Reaching Out

WHAT A YEAR AMIRITE

A quick rundown:

VISA SHENANIGANS:

Re-applied for the O1B; got approved. I was visiting Singapore at the time (it was fun!) and so didn't actually apply for a visa appointment until I got home, and even then I faffed about because I had to get a new passport since it was going to expire in a year or so.

Ten days before my visa interview, Malaysia went on its first COVID lockdown. I couldn't schedule a fresh appointment until late June, and by that time, the first available appointment was in January 2021.
(And that, too, has been cancelled, so my appointment is in March, because what the hell.)

EXERCISE:

I started playing Just Dance Now in my room, since I can't go swimming! For a time I was swimming very regularly at the Holiday Villa, and learned to go only at certain times of the day because otherwise the guy at the desk would get all "You need to pay bc you're a guest, not a member" since I was using my mother's membership card.

- I got a FitBit! It's an Inspire HR. I've gotten used to wearing it a lot, though I've stopped logging my water intake.

BLEH:

I do not like living with my parents. I wake up anxious in the morning waiting for my parents to quarrel and bicker and I don't go downstairs until my mom is gone because she's going to comment on my morning drink because it's too much sugar and just URGH. My dad knocks and comes in without my saying so or calls me for stupid inane things like "don't forget to take in the clothes when it's raining" or "flatten the boxes" or something that I would get to eventually, just not as quickly as he wants me to do it.

- I lost not just one, but TWO computers. My ASUS has konked out again despite promisingly working so well for a while longer. The novel I had been working on there in Scrivener is not completely lost? I still have an earlier draft with the first 1/5, but most of it was handwritten, and that handwritten material... is in California. There was also a short story draft that is now gone. I'll have to start it from scratch again--it was a difficult thing to work on though, so maybe re-starting will be better.

My old HP has also died, after about almost 10 years. The hard drive, comprising ten years of memories, is also gone, and I was so sure I had backed it up somewhere, but cannot for the life of me find the external drive. I've got bits and pieces here and there, and my writing folder is often backed up. I especially mourn the pictures I took in 2012 when I took my road trip across the States.

I'm now on one machine for both work and writing, and would like to change that. I'd like to get another ASUS T1 because the keyboard layout was very suitable for me.


GOOD:

- I made a sweet potato cheesecake. I should make another one.

- I've been doing more embroidery and invested in a 200-skein packet. I need to do more of it!


WEIRD:

- I'm now Vice-President for the Malaysian Writers Society?? I guess I am. I should do more stuff while I'm here.

- All in all, I'm a bit amazed that I've spent over a year in Malaysia now?? Since 2003, I haven't been back for more than a summer season. I'm definitely going to move the fuck out if I ever come back and re-settle here.


EDITOR THINGS

- The first two long-form debuts I ever edited have come out! THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES got like FOUR Starred Reviews, and NUCLEATION is such a fun space opera. They're both debuts as well, so that is also super cool. I also edited Marie Brennan's DRIFTWOOD, a fix-up novel, another first!!

- I'm also editing an anthology which has parenthood as its core theme. I'm quickly realising I... uh, would prefer working on an anthology where I get to pick out of slush, rather than one with a committed roster.

- I've also signed an NDA for a cultural consultant project.

- The last volume of HOW TO TREAT MAGICAL BEASTS that I'm adaptation editor of is out in March! I really enjoy this job, so I hope to have more chances to do that stuff.

- I was on a panel talking about food, colonization, and diaspora for the Carl Brandon Society!

- I was part of yet another Worldbuilding Master Class for Writing the Other. I think I'd like to re-visit the video and update it. I'll have to ask Tempest about that.


WRITER THINGS

I published four things this year:

"Trials by Whiteness: Definitions of Whiteness and Eurocentrism, and Their Relevance Post-RaceFail" at Strange Horizons: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/trials-by-whiteness-definitions-of-whiteness-and-eurocentrism-and-their-relevance-post-racefail/

"Scholar Miaka’s Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit 132.NW.1" in RECOGNIZE FASCISM, ed. Crystal Huff: https://www.worldweaverpress.com/store/p171/Recognize_Fascism.html
CW: gendered violence, transphobia, slavery, physical & reproductive violence

"Mid-Autumn Incense" as part of Circlet Press' last Halloween Microfiction series: http://www.circlet.com/halloween-microfiction-mid-autumn-incense-by-september-sui/
CW: suicide

"In The Glass Hall of Supreme Women" at Fireside Fiction: https://firesidefiction.com/in-the-glass-hall-of-supreme-women
CW: body horror, misogyny, fungi


My 2019 short story "The Freedom of the Shifting Sea" got more press:
- reprinted in John Joseph Adams' BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2020, guest edited by Diana Gabaldon: http://www.johnjosephadams.com/best-american/projects/best-american-science-fiction-and-fantasy-2020/
- Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award Honors List: http://carlbrandon.org/awards/


My friend Stephani Soejono and I worked on a listicle, "Top 5 Hunting Grounds This Summer Season" which features fake local places for man-eating mermaids to go hunting: https://curiousfictions.com/stories/3278-jaymee-goh-top-5-hunting-grounds-this-summer-season

My Curious Fictions is sadly neglected because I am no good at keeping up anything regular, apparently. I do like it a lot as a platform though!


I also finished a 128k-word draft of a novel, which started out as fanfic of How Raeliana Ended Up At The Duke's Mansion (which was a manhwa I was enjoying until recent episodes where it turns out the core concept is actually quite WRETCHED and I am FURIOUS) and I've since made it its own thing. I'm doing a major re-write which is currently at 98k words and that's probably 2/3rds of the way through. I was hoping to have a better draft by the end of the year but that doesn't seem to be happening? We'll see--I'm stuck at a character death right now but maybe I'll figure it out in a bit.

The quick pitch: "A promising young woman wakes up in the body of a side character from a murder mystery romance webserial. Thing is, this character's doomed to be fridged before the story even starts! Not to mention that for a romance, there is a very high, very politicised, body count. Our intrepid side character is off to discover secrets that fanlore could only guess at, and help the hero, a duke of the kingdom (of course he is!) stop his enemies before they get the better of him."


I'm also now on AO3! My handle there is septembersongs but I don't have much, just some Girl Genius fic and Strange Magic stuff.

So it looks like I'll have two publications this year: a reprint and an original story.

Can't announce the reprint just yet--should be able to announce it in October, since it comes out in November.

The original story is called "In The Glass Hall of Supreme Women," out from Fireside Fiction in the Fall quarter issue. It's a take on white women voting for Trump and, uh, cordyceps.

I've also signed a contract for another short story that'll come out from World Weaver press.

I must really get going on my non-fiction essays but... somehow writing them is really freaking hard?! Everytime I think I have a good idea it just flits away and the words will. not. come. It's so frustrating!! I've never had writer's block quite to this extent before. It doesn't help that I have not been getting out of the house to write (or do anything, really) and I'm just plagued with guilt as a reslt.

--

Now that I have hangers for everything in my closet, I... am now going to wash stuff. Some of these just haven't been washed in maybe... years...? Because they just aren't the type that need washing much, or they need to be dry-cleaned and I'm poor, or they have to be handwashed and I just usually don't have the time, or whatever. Either way they ought to be washed now because they've got a particular kind of small of old clothes. It's not sweaty and it's not necessarily unpleasant, kind of like moth balls a little? Except I don't use moth balls. A little dusty. Organising them makes my nose itch and I don't think that's right. Either way, washing must happen.

I'll have to wash in batches, to account for the various textures of the clothes (wouldn't want to wash a heavily beaded thing with a chiffon outfit!!), so here's hoping next week in between regular laundry there'll be a lot of sunshine.

--

It has been raining a lot lately so I haven't needed the a/c which is nice. My dad bought me a new standing fan, too.

My old one works, as in, if I hit the plug on the wall (our wall plugs have on/off switches; it was a little disconcerting when I got North America and the wall plugs don't hve them; I sort of thought that electricity leaked out of them all the time I KNOW DON'T _me) it will eventually turn on (takes about a few minutes to get going these days) and the speed controls on it don't work--whether it's 0, 1, 2, or 3, it's the same speed that I THINK is 1 and it has been so for the last 7 years or so. But it's never been a problem?

So now I have a new standing fan which has all the different speeds, AND has a timer too! I can set it to keep blowing for up to 2 hours and then it'll turn off by itself. It's a nice option for people who need the fan to get to sleep, but don't want the fan blowing all night long (which is admittedly me!). The thing is that it's quite loud? And even the lowest speed blows quite aggressively so it's not as comfortable.

Still, with one-and-a-half fans, both blowing at the same time, on cool days I can really get the air blowing through the room. The old fan is now at my window blowing in cool air when I need it, and that gets circulated out the door with the other fan that points at my bed (now at the door). So in general my room has been cooler and less stuffy than it has been for months now. I'm quite pleased.

--

I updated my top post! It has a bit more about myself in case there are new followers. Also it was set to Oct 2020 and I figure it's about time since I think I set that in 2015 or so.

--

On Facebook I asked for nonfiction prompts that I can write longhand in a nice notebook a UCR professor, Dr. Anthonia Kalu, gave me as a graduating present. I really need to get back into the habit of writing something that's not stricty my day's happenings.

So, I got SOME editing done in the morning, then headed into the city to meet with my attorney. We're almost there! I need a couple more letters and bits of whatnot, mostly online evidence of my, uh, extraordinary ability. And this is how I found out that the UCR Comp Lit website, despite its redesign is, as usual, un-updated in a couple of sections, such as the Dissertations section, which should have had the last two years listed. I guess we're chopped liver.

I meant to go up to the Ma Tsu Temple afterwards, but realized that I had 1) no cash for donations and 2) no joss paper to pray with. How the hell am I supposed to show up at temple without any donations OR prayer money? Damn! I don't even know why I forgot about it... I saw joss paper for sale at the Chinese grocery by Gourmet Delight last weekend, too!

Instead, I went to the ferry building for some food, and meandered to the Hyatt for some writing. I did pretty good, I think--finished a chapter of my novel and started a new one. I need to focus a bit more, but my attention keeps wandering. Very irritating.

When I came home I updated a bunch of online sites, like my GoodReads, Amazon author profile, my website, and my blogspot. I'm fiddling with a new business card as well. So far I've got two designs: this one I like for the grayscale look, but this one is probably cleaner, if less memorable. I've been using the Silver Goggles steampunk postcolonialist one since 2012, and I only have maybe ten of them left, so it's time for a re-design. I really like the idea of lines at the back that's for notes; I've seen people have fields like "where we met" and "what we talked about" for further context, which seems like a great idea. And which probably also never get filled, haha, but it's a nice thought!

And suddenly it's almost freaking midnight ~_~

I've been back from Seattle since Sunday but haven't really talked about it much.

Wednesday: I took the Bart to the airport really easily, which I really liked! I only brought a backpack. When I got into Seattle, Kevin picked me up from the airport, and I settled in and we had dinner at a little Italian place in downtown Bellevue.

Thursday: I had a morning call with Jacob and an agent! It was a lot of fun. I wrote in the garden, then took the long bus ride out to Seattle from Factoria to see Karen Lorde and Rafeet, which was really a lot of fun! Took me a bit to get home, so Kevin came out to pick me up from one of the stops so I didn't have to take three buses home.

Friday: Kevin and I worked companiably all day, until evening, when we had dinner with Regina and Jon. I hadn't seen Jon since 2012, and Regina since 2014 or so when SFRA was at WisCon.

Saturday: Morning I went to the Cheesecake Factory to have brunch with Rafeeat, Ted, and Jeremy! And then Irene came to see me from Tacoma! Then I got to see Jess Tupper, who I also haven't seen since 2012!


Kevin's home has been lovingly refurbished a lot, and I got to sleep in this beautiful guestroom in the basement, surrounded by steampunk-y aesthetics. We talked about what we'd like to do, and a bunch of other things besides.

Writing-wise:
- I didn't write much? But I figured out the resolution of a problem (regarding the source of immortality in the world I'm building).

- I also got started on the asexual romance and wrote a pivotal scene. Now I have to figure out what leads to it.

- Probably the biggest of the batch will be the poly quad romance, although I'm not sure how long it should be or how to handle the length. I'm just going to write scenes as they occur to me and carry on.

oh, my heart, you are not okay
you are not okay
lock yourself up again
that was safer
also less disruptive to
other daily operations

oh, stop making promises
that are not yours to make
i know that is what hope is:
crowns out of starlight
and petals dried in summer heat
blown away in the morning wind

you are too hungry to be exposed
one temptation and you are lost
if i do not cage you sooner
you will devour everything
and i do not care
to ingest more poison

Besides the text message that made me happy last night, I also found that the grad advisor of my department had sent out a mass-email earlier in the evening congratulation me for Trials by Whiteness (followed by a string of congratulatory emails from others in the department) and that I just got a story acceptance.

I'm gonna cook and clean today, and finish a short story before I bang on the diss again. YL is coming over for dinner so I'm making bak kut teh (which she's never had!! and she clearly needs it!!!).

Yay, there is an official announcement, so I can say it publicly now: I'm going to Clarion!

I did a bit of processing of my feelings for it.

With it on an official list like that, this is how I feel:



Pretend Warner is the Sawyer Fellowship I didn't get =)

I saw that a lit agent I'm following on Twitter is attending this writers' conference at San Diego State and was like "huh, cool, oh look one of my friends is a speaker too, lemme check this out" and the registration fees are like FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS??? I'm like WHO PAYS THAT MUCH I mean yeah like there're a LOT of lit agents there and editors but omg I can't deal with seeing that price tag?? Like, way to make what's supposed to be educational and helpful for novice writers who want to learn about the industry WAY OUT OF REACH FOR MARGINALIZED PEOPLE

Apparently when I'm home and downstairs working, I cannot be left alone to my own devices because one parent or another is always talking to me if they happen to be home. I've been distracted by my dad so many times this morning I let loose a long, angry little "fuuuuuuccccckkkk." Which is par for the course! But Dad was all "gee... hard words." NO YA THINK?

It's especially annoying since I work best in the mornings atm, given how really hot the afternoons get and I'm just tired all the time after noon.

But I did get started on my dissertation stuff. Re-reading stuff in my proposal, and I realized there's a bunch of things I just cannot do while I'm here. So I might go back early August after all, so I can get to writing. For now, though, I'll just read all the articles I've downloaded and start synthesizing some ideas. Hopefully I'll have enough scribbles to really get started once I'm back in California, and will have exploded my proposal a bit more.

Some of the comments make me realize just how vastly far apart my writing style is from my adviser's... she's got "this is a convoluted sentence with ten ideas in it" and I go "well, yes, that's the point, because all told breaking them down is not for the proposal to do and anyway, I come from Twitterland where economy of words is important."

SIGH.

Submitted:
resubmission of Orang Minyak story
resubmission of cyberpunk story
new submission of some smut

To write:
submission to Hidden Youth
submission to Uncanny Magazine (have two likely stories, gotta fix one up)