Lawrence Schimel

A shame this image is blurry, but I think it's a good shot of me (definitely the best of the batch).

Yay, when I awoke I had confirmation that the project is finished. (Well, there's a half-page letter that will come in Monday, but that's almost meta-project, not the project itself.)

So today I am just a poet, for my book launch tonight, and not a translator.
:-)

ARGH!
It's snowing again.
And I need to fly to Barcelona today!
Hope Barrajas airport isn't collapsed again.

I just spoke to the new editor on my big translation project (my original contact is moving to a new job next week) and while I'd been looking forward to READING on the flight, I'll be taking my laptop and translating.

But am almost finished with this insane amount of rush rush work.

I moved to Madrid on January 11, 1999. Today is my ten year anniversary of living here. How time flies!

Let's just say that it was a good thing that last night I decided, at 3:30am after I'd emailed a translation off to the editor, to take in the laundry before going to bed.

BRRRR!

I generally think of myself as a pretty easy going guy, and I'm also often game for what people propose to me (I'm taking literarily right now) since it's flattering to be asked and my creative stomach is invariably larger than my myopic eyes. (Doesn't it always seem like a good idea at the time...??)

I've had a busy 24 hours just now rejecting assignments and gigs. It's not something that comes easily to me. For one thing, I've been a full-time freelancer for over a decade, and it's hard not to accept every gig that's offered to you, from the dual fears that if you turn them down you'll never be offered another assignment from them again and the usual anxiety about lost potential income (no matter how large or small said income might be).

Especially with the tight financial outlook across the board, it was even harder to turn down a paid writing assignment, and especially for an anthology (I have a history if not an obsession of appearing in anthologies). But I am glad I did it.

It is a question of two main things: one, I don't have the physical time to write the story, especially since it would require me to do research that I don't have the time to do just now.

And two, it's not something that I find I write easily, at least not any more.

I used to write a lot of fantasy and science fiction, but I haven't really done so in many years and those muscles have atrophied. (I haven't even written much fiction, period, over the past few years, although I'm starting to flex those muscles again.)

I've changed over the years, and what and how I write has changed.

Knowing what is a good match for the current writerly-me and what isn't is an important step, as difficult as it might be at times to look past the spectre of the me-who-used-to-be.

I'm glad I did turn the gig down on general principal--and even moreso since some new translation assignments fell into my lap today. (A 4,000 word article and another article to come, extra bit for one of my current translation gigs.)

Considering that the anthology assignment would only have paid 6 US cents (4.3 centimes in Euros) per word, and these translations pay 11 centimes (15 cents US) per word... it behooves me to do the translations, in what time I have between trips and other obligations.

Aside from which, the fiction would've been more difficult to write, whereas the translations, while not EASY, are almost relaxing. There isn't the same sort of performance anxiety in translating as there is in writing, it's often stimulating in the way that solving a word game can be (at least for a word nerd like me).

The deadline for the story was not until the end of the month, but knowing that I wouldn't be able to do it, I wrote to the editor yesterday, explaining the situation and regretfully bowing out of the project, hopefully with time enough for them to look elsewhere to fill a gap if need be.

Next week I will be in Barcelona, where I will be doing a number of events to promote two new books in Spanish.

And one of the other things I canceled today was a talk I was going to give next week in Barcelona.

I have been frustrated for some time not to have the details of when and where the event will be held, especially since I'd nailed down the other events I'm doing weeks ago--time enough to make sure they were included in the monthly literary agendas for January, all of which had early closing dates because of the Holidays.

I was in touch with the person who in theory was organizing this (extra) talk with plenty of lead time, but he's just dragged his feet about getting back to me and when he does answer any of my questions about the event, he still hasn't nailed down these details (or at least, has not provided them to me despite my point blank asking him to do so).

Now, on the one hand, the event is a potential venue for me to reach a different audience, or a different subset of an audience, and to possibly sell some books.

At the same time, it's not an event I'm being paid for so the value of the event is in generating publicity.

And at this point, said value is pretty low, given how non-publicized the event is a week before it is to happen.

And the general lack of enthusiasm (not to mention lack of responsiveness) of the organizer isn't making me want to bend over backwards to accommodate him either.

So when I didn't get a response to yet another request for the exact time and location of the talk--so I could at least promote it myself, here on the blog, on facebook, etc.--I wrote to the organizer and canceled it.

It was hard for me to overcome my instinct to try and amortize the trip as much as possible, overbooking myself with events and commitments, etc.

I think I did the right thing.

Having an extra "free" night now in Barcelona will give me time to see friends and acquaintances in a less-pressured and frantic setting than the events I am doing.

Or not do anything.

It's easier to say no to something because you have something else to replace it with. But it's sometimes good (or even necessary) to say no to something just because it's not a good match for you.

Maybe slowly, and maybe late (since I'd already said yes in each of these instances), but I'm learning.

Learning when to say no.

Well, I've already read one novel in 2009...

In 2008, I seem to have read 98 books, although I'm not sure my records are entirely accurate.

I definitely read less this year than in previous years. And my reading was very variable, as can be seen below.

I also have a bunch of books I started but then put aside, especially the past two months; I may get back to them, at some point, or not...

The by-month breakdown looks like this:

Jan 22
Feb 7
Mar 4
Apr 14
May 4
Jun 7
Jul 5
Aug 7
Sep 18
Oct 11
Nov 1
Dec 5

In terms of the most-read authors:

Lawrence Block: 7
Donald Westlake (under various names): 4
Kelly Armstrong: 4
Andrew Taylor: 4
Ruth Rendell: 4
Karen Traviss: 3
Janet Evanovich: 3
May Sarton: 3
Gerald Durrel: 3
Sharon Shinn: 3
Sarah Dunant: 3
John Scalzi: 3

I thought I had read more Robert Barnard novels this year, but I only have one written down.

Then again, I only have one Elizabeth Moon listed, and I know I read two, one en route to Frankfurt (which I left behind) and the next in the series the day I got back.

And I didn't count, for instance, the book that I TRANSLATED into English, which I read a few times...

So just over 100 books read in 08. Less than usual for me (142 in 07; 125 in 06; 189 in 05) but not a bad year.

So, I decided to experiment with my new microwave tonight. I'd made pumpkin-carrot-ginger soup the other day, and froze a couple tupperwares worth (taking advantage of the freezer at the apartment of the friend whose cats I'm taking care of while she's away). So I came home with a frozen brick of soup and tried to defrost it in the microwave.

No luck on the defrosting setting. :-(

So I tried nuking it on the regular heating setting. But: No luck on the regular microwave setting either, neither on the one bar nor the two bar strength. :-( and :-((

So I lit the gas stove, lowered the flame as much as possible, tipped the brick of soup out of the tupperware and into a pot, and VOILA! yummy soup in just a few minutes. :-)

Methinks the microwave is not long for this household.

Somewhat randomly, I was given a microwave today. I was helping someone load her car for a move, and she had a microwave in the trunk that someone else had given her (or it was her old microwave since someone had given her one). And of course, the move wouldn't fit if we didn't take the microwave out, so I wound up taking it home.

I'm not sure how I feel about having one. I was very content to live microwave-free all these years. I understand they have their uses, but...

Most importantly, it's taking up counter space and using the plug where I planned to put the rice cooker that I will buy in January (once Rebajas kick in).

I don't think I want an appliance that I won't actually be using, especially if it is not just taking up space but preventing or making difficult the use of an appliance I DO want and plan to use...

(I love rice, but it's a hassle for me to cook it; since I'm living gluten-free still, more rice in my diet would be a Very Good Thing (tm). So it's a bigger priority than a microwave. And after the rice cooker, I want a freezer, since I only have a half fridge and it has a little freezer drawer but that's it...)

Charles Tan at Bibliophile Stalker chose FAIRY TALES FOR WRITERS as among his top faves from 2008. Yay!