A long overdue update

To the three or four people who actually read this: sorry it's been so long. Life has kind of exploded on me lately, and I haven't updated in far, far too long.

Updates on me, generally -

• I'm free of Frankenfoot the removable cast at last. This ends 3 months in casts of one sort or another. My ankle hasn't fully healed, but I'm working on strengthening it, and taking care not to break it again. There's still enough swelling that the only shoes I can wear comfortably are my sneakers, but I can walk to and from work, and I'm finally able to use stairs without a death-grip on the rails.
• Our new home is slowly getting more organized. The last box of "things to be unpacked" came down from the attic today. There are a couple of boxes of "things to be stored in the attic" to be taken back up, and some ten boxes (all small) of duplicate, out of date, or just plain bad books that we need to find new homes for. We'll need to locate a good second hand dealer who can handle the possibility of his science fiction and fantasy collection doubling - hubby and I have a LOT of duplicates. The computer room is still not fully unpacked, but our bedroom, the living room, kitchen and back room are all 90% there. This isn't bad, considering that I haven't been able to do stairs until the last few days.
• The new job is working out well. I'm loving the work, and I'm loving it here. Right now, the fall colors are starting to show, and the trees are a lovely mix of reds, yellows and greens.
• My husband has work as a night shift manager in Reading. He's enjoying the job, and hopes it will become a permanent position. At the moment, it's temporary until the end of November with a chance of permanent after that. The part he likes best is being to walk out the door at the end of his shift, and not have to worry about work until he returns for the next shift. It makes a big - and welcome - change from his last job managing a convenience store.

Writing updates -

• Thanks, Dan, for posting the release date for the Valdemar anthology. It's due out on the 6th of December, and you can pre-order it from Amazon.com
• Illuminated Manuscripts is now available from Double Dragon Publishing. Buying this ebook not only supports me and two of my friends (Darwin and Sarah) who have stories in it, it supports Zette, the lovely lady in charge of the Dragon's Tooth fantasy imprint.
• I'm still collecting rejection slips with semi-monotonous regularity. The number has dropped off somewhat, for the simple reason that a combination of moving 1500 miles and changing focus to a novel has dropped the number of submissions I'm sending out.
• The novel in question, Wanderer's Oath, is now about half done. I'm hoping to have it mostly done and have some proposals ready for World Fantasy in November.
• World Fantasy Convention - I have sent off my registration and applied for vacation time to allow me to get there and get back. I'm really looking forward to this event - I'll be getting to meet so many friends face to face at last :) I'll probably need another vacation when I get back! I'm planning to drive there and back, meeting friends part-way and carpooling.
  

It doesn't sound a lot condensed to a "highlights" list like this, but somehow all of the above and the running around that goes with it has consumed my life lately.

Hopefully, I can start organizing things a little better now I'm getting back into the swing of having two usable feet again.

Kate