One Joy Crelin

I've moved

2012-01-02T16:57:00.003-05:00

JoyCrelin.com has moved to new hosting and a WordPress site, so the blog will be going with it. This blog will no longer be updated; however, I will keep it up as a historical document of sorts (haha).

Goodbye, Blogger. Stay cool.

Peace.

Win a free copy of Like a Treasure Found, edited by Joy Crelin

2011-08-30T07:00:00.006-04:00

Do you like sexy pirates?

Want to win a free copy of Like a Treasure Found, the latest anthology from Circlet Press?

Read on!

Below, I've provided the titles of the stories in the anthology and the opening line of each. To enter the contest, simply comment on this post and match each story to its opening line.* I'll even give you the first answer to get you started—1d.

The first commenter to answer correctly will win a PDF copy of the anthology (other digital formats may be available, so please let me know if you prefer a particular one). If no one gets it completely right, the commenter with the most correct matches will win. The contest is open until someone answers correctly, or until 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on Monday, September 5—whichever comes first.

If you are comfortable doing so, please leave an email address in your comment so I can notify you if you win. If you aren't, please make sure to check back here at the end of the contest.

EDIT: Like a Treasure Found is now available for purchase!

Titles

1. “On Arid Seas”
2. “Of Great Renown”
3. “The Pirate from the Sky”
4. “The Ancient Shrine of the Double Cross”
5. “A Shelter From All Storms”
6. “Daniel”
7. “The Final Voyage of the Devil's Prow”

Opening Lines

a. Jim Slade hacked his way through the jungle, sweating and tired and almost feral with how close he was to his goal.
b. Don't they often say that the way to hell is paved with good intentions?
c. In Seok-Teng's dream, a great pale dragon twined through a labyrinth of shifting clouds.
d. Dust swirled around Jamie's feet.
e. Blossoming into a woman at an early age, Catalina had always been, among the legion of young criollo men of Lima, widely considered to be the finest, the most sought after, and easily the one with the most legitimate offers for marriage.
f. "At last we make the acquaintance of the so-called Pirate Queen Blade."
g. When Willoughby finally met Captain Sable in the interstellar pirate port, his shoulders sagged.

*Independent publisher Circlet Press has been celebrating the erotic imagination since 1992. As such, Like a Treasure Found contains explicit sex, so please do not enter this contest if you are under the age of eighteen. Thank you :)

Renovation--Worldcon 2011

2011-08-24T22:15:00.006-04:00

Oh my god. Worldcon is addictive. I started planning my trip to next year's Chicon 7 while still in Reno, which should tell you something.

This photograph by my friend Jensen accurately summarizes my time in Reno:

(The word you're looking for is "awesome." Or maybe "badass.")

Anyway, I had a wonderful time and met some very cool people. I've discovered over the years that I'm terrible at convention reports—lots of "I went to [panel name], which was [adjective]"—so I'll leave it at that.

On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to mention that my latest anthology from Circlet Press, Like a Treasure Found, is scheduled to launch on September 6. I'm thinking of holding a contest to celebrate its release, so if you like SFF pirate erotica, check back here next week!

Renovation!

2011-08-14T19:54:00.002-04:00

I leave for Worldcon in Reno on Tuesday morning! Super excited. Now, I'm a notoriously bad blogger, so I wouldn't expect to see at-the-con updates from me here. However, I will be tweeting throughout the convention--and don't forget to check out #renosf!

2011-07-14T21:40:00.003-04:00

I plan to post about my newish job (etc.) at some point, but as I've just moved to a new apartment in a new town and am a little discombobulated, this is not that post. Please bear with me.

However, I did want to pop in here and make it known that I will be at Readercon (Burlington, MA) this weekend. I plan to arrive Friday evening, and I should be around for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday. I will not be working the New Genre booth this year (I'm not sure if there'll be one), so if you see a woman wandering around looking befuddled, there's a decent chance it's me.

Also, Circlet Press is hosting a group reading at Readercon! I'm super excited about it, and you should be too. 8 pm on Saturday in the New Hampshire room. Be there.

My college career, by the numbers

2011-05-17T17:59:00.004-04:00

Classes:

Honors: 5 (+4 semesters of Honors Colloquium meetings) (+1 Honors Thesis)
Interdisciplinary: 3
Writing: 5 (+1 BFA creative project)
Literature: 6
Publishing: 4
Other/GenEd: 5
Classes not taken due to AP credits or other waivers: 5

Pages in Honors Thesis: 22

Pages in BFA creative project: 52

Essays written: let's not talk about it

Sugar-free Red Bulls consumed: all of them

Awkward moments at graduation when the commencement speaker forgot the WLP department existed: 1

Diplomas received: 1

Offers of full-time, salaried employment received: 1
Offers of full-time, salaried employment accepted: 1

2011-04-03T20:43:00.003-04:00

I spent this weekend at the second Circlet Press editor and author retreat, which was a.maz.ing as usual. Good food, good company, and tons of ~~plotting world domination~~ brainstorming. I also had the pleasure of meeting one of my authors (!), the talented and adorable Julie Cox, in person for the first time.

'Twas a fantastic weekend.

So yeah, as you may have guessed, I'm already suffering from retreat withdrawal. :(

2011-02-18T16:54:00.003-05:00

I'll be at Boskone this weekend! If you see me at the Westin, feel free to say hi :)

Also, I want to remind the world that I'm still accepting submissions for my erotic pirate anthology Like a Treasure Found. Check out the submission guidelines here.

A brief Arisia recap

2011-01-17T18:37:00.005-05:00

Excellent time at Arisia this year! I made it to a number of panels, plus one of the movie trailer screenings and several shadowcasts, though unfortunately, I did have to mostly avoid the dealers room. So many pretty things, so little money. And don't even get me started on some of the pieces in the art show. Get in my apartment right now! Yes, $1000 steampunk raygun, I'm talking to you.

There were a couple of major changes that I really appreciated. Last year, the con had definitely outgrown its hotel, and I spent most of the weekend feeling distractingly claustrophobic. The move to the (much more spacious) Westin worked wonders (though it was wicked cold). Also, there was an iPhone app that effectively replaced the pocket program for me. Um, awesome. I don't think it'll ever completely replace the paper version, nor should it, but it made customizing my schedule and checking the maps ridiculously convenient. Other conventions, take note.

And, of course, it's always great to catch up with my colleagues from Circlet, some of whom I see very infrequently. There was the usual Circlet party on Friday night, and the next day, several of us went out for some very tasty Italian food. There are certainly some things that are better than an evening of food, drink, and conversation, but that's definitely up there.

After staying up for last night's shadowcasts, I was too tired this morning to even consider leaving the house, but I did do something convention-related. As of this afternoon, I have a membership and hotel room for Renovation. Nevada in August sounds terrifying, not gonna lie, but—Worldcon. Heck yeah.

2011-01-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

FYI, I'm at Arisia this weekend!

Call for Submissions: Like a Treasure Found

2011-01-13T14:36:00.000-05:00

Yo-ho-ho! Circlet Press is seeking submissions for its new ebook anthology of erotic pirate-themed stories, Like a Treasure Found, edited by Joy Crelin.

Pirates have captured the public imagination for centuries, rising to an almost legendary status in popular culture. The record-breaking success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and media focus on modern-day pirates, both those prowling the coasts and those operating purely in the digital realm, shows that our fascination with these disreputable figures continues to this day. When there’s treasure to be had, there will always be a pirate to claim it. For Like a Treasure Found, we’re looking for erotic tales of fantastic adventures on the high seas, out in the vastness of the galaxy, and anywhere in between.

[Guidelines and submission details ahoy!]

Here we go again!

2010-09-11T23:55:00.003-04:00

I'm back at school for my last fall semester EVER (unless I go to grad school at some point, but let's not talk about that right now). I'm taking classes on British Romanticism, copyediting, and publishing applications (InDesign, etc.), as well as working on my BFA creative project and Honors Program thesis. Busybusy, but I can see the proverbial finish line, oh my! Eight months to go—watch out, here I come.

Readercon addendum

2010-07-16T15:21:00.002-04:00

Check out the Readercon coverage from the Boston Phoenix! Hmmm, I wonder who those lovely ladies toward the right of the second picture could be—they sure do look awfully familiar!

Well, now that I've recovered...

2010-07-12T17:54:00.007-04:00

I'm not sure how Readercon managed to leave me so exhausted, considering I basically spent three days sitting on my bum, but it did—in a good way, of course! I'm all rested now, though, so here's my Readercon 2010 mini-report.

Me (left) and Eliza, just doing our thang

I didn't make it to very many panels this year, mainly because I got into a good selling groove and didn't want to interrupt it. New Genre didn't have a new issue this time around, but we did have a couple of new offerings on the table—the Open Letters Monthly anthology and Jennifer Karmin's aaaaaaaaaaalice, the newest book from Flim Forum. Oh, and free promotional flashlights with each purchase. And also free candy for everyone! All in all, it was a successful weekend in the Bookshop.

There were a bunch of books that caught my eye, but unfortunately, I really couldn't afford to buy any. Besides, I've run out of space in my bookcases. That said, I've already added several books to my Amazon wishlist, so perhaps I'll only have to wait until my birthday or Christmas to read all of the books that everyone else has already read—ohgodiwillnevercatchup! But I suppose there are worse problems to have....

I did go to a couple of panels and the like: Alternatives to the Pay-Per-Copy System of Author Compensation, Is Anybody Out There?, How Electrons Have Changed Writing and Reading, The History of Libraries, and Adam's reading of "Green." They were all great, but I didn't take much in the way of notes, so I'll leave the recapping to those who did. As usual, the Readercon LiveJournal community is posting links to con reports, and there are already some great ones there.

Anyway, this was another excellent Readercon. I can't wait 'til next year!

Checking in from Readercon

2010-07-10T14:36:00.003-04:00

I'm having an excellent con so far! Driving to Burlington cuts the trip time in half (at least), thank god. The Bookshop has been nice and busy, and our fiendish plan to lure folks to New Genre's table with candy is sheer elegance in its simplicity--and deliciousness.

Stay tuned for a full recap of my adventures in the next few days!

Join the Circlet 100!

2010-04-27T00:19:00.003-04:00

I was meaning to post about the retreat tonight, but at the moment my computer is refusing to recognize my Internet connection, so I'm posting from my phone. A longer post will have to wait for now. However, I wanted to post this ASAP:

Circlet Press is trying to raise the funds to print its first printed book in three years, Best Erotic Fantasy. In order to do this, we're holding a special sale! For $50, you can get twenty ebook anthologies (including Like Tooth and Claw!), and for $100, you can get those twenty plus seven single-author ebooks and a Circlet 100 t-shirt.

For more information and to join the Circlet 100, please click here.

Checking in from the Circlet Press retreat!

2010-04-23T19:27:00.002-04:00

I'm currently sitting in Circlet HQ, surrounded by editors and writers. This is going to be an awesome weekend.

Brief Update: March Edition

2010-03-03T00:07:00.003-05:00

Today was actually warm enough for me to walk around without a coat for a little while. That's tremendously exciting. I love spring!

Spring, of course, brings with it another internship search. I attended Emerson's internship fair last week, and I sent out several applications today. We'll see how it goes—stay tuned!

Boskone 2010 Report

2010-02-14T23:45:00.005-05:00

Had a good time at Boskone 47. It was definitely over too fast! I spent the majority of the con at the New Genre table in the Hucksters Room, which is always a lot of fun—I love talking to everybody! I hope everyone who bought copies today enjoyed the dinosaur valentines and the candy, 'cause I sure did.

I also made it to a panel on "the heroine's journey" and a workshop on making a chain mail bracelet. I'm dying to keep working on my Byzantine weave, but I only have one pair of pliers in my apartment. :(

This weekend also gave me the opportunity to check out the Harry Potter exhibition at the Museum of Science. Fellow Huckster Eliza and I got hilariously lost on the way there, but once we figured out where we were going, we had a great time.

Now, to survive the many months until Readercon!

2010-02-10T11:54:00.002-05:00

FYI, I'm going to be at Boskone this weekend! You can find me at the New Genre table in the Hucksters Room--I'll be the one whose badge says Joy, naturally.

Arisia report!

2010-01-20T01:13:00.007-05:00

I’ve more-or-less recovered from Arisia 2010, and with classes starting tomorrow, now seems like the best time to post my report!

This was my first Arisia, since I lived on campus for my first two years in Boston and consequently had nowhere to stay while the dorms were closed. Have I mentioned how much I love being off campus? Yeah.
Anyway, I arrived at the Hyatt Friday evening and spent some time getting my bearings before I met up with Cecilia Tan and got my mission for the night: hanging up flyers for the Circlet Press party. I had my first of many encounters with “Mount Arisia” as I hung a flyer up on each floor. I’ll miss some aspects of the layout of the Hyatt when Arisia moves next year, but honestly, I will not miss the elevator/stair situation. Ok, I might miss the exercise. Maybe.

I hung out at the Circlet party until about midnight, when most of the party moved to a different room for Cecilia’s reading. She read from a variety of stories, but for me, the star of the night was absolutely…well, you really had to be there. Two words: Alan Rickman.

On Saturday morning, I rushed to Cambridge yet still managed to show up to Daniel A. Rabuzzi’s reading a good ten minutes late. He read from The Choir Boats, which I bought on Sunday. (I’m only a few chapters in right now, but I’m enjoying it a lot!) I also met his wife, Deborah A. Mills, who does amazing woodcarving. They’re both just really cool people :)

After exploring the art show a bit, I went and gave blood for the first time. Word on the internet is that 101 people were able to donate, and I’m so happy to have been one of them. Unfortunately, the blood-drawing didn’t agree with me—I don’t know if I just didn’t eat enough juice and cookies or what, but I felt wobbly and cranky for several hours afterward. That certainly won’t stop me from donating in the future, of course. I’ll just make sure to guzzle even more delicious apple juice. Yum.

As I recovered (and honestly, at several other points throughout Arisia), I hung out at what I’ve come to call “my people-watching perch.” In fact, there’s photographic evidence!

Spotted: One Joy Crelin lurking!

Photo courtesy of John Cholewa—thanks!

Over the course of the rest of the day, I went to a few panels (Arthurian Legends: The Ultimate Fanfic, The Ultimate Showdown, The History of Fandom) and wandered through Dealer’s Row. I bailed earlier than I’d have liked, but sleep was in order.

Sunday was my big busy day. I went to The Changing Face of Publishing, The Mechanics of Anthology Construction, Charisma is Not a Dump Stat, and Stories that Changed Everything, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I ended up having some time to kill, since I had something to go to at midnight, so I decided to go find a party. This turned out to be an awesome idea. I somehow found my way to the Never Never Land Worldcon bid party, which was pretty much the greatest thing ever. I’m incredibly impressed by how great of a party Jacob and company were able to put on with such short notice. Props.

At midnight, I went to the shadowcast of Dr. Horrible, which was followed by a fabulously dirty shadowcast of Once More with Feeling. The Teseracte Players took every innuendo and ran with it. Good lord. Sunday night was definitely the highlight of Arisia for me.

On Monday, I braved the disgusting weather and returned to the con for a couple of last panels—Primary Sources and The Casting Couch. I meant to stay for the Sesame Street panel, but I was soooo sleepy. Thus, I said goodbye to Arisia and headed home for a nap.

On the whole, I had a good time at Arisia. I met a ton of awesome people, including some of my fellow Circlet editors, and I went to some entertaining and informative panels. The con was definitely more hectic than I’m used to, but I think the move to the Westin might help a bit with that. Speaking of the Westin, I’m planning to be at Boskone next month, and it looks like I’ll be helping out at the New Genre table. More on that later. And now, since I have class tomorrow, I should probably go to bed. Goodnight, dear readers!

2010-01-14T23:36:00.001-05:00

I'm super pumped for Arisia this weekend! Expect a report Monday or Tuesday.

Like Tooth and Claw is go!

2009-12-21T12:00:00.006-05:00

I'd like to announce the publication of Like Tooth and Claw, an anthology edited by Joy Crelin (me!) and Cecilia Tan for Circlet Press.

$5.99
ISBN 978-1-885865-88-5

Like Tooth and Claw contains six erotic shapeshifter stories:

"Hunter, Prey" by Marie Carlson
"Eagle Eyed" by Helen Dring
"Tonight We Work in Silk" by Lee Harrington
"Northern Sea" by Alex Monagan
"Waylaid" by Julie Cox
"Lioness" by Amanda Ferry
plus an Introduction written by me!

You can purchase Like Tooth and Claw (in a variety of formats!) from Circlet.com, the Amazon Kindle Store, Fictionwise, All Romance Ebooks, Smashwords, and Scribd.

I had so much fun editing this book. The authors turned out an amazing bunch of stories, and I hope you'll all read and enjoy!

Got a comment or question? Feel free to post a comment here, or hit me up at joy.circlet@gmail.com

May 2010—Like Tooth and Claw was reviewed by Bitten by Books

December 2010—Like Tooth and Claw was reviewed by Night Owl Reviews.

Moving on up...!

2009-12-19T00:02:00.002-05:00

So, Like Tooth and Claw is almost ready to launch, and I'll be making a major post when that happens. This is not that post.
I just wanted to stop in here for a sec and share my news--my big, big news.
I've been promoted.

One Joy Crelin: Assistant Editor

:)

This is, in fact, an update

2009-11-06T22:31:00.002-05:00

Ahem. Long time no see...

In Circlet news, Like Tooth and Claw is coming along well. Exciting...! More on that later.

In Emerson news, I'm finally finished with midterms. This means we've gotten to the part of the semester in which I begin to obsess about planning my schedule for next semester. How many literature classes can I take at once? Let's find out!

In awesome news, I just bought these shoes.

In birthday news, I turn twenty on November 24th :)

And now I will eat these nachos.

2009-09-10T19:57:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to quickly note that today begins the submission period for Like Tooth and Claw, the anthology I'll be co-editing for Circlet Press. Submission guidelines can be found here.

:)

Is it fall yet?

2009-08-20T22:19:00.002-04:00

Two things begin on September 14th:

(1) Fall '09 semester at Emerson College

and

(2) MY INTERNSHIP AT CIRCLET PRESS!!!!!!!!!!!

One Joy Crelin: Intern
:)

Readercon report!

2009-07-14T11:51:00.003-04:00

Readercon 20 was my first Readercon, and it was definitely a fun experience. Unlike my previous convention trips, I wasn’t solely at Readercon as a fan. Adam Golaski of New Genre magazine enlisted me to help out at his bookshop table, so I got a spiffy green dealer’s badge and everything! It was way cool.
Anyway, here’s how it all went down:

Thursday
Met up with Adam on Newbury Street and vroom vroomed off to the Burlington Marriott. We got some coffee, thankfully not in the really loud restaurant, and talked school, etc. Then we went to see Laird Barron read, and then I went to You Don’t Know Dictionary, which was full of many fancy words and whatnot. Aaaand then Adam drove me back into Boston and I went home.

Friday
I got up wicked early and braved the MBTA: bus from my apartment to Maverick, Blue Line to Government Center, Green Line to Park Street, Red Line to Alewife, bus to Burlington. Oy. Once I snagged my program, I took a few minutes (and by that, I mean about an hour) to sit outside and look over my options. Concrete is, as I probably should have expected, not much fun to sit on. Oh well.

I met with Adam to discuss pricing (the bookshop wasn’t due to open until 6, but being prepared is a Good Thing), and then I headed to Novels You Write vs. Novels You Talk About in Bars. It was an interesting panel, though it wasn’t quite what I thought it’d be. To the panelists, novels that they talked about in bars (and never actually wrote) were ones that were “too grand in scope.” I thought it’d be more of a “Duuuude, I have this great idea for a book. There’s an interpretive dance team, a chinchilla, a child prodigy, and bunch of aliens, and they all fight crime together! This is going to be legen--wait for it--dary!”
But then again, I have never been in a bar and consequently have no real knowledge of the conversations that take place within one. I can only imagine.

Next up was Hacks Anonymous vs. The Art Police. It was really cool to see what writing people do when they’re trying to pay the bills. I would totally write movie tie-ins or wrestler biographies if given the chance.

The next panel I went to was How to Review, which featured the late Charles Brown as moderator (I was shocked to hear that he had passed away shortly after Readercon. RIP). The panel itself was great because of the diversity of its participants--people from both genre and non-genre publications were there, and I thought that that added a nice range of viewpoints.

Next I met up with Adam and went to see Elizabeth Hand talk about how she wrote Wonderwall. I proceeded to have the Oasis song stuck in my head for the entirety of the talk. She talked a lot about her research methods, including her use of Google Books, which I thought was cool. I was suddenly reminded that I had read some Rimbaud in high school, and although I couldn’t recall many specifics, I enjoyed her discussion of events that may or may not have sparked the writing of “The Drunken Boat.”

Afterward, Adam and I headed over to the bookshop to begin setting up, only to be told that the bookshop was opening early. We quickly unloaded all our stuff--New Genre magazines, Adam’s collection Worse Than Myself, experimental poetry books--and were still setting up when the doors opened, but it was all good. I met Victoria Blake, publisher of Underland Press, with whom we were sharing a table. I also met Eliza, Adam’s intern, who arrived at some point during the chaos of bookshop-opening. We were speaking in unison by the end of the night. Good times!

After the bookshop closed, the three of us had a tasty dinner at Legal Seafoods (I got grilled scallops with onion strings and jalapeno cheddar polenta) and then went to the Meet the Pros(e) Party, where there was cake. Oh yes, there was cake. It was good cake. I only collected ten or so stickers due to awkwardness, but Eliza assembled a very impressive set. Gotta catch ‘em all!
We were all very tired at this point, so Eliza went back to her hotel room and Adam drove me home. We got a bit lost, so I didn’t get dropped off until around 1 am. I proceeded to collapse.

Saturday
I once again braved the bussubwaysubwaysubwaybus and arrived at the hotel shortly after the bookshop opened. Eliza and I proceeded to sellsellsell for a while before going to Boom and Bust in Genre Publishing and the Economy. The talk of certain forms of media “killing” other forms of media got “Video Killed the Radio Star” stuck in my head. It’s still there. Good panel, anyway.

We spent the rest of the day in the bookshop, closed up at six, and went to the mall for a while. I had my first ever taste of Chick-fil-A and was reasonably satisfied.

Finally, we headed back to the con for The Kirk Poland Memorial Bad Prose Competition Tournament of Champions. Oh my. I had not laughed that hard in a while. It was an experience, an event, a happening. It was A WALL OF STINKING JELLY.

Didn’t get lost on the way home, thankfully. Bed was, once again, a wonderful thing.

Sunday
I made my trip easier by getting of the bus earlier and walking for a bit, rather than waiting for it to go all the way to the mall and double back.

I spent the day in the bookshop, trying to sell as much as possible in the last few hours. We did our best to entice people with candy, which worked occasionally. I ended up taking the leftover candy home with me, so yay!

When the bookshop closed, I picked up my copy of New Genre 6 (the latest issue), which I’ve really been enjoying so far. If you didn’t purchase one from us during Readercon, they’re also available online (hint hint). I also snagged a copy of The Pilo Family Circus from Underland, which I haven’t gotten the chance to start yet.

And just like that, Readercon 2009 was over. I was sad. I had a fabulous time selling New Genre, obsessively monitoring #readercon on Twitter, and talking to all the people who stopped by the table, and despite my tiredness, I did not want to go home so soon. Oh well. There’s always next year!

If you found this post via Google or the like and are new to this blog, you should totally check out this post <3

Hey, guess what?

2009-07-10T00:47:00.002-04:00

I'm going to be at Readercon all weekend. Come visit me at the New Genre table! I'll be the one with the badge that says Joy, obvs.

:)

Promo time!

2009-06-26T13:32:00.006-04:00

I'd like to take a brief break from my regular rambling and tell y'all about this awesome book:

Faces of the Moon, by Bob Crelin (One Joy Crelin's dad!), is coming from Charlesbridge on July 1st, smack dab in the middle of the International Year of Astronomy.

This is one of those books that is kind of difficult to describe. It's educational, in that it teaches the reader about all the different moon phases, but the rhyming verses give it a fun lullaby feel as well. It's a picture book, with gorgeous linoleum block print and watercolor illustrations by Leslie Evans, but it's also an interactive tool. It's a children's book, but it can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Faces of the Moon is unique. That's the simplest way to describe it.

My favorite part of Faces is the section that uses cutouts to show the progression of the moon phases. The moon shows through the cutout in the middle of each page, demonstrating how much of the moon is visible during each stage in its orbit. Tabs along the sides of the pages make it easy for the reader to navigate this section. To see exactly what I mean, check out this animation on Charlesbridge's website. How cool is that?!

I'm also a big fan of the "Memo-Rhymes" found at the end of Faces of the Moon. I've always used "tricks" to remember things (I still find myself humming Latin verb conjugation songs to myself from time to time), and this section is particularly useful to learners like myself. If I ever need to know, say, the difference between the waxing and waning moon, I'm covered.

I know that, as the author's daughter, I'm wicked biased. That's ok. Here's what some people who aren't related to Bob Crelin are saying:
Publishers Weekly
National Science Teacher's Association

Interested? You can purchase Faces of the Moon from Charlesbridge, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders.

To enhance your moon phase-identifying experience, check out Bob's Moon Gazers' Wheel!

:)

Way early, but...

2009-06-01T11:28:00.002-04:00

It's confirmed--I'll be at Readercon this year!
(Another excuse to write a long, rambling con report...mwahaha!)

As for what I'll be up to between now and then:

Seeing "Up" in 3D this afternoon!
Hostessing my butt off.
Visiting CT for a week for my sister's Bat Mitzvah, the Branford Festival, and miscellaneous fun. Also, lobster.
Aaand anything else that comes up.

Sounds like a fun summer :)

Setbacks--bah!

2009-05-13T20:56:00.004-04:00

It appears that, for one reason or another, I will not be interning for any publishing companies this summer. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't rather upset.

When I started this blog, I did so with the intention of documenting my career path--making a detailed "how I got started in publishing" guide, if you will. There are already numerous blogs kept by established editors, and while the always awesome Moonrat has documented a good portion of her career so far, she didn't start her blog at the very beginning. That's what I want to do here. I guess I'm taking myself a little too seriously, but I think that this could one day be a pretty cool resource--provided that I do end up having a career in publishing.

I was worried at first--overreacting, of course--that this temporary setback would interfere with my plans for my life and this blog. But I was thinking about it some more, and I realized that this fits in perfectly. Nothing (or very few things) in life comes easily. Naturally there would be some disappointments along the way.

So, dear readers, here's reality: sometimes you don't get internships. And that's ok. Work your butt off doing whatever it is that you're doing (in my case, hostessing). Freelance a bit if you're interested in that kind of thing (I am). Prepare for your next chance, but don't stress too much. You've already gotten so far.

I don't want to jinx it, but...

2009-04-24T11:22:00.003-04:00

Who's interviewing for a summer internship in eleven days? One Joy Crelin, that's who!

I. Am. So. Excited.

Jumping on the tweetwagon...

2009-03-29T21:07:00.002-04:00

Oh god, you guys. I did it. I decided to start using Twitter for real. I've had an account for a while (since ROFLcon, I believe), but I couldn't bring myself to use it, since updating my Facebook status was hard enough. But now, my crazy can no longer be confined to Facebook statuses. It wants to break out, and break out it shall. Oh yes. Are you ready for this? I don't think you are.

twitter.com/onejoycrelin

<3

2009-03-12T17:36:00.002-04:00

You know what I hate with a passion? Parenthetical citations.

You know what I love? The fact that my current editing client (a PhD student writing her dissertation) is using Chicago Style.

FOOTNOTES.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Numbers

2009-02-25T18:24:00.001-05:00

Resumes sent out today: 1
Resumes distributed at Emerson internship fair: 3
Top [Insert Profession Here] shows I plan to watch tonight: 2

Progress!

Boskone 46!

2009-02-15T19:17:00.010-05:00

I almost posted this last night (I was so proud of myself for being ahead of schedule), but then I got distracted by a lovely boy bearing a Nutella milkshake, so I neglected to finish the post. However, I said I'd have the con report up after Sunday, so it's actually right on time. Bet you didn't expect that! Aha!

Friday

After enjoying an early Valentine's Day dinner with Lee (scallops at Legal Seafood, yum!), I headed to my second Boskone. I took a few minutes to get accustomed to the layout of the new section of the Westin, then went to the "What's So Cool About the Middle Ages, Anyway?" panel. Afterward, I wandered aimlessly in the Con Suite for a bit before deciding to head home.

Saturday

I hurried to Boskone Saturday morning and got there just in time for the "New Publishing/Marketing Technologies" panel. It mainly focused on ebooks, podcasting, and blogging--all of which I find very interesting. Personally, I've never really gotten into podcasts, but from what I've heard, they're quite popular with some. I've read a few ebooks on my computer and phone, and my experience was generally good, though not necessarily as convenient as it could be. My main issue is just that regular books don't need to have their batteries recharged. I'm obviously a fan of blogging. However, it seemed like the panelists focused mostly on informational posts, and while I definitely think the "How I Got Published" and "How Editing Works" type of posts are awesome and a very useful resource, I also really enjoy reading personal posts. Knowing random facts about bloggers' personal lives is kind of a hobby of mine (weird, I know). Sure, there's definitely always the risk that a reader will ask, "Why should I care?" when you launch into a story about your cat or your grandmother or whatever, but I am very much not that reader. I suppose it's just a matter of taste.
But I digress.

Next, I watched combat demonstrations for the better part of an hour. I was seriously impressed by the Higgins folks and their mad skills. I'd love to take some classes with them, but Worcester is a little far away. It is accessible by commuter rail, though, so perhaps. If anyone reading this has studied with them, please feel free to comment! I'd love to know what the experience is like.

I got to chat briefly with Adam Golaski (Emerson alumnus--Go Lions!--and New Genre editor) and his intern, whose name I have unfortunately, er, misplaced in my brain (I'm sorry!). I might possibly help Adam with his booth at Readercon this summer, which would give me an excuse to write another con report, mwa ha ha. More on that if/when it happens.

I went to "The Inclue and Other Smart Writing Tricks," which was a quality good time. I was in major need of caffeine, so afterward I went and got a White Chocolate Mocha and all was well. See, this is one of those personal details like I mentioned before. One Joy Crelin drinks White Chocolate Mochas. The more you know!

Next, there was art show perusing and shopping and the longsword tournament (!!!). Then I went to the bone marrow registry drive and cheek-swabbed, and once that was done, I had to figure out what to do for dinner. That's the one thing about Boskone that's difficult for me--everyone's really friendly and welcoming to newcomers, but they all seem to have known each other for years, and I'm really kind of shy. It's amazing to watch this community of friends interact and to dream of one day truly being part of it, but since I'm so new to this world, I end up feeling kind of lonely and awkward at meal times. I ended up eating and killing time at the South Station McDonalds, and then I headed back to the hotel to wait for the much-anticipated Saturday night events.

"Cast of Characters" was really funny, as was Tam Lin. The award presentations, not so much, but then again, that's not the point. But, it was my first time hearing Jane Yolen's "put it where the sun doesn't shine" story (since I didn't go to the awards last year), and I was amused.

At that point I decided to go home and sleep, since I needed to wake up bright and early the next day if I was going to make it to all the panels I'd scribbled stars next to in my pocket program.

Sunday

I arrived at Boskone and headed straight to "How Not to Edit Yourself." After a rousing discussion of editing, not editing, going to critique groups, not going to critique groups, spouses, and text-to-speech programs, I went to "Breaking Into the Ghetto." This particular panel was, naturally, very relevant for me, since I'm still so new to the SF&F community, as well as the literary world in general. The most important point that the panelists made again and again was simply to be nice. Makes sense. Honestly, I just can't figure out why anyone wouldn't be. But people are people, I suppose.

Next I went to hear the Kollin brothers, Dani and Eytan, read from their book The Unincorporated Man. I'd seen them on two panels and they had some interesting stuff to say, so I figured I'd give it a listen. Also, there were free cookies. Anyway, I was not disappointed, and I'll definitely be buying the book once it's out.

My last chosen panel of Boskone 46 was "When Editors Vent." There wasn't much actual venting per se, since the conversation was kept quite professional (which makes sense, given how much gossip seems to travel in this community). Still, it was quite informative.

Aaaand then there wasn't anything else I wanted to do, so I headed home and bought some soup for my horribly ill roommate.

In all, it was a damn good convention. Can't wait 'til next year!

By the way...

2009-02-13T19:51:00.002-05:00

I'm at Boskone this weekend. Expect a full report sometime after Sunday.
:)

!!!

2009-02-09T14:55:00.001-05:00

Remember that job I mentioned in the previous post? Yeah, I got it. YAY!

The quest continues...

2009-01-24T19:13:00.002-05:00

A bright spot of hope has appeared amidst the gloom of my job search. One of my countless applications resulted in a return email about walk-in interview dates! I'll keep applying between now and then, but as of now, this seems like my best shot. Here's to hoping.

In the meantime, I'll continue to prepare for internship-application season. I currently have a full list of 18 possibilities and a slightly narrowed-down list of 13. It's like (applying to college x 3) +1.

In other news, I'm trying to blog more frequently. We'll seeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

The past month, summarized

2009-01-13T20:25:00.003-05:00

Winter break is now almost over, and as of yet, I still have not managed to find a job. Not this again! However, I'm sure the search will become easier once I'm actually, you know, back in Boston. Hopefully.

What else have I been doing this vacation (other than obsessively refreshing Craigslist)?
Let's see:

Reading (the works of John Scalzi) and rereading (the entirety of the Harry Potter series, except for book six, which seems to have disappeared--I suspect nargles)
Driving (in snow, which is absolutely terrifying, considering I only learned to drive this past summer)
Traveling (between my dad's house in Guilford, my mom's house in Newington, and elsewhere, including a trip to Allston to visit Leland)
Listening to mice scurry around (in Guilford--they like to put dog food into my stepmother's shoes--and in Allston--they ate my chocolate bar!!!)
Eating (everything tasty, except for the previously-mentioned chocolate bar, because ew)
Sitting (on my bum)

In all, I'm looking forward to going back to Boston, if only so I can resume going to the gym. At this point, I think I need it.

Merry Christmas, blogosphere!

2008-12-24T18:25:00.001-05:00

Real update coming soon. For now, eat, drink, and be merry!

1.5 down, 2.5 to go

2008-12-13T20:17:00.003-05:00

The first semester of my sophomore year is almost over, and that's totally weirding me out. I didn't think that the days were going by particularly quickly, but apparently they were. Huh.
Anyway, I have finals on Monday and Tuesday--only one actual exam, though--and then I'll head home for Christmas break.

After break...job applications, Boskone, internship applications. Intermediate Non-Fiction, Honors Seminar pt. 2, International Women Writers. Apartment-hunting. Summer.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, I need to finish buying Christmas presents.

I haven't posted in almost a month...

2008-10-28T23:43:00.003-04:00

...that's just not acceptable! However, my roommate is listening to a-ha, which is quite acceptable.

So anyway, this month I went to a couple of Bookbuilders of Boston workshops. I learned some stuff, did some networking (which is ridiculously fun), and ate some free food.

"Oh, college students," I heard someone say as I shoved juice boxes into my purse at the end of one workshop. "They always go for the free food."

In my defense, there was a lot left over.

Of course, it might not be the best idea to discuss my love of free food on my pseudo-professional blog, but honesty is important, right? Right?!
So potential future employers (etc.), in the spirit of full disclosure I will say this: I love free food. I am not ashamed.

There. It's out there. You all still love me, right?

Right?!

Back to school!

2008-09-18T17:01:00.004-04:00

I've been back at Emerson for about three weeks now, and I'm having a really good time so far. My classes vary in difficulty; my toughest class is British Literature because of the huge amount of reading, but it's also probably my favorite. There's a lot of reading, but it's quite interesting, and our class discussions are really productive.

FYI, I recently joined LinkedIn, if you care about such things!

I'd like to take a moment to apologize to the guitar enthusiasts of the world

2008-07-21T12:49:00.002-04:00

According to my stat counter, a couple of people have gone on a quest for information about stacked humbuckers and, having been misled by Google, ended up here . For that, I am deeply sorry. I don't know anything about stacked humbuckers. I just think humbucker is a silly word.

Humbucker.
Tee hee.

Picture Post!

2008-07-02T15:19:00.008-04:00

O hai, guitar book...
It's The Art of Wood and Tone: Takamine Limited Edition Guitars 1987-2007 by Rolf-Juergen Bruess!

Also, business cards!
That is all.

In Summary

2008-06-04T19:52:00.005-04:00

Hey, remember that time I said that I was going to blog more?
Ahem.

My first year of college has been over for just under a month now. I did fairly well; my grades dropped a teensy bit during the second semester, but I'm in no danger of losing my scholarship.
(FYI, I have to maintain a 3.3 or above to remain in the Honors Program. It's totally worth it.)
After several weeks of fruitless searching, I've managed to find a job. I sell sunglasses at a rest stop. It's not bad. It's not what I really wanted, but it's not bad.

I'm very excited for my fall semester classes:
-Sophomore Honors Seminar
-British Literature
-Intro Nonfiction
-Advanced Fiction

Er...I believe that's all. Wow, I'm just so interesting!

Boskone 45 Report!!!

2008-02-15T22:39:00.008-05:00

Friday, February 15th
Around 5:30, I headed over to the Westin Waterfront. I was super duper nervous because I had never taken the Silver Line before, and I turn into a nervous wreck very, very easily. Aha ha. Anyway, I made it there in one piece, despite the chill wind, and was very amused by the hotel's automatic revolving door. I proceeded to follow random people around the hotel until I found the registration table.
I killed time for a while, checking out the Huckster's Room and watching Peeps be electrocuted. At 7, I went to Selling What You Write, which was hosted by Elaine Isaak. It was pretty informative; I took a bunch of notes that I will hopefully not lose....
Afterward, I hung around the art show for a while. Gawd, the art was amazing. Waaaant.
I left at around 9, since there was nothing else I particularly wanted to do.

Saturday, February 16th
I meant to get over to the con at around 10, but I was running late, so...not so much. I spent a while looking at art again, before placing a bid on a piece. A print, of course. I could have afforded some of the original pieces, but then I'd be broke for the rest of the semester, which would be dreadful.
I met Adam Golaski of New Genre, who is an Emerson alum. Go Lions! We discussed my anxieties about attending Boskone (I was terrified that I'd make a fool of myself in front of Important People, who would proceed to hate me forever and ever and ruin my chances of a successful career. Hey, I never claimed to be a rational person.) and whatnot, and I got a free pen. Hurrah!
After all of that, I went to the Mining Your Obsessions panel, featuring Beth Bernobich, Patricia Bray, Gregory Frost, Joshua B. Palmatier, and Tamora Pierce. Afterward, I went to Tammy's autographing session (where I got a second autograph for my copy of Alanna: The First Adventure), book reading (where she read an excerpt from Bloodhound), and kaffeeklatsch (where I consumed no coffee).
At that point, I decided to head out, since Lee's radio show was due to start in a couple of hours and I wanted to go hang out in the studio with him, which I did.

Sunday, February 17th
I got to the con late, again. I'm so bad at mornings, haha!
After hanging around for a while, I went to Flicks Making Fun of Fantasy, run by Gregory Frost, MaryAnn Johanson, Timothy Liebe, and Howard Waldrop. It was pretty entertaining, with lots of Disney-bashing and mentioning of movies that I've never heard of. Next was How Not to Get Published (Ginjer Buchanan, Daniel P. Dern, Paul Melko, and Eleanor Wood), which was pretty informative and whatnot. After that, I sulked for a while because I got outbid on the art I wanted. Sigh. Hanging out in the Huckster's Room cheered me up, though, and I bought some cute earrings.
Finally, I went to Talk with Tammy, which was rather awesome and lasted an hour longer than it was supposed to, so it was doubly awesome.
Then, to my sadness, Boskone was over and I had to go home. Awww. But anyway, I had a great time, and I can't wait 'til next year. Yay!

Resolution, I'm Resolute

2008-02-10T23:32:00.000-05:00

I made several different resolutions this New Year. I won't get into them here, except for the two that pertain to this here blog:

Blog more
Be more awesome

Whether or not I'll succeed in keeping Resolution #2 is debatable. Resolution #1 seems a bit more manageable.

Here's to trying!

Winter Break Woes

2008-01-16T15:01:00.000-05:00

I'm almost finished with my Winter Break, but to be honest, I would have liked to have been back at Emerson a few weeks ago. Boston had been feeling more and more like home every day, and to be suddenly separated from it was, to be honest, a bit upsetting. I miss the convenience of everything, I miss my boyfriend...and, to be honest, I kind of miss going to class. This semester is going to be even better, as far as classes go, since I'm taking my first major-related class--Intro to Fiction. I can't wait.

Awesome things I'm going to this semester:

Spice Girls concert, Long Island
Boskone, Boston
ROFLcon, Boston

Resume Woes

2007-10-18T19:29:00.000-04:00

Today in OP100, Fundamentals of Speech Communication, we were informed that we need to bring a copy of our resume to Tuesday's class, to use in our lesson about interviewing skills. While the syllabus had warned me this was coming, I still could not help but feel a slight twinge of worry, and to be honest, I'm twinging as I type.

I barely have a resume. Technically, I've only had one "real" job and one career-related job, and my extracurricular activities haven't been particularly illustrious. Plus, in all honesty, I don't know what to put on my resume. The resume I submitted when I applied to Emerson was a bit of a joke--I mean, it said that I was the Time Magazine Person of the Year! Of course, that was technically true, but nevertheless...

To put it simply, by being asked to create a resume, I have been forced to remember that I have truly accomplished very little.

To put it even more simply, I feel like a bum.

Citation Needed

2007-10-05T14:33:00.001-04:00

A few days ago, I decided to amuse myself by looking up my college on Wikipedia and browsing the list of notable alumni, and since then, I can't stop wondering which of us will one day be classified as notable. I'm wondering if it's the girl brushing her teeth next to me in the bathroom, the boy selling me soda at the C-Store, the girl swiping my ID, the boy borrowing one of my pens in class. I'm wondering if it's me. I'm hoping it's me.
I often hear it said of celebrities, "It was obvious she would be a star," but that's hindsight talking. I'm wondering what everyone thought at the time. I'm wondering what everyone's thinking now.

So it begins...

2007-09-04T16:47:00.000-04:00

Well, I am now at college. Classes start after a week of orientation.
Am I excited?
Oh yes.

Finished!

2007-08-21T20:34:00.000-04:00

Finished the edits on the guitar book.
Huzzah!

That thar's a Stacked Humbucker!

2007-08-18T20:03:00.001-04:00

I'm still hard at work work work-ing away on the guitar book. My pseudo-deadline is looming. The author returns from a trip today--or perhaps tomorrow. I'm not so good at German time--and he plans to have the book printed soon. Very soon.
Why I'm blogging instead of editing right now is beyond me.
Oh right, I'm "multitasking." Aha ha.

In other news, my brother may or may not have come back from hippie camp with flesh-eating bacteria :)

I'm going to go get another lollipop and get back to work now.

Work!

2007-08-03T18:13:00.001-04:00

Work at last!

I am incredibly excited to announce that I will be editing my first book! The author is a German friend of my father's, and the book is about guitars. I've been enlisted to polish the English version of the text. Huzzah!
I'd rather not name the book now, for fear of jinxing it, but once it's published, I'll let you nonexistent readers know.

One First Post

2007-07-27T23:00:00.000-04:00

Well, hello there! If you're reading this, I must say I'm very surprised. Well, right now I am, at least. Perhaps in the future this blog will become incredibly popular, and legions of my adoring fans and supporters will read this very post with a look of wonder on each and every face. I can hear it now:

Good golly, One Joy Crelin, whyever would you be surprised to have readers? Why, a young lady of your awe-inspiring intellect and general eloquence--!

Ahem. Perhaps it should be mentioned that One Joy Crelin (I'll leave it to you to decide which one) has some delusions of grandeur.

Moving on.

Come September 2nd, I'll be starting college, and I intend to begin establishing myself as a writer, editor, and crazy cat lady. Scratch that last. No cats in the dorms :(
Anyway, as you may have guessed by my use of my real name in this blog's title, I intend this to be my "professional" blog. I won't be discussing my personal life very much here. Instead, I'll most likely be posting writing samples, news about my current personal projects and classwork, and ruminations on certain topics that are important to me.

Alternately, I could post lots of pictures of cats with amusing captions. The idea is tempting.
Nevertheless, for now I think I'll give my original idea a whirl.

This brings us to the most important part--the question you are probably asking yourself right now. No, not I can has cheezburger?! The question I'm referring to is Why in the name of all things cute and fuzzy should I CARE?.
Well. In all honesty, I can't think of a legitimate answer to that.

I suppose I'll settle for Because I say so!
:)