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Narrativity Membership Giveaway
Thursday, April 22nd, 2021 04:36 pmWant to win a free membership to Narrativity 2021, for yourself or a friend? Here’s how:
First, help promote the con on any social media. Like the Facebook page or join the group. Tweet/retweet. Subscribe to the website. Post about it on your blog, journal, or forums. Pretty much anything that helps get the word out about Narrativity counts!
Then, email Sara Diedrich at giveaway AT narrativity DOT fun and tell her which ones you’ve done. For each one, you’ll get one entry in the drawing for a free membership!
Deadline for entry is midnight (Central time) on May 13th.
Also, just a note that we’ve extended the current membership price to May 31st. So you can play along and still have the opportunity to buy a membership at the current low price of $42!
First, help promote the con on any social media. Like the Facebook page or join the group. Tweet/retweet. Subscribe to the website. Post about it on your blog, journal, or forums. Pretty much anything that helps get the word out about Narrativity counts!
Then, email Sara Diedrich at giveaway AT narrativity DOT fun and tell her which ones you’ve done. For each one, you’ll get one entry in the drawing for a free membership!
Deadline for entry is midnight (Central time) on May 13th.
Also, just a note that we’ve extended the current membership price to May 31st. So you can play along and still have the opportunity to buy a membership at the current low price of $42!
More Fun With Your Tax Dollars At Work
Wednesday, October 14th, 2020 06:46 pmI needed to accomplish something on this gray and chilly day, so I decided to try the IRS website again.
Site's back up! So I tried to file the 990-N. Or rather:
I set up a user account for e-Postcard filing. This is a multi-step process with security and site images and challenge questions and confirmation emails. Finally got that set up.
Then I set up an e-Postcard Profile. This is the point at which I find out if the organization has been successfully set up to file the e-Postcard, as I previously alluded to. And guess what, it hadn't.
So I called the IRS.
The usual phone-menu routing, including the "get help" option that always hangs up on you because they're always too busy. Called back, picked "other". 30-45 minutes on hold, to get to an earnest young man who sincerely wanted to help, but kept reading me large swaths of the tax code that demonstrated he didn't have the slightest clue what I was talking about. After an hour or so of this, he finally read me one last thing, then transfered me to another department. Only 4-7 minutes on hold, before a helpful young woman was able to look us up and confirm that we weren't set up as a 990 filer (this would be why I was calling, yes), but couldn't investigate why; for that, she had to transfer me to another department.
Aaaand I'm back to the department I started with. (You can tell the departments by the helpful instructions interspersed with the hold music.) Another 30-45 minutes on hold (I think it was longer). The IRS actually has very pleasant hold music, which is good because I'm going to be hearing it in my dreams. And finally I get through to another helpful young woman, who takes all of ten minutes to get my information (again), look us up, and tell me that the request I called with in mid-August wasn't put into the master file until last week. Another four weeks, and it should be processed and I can proceed.
Three and a half hours on the phone, and once I finally got to someone who knew her job, the answer took ten minutes. Not a great answer (more waiting), but at least she could assure me that it was just the tortoise crawl of bureacracy and not some kind of problem.
The housemate has now brought me a very large drink. *headdesk*
Site's back up! So I tried to file the 990-N. Or rather:
I set up a user account for e-Postcard filing. This is a multi-step process with security and site images and challenge questions and confirmation emails. Finally got that set up.
Then I set up an e-Postcard Profile. This is the point at which I find out if the organization has been successfully set up to file the e-Postcard, as I previously alluded to. And guess what, it hadn't.
So I called the IRS.
The usual phone-menu routing, including the "get help" option that always hangs up on you because they're always too busy. Called back, picked "other". 30-45 minutes on hold, to get to an earnest young man who sincerely wanted to help, but kept reading me large swaths of the tax code that demonstrated he didn't have the slightest clue what I was talking about. After an hour or so of this, he finally read me one last thing, then transfered me to another department. Only 4-7 minutes on hold, before a helpful young woman was able to look us up and confirm that we weren't set up as a 990 filer (this would be why I was calling, yes), but couldn't investigate why; for that, she had to transfer me to another department.
Aaaand I'm back to the department I started with. (You can tell the departments by the helpful instructions interspersed with the hold music.) Another 30-45 minutes on hold (I think it was longer). The IRS actually has very pleasant hold music, which is good because I'm going to be hearing it in my dreams. And finally I get through to another helpful young woman, who takes all of ten minutes to get my information (again), look us up, and tell me that the request I called with in mid-August wasn't put into the master file until last week. Another four weeks, and it should be processed and I can proceed.
Three and a half hours on the phone, and once I finally got to someone who knew her job, the answer took ten minutes. Not a great answer (more waiting), but at least she could assure me that it was just the tortoise crawl of bureacracy and not some kind of problem.
The housemate has now brought me a very large drink. *headdesk*
Your Tax Dollars (Not) At Work
Monday, October 12th, 2020 04:17 pmI set today aside to catch up on convention stuff, including tax filings and other bureacracy.
The tax thing has been a learning experience indeed, but the practical upshot is that a tiny little organization like Narrativity need only file a 990-N. Sounds pretty painless. Only trick is that in our situation, we first need to register with the IRS that we're going to file a 990-N, and wait until they've got that processed before doing the actual filing.
Filing can only be done online. Registering to file can only be done by phone.
So in April, I called to register. IRS customer service was closed due to Covid.
I checked back a few times; still closed. Then with one thing and another, time got away from me. But I did finally call when they were finally open, talked to an IRS rep (eek! but actually it was fairly painless), and got us registered. Except that it takes eight weeks for that to process. They don't notify you when it's ready, you just have to try it and see if it works.
Eight weeks have finally passed, so I went to file the 990-N and see if it works. "This service will be unavailable due to system maintenance."
I am feeling decidedly thwarted.
Compare this to Minnesota's annual renewal for non-profits: They send an email reminder when it's time to renew. The email contains clear, step-by-step instructions and a link to the appropriate starting page. Both creating an account for online filing and filing the actual renewal generate confirmation emails, and both arrived within moments.
Maybe the IRS should hire some Minnesotans.
The tax thing has been a learning experience indeed, but the practical upshot is that a tiny little organization like Narrativity need only file a 990-N. Sounds pretty painless. Only trick is that in our situation, we first need to register with the IRS that we're going to file a 990-N, and wait until they've got that processed before doing the actual filing.
Filing can only be done online. Registering to file can only be done by phone.
So in April, I called to register. IRS customer service was closed due to Covid.
I checked back a few times; still closed. Then with one thing and another, time got away from me. But I did finally call when they were finally open, talked to an IRS rep (eek! but actually it was fairly painless), and got us registered. Except that it takes eight weeks for that to process. They don't notify you when it's ready, you just have to try it and see if it works.
Eight weeks have finally passed, so I went to file the 990-N and see if it works. "This service will be unavailable due to system maintenance."
I am feeling decidedly thwarted.
Compare this to Minnesota's annual renewal for non-profits: They send an email reminder when it's time to renew. The email contains clear, step-by-step instructions and a link to the appropriate starting page. Both creating an account for online filing and filing the actual renewal generate confirmation emails, and both arrived within moments.
Maybe the IRS should hire some Minnesotans.
Time Management for Con Chairs
Monday, April 1st, 2019 01:43 pmRunning a convention will eat your life. I don't know that anyone who's done it or even watched it up close would dispute that. And yes, I accepted that going in.
However. I have been catching myself lately, when I've finished the things I said I would do this session, looking around and thinking "What else can I do for the con?" Not, notably, "What were the rest-of-my-life things I said I'd do when I finished the immediate con stuff?" That shit's gotta stop. There's a tremendous amount to do for the con, sure, but if I go looking for ways for it to devour even more time than it already does, it will surely do so and the cats really will forget who I am.
However. I have been catching myself lately, when I've finished the things I said I would do this session, looking around and thinking "What else can I do for the con?" Not, notably, "What were the rest-of-my-life things I said I'd do when I finished the immediate con stuff?" That shit's gotta stop. There's a tremendous amount to do for the con, sure, but if I go looking for ways for it to devour even more time than it already does, it will surely do so and the cats really will forget who I am.
Font Organization (Help?)
Monday, March 25th, 2019 02:18 pmI have an idea for a flyer for the con which is based around a particular font.* I remember the font quite clearly and am quite sure I have it, but an exhaustive (and exhausting) search of my font files failed to turn it up.
So, I went hunting for it on the internet.
I should not be allowed near font sites without adult supervision. ;-)
Despite trying to limit myself to fonts I might actually have a use for, and already having quite a few of the ones on the site I was using, I managed to download over a thousand font files. No, that is not a typo. There may be a few duplicates, but not enough to significantly change that number. But they were all so cool, and having a halfway-decent internet connection means it was actually faster to download anything I found attractive than to sit there debating whether I should download it or not, and....
This brings me to the quandary I always reach when I do this, which is that I need some way to organize or catalog the fonts I have. I'm shoving some of them into sub-directories, such as "people fonts" or "food & kitchen" or "tentacles" (yes, there were enough of those to justify a category for them), but this is a temporary measure at best, and it doesn't address the fonts that are more standard lettering. And at over a thousand fonts (and that's just this download batch, that's not counting the... many... I already had), it's not practical nor even sane to try browsing through them all every time I need something.
Anybody got any good suggestions for font management? I've never had much luck with programs that claim to organize things for you (photo management, I'm looking at you), but I clearly need something. It needs to be something that will work with the way my brain thinks of fonts, so I can look up all "handwriting" fonts, but I can also look up all fonts that are "swoopy" or "fast" or "made out of things". Possibly learning more about typesetting terminology would give me some more descriptors, but I suspect there's still a significant idiosyncrasy factor here, not to mention the sheer workload.
I dearly want to build my own database of fonts, with filenames and samples and license conditions and multiple keywords for each one, but the amount of time involved in such an undertaking... well, let's just say it's been on my list of things to do for at least two decades, and leave it at that. ;-)
*The font in question is an outline font with the letters formed by human figures, looking rather like they're doing yoga. It is not Human Capital by Kosuke Tatsumi, though that is the closest I've been able to find.
So, I went hunting for it on the internet.
I should not be allowed near font sites without adult supervision. ;-)
Despite trying to limit myself to fonts I might actually have a use for, and already having quite a few of the ones on the site I was using, I managed to download over a thousand font files. No, that is not a typo. There may be a few duplicates, but not enough to significantly change that number. But they were all so cool, and having a halfway-decent internet connection means it was actually faster to download anything I found attractive than to sit there debating whether I should download it or not, and....
This brings me to the quandary I always reach when I do this, which is that I need some way to organize or catalog the fonts I have. I'm shoving some of them into sub-directories, such as "people fonts" or "food & kitchen" or "tentacles" (yes, there were enough of those to justify a category for them), but this is a temporary measure at best, and it doesn't address the fonts that are more standard lettering. And at over a thousand fonts (and that's just this download batch, that's not counting the... many... I already had), it's not practical nor even sane to try browsing through them all every time I need something.
Anybody got any good suggestions for font management? I've never had much luck with programs that claim to organize things for you (photo management, I'm looking at you), but I clearly need something. It needs to be something that will work with the way my brain thinks of fonts, so I can look up all "handwriting" fonts, but I can also look up all fonts that are "swoopy" or "fast" or "made out of things". Possibly learning more about typesetting terminology would give me some more descriptors, but I suspect there's still a significant idiosyncrasy factor here, not to mention the sheer workload.
I dearly want to build my own database of fonts, with filenames and samples and license conditions and multiple keywords for each one, but the amount of time involved in such an undertaking... well, let's just say it's been on my list of things to do for at least two decades, and leave it at that. ;-)
*The font in question is an outline font with the letters formed by human figures, looking rather like they're doing yoga. It is not Human Capital by Kosuke Tatsumi, though that is the closest I've been able to find.
Narrativity!
Thursday, March 21st, 2019 08:55 pmSo, that Thing I've been alluding to for the past few months? Well, after a long and crazy ride, and scaling more learning curves than I can rightly count, and one last fake-out from the god Murphy, I can finally introduce you to:
Narrativity!
It's a convention. It's a party. It's going to be a darned good time, and it's happening in Minneapolis July 12-14, 2019.
If you want to spend the weekend of Bastille Day hanging out with a bunch of smart, interesting people, having deep discussions of writing, reading, fantastic worlds, and how best to have fun with all of that, then check it out!
It's gonna be great. And if a rollicking three days discussing everything under the sun is your idea of a good time, then I hope to see you there!
Narrativity!
It's a convention. It's a party. It's going to be a darned good time, and it's happening in Minneapolis July 12-14, 2019.
If you want to spend the weekend of Bastille Day hanging out with a bunch of smart, interesting people, having deep discussions of writing, reading, fantastic worlds, and how best to have fun with all of that, then check it out!
It's gonna be great. And if a rollicking three days discussing everything under the sun is your idea of a good time, then I hope to see you there!
Real Soon Now....
Wednesday, March 20th, 2019 01:32 pmThe Thing is so very, very close to going public.
And I am so very, very tired.
Watch this space.............
And I am so very, very tired.
Watch this space.............
For the second day running, I ache all over, and I have no energy or motivation whatsoever. Road kill would be frisky by comparison.
Am trying to decide if this is a natural result of scrambling like hell to get The Thing up and running only to be brought to a screeching halt for the past week because somebody else has been unavailable to do her part, or if I am in fact coming down with something.
Drinking three Red Bulls so I can actually get something done would probably not be a good choice, but it certainly sounds appealing.
Am trying to decide if this is a natural result of scrambling like hell to get The Thing up and running only to be brought to a screeching halt for the past week because somebody else has been unavailable to do her part, or if I am in fact coming down with something.
Drinking three Red Bulls so I can actually get something done would probably not be a good choice, but it certainly sounds appealing.
February Word Count
Sunday, March 3rd, 2019 12:55 pmOkay, I didn't expect the writing numbers to be good this month; I pretty much gave myself permission to abandon writing entirely in order to get that non-writing project I keep alluding to done. Not a choice I'm happy about, but trying to do it all was only making me feel squashed to a grease-spot. So:
Haley novel: 2 words
original short fiction: -2 words
for a grand total new words in February of bugger-all. ;-\
I messed about with fanfic a little, but even if I counted that it wouldn't make that much difference. My brain and my time have been totally consumed by that non-writing project. Which, at least, is almost to the point where I can talk about it in public, and will go live Real Soon Now.
This does not mean I'm not annoyed about the state of the writing.
Querying was still supposed to happen this month: I sent 1, crossed off one agent, and set one agent aside for another book in a different genre. Sigh.
About another week should see the Sekrit Project up and running. And then I must get back to things writing: LST re-activated, and finish the bloody querying on HoM.
Haley novel: 2 words
original short fiction: -2 words
for a grand total new words in February of bugger-all. ;-\
I messed about with fanfic a little, but even if I counted that it wouldn't make that much difference. My brain and my time have been totally consumed by that non-writing project. Which, at least, is almost to the point where I can talk about it in public, and will go live Real Soon Now.
This does not mean I'm not annoyed about the state of the writing.
Querying was still supposed to happen this month: I sent 1, crossed off one agent, and set one agent aside for another book in a different genre. Sigh.
About another week should see the Sekrit Project up and running. And then I must get back to things writing: LST re-activated, and finish the bloody querying on HoM.
A day off would be a beautiful thing
Wednesday, February 27th, 2019 03:53 pmYou know you've been doing too much when you're happy to go to the Day Job, because it means you get a break.
My god, this house is full of cat hair.
Saturday, February 9th, 2019 03:29 pmThere is too much to do, and I am behind schedule on absolutely everything. This is bad, but trying to push it all uphill in an effort to catch up is only going to break me, and then it still won't be done.
And I am coming to terms with that. I have almost achieved being comfortable with it, and if the chips fall in a bad way, I will cope with that too.
So that's where I was this morning, and then I ran some errands.
Me: I cannot do it all immediately. I will do this thing in this way at this speed. If that's not enough, that's too damn bad. That's all I've got the spoons for; it'll have to do. And I'm going to be good with that.
The Universe: Here, have some car trouble. You didn't really need brakes, did you?
*headdesk*
And I am coming to terms with that. I have almost achieved being comfortable with it, and if the chips fall in a bad way, I will cope with that too.
So that's where I was this morning, and then I ran some errands.
Me: I cannot do it all immediately. I will do this thing in this way at this speed. If that's not enough, that's too damn bad. That's all I've got the spoons for; it'll have to do. And I'm going to be good with that.
The Universe: Here, have some car trouble. You didn't really need brakes, did you?
*headdesk*
Aren't you terrified of waking up too tired to try again?
Tuesday, February 5th, 2019 01:06 pm(backdated; found on USB about a year after the fact)
The original plan was to take December off, goof around with writing fanfic or whatever took my fancy, and then get back to Lightning Strikes Twice. Technology and other issues put paid to that, and I ended up not writing at all for most of December. So then January was supposed to be my goofing-off month -- and I did noodle around a bit with fanfic and such. But I also had this idea of starting a new series, and writing the first story in January -- which I mostly did, putting the finishing pre-beta touches on "Dix Dayton, Jet Jockey" only one day into the next month. Only now it's February, and the deal with taking January to goof off was that I would start cracking on LST again in February. And I'm still scrambling around with half-assed technology, and a non-writing project that's eating all my spare time and badly needs more, and the last-gasp push on querying Highway of Mirrors that somehow was also supposed to get done in January and is... only half so, and I am in no headspace to dive back into LST even if it is at a much-reduced pace from NaNo's.
Somehow, this month, I need to:
-reactivate LST
-finish querying HoM
-sub one|more short stories
-write another short story, no wait, two short stories (I still owe somebody one from May)
-do something about the writing laptop situation
-do enough stuff for the non-writing project to qualify as a full-time job if I were getting paid
Let's all sing the Doom Song now, shall we?
The original plan was to take December off, goof around with writing fanfic or whatever took my fancy, and then get back to Lightning Strikes Twice. Technology and other issues put paid to that, and I ended up not writing at all for most of December. So then January was supposed to be my goofing-off month -- and I did noodle around a bit with fanfic and such. But I also had this idea of starting a new series, and writing the first story in January -- which I mostly did, putting the finishing pre-beta touches on "Dix Dayton, Jet Jockey" only one day into the next month. Only now it's February, and the deal with taking January to goof off was that I would start cracking on LST again in February. And I'm still scrambling around with half-assed technology, and a non-writing project that's eating all my spare time and badly needs more, and the last-gasp push on querying Highway of Mirrors that somehow was also supposed to get done in January and is... only half so, and I am in no headspace to dive back into LST even if it is at a much-reduced pace from NaNo's.
Somehow, this month, I need to:
-reactivate LST
-finish querying HoM
-sub one|more short stories
-write another short story, no wait, two short stories (I still owe somebody one from May)
-do something about the writing laptop situation
-do enough stuff for the non-writing project to qualify as a full-time job if I were getting paid
Let's all sing the Doom Song now, shall we?
What's worse than psyching yourself up and getting up early to call a government department about an esoteric point of paperwork?
Psyching yourself up and getting up early only to realize it's a government holiday and you're going to have to do it all over again tomorrow. *headdesk*
Psyching yourself up and getting up early only to realize it's a government holiday and you're going to have to do it all over again tomorrow. *headdesk*
Where's the kaboom?
Thursday, January 17th, 2019 12:27 pmI am drinking tea out of my Marvin the Martian mug.
For those who don't know me well enough to know what that means: It is never a good thing when I am sick enough to consume large quantities of tea and also in a mood where I greatly sympathize with the desire for "an Earth-shattering kaboom!"
(Awaiting emails on Thing. Contemplating emails on Thing related to Thing. Need to be working on other Thing.
...May need more tea.)
For those who don't know me well enough to know what that means: It is never a good thing when I am sick enough to consume large quantities of tea and also in a mood where I greatly sympathize with the desire for "an Earth-shattering kaboom!"
(Awaiting emails on Thing. Contemplating emails on Thing related to Thing. Need to be working on other Thing.
...May need more tea.)
I don't even have words for a title.
Monday, December 10th, 2018 05:54 pmI have to write an email to someone on a subject we profoundly disagree about.
And I've got nothing. I am just so effing exhausted with trying to fight the good fight whilst simultaneously delicately negotiating around other people's feelings, and slamming my head against brick wall after brick wall on this project. All to create something that I genuinely believe needs to exist, but that I will probably be too busy running to enjoy any of anyway.
And I've got nothing. I am just so effing exhausted with trying to fight the good fight whilst simultaneously delicately negotiating around other people's feelings, and slamming my head against brick wall after brick wall on this project. All to create something that I genuinely believe needs to exist, but that I will probably be too busy running to enjoy any of anyway.
