Jibber Jabber - Q1 - 29

Everyone is quiet except for me... Does that mean I lost?

Everyone is quiet except for me... Does that mean I lost?

Nope, we're still going. But, I think we can forgive the delay given why this quarter got slow. ._.

Everyone is quiet except for me... Does that mean I lost?

I can't help feeling the same. Not that I really ever expected to win, but I wish someone would just put me out of my misery!

Everyone is quiet except for me... Does that mean I lost?

I can't help feeling the same. Not that I really ever expected to win, but I wish someone would just put me out of my misery!

This x100. Plus, I'm chomping at the bit to self-publish mine--it's all ready to go as soon as I hear back. GAHH!!!!

I thought sure my day of meetings yesterday would lure an announcement out of the woods. No such luck.

Tomorrow I'll be flying home all day long. That would be another time to sneak it past me; but I can't believe they'd announce on a Saturday!

Yep Campers, I'd say we're in for another week of waiting. So shake out your sleeping bag of all the ticks, sweep out your tent, and come get warm by the fire. It's going to be a long summer.

Have a marshmallow while you wait.

It's a cruel, cruel summer.....

Yep... Now we're just being toyed with.

At camp we have a lot of annoying mosquitoes. Here's a can of chemical free bug spray, Francis. Let's hope they leave you alone until the chuck wagon comes in and feeds us all our reward! Sorry, guys Kary only left this huge bag of marshmallows for the shooter...so it's all we have for the time being.

It feels like the "This wait is going to kill me" sign would be an understatement at this point.

(In real life I'm packing up for our family's cattle drive. Won't be online all weekend).

(In real life I'm packing up for our family's cattle drive. Won't be online all weekend).

You have a cattle drive? How cool is that?

I think I might have been on one when I was seven and stayed at a dude ranch for a week. Memory is a wee bit hazy, however.

(In real life I'm packing up for our family's cattle drive. Won't be online all weekend).

You have a cattle drive? How cool is that?

I think I might have been on one when I was seven and stayed at a dude ranch for a week. Memory is a wee bit hazy, however.

I don't know. Four kids in a car are bad enough, but a whole herd in the back asking if "we are there yet" would kill me.

It feels like the "This wait is going to kill me" sign would be an understatement at this point.

Thank you for reminding me, Tina, I knew there was something I'd forgotten....

I guess that's why I love being in the position I'm in. I'm already rejected and don't have to wait.

But, I could aways point to Martin's signature. Write, Submit, Repeat, Patience. Good things come to those who wait.

And I'm betting those of you who haven't heard by now are at least HM.

(In real life I'm packing up for our family's cattle drive. Won't be online all weekend).

You have a cattle drive? How cool is that?

I think I might have been on one when I was seven and stayed at a dude ranch for a week. Memory is a wee bit hazy, however.

I don't know. Four kids in a car are bad enough, but a whole herd in the back asking if "we are there yet" would kill me.

My husbands family is actually the one's who do the cattle drive and we are all along for the ride. I believe they are one of the last in Northern CA who still do it all on horse back for such a long distance (36 miles...can't remember if that is total, or just the first day of a two day event). I'm not usually on horseback. Although, I beg every year. I end up in the chuck wagon or on Lunch/Dinner duty. Which is fine, now that I have two kids to chase after.

SPACE cattle drive.

SPACE cattle drive.

There's our writing prompt!

SPACE cattle drive.

There's our writing prompt!

I'm totally up for this. Who's going to judge?

It's a cruel, cruel summer.....

I actually laughed out loud. Now people are looking at me funny.

My Q1 "held" story is based on a writing prompt from Writing Excuses. No details until the announcements so I don't break the anonymity. I actually spoke to Brandon Sanderson at Superstars and he told me to write him and tell him the outcome and they'd give me a shout out on their podcast. It's been a month since then.

SPACE cattle drive.

There's our writing prompt!

I'm totally up for this. Who's going to judge?

Judge? I'm wondering who's gonna edit the anthology!

It's a cruel, cruel summer.....

I actually laughed out loud. Now people are looking at me funny.

Yep! I laughed, but now the song is stuck in my head.

Hot summer streets and the quarter's not over I sit around
Trying to write but the forum's so heavy and dry
Strange voices are sayin'
What did they say
Things I can't understand
It's too close for comfort this quarter's got right out of hand

It's a cruel ... cruel summer
When's it done?
It's a cruel ... cruel summer
When's it done?
You're not the only one
It's a cruel ... cruel ... cruel summer
Watching ussss... watching us here on our own
It's a cruel ... it's a cruel ... cruel summer
When's it done?

8 LAMPS
Tina - (R)
Marina - (2xF, 2xHM)
Kary - (first time sub)
Dustin - (1xF, 2xHM)
Jennifer Hicks (1xSF, 1xSHM, 6xHM)
Isto - (first time sub)
Preston (2xHM)
gwasch - (no data)

5 HOLD PILE
Francis Bruno (1xSF)
Izanobu - (1xSF, 2xSHM, 6xHM)
The Happy Snappy Gator (1xSF, 2xHM)
onelowerlight - (no data)*
MichaelB - (2XSF, 3XHM)

2 NNiNN
Martin Shoemaker (1xF, 1xSF, 2xHM)
DavidK (1 HM)

Dr. Phil - ??

Yop! We are here! We are here! We are here!

Yop! We are here! We are here! We are here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Y7ScfaVHs

Still here...

Opened up my email this morning with a wizehive email.
With shaky, sweaty hands, I click the link.
My Q2 entry has been entered with winners expected in June
I guess the wait on Q1 continues...

Opened up my email this morning with a wizehive email.
With shaky, sweaty hands, I click the link.
My Q2 entry has been entered with winners expected in June
I guess the wait on Q1 continues...

I'm somewhere in between amused and surprised to see her place a time table on it. Especially after we were supposed to get Q1 results last month.

Mayhaps it's better not to be specific, even if it's only giving a month.

I come back to find the Q1 thread, like, five threads down from the page. You guys aren't giving up on us are you???!! We must stay loud. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and all. Speaking of grease, today I attended the Holy Ghost Festival in my home town before our long journey back home. They had a greased pole and at the top was a hundred dollar bill. There were so many determined people. We shall all strive to be those pole climbers. I know the pole is greased and it feels like the odds are against you, but somebody's gotta get that hundred dollar bill and it might as well be one of us.

ETA: I love the idea of a Space Cattle Drive anthology. I wonder how that would work. My brain is maybe too close to what a real cattle drive looks like for me to really imagine anything else. I keep thinking of space cowboys herding astroids away from earths path. See, my brain is not really working this one. I'll just have to read what brilliant things other people would come up with.

Maybe my story will include herding Space Kittens...

Maybe my story will include herding Space Kittens...

Mrrow?

Dear Sir,

The waiting was always the killer.

During good old WW2, I spent six months waiting.

They dressed me up in a dinner suit and I had to work in the officer’s mess, waiting tables. For a while there I was batman to a brigadier. I learned a great deal about what really happens in this man’s army.

Finally, I was lucky enough to be sent to the trenches in France, where we just had to sit around until something happened. Had to keep our heads down in case any potshots hit us. One chap stood up suddenly and near got killed when a round hit his helmet. Lucky my wife was such a good shot. An inch to the left and he’d be dead now.

Speaking of waiting, my damned niece, the one who married that colonial and lives in America, tells me there’s a new judge and so you’re all getting a bit frazzled. I did some research into this Farland chap. Seems like he can’t be trusted. Did you know he has an alias? Apparently it’s Wolverton, or Wolverine or something. Why does someone honest need an alias?

The last chap I knew with an alias turned out to be a war criminal who was hiding down in Argentina. Got him in the end, though.

And another thing. Apparently this Farland character used to be a judge, and yet was replaced many years ago. Looks like you can go backwards. It turns out he would have been the judge the first time I entered a story. He rejected it, of course. He is, after all, an American and can’t really be expected to appreciate good literature.

Perhaps he’s improved since then. I might just have to enter your little competition again just to see whether this is true or not.

My wife says it’s a waste of time. Once an American, always an American. Apparently there’s no cure for it.

Waitingly yours,

Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong (Mrs.)

p.s. This Brad R. Torgersen chap of yours seems to be doing alright. That’s the spirit! Hurrah for a fellow military man!

I come back to find the Q1 thread, like, five threads down from the page. You guys aren't giving up on us are you???!! We must stay loud. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and all.

I was running a little mental experiment: how long will this thread remain quiet? And I couldn't announce that experiment without ruining it.

Answer: 40 hours, 4 minutes.

ETA: I love the idea of a Space Cattle Drive anthology. I wonder how that would work. My brain is maybe too close to what a real cattle drive looks like for me to really imagine anything else. I keep thinking of space cowboys herding astroids away from earths path. See, my brain is not really working this one. I'll just have to read what brilliant things other people would come up with.

I've been thinking about this, thinking about the purpose(s) of a cattle drive in order to think what the analogy might be. If I understand correctly, a cattle drive delivers the cattle to a market or to a railhead. It allows the meat to transport itself fresh to the destination and feed itself along the way by grazing. The modern alternatives would be either to transport them by vehicle (faster, and the meat still arrives fresh; but there are fuel costs, and herding the cattle into the vehicles is a chore), or to slaughter and butcher them on site and then transport the packaged meat (easier to transport, but the meat's not fresh when it hits the market).

Now the easiest analogy would be a literal cattle drive on another planet; but Firefly already did that, so it's not very original. And a more general story of transporting cattle in space wouldn't be a drive -- though it does remind me of one of my favorite cheesy movies, Space Truckers, and one of my favorite comics, Astronauts in Trouble (where the cows literally jump over the Moon).

Still thinking on a better analogy, one that's close to the spirit of a cattle drive. Hmmm...

Now the easiest analogy would be a literal cattle drive on another planet; but Firefly already did that, so it's not very original. And a more general story of transporting cattle in space wouldn't be a drive -- though it does remind me of one of my favorite cheesy movies, Space Truckers, and one of my favorite comics, Astronauts in Trouble (where the cows literally jump over the Moon).

Still thinking on a better analogy, one that's close to the spirit of a cattle drive. Hmmm...

My sick mind always travels to the worst case scenario. I wonder who among us are the cattle.