Christie Yant

Hello from Wyoming!

I’m in Laramie, WY this week, attending the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop, which has so far been amazing. I can’t say the altitude has agreed with me–I didn’t really sleep for the first three nights, and the trek across campus leaves me winded still. I am currently fighting some kind of stomach bug (which conveniently struck just as we were leaving to go to the observatory last night) :/ but I will not let it stand between me and SCIENCE. This is an experience I wouldn’t miss for the world.

Speaking of worlds, last night I got to see roughly 10 billion of them in the form of Andromeda. It left me stammering “wow” through tears. We are so small.

While I’ve been away Grant Stone’s story “Young Love on the Run from the Federal Alien Administration New Mexico Division (1984)” went up at StarShipSofa. I got to narrate part of this with our mutual friend Matthew Sanborn Smith. It was awesome to get to work on a project with two good friends, and I’m glad that Grant is pleased with the results. Go check it out!

And lastly, Beneath Ceaseless Skies posted their 100th issue this morning, which includes my story “The Three Feats of Agani.” Many thanks to my DieselBears for their help with the story.

Last week I went to Seattle for an agency retreat with the BGL gang. It was amazing–like a tiny little convention in which every attendee is on every panel. The late-night shenanigans were epic. (Important safety tip: Do not put jelly beans in wine.) I went in feeling very insecure (wow, there’s a surprise, right?) but by the time the weekend was over I was feeling like yeah, I can do this, I belong here. It helped that BGL only seems to collect incredibly nice people, and I had a few friends already going in. Now I have many more, and couldn’t be happier about it. Many thanks to Barry, Joe, and the astounding Tricia for putting on such a cool event, and for building such a supportive community.

Also, Understanding Agent understands the whirlwind that has been my life recently, and graciously changed my deliverables to something more manageable, with the gentle admonition that I still need to get the damned thing done this year.

In other news, I started running again using the Couch to 5k app, which is a pretty cool program. I was doing great right up to starting Week 4 (the morning I left for the retreat), and then my ankles decided that this was too much punishment at my current weight, and decided to not stop hurting until, well, today. It’s a drag, because I really *like* running, and really hate almost everything else, but the impact is just too much. So I’ve stopped running for now and am back to the elliptical until I can drop mumblemumble pounds. It dawned on me that it was exactly this time last year that I injured both ankles while running, shortly after I’d started using the standing desk, and subsequently had to take it back down. I hadn’t put it back up, until today. So now I’ll go through the two weeks of foot and hip pain again (it’s not adjustable so I’m committed) as my body adapts, for the sake of a longer life and (I hope) a quicker path to fitness.

Middle age, man. It’s such a mixed bag.

But back to the happy things: The morning I left for the retreat (kind of an eventful morning) I woke up to good news! “My Mother’s Body” will run in Daily Science Fiction, probably toward the end of this year. This is a story that I read at FogCon, where it was received well. I’m happy that it has a home. This is my ninth sale, and my second to DSF. Special thanks to Lisa Rodgers for her enthusiasm and encouragement on this one.

And it’s a good one. It’s called “Crystal Halloway and the Forgotten Passage,” by Seanan McGuire, and it’s a story that John included in Other Worlds Than These. It was fun to read. You can find it here:

StarShipSofa #245 Seanan McGuire

It’s the first narration I’ve done for the Sofa in a long, long time. I miss doing it, but I screw up SO MUCH while reading that it takes me hours to edit it down to something Tony can use, and I don’t have a lot of free time these days. I was getting good at it for a while, but now I’m out of practice. Anyway, it feels good to be participating again. I hope I get to do more soon.

It was only after I had finished the file and sent it off to Tony that I realized the Truth Fairy should have sounded like Carole Kane in Scrooged.

In unrelated news, I’m trying out a new theme here. I’ve done a little bit of tweaking but I’m sure there will be things that need fixing. Bear with me while I get it sorted out.

Oh, and Happy Higgs Day! Also happy birthday, USA. Nothing too celebratory over here–today has been largely devoted to home improvement and hair color. Tomorrow I leave for Seattle, for a four day writing retreat. I’m excited! I haven’t made much progress on the novel lately due to Life Stuff, so I’m really looking forward to just being a writer and nothing else for a few days. If I drop off the internet for a few days, that’s why.

Cheers!