It’s getting wintery, so that means it’s plant migration time. I brought the eggplant, herbs, and both jalapeno pots inside, but left outside the tomatoes, sweet potatoes, strawberry, and tiny nubs of benighted kale (which grew back, then got eaten down by caterpillars AGAIN, and are once more growing back). My living rooms is currently a jungle. I see nothing wrong with this.
The limes aren’t ripe yet. (Probably?) Ancient begonia clings to life. Last year’s Christmas tree is alive enough to be this year’s Christmas tree. Cool! I found aphids on the jalapeno plants. UNCOOL.
Since my last blog post, I’ve sold stories to two anthologies and Redstone Science Fiction, and had poems go up in Enchanted Conversation and Candle in the Attic Window. My flash piece In Memoriam also went up on Daily Science Fiction. (Links an’ at on my bibliography.) I like this autumn. It’s exciting.
I will be participating in NaNoWriMo 2011, in my own cheaty way, because I’m addicted to the forums and always meet fantastic people during the November sprint. I’ll also be tweeting heavily–not word counts and encouragement, because the whole world already has that covered, but USEFUL stuff, like “Never have your character rescued by an outside force when you could have them escape on a dinosaur” and “If you must include exposition, always try to have it delivered by a talking skeleton.” I’m helpful like that.
Anyone else doing NaNo, fielding good publishing news, or going through the agony of the harvest?
October 25, 2011 at 12:04 pm
I own one plant that an in-law who doesn’t know me very well gave to me. Plants and I have a bad history… the only reason that it’s still alive is because I leave it on our balcony. It’s about to come inside and we’ll see how that goes.
I’d really like to grow something useful (and by useful, I mean edible) are there any hard to kill plants you recommend?
October 25, 2011 at 12:56 pm
It’s hard to ruin carrots! I even found a breed that grows really short, stubby ones that are perfect for pots if you don’t have a garden. Tomatoes can also be ridiculously hardy. This rosemary plant I got this year also turned out to be really tough, and that’s an herb I use regularly, so that might be fun. Let me know if you end up trying any of them!
October 25, 2011 at 12:05 pm
I’m picturing your house full of helmed, sword-wielding Valkyrie plants. Oh the noise! :::Cue Wagner.:::
I am doing NaNo, against my better judgment. If they ever get the Writing Buddies thing working, I’m Digital Dame there. http://nanowrimo.org/en/participants/digital-dame
October 25, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Eh–if they don’t, I’ll just keep after you on Twitter. 🙂 Some of my plants have died and come back to life so many times it’s SCARY. The strawberry, for example, raised itself from the dust. Zombie plants vs. Valkyrie plants. I think I smell a series!
October 31, 2011 at 9:27 pm
I’m doing NaNoWriMo, against my better judgement as I never managed to get ahead on chapters for my new serial on my website and I’m trying to do some novel revisions on a schedule as well. Sort of good publishing news too, in the sense that I have been told someone wants to buy a story or two, although I hate to say anything has been “sold” until money changes hands, having “sold” another story before, only to have the magazine go out of business before it could be published. No interesting harvest news, though, other than having found some startlingly good wild grapes in my hedgerow.
November 1, 2011 at 7:32 am
I’m superstitious about sales too. I just had to scratch one story off my forthcoming list when one publisher stopped replying and then disappeared. Congratulations anyway! I have faith they’ll go through. 😀
What did you do with your wild grapes? Were they the eating kind, or just Concords for juice and jelly?
November 1, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Yes, one hates to imply that sci fi / fantasy magazines as a whole may not be the most rock-solid of businesses, but, hurm, yes.
I just made the dogs stand around watching while I ate a bunch of the grapes – never did get around to doing anything clever with them (nor with the cursed haws, come to that). I’m not sure exactly what kind they are, but I know they are purple and of the slipskin variety.
November 1, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Too bad about the haws! I wanted to see how that jelly would come out. Sounds like Concords, yeah. There are some vines at my grandmother’s house. They make awesome jelly but it’s so much work. We only bother every few years.
November 1, 2011 at 9:06 pm
By the way, I never really paid attention to the NaNoWriMo forums before, but thanks to your comment I am now fascinated by them, especially the research forum. The only thing stranger than someone asking whether a 75-pound dog could kill a zombie is someone else definitively answering “no”.
November 1, 2011 at 9:14 pm
RIGHT? There’s so much going on there, it’s great.