I went to Atlantic News last night. I've been itching to go there ever since starting the Advanced Magazine workshop. You see, we're examined regular non-fiction magazines, but I wanted to see with my new pair of magazine-trained eyes how fiction magazines are laid out.

I got two: Realms of Fantasy, and Polygraff. I really like Realms of Fantasy's layout. I think there's a good mix of text and ads/pictures, although I disagree with some of the placements of the stories (it's a little top heavy, two much in the FOB [front of book]). There's also great illustrations there and entertaining short stories.

Polygraff has the mix of fantasy, sci/fi and horror that I'd like to have when I create my own fiction magazine. This is only their second issue, and it's printed in Quebec! Because they're really new, half of their magazine is filled with public domain works. I don't really mind that, I just can't wait to see if this magazine will grow.

I think after my Creative Book Publishing Course at Humber College, I'll apply for some grants and start a fiction magazine again.

While walking to school, I passed a graveyard. There was a mother and toddler daughter walking behind me.

"What's that?" the little girl asked her mother.
"That's a graveyard," she replied. "That's where people go when they die. We bury them underground...and write their names on the stones, and when we read the names, we remember them."
The little girl paused to consider this. "Where's my name?"
"It's not there. You're alive."
"I am?"

Aww.

I finally got Facebook.

I just watched Galaxy Quest with Ben. No matter how many times I watch this movie, it doesn't stop being funny.

My favourite quote is when they're landing on the alien planet, looking for berillym crystals, and they open the shuttle hatch, and the crewman extra goes crazy and says, "What are you doing? Is there air out there? You don't know!" To which the chief engineer (who is stoned the entire time) sniffs the air and says, "Seems okay to me."

I've been polishing Two-Spirit, The Sapphire Amulet, and the best way to do that is to print it off. Now, the novella is about 25,000 words, which is a little over 100 pages, and honestly I don't have the paper or the ink to print it all off and then lose it in the tornado that regularly sweeps my room.

So, I went to Staples, and for $15, I got this nifty book printed off. They bound it in coils, so it's easy to open and close and edit on. It's easy to read from, and I caught mistakes that I didn't when reading it off the computer screen. And when I say reading, I really meaning reading aloud, because that's how you catch mistakes, says my journalism degree.

If you're editing, I definitely recommend you do this. It's so cheap, and so worth it.

It's a small price to ensure as few errors as possible before I sent it to a professional editor.

Do you ever have story dreams?

I do, sometimes. I'm a vivid dreamer, and sometimes the dreams follow a narrative. It's not always in order--usually the middle comes first, then the ending, and then it goes back to the beginning and I usually get the sense in the dream that I've been there before. I think that's why I don't write things in order. The middle comes first, then the end, and then the beginning. Though it does make the beginning very hard to write, and I remember my prof scolding me for writing the beginning of a journalism piece last. How she could tell, I don't know!

At some point in my life, I'd like to publish a collection of short stories inspired only from my dreams. I think I've got enough to write it, but with so many other projects on the go I'll probably hold off for a while.

I'm up at like 6 am because I can't sleep at all. First, it's because I'm really thirsty, so I get out of bed and go to the fridge.

Milk. My liquid weakness. I have some of that, and immediately regret it. It's too cold, and leaves a bad taste in my sleepy mouth. Yum.

Back to bed. Still can't sleep. Milk is increasingly bad tasting in my mouth. So I get up again and go to my computer. No new messages on the email, but I find out that my virus scanner has decided to work again and has caught two new trojans. Finally, McAfee, thanks for waking up!

Outside, the sun is rising. There's a layer of red sky on the horizon with blue above it, reminding me of those Powerpoint backgrounds we all used to use back in junior high when that was cool.

In two hours, I'll be eating breakfast at Cora's with family. So hungry right now that I just want to eat everything in the fridge. Must contain hunger. So, maybe I'll just go and watch some DS9, or something related.