The comfortable din of a full house again
Posted by mcummings
I should have known the weekend of silence wouldn't have gone the way I'd dreamed on Saturday morning when all hell broke loose.
This summer hasn't exactly been the most exciting one, at least not for the kids. This past weekend, my inlaws had offered to take the girls for 4(!) days, to include a trip to Busch Gardens. Saturday morning Kim set out with Katy in tow to get some school clothes during the tax free weekend, but when she returned to the car at her second stop, it wouldn't start. Plans started to dissolve around us as I packed two kids in my commuting car to get Mom and Katy and wait for a tow truck. We tried jumping the van, but it just wouldn't turn over, so I sent Kim home in my car with the kids and waited for a tow truck, while she called her folks to let them know we wouldn't be able to drive the kids down after all.
Sunday, Kim's folks drove up to get the kids, and her Dad helped me fix the van. It seems that despite the fact that just about every electrical component in the van was operational (or at least it was after successive jump attempts), replacing the battery was the magic sauce to getting it working again. Thankfully we did that ourselves, saving us another tow truck plus labor, shop fees, and whatnot. And the kids were off to their grandparents for a few days!
Little did I know how weak I was. You see, Kim is home with them just about 24/7. The break and silence was a welcome thing for her, a momentary return to sanity. By the next morning, she looked younger - less frowning, less fight breaking, less stress all around. She needed this kind of extended break in a way I couldn't begin to appreciate.
I, on the other hand, was morose. How was I to know ahead of time that I had actually grown accustomed to the din of the children? For the most part, I only see them for extended periods of time on the weekends. I mean, I see them on weekdays too - but just for an hour or three in the morning, maybe an hour or so when I get home if I'm lucky, but in both cases I see them either just before they're wound up, or just after they've wound down. I miss the daily arguments, snits, break downs, pleas, and schizophrenic flip-flops of three girls kids. When we came back from grabbing some food Sunday, I actually felt a little sad that we weren't met with cries of "Mommy!" or "Daddy!" as arms were flung around us.
I was, for lack of a better word, pathetic. I spent most of the time noticing how absolutely quiet the house was, how there was no one underfoot or demanding a snack. Growing up an only child, I never had other kids around me, so I'm not sure where this comes from, but although some may scoff and say we have a "large" family, that din of kids talking and laughing and yelling is part of what makes me feel comfortable at home. It isn't the same with them gone.
Alas, the break was not permanent. We drove them home Tuesday (after a brief blimp chase on the way to get them 
), and discovered that their new backpacks had been delivered. These kids are so excited, that this is what we were greeted with this morning:
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They're super excited. School is less than two weeks from starting, and the new backpacks is the first tangible piece of evidence they have. And yes, Tara is grinning furiously - she picked it out of the catalog herself (red? who knew that was her color??).
So I was sitting at our desk morning, me on my side, Kim on hers, while the kids argued over something - TV or computer time, take your pick. She rolled her eyes with a grimace, muttering "They're back." Me? I smiled from ear to ear and whispered, "They're back 
"
Possibly the youngest tron player around these days
Posted by mcummings
Train them young, I say.
Is that a rocket…?
Posted by mcummings
The following transcript is true. None of the names have been changed, because there are no innocents.
[BACKGROUND: For her third birthday, less than a year ago, Tara received (to her absolute delight) the toy rocket ship pictured to the right. This, perhaps, set the stage for all future events...]
[SCENE: Cummings household, 9AM EST, August 5, 2010]
Tara: Mom
Tara: Mom
Tara: Mom
Mom: Yes.
Tara: This is Earth.
Mom: Yes.
Tara: Earth is our home.
Mom: Yes, yes it is.
Tara: We live here. Not in Space.
Mom: Well, yes we do.
Tara: We could take a rocket to space.
[SCENE: At this point, soon to be four year old Tara wanders upstairs, talking happily to herself. In the following few minutes, there are loud bangs from upstairs and what could easily be mistaken as construction noises. Mom turns to Dad. ]
Dad: You don't think...?
Mom: ...that's she's building a rocket?
[SCENE: Dad exits, stage right, to go to work, leaving Mom to wonder if she needs to pack a lunch for a rocket launch.]
Another nice rejection
Posted by mcummings
Its been eight months since I wrote Dark Lord Rising (recently retitled to The Captain and the Dark Lord, for consistency in the milieu). To be brutally blunt, I've been living in denial with this piece.
Fantasy Magazine gave me my first nice rejection with this piece, leaving a personal note that was very encouraging. Beneath Ceaseless Skies was also great, taking the time to actually point out the flaws of the story in addition to encouraging me onward. But did I listen to this advise? No! Of course not! I plowed ahead and sent the story to Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, who got back to me late last night with another rejection, repeating a lot of what BCS said.
There were other rejections before these, but these last three stand out for me because A) they were the last three, and B) in each case, the overworked editors took the time to send me a note with the rejection. In all cases, they welcomed new works for review, rejected this story, and gave me some advise on why this story failed for them. The sad thing is that after sending the HFQ, I started taking what Scott at BCS said seriously, recognizing the flaws he pointed out. But by then, as they say, the die was already cast and the story was already sitting in the queue at BCS.
What I've taken from these three editors is the reassurance that my writing isn't crap, that when I sit down and tell a story, its still a worthy read. The problem in this case is that the story itself has intrinsic flaws that make it unsalable, at least in respectable markets.
Working against my lofty New Year's resolution right now is that I've spent most of the year, when I'm actually writing, working on a novel. A novel that isn't showing a lot of progress, although in the last week I've had a mental break through that should get the story moving forward again. My goal, for the bored, was to either be published this year, or to finish a novel. As it stands right now with over half the year past, I won't make either goal. And that kind of stings.
I wish I was better at multitasking and juggling my schedules. Rationally, there is no reason I couldn't write a few more short stories, release them into the wild, and work on the novel at the same time - while balancing family/work/life. Other people do it all the time. What I think I lack is discipline. Because there is no burning mandate to achieve these writing goals, the fate of the family/work/life don't hang in the balance of my success, I let myself be distracted (LeftForDead2 anybody?).
And I don't think this is something I'm going to answer in this blog post. But that's where I stand.
Need to get back to training
Posted by mcummings
Well, lately I've been good about writing again, which is always a boon, but my personal trainer has been having words with me about my other endeavors.