womzilla | Busy, busy, busy

I mentioned back on Leap Day that "I have another rush job for Unplugged, Inc, for a movie tie-in that I think I'm not supposed to talk about openly. I also have a couple of small freelance assignments for Tor."

That was a couple of understatements. Yesterday (Monday) was the first day I had to myself in over a week, and even that was pretty heavily committed.

The Full, Exhausting Itinerary

On Saturday, Feb 28, I received the screenplay to the movie for which Unplugged is doing a tie-in, so I had to read that and figure out how to make a game about it work.

On Feb 29, I drove to Atlantic City to adopt three darling baby rats from a friend of

nellorat's. As mentioned, they are almost impossibly cute. I still haven't had time to take photos; I hope to do so in the day or so (and definitely before Friday, when I deliver the female to her new adoptive family in Long Island). During the drive, I listened to Alan Moore's first recorded monologue, The Birth Caul. What I followed of it was brilliant. It's something that demands greater attention than one can give it during a drive on moderately crowded highways; I will listen to it again after I read the comics adaptation (by Eddie Campbell).

On Monday and Tuesday, I wrote the game spec, and revised it Tuesday and Wednesday in response to comments from my cow-orkers.

I also received notice that the maroney.org has finally been transferred to my control. (The process of getting the domain was one of those typical funny-and-annoying-at-the-same-time epics of bureaucracy, where I was receiving contradictory information from various customer service representatives.

Anyway, it all worked out eventually after much foot-dragging. So over the next few days I migrated a few of my web pages and all of the archive of Tim's site to the new server. Thanks again to

sarah_ovenall for letting us in on her webmaster package, and for all the technical support she has given. I promise to use this power wisely.

Wednesday evening was NYRSF Weekly Meeting, which tied me up much of the afternoon and evening. We got a lot done, and it was fun as always, so I don't mind, but the clock was ticking on my next freelance job, a reader report on an agented manuscript which had been submitted to Tor.

I spent all day Thursday and into Friday reading it--700+ pages of an inconclusive first novel in a several-volume Big Frickin' Fantasy series by a previously unpublished writer. It was better than bad, but less than good, and staggeringly unoriginal, and my brain was pounded when I reached the end.

But Friday night was the beginning of the NYRSF Work Weekend, a Friday-evening-through-Sunday-afternoon extravaganza of copyediting and layout. Fun, and we ended up with a very nice issue (and are positioned for a superb issue next month), but I was hungry for a day off.

I got that for a small part of Monday. I couldn't sleep in to my satisfaction, because I had to take two of the rats in to the vet, one (Missy) for her last antibiotic shot for a lingering lung infection which now seems to be gone, and one (her daughter Connie) for an examination preparatory to having a tumor removed--her second in three months. Sigh. I had a few hours home after that, and then went back in to the city, hauling about 50 pounds in paper to Tor.

I finished Monday with a mixed professional/social obligation: Gaming with the boardgame editors of Games Magazine. I try to visit John & Robin at least every other week, both because I greatly enjoy their company (and gaming with them), and because they not infrequently toss paid reviewing work my way. This week was of special interest because a reporter from NPR's The Next Big Thing was recording the session for an upcoming article.

Today, I spent another five or six hours working on the design spec and other Unplugged work. I tried to pick Connie up at the vet's, but she had chewed through her stitches and won't be home until tomorrow. I have another 700+ page manuscript to do before the end of the week, too.

For someone who doesn't have a job, I sure work a lot.