Saw a blurb about a living terra cotta warrior at the Houston Museum of Natural Science leg of the exhibit tour on BBC’s Odd Box last night and had to engage my Google-fu. Wish he’d been there when we saw the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit in Atlanta!
Decided to try to boost my speaking stamina before Dragon*Con in an effort to not lose my voice as I have every other year. I typically sound like a toad with a cold by day two. So I’m reading Tanith Lee’s Black Unicorn to fosteronfilm at night. It’s a charming book and quite short—it’s usually classified as either children’s lit. or YA—which makes it ideal for this sort of exercise.
When Matthew and I first got together, we used to read aloud to each other regularly, but we got out of the habit over the years. I’d forgotten how pleasant it is to share a story with the hubby like that. It’s an excuse to turn off the television, slow down for an hour or so from our frenetic schedules, and just enjoy each others’ company. Also, kinda romantic. Makes me want to make a real effort to reincorporate it as a regular part of our lives.
On the other hand, I’ve only been at it for two days, and my voice is already cracking. Would sort of defeat the purpose if I end up toad-with-cold-voiced before Dragon*Con. Sigh.
Interesting industry musings of the morning: Jason Sanford observes a recent trend in SF, “SciFi Strange.”
I’ve noted for a while that there’s been a decided upsurge in the popularity of “literary” fantasy, the New Weird, if you will, and wondered when/if it would hit SF. Seems I wasn’t the only one.
Also, I like the term “SciFi Strange.” Going to try to use it as many times in conversation today as I can.
4×10 day off, beautiful overcast sky, perfect day for writing. Debating what would be the best sacrifice to cajole my muse and the gods of storytelling: burnt offerings, fresh blood, or coffee.
Yesterday I was the sole editor in the office, which left me such fine choices as to how to spend my day as napping, writing, or working on Dragon*Con prep. As it turned out, I did not nap, but I did do some D*C work, and got out The Stupid Novel. Maybe I can crank out a couple more chapters today?
Y’know, I thought when opting to work 4×10 weeks that I would prefer Fridays as my day off, but I’m finding that I really like Wednesdays. Two days on, one off, two on, two off, lather-rinse-repeat seems particularly accommodating to my busy schedule of insomnia. I don’t get wiped out after two days of insufficient sleep, and then I have a day or two to sleep in and recover. Me likie.
My domain host has been uncharacteristically unstable for the last few weeks. Website and domain email are down *again*. Grumf. VERY grumf.
If any folks emailed me this afternoon to my domain address, I haven’t gotten it…
Been editing celebrity bios for the Dragon*Con program book all day. My absolute definition of editorial hell. My happy place is people on fire right now. Stabbity.
Received my Dragon*Con guest schedule. Here’s what I’ll be doing when I’m not shackled to my desk at Daily Dragon headquarters:
• Friday 9/4, Noon: Guest lecture – “Marketing Short Fiction” for Ann Crispin’s Beginner Writers Workshop.
• Saturday 9/5, 1PM: “Y’all vs. You Guys: Regional SF and Fantasy” – Southern science fiction/fantasy is often a genre to itself. Other parts of the world have their own flavor. Fairlie (Hyatt).
• Saturday 9/5, 4PM: Autograph signing. M301-M304 (Marriott).
• Sunday 9/6, 2:30PM: “Bite Me!” – The First Ladies of the Fang discuss trends in vampire fiction…and maybe more! (Moderator) Regency VI – VII (Hyatt).
The vampire one is the first panel I’ve ever moderated so I’m rather nervous about it. It’s also in one of the big, main programming rooms, so strike “nervous” and insert “strangled by butterflies.” Yeah. I’ll be doing some research beforehand for that one…
Blinding headache, yet I’m revved and raring to go—prolly due to the cocktail of uppers, Sudafed, coffee, and Excedrin I took. Healthy lifestyle, pfft, I say. Also, ow.
Been invited to speak at the 2010 Asian Festival of Children’s Content by the National Book Development Council of Singapore. Coolness. And they’re offering to cover my hotel, food, and local transportation expenses. But that leaves me with managing the airfare to Singapore. Urk.
My story “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” is now out in the August issue of Apex Magazine. Free fiction! Go read!
