Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls

Hello, and welcome to my journal! I'm pretty sure you know who I am, my name being in the URL and all, but just in case, I'm Seanan McGuire (also known as Mira Grant), and you're probably not on Candid Camera. This post exists to answer a few of the questions I get asked on a semi-hemi-demi-regular basis. It may look familiar; that's because it gets updated and re-posted roughly every two months, to let folks who've just wandered in know how things work around here. Also, sometimes I change the questions. Because I can.

If you've read this before, feel free to skip, although there may be interesting new things to discover and know beyond the cut.

Anyway, here you go:

( This way lies a lot of information you may or may not need about the person whose LJ you may or may not be reading right at this moment. Also, I may or may not be the King of Rain, which may or may not explain why it's drizzling right now. Essentially, this is Schrodinger's cut-tag. )

At the risk of sounding sappy, here are things that make me happy.

I think that everyone has certain things that make them unconditionally happy. Because it is a stressful and dismal day, I'm updating my list of some of the things that work for me. It's good to be happy.

( What makes Seanan happy? Well, among other things, people using cut-tags for long entries makes Seanan happy. If you want to know what else works for her, click here. )

So that's my list. What's yours?

There has once again been a massive influx of people, due to the fact that Alice is adorable—welcome, massive influx of people; it's nice to meet you, although I realize half of you will leave again as you realize that this isn't the all-kitten-doing-weird-stuff, all-the-time channel, and that's fine—I have decided to once again do the abbreviated "here are ten things you might want to know" version of the periodic welcome post. So here it is. Ta-da! (As a footnote, Alice is aware of your worship, and was puffy all over my face at 2AM last night.)

***

1. My name is Seanan McGuire; I'm an author, musician, poet, cartoonist, and amiable nutcase, presently living in Northern California, planning to relocate to Washington at some point in the next few years. I am a very chatty person, whether you're talking literally "we're in the same place" chattiness, or more abstract "someone has left Seanan alone with a keyboard, run for the hills" chattiness. This does not, paradoxically, make me terribly good about keeping up with email or answering comments in anything that resembles a reasonable fashion. We all have our flaws. Luckily for my agent's sanity, I am very good about making my deadlines.

2. My name is pronounced "SHAWN-in", although a great many people elect to pronounce it "SHAWN-anne" instead. Either is fine with me. I went to an event where we all got name tags once, and the person making the name tags was a "SHAWN-anne" person, who proceeded to label me as "Shawn Anne McGuire". I choose to believe that Shawn Anne is my alter-ego from a universe where, instead of becoming an author, I chose to become a country superstar. She wears a great many rhinestones, because they're sparkly, and she can get away with it. Just don't call me "See-an-an" and we'll be fine.

3. I write: urban fantasy, horror, young adult, supernatural romance, and straight chick-lit romance. I occasionally threaten to write medical thrillers, but everyone knows that's just so I'd have an excuse to take more epidemiology courses. I love me a good plague. I believe that editing is a full-contact sport, complete with penalty boxes, illegal checking, and team pennants. My editing team is the Fighting Pumpkins. We're going all the way to the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS this year, bay-bee!

4. I find it useful to keep a record of the status of my various projects, both because it warms the little Type-A cockles of my heart, and because it helps people who need to know what's going on know, well, what's going on. So you'll see word counts and editing updates go rolling by if you stick around, as well as more generalized complaining about the behavior of fictional people. I am told this is entertaining. I am also told that this is possibly a sign of madness. I don't know.

5. I currently publish both as myself, and as my own evil twin, Mira Grant. My first book under my own name, Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], came out from DAW in September 2009. The sequel, A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], is coming out in March 2010, also from DAW. Mira's first book, Feed [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], will be out from Orbit in May 2010. I don't get very much sleep.

6. I am a musician! More specifically, I'm a filk musician. If you know filk, this statement makes total sense. If you don't know filk, think "the folk music of the science fiction and fantasy community"—or you can check out the music FAQ on my website. I have three CDs available: Pretty Little Dead Girl, Stars Fall Home, and Red Roses and Dead Things. I'm currently recording a fourth CD, Wicked Girls, which will be out sometime in 2010. I write mostly original material, and don't spend much time in ParodyLand. It just doesn't work out for me.

7. Things I find absolutely enthralling: giant squid. Plush dinosaurs. Siamese and Maine Coon cats. Zombies. The plague. Pandemic flu. Horror movies of all quality levels. Horror television. Science Fictional Channel Original Movies. Shopping for used books. Halloween. Marvel comics. Candy corn. Carnivorous plants. Pumpkin cake. Stephen King. The Black Death. Pandemic disease of all types. Learning how to say horrifying things in American Sign Language. Diet Dr Pepper.

8. Things I find absolutely horrifying: slugs. Big spiders dropping down from the ceiling and landing on me because ew. Bell peppers. Rice. Movies that consist largely of car chases and do not contain a satisfying amount of carnage. Animal cruelty. People who go hiking on mountain trails in Northern California and freak out over a little rattlesnake. Most sitcoms. A large percentage of modern advertising. Diet Chocolate Cherry Dr Pepper.

9. I am owned by two cats: a classic bluepoint Siamese named Lillian Kane Moskowitz Munster McGuire, and a blue classic tabby and white Maine Coon named Alice Price-Healy Little Liddel Abernathy McGuire. Yes, I call them that, usually when they've been naughty. The rest of the time, they're respectively "Lilly" or "Lil," and either "Alice" or "Ally." I'm planning to get a Sphynx, eventually, when the time comes to expand to having a third cat.

10. I frequently claim to be either a Disney Halloweentown princess or Marilyn Munster. These claims are more accurate than most people realize. Although I wasn't animated in Pasadena.

***

Welcome!

Since there's been a massive influx of people over the past two days, due to the fact that Alice is adorable—welcome, massive influx of people; it's nice to meet you, although I realize half of you will leave again as you realize that this isn't the all-kitten-doing-weird-stuff, all-the-time channel, and that's fine—I thought it would be a good idea to do the abbreviated "here are ten things" version of the periodic welcome post. So here it is. Ta-da!

***

1. My name is Seanan McGuire; I'm an author, musician, poet and amiable nutcase, presently living in Northern California, planning to relocate to Washington at some point in the next few years. I am a very chatty person, whether you're talking literally "we're in the same place" chattiness, or more abstract "someone has left Seanan alone with a keyboard, run for the hills" chattiness. This does not, paradoxically, make me terribly good about keeping up with email or answering comments in anything that resembles a reasonable fashion. We all have our flaws.

2. My name is pronounced "SHAWN-in", although a great many people elect to pronounce it "SHAWN-anne" instead. Either is fine with me. I went to an event where we all got name tags once, and the person making the name tags was a "SHAWN-anne" person, who proceeded to label me as "Shawn Anne McGuire". I choose to believe that Shawn Anne is my alter-ego from a universe where, instead of becoming an author, I chose to become a country superstar. She wears a great many rhinestones, because they're sparkly, and she can get away with it. Just don't call me "See-an-an" and we'll be fine.

3. I believe that editing is a full-contact sport, complete with penalty boxes, illegal checking, and team pennants. My editing team is the Fighting Pumpkins. We're going all the way to the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS this year, bay-bee!

4. I find it useful to keep a record of the status of my various projects, both because it warms the little Type-A cockles of my heart, and because it helps people who need to know what's going on know, well, what's going on. So you'll see word counts and editing updates go rolling by if you stick around, as well as more generalized complaining about the behavior of fictional people. I am told this is entertaining. I am also told that this is possibly a sign of madness. I don't know.

5. I am a musician! More specifically, I'm a filk musician. If you know filk, this statement makes total sense. If you don't know filk, think "the folk music of the science fiction and fantasy community"—or you can check out the music FAQ on my website. I have three CDs available: Pretty Little Dead Girl, Stars Fall Home, and Red Roses and Dead Things. I write mostly original material, and don't spend much time in ParodyLand. It just doesn't work out for me.

6. Things I find absolutely enthralling: giant squid. Plush dinosaurs. Siamese and Maine Coon cats. Zombies. The plague. Pandemic flu. Horror movies of all quality levels. Horror television. Science Fictional Channel Original Movies. My window garden of carnivorous plants, and the spiders that have colonized them. Shopping for used books. Halloween. Marvel comics. Candy corn. Pumpkin cake. The Black Death.

7. Things I find absolutely horrifying: slugs. Big spiders dropping down from the ceiling and landing on me because ew. Bell peppers. Rice. Movies that consist largely of car chases and do not contain a satisfying amount of carnage. Animal cruelty. People who go hiking on mountain trails in Northern California and freak out over a little rattlesnake. Most sitcoms. A large percentage of modern advertising. Diet Chocolate Cherry Dr Pepper.

8. I am owned by two cats: a classic bluepoint Siamese named Lillian Kane Moskowitz Munster McGuire, and a blue classic tabby and white Maine Coon named Alice Price-Healy Little Liddel Abernathy McGuire. Yes, I call them that, usually when they've been naughty. The rest of the time, they're respectively "Lilly" or "Lil," and either "Alice" or "Ally."

9. I frequently claim to be either a Disney Halloweentown princess or Marilyn Munster. These claims are more accurate than most people realize. Although I wasn't animated in Pasadena.

10. I write: urban fantasy, horror, young adult, supernatural romance, and straight chick-lit romance. I occasionally threaten to write medical thrillers, but everyone knows that's just so I'd have an excuse to take more epidemiology courses. I love me a good plague.

***

Welcome!

Well, I'm over on Facebook now, for a variety of reasons, not least of which was -- let's be honest here -- I have a first novel coming out before too terribly much longer*, and it's a good idea to find anybody who might know me but not read this journal if I want them to be aware of that fact. In the current economy, skipping anything that increases potential readership is a little bit silly. Which doesn't mean I'm going to be standing naked on a highway overpass with a big sign reading 'BUY MY BOOK SO I CAN BUY SOME PANTS,' but when I hear about another small bookstore going under, well...the temptation is there.

So anyway, you can look me up as 'Seanan McGuire,' and get live pithy one-liners about the fact that I write a lot, watch a lot of television, and cook an awesome turkey. Thus far, mostly the former, the latter, and a lot of mentions of a) being too sick to die, and b) playing Rock Band 2. Did I mention that it was my Martian death flu that made Facebook look appealing? 'Cause yeah.

I have already found or been found by several people from high school, which I find somewhat daunting. But one of them may well be My Favorite Teacher Ever, so that's pretty awesome (I'm waiting for him to confirm or deny). It really is a fascinating networking model, one which honestly assumes that you'd love to get back in touch with your best friend from first grade. (I would. Natasha, call me.)

It's all very odd around here. And I have no DDP in the damn house at all.

(*Sadly, 'not terribly much longer' isn't a clever way of saying that I have a release date, 'cause I don't. It's a clever way of saying 'I had six hours of sleep, and am thus talking myself in pretty circles.' Well. Typing myself in pretty circles, anyway.)

Ever listened to some of the things that come out of my mouth and wondered just what the heck I was actually trying to say? Well, wonder no more: here is a handy-dandy Dictionary of Seanan, containing words, terms, and phrases that have oozed their way into my somewhat uncommon parlance and have shown no signs of oozing out again. I think all people have their own private languages, and that life would be a lot simpler if we became fluent in each other. I can't promise actual dictionary format, because I'm lazy, but I can promise alphabetical order, because I'm also a twitchy little OCD girl. So.

( Ducks. DDP. Romanian au pairs. Purple hair problems. Penny. Street pennies. Go away, Kim Delaney. Dinosaurs eat people. Mandibles of loooove. What the heck is Seanan saying? Find out here. Dun-dun-DUUUUUUUN. )

So there's my dictionary, 2008 edition. Somehow, I'm not sure it makes me any easier to understand. But hey. It was fun to write, so really, who cares about its functionality?

What's in your dictionary?

Look! A meme. Be afraid, and blame dawn_metcalf, who thought it was funny to infect me with a memetic thought-virus. As I usually find infection funny, I am refusing the vaccine, and spreading the disease instead. The stated rules:

A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

B) Tag 8 people to do this quiz. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.

Because I believe that pandemics are a choice, not a requirement, I'm not actually tagging anyone. If you want to join the party, join the party. If you don't, stay home and watch television. Whatever makes you happy. Feel free to say I tagged you. I'm a vector.

And now...fun with the meme!

( We cut because we care, and because a great many people are heavily armed. I dislike being dismembered for scrolling screens. )

1. Yes, I really am as organized as I appear, largely because I live my life in a constant whirl of checklists, to do lists, and lists detailing my lists. I am, sad to say, really the kind of person who makes lists of her pending lists so as to avoid accidental dropping of important things. This would be less bothersome to the world around me if I didn't forget things anyway. Ah, well.

2. Part of my list-making obsession stems from the fact that I have one of the worst short-term memories in the universe. It's actually borderline impressive. I am fully capable of looking at someone I was talking to an hour ago, smiling brightly, and introducing myself. Consequentially, I write everything down to avoid embarrassing situations in public places.

3. I really do read as much as the book review posts imply. Actually, I read substantially more than that. It's not just my 'only review books you like' policy; it's the fact that if I reviewed every book I read and enjoy, this really would become the all-reviews, all-the-time channel. Since it's regularly in danger of becoming the all-word count, all-the-time channel, I'm avoiding that.

4. At present, I am actively writing two books (The Mourning Edition and Discount Armageddon), rewriting two books (Late Eclipses of the Sun and Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues), and waiting for final edits on two books (An Artificial Night and Newsflesh). There isn't an intentional tropism towards twos around here, it just happens.

5. Like many authors, I am a cat person. More specifically, however, I am a Siamese cat person. Siamese cats are not like normal cats. Siamese cats are the megalomaniacal mad scientists of the cat world. It's entirely possible that Lilly will one day be spotted atop a national monument, cackling and calling down bolts of lightning. I'm basically okay with that.

6. I watch a lot of television. I mean I watch a lot of television. During the summer, it's mostly bad horror movies on the Science-Fiction Channel and random reality shows. During the regular TV season, it's all over the map. Since I process edits and ink my comic strip while watching television, I don't feel the time is entirely wasted, but it's fun to watch people cringe when I say I follow America's Next Top Model.

7. Besides, it's all research. Verity 'Very' Price (the main character of Discount Armageddon and Midnight Blue-Light Special) was a contestant on Dance Your Pants Off, the reality show where they search for America's most favorite dance person. Yes. She's a demon hunter who fights through the awesome power of ballroom dance. Fear her.

8. I am basically incapable of writing books that don't have sequels. I've managed a couple of duologies, but at the end of the day, I'm a trilogy-or-more kind of a girl, even when I try not to be. This gets faintly annoying at times. At least I enjoy them, which is a good thing.

9. As far as I know, I'm the only person to ever write super-peppy Schoolhouse Rock about the epidemiology of the Black Death in Europe. As 'only person ever to...' labels go, this one strikes me as being needlessly weird.

10. I have personified my muse, because that gives me someone to get mad at. Her name is Jane.

I love ten things lists.

Hello, and welcome to my journal! I'm pretty sure you know who I am, my name being in the URL and all, but just in case, I'm Seanan McGuire, and you're probably not on Candid Camera. This post exists to answer a few of the questions that I get asked on a semi-hemi-demi-regular basis. It may look familiar; that's because it gets reposted every time the answers change, and to let new people know how we roll around here. (I will make no more Clueless references in this post, I promise.) Also, sometimes I change the questions. Because I can.

Anyway, here you go:

( This way lies a lot of information you may or may not need about the person whose LJ you may or may not be reading right at this moment. Also, I may or may not be the King of Rain, which may or may not explain why it's drizzling right now. Essentially, this is Schrodinger's cut-tag. )

I have a corkboard on my desk. I periodically take it down and reorganize the weird scrapbook I have going on, because it helps me think. (Having the scrapbook also helps me think. It's a thing. A weird brain thing that I don't really understand.) After yesterday's re-org, the corkboard now displays:

* A print of a vintage Halloween image. (It's a postcard from BPAL.)
* A postcard for The Nocturnals, showing Halloween girl looking creepy.
* A postcard of some lovely women with lots of guns. I assume they're supposed to be freedom-fighters. I just consider them Healys.
* A picture of Leela.
* A card signed by the lead singer of the Counting Crows.
* A lovely card I received with a hand-drawn chainsaw on it. A My Little Chainsaw.
* Two Polaroids of Lilly the day I paid for her. So small!
* A postcard for the current X-Men story arc.
* A picture of my mother.
* A monkey postcard from Amy.
* A lovely card from Wes and Mary.
* A Supernatural promo postcard from the Comicon where the show premiered.
* A Belle sticker that reads 'Kiss my Tiara!'.
* Set lists for my last four concerts.
* Adorable mini-portraits by the fabulous Katie Curtis of Clady (the lead character in Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues) and the Mason twins (the lead characters in Newsflesh).
* Another mini-portrait by Katie, showing Godzilla in love with a skyscraper.
* The ticket stubs from seeing Stephen King live, sitting in the splatter zone at Evil Dead, and attending Little Shop of Horrors.

Looking at this list, there's only one thing I can say:

I am very odd.