Category Archives: Blog

Still decidedly out of it. Today was an adventure. Being away from my desk for four working days resulted in many fires, of which I was far too zoned to find my fireman’s cap with ease. Even after a very hot, very concentrated dose of caffeine, I was still all “huh?” and “wha?”

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

But, okay, back to Dragon*Con 2003:

First and foremost, we did the Daily Dragon. For our first year as directors, I think Matthew and I did pretty well, although the thing just about kicked our asses. We had a great staff, and the stress was somewhat alleviated by knowing that dire_ephiphany and astralfire were there to help pick up the pieces if something shattered. Fortunately nothing did. But it was good to have a safety net. And word on the street is that both dire_ephiphany and astralfire went to panels and actually got to enjoy a bit of the con! Woo!

Got several compliments on some of the additions/changes to the hardcopy we made this year from other directors at the Dead Dog party. I suspect some of it was people being nice to the new victims, but I’d like to think that our little publication was well received. It’s always nice being appreciated.

Next year, we need to either train or acquire more staff that have layout and web developer expertise. Having dude_the and glenn5 help with the web publishing side of things was essential. My head would’ve exploded without them to help keep the website updated. And I’d want to commandeer dude_the to help with layout, except that he, like me, tends to turn into a pumpkin after the midnight hour, and layout usually happens in the wee hours of the morning. But we got articles! My God did we get articles! Over thirty this year, which more than doubles what we had last year. fahkingnut wrote a fantastic bit of poetry/prose as a wrap-up. It was perfect for the final editions, both hardcopy and online. I’m so proud of all my writers! I was also very pleasantly surprised to discover that glenn5 is a bigger grammar nazi than I am. Excellent discovery to make as by the time Saturday rolled around, I was missing some pretty basic copyedits in my bleary-eyed perusal. My brain was totally fried. We would’ve had a lot more typos and bad grammar snafus if he hadn’t been there to be my second (and sometimes first) line of copyediting defense.

And I seriously hope that next year we get better computers. This year, one of them was thoroughly infected with Klez, so we never even got it hooked up into our network. We did end up cannibalizing it for parts so that some of the other systems would run a little faster. But our computers were still total clunkers even with the extra memory bits. Bona fide antiques. And we had a couple corrupted document scares and network issues. Our network person, Dean, is a god. There was a very bad moment on Friday that would have been hell-in-a-bucket if he hadn’t come riding to the rescue. And he had sugar! Jumbo-size Pixie Stix and Tootsie Roll lollipops, mmm.

We still have additions to make to the Daily Dragon Online. We’re talking about adding a photo gallery, which would be way cool. Dean has a CD full of excellent photos and I’m always bummed that we can’t include more in the hardcopy. Something to do tomorrow. Or next week.

High/lowlights:
James Marsters: Didn’t get to interview OR meet him due to “BUCKET-OF-ICE” Julie Caitlin Brown. @#*$&! (Did she manage to tick off every single convention-goer at Dragon*Con, or what??) But we got quite a few good shots of him from his first panel on Friday. Also watched him do sound checks during Dawn Look-Alike Contest prep backstage. Missed seeing Marster’s ass-crack by two seconds. Heh. Also watched a few Ghost of the Robot numbers backstage but then, err, decided to leave.

Dawn Look-Alike Contest: One of the few events I was able to get to. Got a chance to see all of the Dawns up-close backstage when they did their individual photo-ops with the D*C photo crew beforehand. Zoloft was gorgeous, as usual. Zounds. There were sixty-two contestants this year. Insane.

Cruxshadows: As always, they totally rocked! And their posters and the fliers they were giving out featured the picture Matthew took of them at one of their previous concerts! It turned out so well we sent it them to post on their website. And Matthew also entered it in a photo competition where it won 2nd place. Turns out the Cruxshadows needed a good picture that would reproduce well in black and white and picked his. When we recognized it, Matthew went and asked Rogue if he could get one of the posters to keep when they were done with it. Even better, Rogue and Rachel signed it. Cruxshadowy goodness. They were also at the Dead Dog party and I got to HUG Rogue. Cruxshadow squeezy goodness.

Anne McCaffrey: Through some excellent reporterly activity, Debbie was able to get an interview (our only one this year, unfortunately) with Anne McCaffrey. Go, Debbie! I’m so proud of her. The one downer is that Anne wanted to meet James Marsters but it looks like that didn’t come about because of JCB’s interference. That’s just wrong.

Keith Olexa, James Maxey, Adam Connell: Got to meet face to face my fellow Phobosians. I loved getting a chance to chat with people in the writing biz who I’ve only had the opportunity to email with before. And sitting on the panel with Keith and James was fabu. It’s still a blur and probably will be forever (hysterical amnesia anyone?), but I’ve got pictures. Also, Keith (Phobos’ in-house editor) asked me to send him a story, which I’m going to do ASAP.

Dinner with Ann Crispin and my DC2K writers group: Took a couple hours off on Sunday to have dinner at the Steak and Ale (fortunately they had a vegetarian entrée) with Ann and my writers group. It was my first real meal that wasn’t nachos or donuts from the Con Suite. It was great seeing everyone and hearing ’bout what everyone’s up to. My stomach had shrunken by that time so I couldn’t finish my meal. Had them wrap up what was left to take with me. I was going to give it to Matthew, but a homeless person asked me for food as I was en route back to the Hyatt. Figured he needed it more so I handed him my doggy bag. He seemed very grateful for it. Picked up a few karma points there, I figure. Also, got lost on my way back (no surprise to anyone who knows me. I’m famous for being able to get lost in my own subdivision) and got rescued by Dangerwoman who was able to point the way back to the Hyatt. I’m pathetic. I need to have a GPS installed in my brain.

Mayhem mayhem mayhem: that would be everything else. Didn’t get to go to nearly as many panels and events as I would’ve liked to. Hoping that next year we’ll have more of the snags worked out so we’ll have more time to enjoy the convention. (Must learn to delegate more . . . ) Did manage to sneak a few hours off with Buffy-board friends (Lionsmile, Xandersmom, and Bellwitch), which was a good and much-needed unwinding time.

Overall, a resounding thumbs up. But I feel like I could use a week to recover from it. Heard through the grapevine that Hitting the Skids in Pixeltown has been sighted at numerous Barnes & Nobles across the country. But it hasn’t fully registered. Even my sale to MicroSHOCKS couldn’t shake me out of my daze. I barely have enough brain cells firing to go “woohoo.” Maybe it’s a delayed reaction thing and after I recuperate, I’ll have a jump-up-and-down moment or two. Right now, I just want a naaaap . . . snnnnzzzzz.

Just found out I sold “Reflections in the Mirror” to the MicroSHOCKS anthology, to be published by 3F Publications. Woo!

Back from Dragon*Con. Still dazed and stunned from not enough sleep. Longer, more coherent update later.

Nancy Knight, the director of the Writers Track, was great and let the Phobos squad squeeze onto the “Writing for Anthologies” panel on Sunday. Despite being terrified (and the room was full!) I think it went pretty well.

I was on a panel with Robert Asprin, Janny Wurts, and Sherrilyn Kenyon! Plus Ann Crispin called a break during her Advanced Writers Workshop to swing by with members of my DC2K writing group to give me moral support.

Anyway, pix:

From left to right:
Lawrence Barker, Robert Asprin, James Maxey (Phobos novelist and contest winner), Keith Olexa (Phobos in-house editor), me, Janny Wurts.

Check out the books in front of Keith. They’re James’ Phobos novel Nobody Gets the Girl and Pixeltown.

It was a very full panel. Wendy Webb moderated but I’m not sure if Matthew got a pic with her in it.

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Made updates to the Daily Dragon Online and we’re live for 2003!

Swung by DD headquarters yesterday to do set-up. No computers. AGH! They’re delivering them today in the AM. I was really hoping to have the network up before today in case there were (as there always are) problems. Crossing fingers that our network guru, Dean, will work his usual mojo magic and get everything up and running quickly. We’re not going to be there until later this afternoon as we need to drop Hobkin off for Dragon*Con skunk camp with his godmother, and she’s at work until then. Z’okay, got tons of packing and prep still to do here.

Busy busy busy.

Went out to eat at “Little China” the re-named “Sam’s Gourmet Vegetarian Restaurant” for Matthew’s birthday dinner and then came home for cake. My cakes never look pretty. They usually taste just fine, but they always end up looking lopsided. Matthew commented that the ancient Egyptians would have liked my cake as it resembled some of their earlier pyramid building efforts. Grumf.

I gave Matthew a bunch of DVDs for his birthday: The Complete Alec Guinness Collection, the Special Edition Casablanca set, and Soylent Green. dude_the got Matthew The Princess Bride (via UPS to arrive on time). It was a big DVD birthday for my hubby.

We watched the Alec Guinness movie The Ladykillers. Hilarious. I giggled and giggled right out loud. I’ve only seen that film once at Matthew’s parents over the holidays several years ago. I’d mostly forgotten it so it was a rediscovery.

There’s wrapping paper shredded and strewn across the living room. Hobkin wanted to “help”. He’s quite fond of tearing up paper. He also got a bit of tape stuck to his whiskers and went around rubbing his face against the couch, me, and the corners of the room, trying to get it off. Silly animal. Of course it just stuck harder. I had to catch him and pull it off.

dude_the‘s plane comes in late tonight. So many things to do before then . . .

This seemed fitting:
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It’s a three-weeker on Critters since Andrew (the Critter-herder) is going to be away at Torcon. Glad I used my MPC to bump my “squicky” story up the queue, although now I wonder if it would have made it into the current batch anyway. Oh well, not something worth fretting about.

I’m about 2000 words into a new slipstream/magic realism tale. I’m not sure where to take it. Part of me is totally inspired by Bradbury and I want to write something that’s beautiful and soothing and uplifting. But another part of me keeps wanting to make the story a little darker, a little harder-edged than that. After dwelling upon it for a couple days, I’m leaning towards going with my darker inclinations, but at the same time I want to keep a tone of soft serenity. Tricky tricky.

Today is Matthew’s birthday! I baked a cake (it still needs frosting) and there are prezzies to be opened. dude_the is flying in tomorrow. He’s staying with us all next week through Dragon*Con. Hurray for company and weekend fun! Except I’m not sure how much time I’ll be able to devote to this new story before the convention. I’d like to finish it before things become insane with D*C. Afterwards, I’m going to be pretty zombified and in heavy recovery mode, if past experience is anything to go by. My muse tends to curl up in a corner with a big “Do Not Disturb” sign around her neck for weeks after something as intense as Dragon*Con. I’d like not to set this story down and have it get lost and unfinished because I really like what I’ve got so far. We’ll see. I have picked up stories that I’ve lost the momentum on before, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule. Maybe I can sneak in some writing time during this weekend’s AM hours when everyone else will be asleep.

Going to start doping Hobkin on Rescue Remedy today so that he doesn’t freak out as much with dude_the invading “his” territory. Also want to give him a bath. That’s always an adventure. Hobkin was a total cuddlefuzz yesterday night, crawling up beside me on the couch where I’d fallen asleep and wedging himself in my arms. Except then he woke up at around 3am and jumped down (of course waking me in the process). I stumbled off to bed, but he decided to run amuck. Poor Matthew stayed up with him rather than locking him away until I woke up, several hours later, to get ready for work and feed him (Hobkin, not Matthew) his breakfast. To say that Matthew was a bit groggy is a bit of an understatement. But hey, at least the weekend is finally here!

Woke up this morning feeling glum and depressed. I found out yesterday that someone I met at Fantasm a year ago died over the weekend. He drowned while on an outing. Just one of those freak accidents that you can’t explain and never expect. I didn’t know this person well, but from my brief association with him, he made a striking impression on me. He was sweet and funny, and full of life and energy. You could see it in him, his enthusiasm and his wicked sense of humor. I quite liked him and I’m stunned and shocked that he’s gone. I’m also exceptionally saddened that I didn’t get to know him better. I meant to, but I thought it was just one of those things that could happen in the fullness of time. Except time has stopped for him now, and all my opportunities to cobble a friendship with him are gone.

I don’t like death.

Going to go hug Matthew now.

1000 words on the Dark Fantasy story with the aid of a little caffeine. Zero draft completed; fork poised. Going to have Matthew first-reader it and then up to Critters it goes. I’m not terribly excited about this one. I wrote it just to get the words from log jamming in my head and I think it shows. I’d contemplate not subbing this one to markets, but I just can’t tell which stories of mine will appeal to an editor. My favorite pieces are still making the rounds, and stories that I thought were just fun ditties are selling to pro-markets on their first jaunt out. I just can’t figure the vagaries of the publishing industry.

Used my spare MPC to bump my “squicky” story up the Critters queue. It should be going up tomorrow.

Completed the re-write on my “weird” story. Out into the world it goes. It’s still weird, but I took out some of the references that puzzled people the most and toned down the early surreal elements. Chopped about three hundred words from the final count. The end’s still exceptionally surreal, but I like it. I do, however, think that I’ll put a little distance between me and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. for a while.

Been reading The Vintage Bradbury, a collection of some of Ray Bradbury’s best earlier works. It’s both uplifting and depressing. On the one hand, his writing is beautiful, poetic, and evocative without being a downer like a lot of Harlan Ellison’s work is (which is also beautiful, poetic, and evocative, just in an angry-bloody sort of way). But on the other hand, I’m feeling a whole heap of despair on the “I’m not worthy” front. Will I ever be able to write even a fraction as well as Bradbury? It’s dispiriting is what it is. I keep telling myself that the man worked at his writing, worked hard at it. Still does. But then I read “Dandelion Wine” or “The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit” and I just can’t believe that I’ll ever be even close to having his mastery of prose.

And I’m bummed that Bradbury can’t make Dragon*Con. I’m glad that I got to see him those several years ago at our first Dragon*Con, but I was really looking forward to having the opportunity to meet him this year.

Sigh.

Trying to catch up on my Friends List. Salient word is trying.

Yesterday was the last Dragon*Con meeting (director’s only) before the convention. I can’t believe it’s only two weeks before D-Day. Yikes. So much to do; so little time.

The convention fed us again. Gotta love the free meal thing.

On the writing front:

No new word countage this weekend but I’ve started on the re-write of my “weird” story.

Also, an idea for a character popped into my head that I’d like to write about. No story, no setting, no background, just a character. That hasn’t happened to me before. My characters tend to grow organically from the story I put them in. Now I find myself dwelling on the best situation to drop this character-concept into and it’s a strange process.

I’m not left-handed but Matthew is. I’m going to bake some cookies in observance of the holiday.

Writing Stats:

26 crits on Critters for my “weird” story. Need to dwell on the various comments for a day or so and then start on the rewrite. I’m not sure yet if I want to do a major overhaul on this tale, or just do some tweaks. Got comments across the board from “loved it” to “didn’t work for me.”

The countdown to Horrorfind Weekend continues. The Quiet Ward debuted at number 8 on the Shocklines.com Advance Order Bestseller list. Neat.

In less good news, an anthology market that had short-listed one of my stories was cancelled. Details are sketchy, but it sounds like the two co-editors had a falling out and scrapped the project. Dagnabit. Out it goes again, although I really thought this anthology was a good fit. Another tongue-in-cheek writing “milestone” is when a writer “kills” a market. Wonder if this counts as my kill?

Made some progress on the new Dark Fantasy story, about 1000 words. I’m still flogging myself for even writing the damn thing since if I finish this story it’ll be the third incarnation of this theme I’ve written. But the words keep coming, so I keep typing. Stupid muse.

Actually, Matthew and I were talking last night and discussing art and the revisiting of themes. I feel a little better rehashing old territory knowing that some of the great painting masters did the same thing with their work.

And hey, Roger Zelazny wrote the same novel over and over again, so why can’t I?