suricattus

Home, as the header says, from Philcon. It was -- after the chaos of World Fantasy -- a very laid back little convention for me: I spent several hours hanging out in the SFWA suite, talking to folk from southofJersey whom I don't see often enough in conversation-conducive atmospheres. Possibly as a result, I also got dragged into a number of SFWA-related conversations. Plus, via Available Smart Brains (mmmm, brains) I figured out what was wrong with the current proposal, and how to set it right. Yay!

There were a number of very good panels (especially the "money advice for new freelancers" panel this morning, which could have easily expanded into a two hour workshop), and some excellent parties (and more I missed, because I got too comfortable to party hop), and a lot of new friends met (including Mother of Evil Minion, and I can see where daughter gets her easy charm). And I was made to purr not once but three times (twice via book-compliments, once via a fabulous drive-by backrub)

And now I am home, the cats have shown their appreciation for my return (Pandora scarfed her dinner and then threw it back up) and I -- having gone all day on 4 hours sleep -- am about to fall over go boom.

What did everyone else do this weekend?

MorningFail -- I guess I needed 8 full hours of sleep? No gym today, but running to catch up almost as good exercise. Gah, the to-do board overflows...


( My Philcon schedule, for those interested in such things )

No reading. Apparently, I don't rate. :-(

For those who asked: no signings have been set up yet, so just find me in the bar. Or check Larry Smith's table -- I was told to present myself there to sign stock at some point, so....

And now, must go forth, cafFiend in hand, and slay that damned to-do list. Wish me cunning, strength, and endurance.

EtA: speaking of which, I have been contemplating a post on Having An Agent, the Neurosis Iteration. Idea of Interest, Y/N?

And lo, I have my initial DragonCon schedule, so here's a handy-dandy guide to stalking me there, and this coming weekend at WorldCon...


WorldCon

Bio-Ethics Thu 12:30
Medical experiments, drug companies, cloning, insurance, bookies and you.

Writing Workshop L Fri 11:00
Critique session for previously submitted manuscripts

Sci-Ku -- SF Haiku Fri 14:00
Try your own hand at 17 syllables of geeky fun. (kids programming, but we can adjust for accompanied adults)

Preparing to Write a Series Fri 15:30
How does a writer plan to write a series? Or is it unplanned until you sign the contract? Writers discuss how they set up and wrote novels that are part of a "series."

Writing Across Boundaries: Writers that Shift Boundaries Fri 19:00
What do you do differently as you shift from one type of story to another, from genre to genre, from medium to medium? What do different modes of story require in the planning?

non-panel events:
Autograph Session Sat 11:30
Author Reading Sun 12:30
Kaffeeklatsch Sun 17:00



DragonCon

What Women Want in Their SF-F role Sat 11:30 am
Plenty of panels discuss what women's roles are, have been, and will be in science fiction, but what do women really want when they read? [on the surface this panel sounds sexist -- don't we want what all readers want? -- but we should be able to own the topic within a few seconds, and make it actually useful for readers and writers -- and publishers]

Writing Paranormal Fiction Sun 11:30 am
Join Bob Blackwood and Gail Martin as they moderate a discussion with paranormal fiction writers.

Strong Female Protagonists: Sun 01:00 pm
How do you write strong female protagonists who are still vulnerable enough to seem real? The pros tell how to develop believable heroines. [again, the topic feels... odddly sexist. A female must be vulnerable to be real? I intend to mix this one up a little, if I can get the audience behind me...]

Not a bad lineup, for a first-timer who isn't on the comics or tie-in track. There may also be a reading and/or signing, depending on schedule. If not, I'll make myself available to folk who want to do an informal somethingorother... And we have both:

Reading = Friday at 2:30pm
Autographing = Monday, 11:30am

"Why do you think 'tsuris' and 'story' sound so similar?" -- Chuck Gannon

Overheard in the bar:

"Nanobooze -- designed to give you just the right amount of buzz."

"Like Prometheus, bringing hangovers to humanity."

"Conventions: Threat or menace?"

"There is no diet coke in this entire hotel."
"Thank god there's Scotch." (yeah, that was me responding, big surprise)

"Okay, I've had enough. Everyone go home."

There is too much, I cannot even sum up. But I will try.

Thursday night, as already recounted, we went off to the Olde Stomping grounds to see Springsteen. The very next morning at Oh Fkcu Early, vincam and I made our way to the Amtrak station, and thence to Baltimore(Jules) and DC (moi). I was in DC to take part in the BookView Cafe presentation via the Library of Congress lunchtime gatherings. We had a smaller than usual crowd, due to the holiday weekend, but it was still a lively and interested crowd, and I think we got across the joys traumas and expectations of being an author-driven e-publishing co-op. Plus, our multimedia worked like a charm, including all the video files. Yay!

www.bookviewcafe.com if you want to check us out yourself.

From there, Sue Lange and I braved the traffic and drove up to Baltimore, for Balticon, where in addition to two more Bookview Cafe presentations, I was on some damned good panels (the "Good and Evil" one had an amazing turnout for Monday at 10am!) and saw old friends from the area and elsewhere, and met new friends, and put faces to known phosphors, and generally it was A Convention. I also taped an interview with FastForward that will appear at some point in the future, and even managed to get some work done, although not as much as I'd hoped. Oh, and I gave blood, due to perfect timing of not being sick, having had a good meal, and an hour to spare when the Heinlein Society-sponsored bloodmobile arrived. I missed my last usual donation because I was sick, so it was good to catch up. Does anyone know if there will be a blood drive at Anticipation or not?

Then home, via a very crowded not-my-train (ours was canceled due to mechanical problems) and I've been trying to play catch-up ever since then, aware that this Friday is the start of BEA, and I'm scheduled from 11-2 with Author stuff, and then again at 3-4 with editor stuff, and social obligations in the evening, and I've extracted myself from social things on Saturday because the work, it still waits and not patiently at all, damn it...

if I owe you e-mail, I apologize. I'll get there eventually. After the laundry.


And I leave you with the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4GniJYzGa8

(safe for work, but may cause you to lose all ability to speak for a few minutes)


And under the heading of "taking things out of context," I give you this gem from this morning's word war chat:

"jut, knot, and harden sound like a pair of Scandy triplets in an erotica."

we just got kicked out of the bar. at 1am. These semi-southern conventions, I don't know what's up with them....

(we were being perfectly well-behaved, if rude in our haiku and double entendre. My reputation is once again shot assured...)

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.
----------------

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?

"[In Flesh And Fire,] Gilman has created a world that feels lived-in, real, and above all interesting."
- NYT bestselling author S.M. Stirling

*w00t!*



Had a brief appearance at Lunacon last night, back again today for a full day of panels and readings and whatnot. Still on crazy deadlines, though, so there will be limited late-nighting.

[yes, we really do work on convention weekends. hell, being at a convention is work-hours: we're part of the floor show. I can't remember the last time I went to a convention just to have fun... wait, I do. I think I was 20....]


Reading @ 10:30. Suppose I should go pour coffee into me....

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.

Well, Blood from Stone has been Klausnered, so I guess it's in the pipeline. *braces self* Six books and seven years in, and wow, it's been a hell of a trip. Thankfully, Bonnie & Crew are letting me stay in that world while Wren & Sergei rest, and I know that there are still stories in the Retriever universe to be told, but... melancholy, baby. Melancholy. I think I may be writing more on this, as the book comes closer to release.

Have also made flight reservations to Dragon*Con, and am working out transit plans for WorldCon, and thinking about the great California Road Trip in October. And maybemaybe making a side trip to Chicago after that. And maybe Virginia, so Dori and Ashley will stop nagging me. *grin* And to think, this was the year I wasn't going to travel....

I managed to get away for a much-needed non-takeaway meal last night, rounded off with chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat. om nom nom. I've mostly grown out of my sweet tooth, but a fine piece of chocolate is still a thing of delight and they do some seriously fiiiine chocolate (I'd still rather be buying 'em in Paris, but I'm happy they're here)

Meanwhile, the patching and sanding continues today. Hopefully it will be a quiet day, as I'm well into the copyedit for Flesh & Fire and I really want to get it sorted soonest possible, so I'm not lugging it with me at Luancon.

(Speaking of which: ( reposting my Lunacon schedule: )

After the aforementioned six books with Luna, it's nice to see an old-fashioned full-on copyedit again. That's the one gripe I have with Harlequin -- they give us 'author alterations' but not the actual copyedit. They say it's the same but it very much isn't. (AA's are best described as pre-typesetting page proofs). So far, there's only one problem I've discovered, and that was from the CE misreading what I had asked for in my notes, and making that mistake throughout. Hopefully an easy enough fix. But it's still 400+ pages of close reading of a book I can't read without wanting to completely rewrite it (imagine a geek being handed a brand new piece of customizable tech and being told she can't crack the box. Then you'll have an idea of my frustration). Yes, you CAN rewrite portions of the book in copyedit, but since we're on a rush schedule to get galleys out in time for BEA... I suspect the production department would really rather I didn't.

And I need to get cracking on the next chapter of Pack of Lies, now that I think (shhh, don't scare it) the plot's finally come unstuck, and call Madame Editrix about Mustang specifics, before I finally start that, and...

I should get the hell off-line and back to work, shouldn't I?>.

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.

STAYING DEAD is now available as an [unabridged] audio download from Audible.com. Ten and a half hours of juicy magical goodness. Slowly, one format at a time, the Cosa Nostradamus takes over the world. Also, the mass market editions of CURSE THE DARK and BRING IT ON are officially on-sale this month, for those of you who've been waiting for the mass market price!


And while we're updating, my Lunacon schedule:

( the details here )

If anyone wants to get together, drop me a note here or via e-mail. Proximity and Other Obligations that weekend mean I'm day-tripping it, so don't count on being able to find me randomly over the weekend....

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 Next Year's Convention Schedule
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 33

Looking at the travel budget, choices must be made. Should LAG attend...

Is there a regional convention she hasn't been to that you think would be good for her to visit? (between May and October, please)

In Calgary, at World Fantasy. Mostly, it's a blur of seeing a lot of old friends, meeting a lot of new friends, discovering I have a small but fabulous drag queen fanbase, and eating some very good meals (Asian fusion FTW!). And drinking an awful lot of Scotch. Gee, you'd think it was WFC or something. I went to bed far too late last night and woke up far too early this morning, and suspect that trend will continue.

Today is my sole panel on the future of paranormal/supernatural detectives. Quite looking forward to it.

And now the coffee has arrived, and it's time to get some work done before my breakfast meeting...

How many of you are doing NaNoWriMo? I salute you, you crazy kids.....

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)