitch who is a bitch because it makes her laugh, and the actress who plays her is pitch-perfect; Mary is a Southern belle who is so over the top you can't help but laugh--and her mother is played by frequent guest star Delta Burke--which should give you an idea about Mary's character) The show goes from serious to the frankly absurd without turning a hair; and the absurd is so absurd and over-the-top you can't help but laugh. The great irony of the entire show is that the only character who is always honest and is completely herself without fear, and isn't pretending (or aspiring) to be something she is not is, of course, uber bitch Nicole. She's a mean bitch, but she's at peace with herself. Her showdowns with faculty members alone make the show worth watching.

And the show's premise is brilliant: school paper editor Sam (called "Spam" by Nicole) hates the jock/cheerleader clique for the superficiality and cruelty. Head cheerleader Brooke is beautiful and popular--the two butt heads in the first episode and by the end of the third absolutely hate each other; so of course their single parents fall in love and move them all into one house. The concept of having to share a home and family with the person you hated the absolute most in high school--is there any better creation of teenaged angst hell?

Sigh. Now we have to wait for the next discs to arrive.

Angels Never Call

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 14:14:43 GMT

Outside of some laundry, the grocery store and the gym, yesterday was a complete--and totally satisfying--waste of a day. Alas, since I did nothing yesterday I must get things done today. The rest of the laundry is currently running, and at some point I need to put the dishes away and reload the dishwasher. As always, I have a bajillion things to do today as well as for the rest of the week, but so let it be written, so let it be done.

We started watching Popular last night, and I highly recommend it. One must, of course, get past the slow pilot episode, because the craziness truly starts in the second episode of Disc One. By the time we watched the fourth episode, finishing off Disc One, Paul and I were completely hooked. Of course, this show's 'high school' is not based in any kind of reality; people actually read the school newspaper and it apparently wields more power around the school than the New York Times does in the country; two junior varsity cheerleaders have the power to select the rest of their squad with no teachers involved in the decision; the star quarterback auditions for the school production of South Pacific; and other stuff. But the show is highly, highly entertaining. (Paul and I love the character of Mary Cherry; who is just a scream.) As I watched, it made me reflect on high school movies, TV shows, and books I'd read over the course of my life, and came to the conclusion the only movie I've ever seen that had any basis in reality was Sixteen Candles; when I saw it in the theater I remember thinking, over and over again, oh my God that is exactly what my high school was like. As for fiction, the only book I can honestly remember reading and thinking was accurate, ironically, was Stephen King's Christine. (As entertaining as Mean Girls was--and it is one of my favorite movies, as is Heathers--neither film I felt had any basis in the reality of the high school experience.)

I am training Jean at the gym today, and I am going to go an hour earlier and do a lengthy workout of my own. I have been making it back into the gym, slowly easing my way back into working out. But this is the week I am determined to really start pushing myself there again. (Southern Decadence, after all, is a mere three months in the future--eep!) So, once I bore myself with this I am going to get the dishes taken care of, get this kitchen cleaned up a bit, and then do some work before I head over to the gym. Such an exciting day, eh?

Crap! I just remembered I had a story idea last night while watching Popular, and I remember nothing of it. See what I mean about always having a notebook handy? And it was a good idea, too--one of those ones I thought was too good to forget. Sigh.

That just so totally sucks--oh, wait. I just remembered it. Okay, off to write it down.

Happy Sunday, all.

Spotlight

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:14:51 GMT

Last night, Skittle and I were watching The Rachel Maddow Show (Skittle actually prefers Keith Olbermann), waiting for Paul to get home from the gym so I could make tacos, when I heard him outside talking to someone. Hmmm, I thought to myself, who's he talking to for so long? Skittle didn't know either, and climbed up into the window to give him the hey, buddy, I'm in HERE, what's so important you can't come in here and scratch my head? look. A few more moments passed, and then Paul came in the front door.

GREG: So who were you talking to out there?

PAUL: Harriet (aka the Wonder Landlady). She just joined the Book of the Month Club, and was really excited to see that they have your books in their catalogue.

GREG: Really? Which ones?

PAUL: Murder in the Rue Chartres and Murder in the Rue Ursulines. She said she figured you already knew, but wanted to mention it. I told her that you probably didn't know.

GREG: No, I actually didn't.

PAUL: She just thought it was cool, but she's really excited you're writing another Scotty book.

Harriet the Wonder Landlady is a HUGE fan of Scotty. In fact, when I told her Kensington had dropped the series, she wanted to call my editor and tell him what a huge mistake he was making. (And you people wonder why I love living here at Barbary Lane?)

So, this morning I went to their website to do a search, typed in my name and nothing came up, as I suspected. I went to the Quality Paperback Book Club; same thing. Mystery Guild? Again, nothing for me. I mean, there may have been a FLYER in her latest mailing from them; since the books are with Insightoutbooks and I think the same parent company owns all of the book clubs, and I think they do cross-promotional stuff between the clubs; I always throw those little flyers in the trash and don't even look at them. I mean, how cool would it have been to be in the Book of the Month Club? They rarely, if ever, carry gay titles (unless you're David Sedaris or Christopher Rice) and rarely carry many mysteries (unless you're a big deal like Sue Grafton, James Lee Burke, or James Patterson), so what were the odds of their deciding to carry mysteries by a little-known homo from New Orleans? I'm not even a big deal in gay mysteries (Christopher Rice, John Morgan Wilson, Anthony Bidulka), which means I am an even bigger nobody in the bigger pond of mystery writers. So there would be absolutely no earthly reason for my little mysteries to be carried by the Book of the Month Club.

Although I am rather curious as to what Harriet was talking about.

Okay, I am heading off to the gym, the post office and the grocery store.

Surrender

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:28:01 GMT

I am dragging this morning--and no, that doesn't mean I am wearing a bad wig, horrible make-up, and an old Carnival gown while lip-synching to Beyonce in my kitchen. It means I am tired. I haven't slept well this week--and of course I've never caught up on my sleep from the two sleepless nights of molar pain (and don't think I've forgotten your treachery, molar). But today is Friday--huzzah!--and while it will be a bit of long-ish day, at least it's Friday. DId I already say huzzah? I have to go to some advertising agency this morning to record a video (I think about two minutes) for the Office of Public Health's new HIV prevention and information website. Later on this evening, Kedley and I are doing CTR at the Pub from 6-8 (anyone wanting a free HIV test, c'mon on down!), and then I finally get to come slouching home to collapse on the couch and hopefully watch The Soup. I may even make tacos for dinner tonight (I haven't made dinner all week, which Paul has been gracious enough not to complain about). I think this lost week is directly related to spending all of last weekend suffering from tooth pain and not sleeping (again, I haven't forgotten your treachery, molar). So, tonight, I may just take a sleeping aid of some sort and just go to bed early. (I have LOTS to do tomorrow. Sigh.)

Which reminds me, I need to make a list for this weekend. Sigh.

I almost finished with a proposal--hurray!--and am finally ready to start working on BBB. Huzzah! I have some other things to do while I work on BBB, but I want to get the fifty pages the agent wants to see finished by the end of this month. But once this other proposal is finished, I will actually be able to put all the thinking and researching I've been doing on 17th century France to work for me. Paul is also trying to arrange a getaway weekend for us to the North Shore (hurray!) sometime this month, and I am hopeful it will all work out.

And dear Lord in heaven! Last night while working at the front desk during CTR, I watched a show I'd forgotten was quite amusing--The Big Bang Theory; and then watched for the first time The New Adventures of Old Christine, which was also highly amusing. When Allison said, "hmmm, I'll have to check on line to see if I can catch up on these shows," I went to hulu.com to see if they were there--they weren't--but while there just for the hell of it I typed Dynasty in the search engine, and the first two seasons are there! Perhaps this weekend I'll watch some of Season 2; after all, there is nothing quite like the shameless unapologetic sheer bitchery of Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington--and she was truly at her best that second season.

The Flower and the Vine

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:01:25 GMT

I was woken up by a glorious thunderstorm this morning. There's nothing quite like being under your magic blue Mexican blankets as thunder crashes and rain comes down in bucket after bucket to the point that the house shakes. Man, I love that. Skittle was, as always, terrified by the thunder and got into the bed with me, burrowing into the covers. Of course, that lasted until the sun came out--at which point he immediately turned into Hey, bud, get your lazy ass out of bed and feed me.

And now, outside everything is dripping and glistening in the sun.

Today I am facing down a bit of a long day. Nothing really new there, of course, and tomorrow is an even longer one than today. But then it's the glorious weekend. Hurray! Huzzah!

I got a great idea for a story last night; hopefully this morning I will remember enough of it to write some of it down. (My notebook was nowhere to be found as I read pages of Facebook updates as I wound down for bed.)

My goal is to try to get as much work done as I possibly can on Saturday so that I can take Sunday as a free day and just chill out with movies and TV shows on Netflix. A boy can dream, can he not?

Last night, Paul and I watched the finale of Make Me a Supermodel, and young Brandon, who was just such a cutie, was the winner. (We were rooting for him.) As I watched the show, I was rather amused by the realizations that 1) I decry reality television yet I always seem to watch it; and 2) for someone who has pretty much spent his entire life thinking the fashion industry is stupid and demeaning to women, I sure watch a lot of reality television built around said industry: Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, Make Me a Supermodel, etc. etc. etc. Of course, Paul and I kept a running commentary going while we were watching the show, until at one point I looked at him and said, "You know, we are just terrible people." He blinked, grinned and smiled, and we laughed the laughter of the truly damned. (Ah yes, this is what triggered it: the three finalists--all men--were doing a shoot for Cosmopolitan--the winner would grace the magazine's cover--and one of the models went into an explanation of what Cosmopolitan IS, and Paul smirked, "Whew. Thank God! I've wondered for years what Cosmopolitan was" to which I responded, "Yeah, really, fuck you. I've met Helen Gurley Brown--I've been to her HOUSE. I don't need you frigging explaining to me what Cosmo is!")

See what I mean? SO going to hell.

Oh, here's the rough draft of the cover of the new anthology I am doing as Todd Gregory. Bear in mind, this is NOT the title...they just needed something to fill the space.

Not bad, eh? I will be putting the submission call together this weekend and then posting it everywhere.

And now, back to the spice mines.

Carry On Wayward Son

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:15:31 GMT

Mornin, folks. Did you miss me?

Just so you know, and your children will someday know, the best thing to do if you have gum or tooth pain that blinds you and makes you want to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger is:

1. Massage the part of the gum that is swollen or painful with a Q-Tip.

2. Start taking co10.

3. Rinse the painful area with Golden Seal extract.

4. Then rinse the painful area with hydrogen peroxide.

5. Last step: put baking soda on a toothbrush and brush the gum and tooth with it.

Presto. In no time at all, the pain is gone. Next thing you know, the swelling is gone. And all of a sudden, you are a human being again. No emergency visit to the dentist. No need to go to the emergency room. No need to buy painkillers. No need to use your gun.

Who knew it was that easy? And now I know what to do in the future should this horror recur. Why, oh why, did I not go to the homeopathic remedies website three or four or ten years ago?

Cuz I is a moron, dat's why. I doan trust dem damned interwebs.

In other exciting news, I just signed a contract to edit another anthology. Yup, gay vampire erotica. Hurray for hitting the sub-genre trifecta! Woo-hoo! Right now, there's no title--even though the cover has already been designed and is a winner, big-time. I am thinking of coming up with something new and original, you know, like Queer Twilight or New Gay Moon or Breaking Dawn of the Gays. You know, something that will sell. Hee hee. Truthfully, though, I am really thinking along the lines of something like Blood Scent, but haven't come up with anything I am truly wild about. I loved loved loved the title I used for the Todd Gregory novella, Blood on the Moon, but alas, have already used that one like a jackass.

Sigh. I also have a lot to say regarding the murder of George Tiller, but will probably wait until I have a good head of steam and outrage going before I post about that.

Sometimes When We Touch

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:55:02 GMT

Another hellish night of horrible mouth pain and swelling and very little sleep. I am about to go to Walgreens and get some more painkillers, and if it isn't starting to clear up--or at least be manageable--I am going to the emergency room later on today. I don't know what they might be able to do for me (remember to pack a book in my backpack just in case), maybe some kind of meds or something other than what I already have on hand, but irregardless, right now I am just ready to put a gun to my head and pull the trigger. It's that bad.

Okay, the painkillers seem to have finally kicked in. I also did a google search (why I didn't do this yesterday is beyond me; I blame the pain and not thinking clearly) to find some homeopathic cures I can also pick up at Walgreens. I also have to go to the bank on my way to the office.

It sucks when you can't sleep for a couple of days. Obviously, the timing of this couldn't be worse; I was really planning on getting my shit back together on every front this week after the distractions and discombobulations from S&S and then jury duty. Thanks, God! By the way, you suck.

Good thing I am an atheist.

We finished watching True Blood last night, and are both totally bummed that we'll have to wait so long for the next season to not only come out but then be released to DVD. Bastards at HBO, anyway. I also started reading Maureen Dowd's Bushworld yesterday, but got too angry and had to put it away. And honestly, anything about the Bushies written DURING the administration is seriously out of date, anyway.

Ah, June. Happy Pride month, everyone.

The Warrior

Sun, 31 May 2009 17:08:59 GMT

I finished reading Randy Wayne White's Dead Silence yesterday, and really enjoyed it. I didn't get any writing done yesterday--no surprise there, right?--as I was sucked into another Oxygen marathon of America's Next Top Model (again, no surprise, right?) while Paul was at the play. He really enjoyed it; it's called Hand over Fist and it was this year's Saints and Sinners Play Contest winner. It's at the Marigny Theater, if anyone in New Orleans wants to go see it.

I slept late this morning, then balanced my checkbook and (sigh) paid the damned bills. I can't really complain, tho, the Entergy bills have been so remarkably low since last fall; they are less than half of what they used to be. Not working at home apparently helps on that level, I reckon. I had planned on going to Ryan's farewell partying today (barhopping from 4-12) but I have an infected tooth and the left side of my face is swollen and a bit painful (when I forget to take the painkillers). So, instead I am going to go train Jean at the gym, do a quick leg workout of my own, and then come home and try to get caught up on some stuff--laundry, kitchen cleansing, some planning on writing, and contract signing. I also need to make a to-do list for the week so I can get my life organized and under control. Paul and I will undoubtedly finish off True Blood tonight. I am also going to make a big thing of salad for the week, as well as some tuna salad to take sandwiches for lunch. Paul wants jambalaya for dinner tonight, and I am going to make that as well.

I also need to make my reservation for the Golden Crown conference in Orlando. I keep forgetting to do that, and I also need to make an eye appointment as well as an appointment with the (sigh) proctologist for an annual follow-up on the stupid surgery from all those years ago. Needless to say, that is not something I enjoy doing.

I am also getting my act together this week at the gym and as far as healthy eating is concerned. I made a good start yesterday, just need to keep it going. Whee!

Okay, off to fold laundry. Such an exciting life I lead, no?

Shakedown Cruise

Sat, 30 May 2009 15:32:02 GMT

Ah, Saturday. I have stuff to do, as always, none of which I actually want to do, but it's not like I have a choice. Post office, Vitamin Shoppe, groceries, the gym (I've really got to get it together; I look dreadful and all of my shirts are too small), and then tonight Paul is going to a play with Karissa ("I'd have asked you if you wanted to go with, but I knew you wouldn't want to." Bliss is a partner who knows you well enough to not bother with the formalities--because I would have said 'no' so he didn't waste either of our time.) tonight so I will be left alone with the keyboard, Needy Kitty, and the latest Randy Wayne White, Dead Silence. I love Randy Wayne White. I also finished The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry (thanks, jury duty!) this week, and I got a copy of Jameson Currier's latest short story collection in the mail this week I'd like to read--and once I do that I need to buckle down and start reading for a book award I am serving as a judge for (I can't say what award, anything about any of the books, etc. etc. etc. I really hate secrecy.), because the entries are piling up. I have been judging for awards for about eight years now, and every time I do it I always say I am never going to do it again. I've been a Lammy judge, Publishing Triangle Awards judge, and numerous mystery book awards judge. I would like to think, of course, that this means that people think I have excellent taste, but the truth is more like they know I am a sucker who can't say no.

I hate that about me.

We watched two more episodes of True Blood, and with no disrespect intended to leading man Stephen Moyer, I don't understand why the male romantic lead on this show is, frankly, the least attractive man in the cast. And forgive me, it's been a while, but I don't think there is nearly as much sex in the books as there is in the show. (I don't recall there being ANY sex in the books, to be honest. I am tempted to buy the first book in the series again just to see.) We should polish off True Blood this weekend, and next up is Popular, a show we discovered in the last few episodes of its second (and final) season back in the late 90's, and really enjoyed. By the time we get through with it's two seasons, the second season of Burn Notice should be available, and I am thinking about getting NCIS, which should take us through the summer.

I also need to start gathering and acquiring things for the revision to my 2005 taxes. Ye Gods, how I love my new accountant!

I also have a couple of contracts to review, sign and return.

Heavy heaving sigh. Back to the spice mines.