A Meerkat's Bolthole

I am home from Lunacon, after a surprisingly busy and quite lively signing *waves at the peoples!* wherein the LJ-less DennisMcC was a Hero of the Revolution for fetching me coffee, then a very good and informative panel on on-line fiction, and a probably too-much-fun-to-be-moral panel on Twilight the Phenomena where we determined that it's okay to enjoy dreck so long as you're properly embarrassed by the fact, and the following exchange was uttered:

"The sparklepires could just as easily have been fey."

"Oh, man, yes! A homoerotic "Twilight" would have been awes...oh. You meant fairy, not gay."

I'll let y'all decide which line was mine.

And the term "SparkleFail" was used, but not by me.

EtA: oh, and I forgot to post about the Saturday panels! I read from both BLOOD FROM STONE and FLESH AND FIRE, and people seemed to respond well to both. *whew* "What Editors Want" dispensed with the basic question (they want good books that sell well) and went on to the more interesting and useful question of what makes us sit up and take notice, what makes us roll our eyes and give up, and what makes an author career-appealing vs career-killing. It also gave me the idea for a zombie werecat story. The "Urban Fantasy" panel delved into using your setting as a POV character, and the need for significant research in order to lie convincingly, among other useful things.

Both panels were extremely well-attended, and had excellent questions asked -- you guys made my job as moderator so much easier, and for that I thank you.
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And now I have a headache, and a roast beef and chopped chicken liver and cole slaw sandwich (don't knock it till you've tried it... om nom nom), and a kitchen to paint. But I came in and caught the felines nose-to-nose in quiet companionship, and all's well at Chateau Felidae.

How was everyone else's weekend?

More of the same: writing, copyedit, noise and furor and Boomer hiding in his cubby. Also, it's snowing. Hello, Spring!

Also: I can haz Flesh & Fire cover art! But I can't show u it yet. *sads* But if uz at Lunacon, I'll haz it!

/lolmeerkat

Picking up the car around noon, will see some of you at Lunacon this evening, at some point or another. Or I won't, if I'm captured and taken off for dinner on arrival. I will definitely be there tomorrow morning for my reading. Stop by and share renovation stories!

EtA: and I should probably mention that due to workload my reading of LJ these days is... hit-and-miss to say the least, and I'm mostly skimming mailing lists, too. If you want to get my attention, a 2x4 via e-mail is the best way.

After a long pause, the snow returned overnight, and I was woken early this morning by O. the Super Super firing up the snowblower so people could get their cars out of the garage. It's coming down thick and heavy, and looks pretty windy, too. Not quite Snowpocalypse, but impressive. They're predicting up to 10" for the area. Here's hoping everyone who wanted a snow day gets one... Me? No snow day. Work goes on as scheduled. I know, you're all sooooo sorry for me. I do have to go out into the snow later. I'll report back on how deep it actually got.

EtA: when I went out to the post office just now (9:30) there was about 5" on the ground where it hadn't been shoveled or plowed, and it was coming down fast.

Meanwhile, some Fun & Good news!

I am informed that FREE FALL has been nominated for Best Novel in the Chronic Rift's 2008 Roundtable Awards. I'm delighted to be nominated, absolutely and have no expectation of winning, since I share the slate with a guy named Gaiman, and a guy named Doctorow, and a guy named Steele and a Kat named Richardson, all of whom can wipe the floor with me, fans-wise. But that's okay. I can haz nominayshun! Thanks to everyone who gave me the nod, and everyone should feel free to vote for FREE FALL as the underdog. ;-)

http://www.chronicrift.com/node/442


In other good news, I draw a deep breath and gird my introverted self up, and announce that yes, I will be at Dragon*Con. I'm actually looking forward to it -- my memory of the last time I went (back in the early 90's!) was that the costuming was breathtaking. I'm told it's even gotten more intense? I'll bring an extra memory card for my camera.

So, in 2009 we have Blood From Stone coming out in May, and Vineart War: Flesh & Fire coming out in late October. Time for me to start planning how best to spread the word/seduce readers...which means getting my posterior out of the chair and on the road. WIthin certain inevitable financial restrictions, natch.

I'm already set on a few local conventions (Balticon, hopefully, and Readercon), and I really want to do World Fantasy, but there are a bunch of summer conventions that are pushing and shoving each other to get to the top of the list. So... opinions?


[Poll #1297252]

I am, it seems, still sulking at my manuscript. It is Unimpressed.

Yes, this means I have a day filled with such important things as...well, as answering all the e-mails that have been piling up, and paying bills, and sitting down with the next bit of otterdance's manuscript.

And, on the weird-but-good side, breaking my vac (a Bissell Revolution) has fixed it.

The past few months it hasn't been drawing properly, meaning no matter how much I vac, there's still cat hair left behind. I decided to give it one last go before hauling it off to be fixed, and in doing so knocked it against a door and broke off a piece of plastic that -- apparently -- was what kept the arm in an upright position when stored. So now the handle won't stay up, but the vac suctions off cat hair like that was its only purpose and desire in life.

It's a trade-off I can totally live with.

And speaking of trade-offs, for those of you wondering if I'll be at Philcon... alas, no. Between Seattle and WFC and Thanksgiving and a December Deadline.... (I may run down for the day just to see people, but can't guarantee it)

Interesting. logging onto LJ and seeing everyone's "Off to WorldCon!" posts. I thought I'd feel wistful, or.. well, something. Interestingly, what I feel mainly is relief.

Don't get me wrong -- WorldCon is always a lot of fun, and I'll miss seeing friends who will be there. But...

I started going to conventions back in 1978, as a Young Fan. And they were a blast. I didn't sleep, hung out with all the wrong-but-interesting-sorts, and in at least one case came home with mono, and in another case with a boyfriend (no, not the same conventions). And that lasted until 1990, when I attended my first convention as a Pro (editor).

And then, while conventions were still fun, they were also Work. I had to be On, and Polite, and Take Care of Other People (authors) and Get Work Done (networking), and generally came home wiped out. I can't speak to other publishing houses, but the companies I worked, you didn't get to take Monday off just because you'd been running on company business Friday through Sunday.

And then I was a Pro (writer) and I still had to be On and Polite, and Get Work Done (networking, hand-selling, etc), only I was now doing it on my own dime, which meant I had to cram more work into the work/fun equation to justify the expense. And although I could now take Monday off, after -- I still couldn't, because my boss is a bitch. *wry g*

So I sat down and took a long hard look at the reality of con-going.

( the cold hard breakdown )

Summing it up: I really wish that I could go to conventions and hang out with people at the bar, and sit in on a panel or two, and go out to dinner, and just Have Fun. And to a certain extent I do all of that. But a convention is a working weekend for me, not a social one. Worse, it's a working weekend that takes away from my 'real' job -- writing -- and leaves me exhausted. Therefore I have to make every moment count, before my introverted self cries foul and goes to sit in a corner. That means making choices about where I can go, and what I just can't manage, in order to throw myself 100% into the conventions that I do attend, as is [to me, anyway] only fair and proper.

What I'm discovering tho, is that once I've made those choices, I can feel my muscles untwine, and the pressure melt off, and I can sit back and think "I'll miss seeing everyone. But it will be nice to NOT be there, too."

So y'all have fun at WorldCon. Have a single malt or a glass of wine for me. Attend and influence panels. Talk to strangers in the hallway. Hit the dealer's room hard and buy lots of books and sparklies and whatever else spreads the joy. Next year, schedule willing, in Montreal!

1. The Necon schedule has arrived and I'm stuck on a Saturday morning panel. But at least it's not until 10am, and it looks to be a good'un:
MYTHS CAN BE MURDER. Some of the most successful recent horror and dark fantasy seems to develop a rich background mythology to support plot and character. What are the advantages of developing this sort of deep background? And what are the pitfalls? Ginjer Buchanan (m), Laura Anne Gilman, Charlaine Harris, Toni Kelner, Tom Sniegoski

(Necon has, once again, sold out. Sorry, folks. Book early next year!)

2. For some reason, Word's newest trick is to run my manuscript pagination off so that only the first digit appears. Anyone got a clue/cure? Very frustrating.

3. I think I may finally have figured out how to 'fix' "Mad Cats and Englishmen." And there was much relief, because for a goofy story, that thing ended up kicking my ass.

4. Have I mentioned recently that I'm very much not a summer weather kind of meerkat? (although, really, it's less the summer weather itself, and more the OMG BLAZING BRIGHT SUN! that's the problem....)

5. For those YouTube hounds out there, some good news: Google has struck a deal to protect the personal data of millions of YouTube users in the $1 billion copyright court case brought against the video-sharing website by Viacom. Under the deal, Google will make user information and Internet protocol addresses from its YouTube subsidiary anonymous before handing over the data to Viacom in the legal case.

"We are pleased to report that Viacom, MTV and other litigants have backed off their original demand for all users' viewing histories and we will not be providing that information," Google commented in a post on the official YouTube blog in the US overnight.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/15/googlethemedia.digitalmedia

Today, back to the hotel for a signing and one last panel, and then we wave bye-bye to Hypericon and settle in for 24 hours of Offscreen Social before I am back on a plane to EnWhySee and the peeved-off felines [and a bucket of work] waiting at home.

and because I missed Friday's check-in:
The Vineart War, Book 1. Due 15 December 2008

30,500 / 100,000 (30.5%)

Not getting much writing done this weekend. Am eating yummy food and catching up on my sleep deficit, though. Is this what they call a vacation? Because it's.... unnerving. Nice, but unnerving.

A bunch of stuff off my desk, and a new thing landing, and other things still in red-flagged limbo, that's how the Monday goes... and more storm/flash flood warnings for the evening. If it sucks away some of this humidity, I'm not displeased. More likely it will just make everything even worse. Bleah. As much as I dislike using the a/c, it is a life-enhancing tool, some days.

Anyway. For those who will be at Hypericon, or just like to stalk me virtually, my schedule:

Friday:
1pm What Are We Reading Now?
Authors discuss what they're currently reading, as well as their favorite authors and literary influences. (Joe R. Lansdale, Ronald Kelly, Laura Anne Gilman, Julianne Lee, Alethea Kontis)

6pm Closing Ceremonies
Why wait until the last minute to thank you for coming? We're sorry to see it end, so we're getting all the sadness over with.

8pm Dream Crushing 101:What You Need to Know About the Publishing Industry.
Writers Beware! Reality Checks Await You! Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here! This panel, in which professionals discuss the realities of the publishing industry, is not for the faint of heart.
(Alethea Kontis, Janet Lee, Laura Anne Gilman, Stephen Lloyd)

10 PM 90 MINUTES OF READINGS
Six authors. 15 minutes each. I'm told I'm going early, so don't say you weren't warned.

Saturday:
1pm Signing

4pm Backstory and Mythos: Creating Your Character’s World
How do these writers create the fantastical world in which their characters live?
(Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laura Anne Gilman, Glen Cook )

Sunday
noon signing

1pm How Not to Get Published
These authors and editors will give you great advice on what to do if you DON'T want to be published.
(Laura Anne Gilman, Stephen Lloyd, Julianne Lee, James Newman)

3pm Opening Ceremonies
Well, we gave you plenty of time to get here, so now let's welcome everyone!

The reversal of opening and closing ceremonies pleases me. I'm contrarywise that way.

Also for those of you attending: first one to hear me say "Ah tell you whut" wins a prize! (no, Jules, you don't get to play, sorry.)

Balticon proceeds apace. I have done one panel that was well-attended and quite interesting, I have seen many friends, hooked people on the wonders of the Eee PC, been complimented madly on both career and personal ("I didn't recognize you -- you look ten years younger. How do you DO that?" from Peter Beagle), sold books, signed books, come up with a short story idea and pitched it to an anthology editor, come up with an anthology idea I may actually do, eaten ribs and crabcakes, consumed single malts, and actually gotten some writing done.

Tomorrow there is hot-tubbing,more panels,movie-viewing, and more socializing planned. So far, a lovely little convention.

Oh, and any rumors of ribhenge are totally untrue. Except for the part where pictures were taken.