How is this so exhausting?
May. 24th, 2026 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessI mean I'm just sitting in lectures and walking around one exhibitor hall but I feel like I've worked 36 hours without a break.
Okay had to stop for a second after three loud explosions. Not lightning. Not fireworks. No clue. Pool people were looking around too but maybe it is a storm, just one I can't see lightning for. But it was nice all day. Weird.
All the little kids are gone but now there are new ones in this hotel (it's huge, 40 floors) and they're doing the same thing, running floor to floor taking up the elevators and screaming down the halls. eye roll (seriously I had a focus group today, left a talk I was enjoying early to give myself 15 minutes to get upstairs for my lap top and back again only to still end up 5 minutes late. Slow elevators. We also have an Indian wedding going on with all their beautiful finery (one of the boys was talking to me in the elevator, he was the sweetest thing)
Speaking of sweet, man it's a matter of outside perspective isn't it? I was SO disappointed in my not-violet hair color but people have commented about how nice it looks but between last night and today like a half dozen strangers have come up to tell me how much they liked my purple plum hair one young professor (grad student?) told me that it matched my plum flower shirt perfectly and even my hair style reminded him of flowers. And here I thought people would think it was ugly because it wasn't the color I had originally wanted.
I learned a few things in the update seminars today including the huge role of vitamin A in craniofacial deformities (cleft lip, cleft palate etc). Planning a child? Get some A in your life. And while I knew that pigs were very close to humans physiologically (more so than mice but I don't normally talk animal testing because of people's feelings about it), I didn't know we were looking at them in terms of fertility. Nor did I know that male fertility has dropped 52% in the last 50 years (so 1% a year which doesn't sound like much until you really see the math) I missed why they think it is other than endocrine disruptors and environmental health, like pesticides nor did I know we had transgenic pigs with the glowing green jellyfish gene that they are using to test a few theories about breast milk which is another cause of lowering fertility, immunologic health and probably more. Breast milk has more than colostrum and fats/sugars in it. They have EVs (extracellular vesicles) which they're tracking with those transgenic pigs but we do know be it human or pig, breast milk leads to the healthiest of babies, cow milk is a close second but formula and plant milk are way behind (sorry vegans) Soy milk especially has the ability to be an endocrine disruptor because it's an estrogen mimic (this I knew and I don't eat much tofu any more or drink the milk at all because my cancer is estrogen sensitive and why risk it)
The focus group I was in was interesting but way harder than I thought. It was on escape rooms and I mean it was HARD. It took me and my partner a half hour and some hints to get out. It's not available to buy yet but I think it might frustrate my students because you really have to not only know your stuff but solve puzzles too. It is a virtual game, fantastic graphics etc and like a true professor on a labeling exercise there were more than you needed to get it right (and it took me a second to realize that randomly capitalized letters were the code for getting a lock open) some things you really had to know your shit or you were staying locked in there. My students are never escaping (and hell I barely made it past the match the emoji string part but mostly because I couldn't see it on the labeling part, too small, I'm too old) I think the overall feeling was shorter ones with just key systems would be good versus trying to tie multiple systems together this was tough enough to be a final exam prep (I'd have to give them major points) I think it was fun and if it was reasonable I would consider it. However, with all due respect to the very cool VR tool another vendor let me use 1000$ a student to use it is not reasonable. A full lab would cost me 25K (but it's only 3K in years after that. Per student? Per class? Don't matter, that's the entire budget for my entire department.
I never met my mentee. We just played phone tag. I did have a great idea handed to me at breakfast (there was that explosion sounds again wtf IS that?) one of the profs is sharing her pintrest and what she does is collect AI generated anatomy stuff, much of which is wrong and she prints it and makes the students fix it.
And yeah no writerly ways other than links (because I'm just sitting here watching Insidious while eating dill pickle corn puffs and whatever that sound is, it's shaking the windowpane. It seems mechanical almost like a train track.) I did make progress on my merfolk story and the sapphic divinity story crapped out today (mostly because I have a character and a setting and no plot and I don't know the Rifreddo Witch festival. I need to research it more)
Oh it IS Fireworks. I can't see them in the sky because my view is wrong but I can see them reflecting on the glass building across from me. Probably some baseball game or memorial day celebration.
and as I wrap this up it's nearly 1130 and people are running and yelling in the hall and I am not amused
OPEN Calls
81 Publishing Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (keeping in mind this isn't just people of color, LGBT, disability etc count for some of them)
28 Journals with Fast Response Times
Fun In The Dark. Small town weirdness, uncanny communities, strange local traditions, unsettling suburban or village horror
The Submission Pit May 2026 Window Open speculative fiction
Spookane: A Spokane-Based Horror Anthology Horror stories connected to Spokane, Washington and nearby regions
The Monstrous & The Divine This is the one I'm trying to write for once I do more research on that witch festival in Italy
Crooked Spine Issue 1 Open horror / debut issue horror fiction
Movie Horror Themed Anthology Horror centered on movies, filmmaking, or watching films
From around the web
YouTube Is Crawling with Pirated Audiobooks Made Using A.I. This is behind a pay wall but the title tells you all you know. I did find someone (real) reading classic short stories and after listening to a few of them I am FLOODED on YT with AI readings of all the classics plus I'm sure if I clicked on it AI pirated books. Can we just not.
How and Why I’m Creating a Physical Archive of My Writing
Association of American Publishers Applauds Sweeping Default Judgement Against Notorious Pirate Site Anna’s Archive
Authors Guild Wins Default Judgment Against TouchPoint Press.
The Ghost in the Machine (Inherited Creative Blocks).
How to Pace Your Prose for Greater Impact another one for the current book
From Betty
Anatomy of a Fable.
Five Surprisingly Successful Characters and Why They Work
Giving Your World Fantastic Skies.
Should Your Tale Start With Dark Backstory?
Literary Pathways for Microtension
How to Spot and Plug Plot Holes
Revisited: “Your Brain on Writing”
The Kind of Short Stories People Really Want to Read
Why Writers Should Never Make Smart Characters Act Dumb
How Writers Can Use Pinterest to Drive Traffic and Build Long-Term Visibility
Why Consistency Matters More Than Ever for Author Email Newsletters
Do Authors Really Need a Book Launch Team? What Every Writer Should Know
Do Authors Really Need a Book Launch Team? What Every Writer Should Know
What to Do When Someone Writes ‘Your’ Book
Thoughts on How the Marketplace Is Shaping the Stories We Tell
The Weird Editing Habit I Can’t Write Without
A Plot Twist with a Twist
Why Research is Important when Writing Fiction
Your Voice Is the Point. Stop Toning It Down
The Art of Withholding Information I need to contemplate this one for my current novel
Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Visualization
Okay had to stop for a second after three loud explosions. Not lightning. Not fireworks. No clue. Pool people were looking around too but maybe it is a storm, just one I can't see lightning for. But it was nice all day. Weird.
All the little kids are gone but now there are new ones in this hotel (it's huge, 40 floors) and they're doing the same thing, running floor to floor taking up the elevators and screaming down the halls. eye roll (seriously I had a focus group today, left a talk I was enjoying early to give myself 15 minutes to get upstairs for my lap top and back again only to still end up 5 minutes late. Slow elevators. We also have an Indian wedding going on with all their beautiful finery (one of the boys was talking to me in the elevator, he was the sweetest thing)
Speaking of sweet, man it's a matter of outside perspective isn't it? I was SO disappointed in my not-violet hair color but people have commented about how nice it looks but between last night and today like a half dozen strangers have come up to tell me how much they liked my purple plum hair one young professor (grad student?) told me that it matched my plum flower shirt perfectly and even my hair style reminded him of flowers. And here I thought people would think it was ugly because it wasn't the color I had originally wanted.
I learned a few things in the update seminars today including the huge role of vitamin A in craniofacial deformities (cleft lip, cleft palate etc). Planning a child? Get some A in your life. And while I knew that pigs were very close to humans physiologically (more so than mice but I don't normally talk animal testing because of people's feelings about it), I didn't know we were looking at them in terms of fertility. Nor did I know that male fertility has dropped 52% in the last 50 years (so 1% a year which doesn't sound like much until you really see the math) I missed why they think it is other than endocrine disruptors and environmental health, like pesticides nor did I know we had transgenic pigs with the glowing green jellyfish gene that they are using to test a few theories about breast milk which is another cause of lowering fertility, immunologic health and probably more. Breast milk has more than colostrum and fats/sugars in it. They have EVs (extracellular vesicles) which they're tracking with those transgenic pigs but we do know be it human or pig, breast milk leads to the healthiest of babies, cow milk is a close second but formula and plant milk are way behind (sorry vegans) Soy milk especially has the ability to be an endocrine disruptor because it's an estrogen mimic (this I knew and I don't eat much tofu any more or drink the milk at all because my cancer is estrogen sensitive and why risk it)
The focus group I was in was interesting but way harder than I thought. It was on escape rooms and I mean it was HARD. It took me and my partner a half hour and some hints to get out. It's not available to buy yet but I think it might frustrate my students because you really have to not only know your stuff but solve puzzles too. It is a virtual game, fantastic graphics etc and like a true professor on a labeling exercise there were more than you needed to get it right (and it took me a second to realize that randomly capitalized letters were the code for getting a lock open) some things you really had to know your shit or you were staying locked in there. My students are never escaping (and hell I barely made it past the match the emoji string part but mostly because I couldn't see it on the labeling part, too small, I'm too old) I think the overall feeling was shorter ones with just key systems would be good versus trying to tie multiple systems together this was tough enough to be a final exam prep (I'd have to give them major points) I think it was fun and if it was reasonable I would consider it. However, with all due respect to the very cool VR tool another vendor let me use 1000$ a student to use it is not reasonable. A full lab would cost me 25K (but it's only 3K in years after that. Per student? Per class? Don't matter, that's the entire budget for my entire department.
I never met my mentee. We just played phone tag. I did have a great idea handed to me at breakfast (there was that explosion sounds again wtf IS that?) one of the profs is sharing her pintrest and what she does is collect AI generated anatomy stuff, much of which is wrong and she prints it and makes the students fix it.
And yeah no writerly ways other than links (because I'm just sitting here watching Insidious while eating dill pickle corn puffs and whatever that sound is, it's shaking the windowpane. It seems mechanical almost like a train track.) I did make progress on my merfolk story and the sapphic divinity story crapped out today (mostly because I have a character and a setting and no plot and I don't know the Rifreddo Witch festival. I need to research it more)
Oh it IS Fireworks. I can't see them in the sky because my view is wrong but I can see them reflecting on the glass building across from me. Probably some baseball game or memorial day celebration.
and as I wrap this up it's nearly 1130 and people are running and yelling in the hall and I am not amused
OPEN Calls
81 Publishing Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (keeping in mind this isn't just people of color, LGBT, disability etc count for some of them)
28 Journals with Fast Response Times
Fun In The Dark. Small town weirdness, uncanny communities, strange local traditions, unsettling suburban or village horror
The Submission Pit May 2026 Window Open speculative fiction
Spookane: A Spokane-Based Horror Anthology Horror stories connected to Spokane, Washington and nearby regions
The Monstrous & The Divine This is the one I'm trying to write for once I do more research on that witch festival in Italy
Crooked Spine Issue 1 Open horror / debut issue horror fiction
Movie Horror Themed Anthology Horror centered on movies, filmmaking, or watching films
From around the web
YouTube Is Crawling with Pirated Audiobooks Made Using A.I. This is behind a pay wall but the title tells you all you know. I did find someone (real) reading classic short stories and after listening to a few of them I am FLOODED on YT with AI readings of all the classics plus I'm sure if I clicked on it AI pirated books. Can we just not.
How and Why I’m Creating a Physical Archive of My Writing
Association of American Publishers Applauds Sweeping Default Judgement Against Notorious Pirate Site Anna’s Archive
Authors Guild Wins Default Judgment Against TouchPoint Press.
The Ghost in the Machine (Inherited Creative Blocks).
How to Pace Your Prose for Greater Impact another one for the current book
From Betty
Anatomy of a Fable.
Five Surprisingly Successful Characters and Why They Work
Giving Your World Fantastic Skies.
Should Your Tale Start With Dark Backstory?
Literary Pathways for Microtension
How to Spot and Plug Plot Holes
Revisited: “Your Brain on Writing”
The Kind of Short Stories People Really Want to Read
Why Writers Should Never Make Smart Characters Act Dumb
How Writers Can Use Pinterest to Drive Traffic and Build Long-Term Visibility
Why Consistency Matters More Than Ever for Author Email Newsletters
Do Authors Really Need a Book Launch Team? What Every Writer Should Know
Do Authors Really Need a Book Launch Team? What Every Writer Should Know
What to Do When Someone Writes ‘Your’ Book
Thoughts on How the Marketplace Is Shaping the Stories We Tell
The Weird Editing Habit I Can’t Write Without
A Plot Twist with a Twist
Why Research is Important when Writing Fiction
Your Voice Is the Point. Stop Toning It Down
The Art of Withholding Information I need to contemplate this one for my current novel
Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Visualization
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