A Curious Statistical Anomaly

I’ve been grappling with a cold or the flu or a just plain nasty combination of the two. What it means, other than feeling like I got run over by a especially large convoy of sixteen wheelers, and as if I ran at least 10 consecutive marathons, is that my brain doesn’t run on all thrusters. In other words, since my life doesn’t make any sense anymore and I can’t seem to wrap my mind around the simplest tasks of living; like cooking, cleaning, or doing the wash; let alone trying to proofread or copyedit (without 30 gallons of coffee per item), I read.

I dip into someone else’s life and universe and just enjoy their adventure. That’s basically what reading is…suspending belief and immersing yourself in some other world/culture/universe/life.  To imagine that soon maybe your life will make sense again.  If fiction makes sense then shouldn’t reality?

So, these past two weeks I’ve read a lot — and taken a lot of notes.  Now that my head is beginning to clear and a bit of coherence is returning, it’s time to tackle my email, proofread the April reviews that are piling up and begin writing my own reviews from my notes.

The end of the month is coming towards me at a pace that seems like a billion miles and hour — the zines need to be done and ready to go live on April 1st and I’ve been out of it most of this month. Sometimes you slay the dragon, and sometimes you’re just lunch.

Haven’t had much time to think, let alone posts.  But, my hubby found that absolutely wonderful knitting cartoon. You’ll find it Wondermark #491.

I mean really, some men just don’t understand the need for knitting.

My hubby thought I’d get a kick out of it because every trip we take, I spend more time trying to decide how much or which knitting projects to take. Then there’s the decision about what to take carry on and what to check through. If the yarn is really, really nice I hate checking it through … what if they loose my bag — it’s happened so it could happen when there’s yarn.

Meanwhile, working on getting the zines up and ready to go live on Sunday, March 1st. Desperately trying to finish up my reviews and overview of the zines in time. Also, proofing, editing, and tracking down missing content. But they’re going to be great issues.

I even had a review of my new ASUS Eee PC 1000 in TechRevu this week. Got some more things lined up to review over the coming months.

Finished one sock and I’m nearly done with the other one. Will do a photo of the pair soon. Also, got to finish my bears this weekend so will hopefully have a series of photos on making the faces and putting the arms and legs on. So, things are coming along in my universe.

I still keep missing time though. I’ve looked and looked and I can’t find the time leaks but the seconds, minutes, and hours just seem to be slipping past. So, far this month I’ve managed to keep it down to seconds and minutes rather than days and this is even a short month. I’m hoping the lost time is in a corner somewhere and with spring cleaning I’ll find it and can keep it in a bottle and pull out extra time when I need it. It’s a thought anyway.

The crunch of getting the ezines up and live on the 1st of the February is over. It’s now time to relax and try to figure out what went wrong with my schedule so that I ended up working until 3 a.m. to make that February 1st deadline. I finally realized it was because I lost a day.

Now, I don’t mean someone just waltzed in and took a day from me but they might as well have. After careful thinking between bouts of shiny thingying like crazy, I figured it out.

First, I have to remind you that there are two kinds of calendars. One type shows the month with weeks running from Sunday on the left to Saturdays ending the week on the right. The other one goes from Monday at the left to Sunday ending the week on the right. Well, in my office I have a Monday to Sunday calendar. But, and this is critical, in the kitchen I have a Sunday to Saturday calendar.

Well, when I was planning my time frame while making coffee (so I was in the kitchen) I glanced at the calendar and noticed that the 31st of January was the last day of the month. Great. Then I moved into my office, coffee in hand and started plotting my schedule thinking because the 31st was the last day of the month, it must be Sunday. Hence my surprise when I found out on Saturday that it was the 31st.

“Yikes,” says I. “But I still have too much to do. What happened to my extra day?”

Needless to say. I now know to beware the calendar differential setups and examine all plans carefully for the whole Mon-Sun and Sun-Sat issue. So, I lost a day but only on paper and in my mind. If you haven’t already checked them out check out SFRevu.com (interview with Lois McMaster Bujold and another with Anton Strout) and GumshoeReview.com (interview with Sarah Graves).

Every month, I think I’ll have enough time to get everything done without a huge crunch as we approach the deadline to get things up and live. But, somehow there’s my plan and the world’s plan or the universe’s plan — and I missed posting for several days due to extreme lack of time.

So, in order that I don’t feel like I’m up to 3 am on the last day of the month for nothing, please, check out the zines and let me know what you think.

SFRevu.com for science fiction, fantasy, and related coverage, book reviews, etc.

Gumshoe Review similar coverage but of the mystery genre.

Also, check out TechRevu which gives you news and reviews of technology, gadgets, and related material.

This time of month things get a bit crazy as we struggle to get all the zines ready to go live on January 1st. (You’ll see the list of our ezines on the left of this blog.)

I’ve just about finished getting everyone’s reviews, essays, and interviews in the system and proofed.  Now I get to work on my stuff — reviews, interviews, and editorial comments.  But it looks we’ll make it in time.  I even got the interview answers back from one of the authors for Gumshoe Review.  I’m excited about that — I haven’t looked at them yet but I got them and that’s exciting.

I’m also working on some other projects, so time is tight.  Did you know that when you work for other people you work (usually) a forty hour week sometimes fifty but when you work for yourself you tend to work every day of the week and a lot more hours than for an employer.  I think I must be a horrible boss for myself — I make me work really, really hard.  The upside though is I get to work at home (next to the coffee pot).

Once more, I made it through the beginning of the month rush to get the zines up and live on the first. Stayed up very, very, very late last night to get the last reviews in. My fault being late and rushed since I hadn’t figured in just how behind having a holiday in the month was going to put me at the end of the month.

Normally, it’s not a problem having a holiday during the month but this time we had company visiting. I like to talk and spend time with people visiting so…less time reading and writing — but, on the plus side, more time knitting and doing handcrafts while talking.

Anyway, if you’re interested, visit SFRevu.com for science fiction and fantasy reviews. If you’re more of a mystery reader check-out Gumshoe Review. If the latest in technology is more your thing visit TechRevu.

All you got to do is swim, swim, swim. Anybody else remember the Dory swim song from Finding Nemo? It keeps running through my head. It’s the 30th today, soon to be the 31st of October. You know what that means? It means I’ve got to have all the zines ready to go live tomorrow night.

Two zines completely ready to go live on November 1st. Has panic set in yet? Nope. Nada. Nyet. I’m beyond panic. In an incredible feat of inattention and denial, I completely forgot that there was no author interviews scheduled/done/planned/whatevered for Gumshoe Review. I can’t believe it — I’ve already been chastised by the clue fairy and promise to do better for December. Then the big surprise interview for SFRevu fell through at the last minute. That one’s not a complete wash since it’s just a matter of getting the author’s okay on the final transcript so we can publish it. So hopefully, December will have an interview that will knock everyone’s socks off — or space boots.

Meanwhile, I’ve been formatting, proofing, and writing my own reviews all day. Only got six more of mine to write up. I’ve really got to write them within a day of finishing the book. Really, I know it. Luckily I take lots of notes while reading and even jot down phrases I want to use — most of which never see the light of pixels but nonetheless help me write a review days after reading the book.

I also joined NaNoWriMo. I’ve never done this before and I’m sort of looking forward to the challenge of writing a novel in a month. If nothing else it will get me in the habit of writing a set number of words per day to meet a goal. If you’re also taking part in this year’s NaNoWriMo let me know. On the website, I’m using Iskusva as my Id — don’t ask, it’s a long, long, winding road of a story for that one. I liked this icon from the NaNoWriMo LiveJournal Icon blog — if only it mentioned lack of caffeine and the plot bunny.

Well, finally, I made it to October. The issues of the zines went live late, late last night. Before that there were several days of desperate effort to get everything in — including all the late arriving content. But now it’s October 1st and all the issues are live and up.

Please check out Gumshoe Review, our online magazine of reviews, interview, and news pertaining to the mystery genre. Also visit SFRevu, the place to go for information, reviews, interview, and news about what out there for lovers of science fiction and fantasy.

This month SFRevu has an interview with Orson Scott Card and Ed Shubert about their collection of short stories from the InterGalactic Medicine Show. There’s also a review of the book. On Gumshoe Review, we have an interview with Charlie Houston and a review of his newest book, Every Last Drop. Each zines has lots of other reviews, too.

If you’ve been wondering what to read next, here’s your chance to read some reviews and pick new books for your “To Be Read” piles. I know that my pile just keeps getting higher and higher — no matter how fast I read.  [Hyperion: Gravity is going to be the deciding factor in the end.  I’m just saying 🙂 ]

I’d love to hear what you think about these zines. The zines have comment forms after each article and review. And there’s always the chance to comment here.