Gwenda Bond

Five Things Make A Friday Post

1. Heading out this weekend for this year's Bat Cave retreat. It's set up exactly like this:

(Image from here.)

Except replace the underground stream with a hot tub. There's really nothing more energizing, wonderful, and magical than spending a chunk of time holed up in a scenic locale with a gaggle of writers talking fiction and being silly and sharing war stories and in-jokes and, yeah, I can't wait. Especially because I am still being attacked by rogue deadline and have to rewrite some more words to escape its clutches. But! Nearly finished.

2. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to teach a day-long workshop to this year's class of the Young Women Writers Project at the Carnegie Center. I can tell you that these are some amazing writers, who you'll be hearing lots from in the future. And I'm so sad to miss their big reading. If you're in the Lexington area, however, you should go: it's next Friday, April 19, at 5:30 p.m. (during Gallery Hop) at the Carnegie Center. Go support them.

3. I can't remember where I saw this regional dialect map first, but it is fascinating.

4. A typically wise post from the fabulous Robin LaFevers on the ups and downs of life in publishing. The creative life is definitely not for those who are afraid of heights or lows.

5. Speaking of which, this week has obviously been a high point for me. When you sell your first book(s), it's impossible to know if you'll publish more of them after that. It feels, often, that this must be an accident or a mistake, and to expect it to happen again, well, that's some nerve. That's tempting fate. But you keep writing anyway, of course, because you can't stop and there are stories to tell and what's fate for, but to tempt? (See also: Chuck Wendig's post on imposter syndrome.) Girl on a Wire was a book I started not thinking at all of the market, before I sold Blackwood, just because I wanted to tell this story, and it would be worth it even if it never saw the light of day. And then I finished it and revised it because I still felt that way, despite the shadow voice whispering that my first sale was a fluke. To have that book find such a great home is just as surreal and marvelous as selling Blackwood and The Woken Gods (eep! hope you like it too) was. In some ways more, because of all of the above. I can't wait to get back to work on it. But I just wanted to say again THANK YOU, sincerely, for the overwhelming flood of congratulations on twitter, tumblr, facebook, email--wherever congratulations are possible--this week. It means more than you can know.

So, love to y'all, and happy weekend.

A Few Things & The View From Here

A few things:

• Blackwood made the Locus recommended reading list in the first novels category. Sharing company with the other people on the list (including one Mr. Rowe in novelettes!) is an honor indeed. Completely thrilled.
• I'm over at The Mortal Instruments Examiner today talking about why I love these books so, my essay in Shadowhunters and Downworlders, and other things. Check it out.
• A couple of lovely posts about Blackwood that made my respective days: from the wonderful Mette Ivie Harrison and Kate Ormand.

We are all getting lots of work done, talking about books and publishing and silly things (my favorite). I am revising my heart out or, at least, starting to. This is the view from here.

Friday Nattering Et Hangovers

Helloooo! I didn't meant to go poof vanish-y, but I did. And I'm afraid the next week or two is likely to be more of the same.

However, I didn't want to miss saying that the Bluegrass Writers Studio faculty and students showed Jenn and I a fabulous time last weekend. And it was so nice having her here. If there's any agent on the planet who is more willing to answer questions and be candid and explain how this crazy business we call pub works, well, I don't know them. (And this is just one of the many reasons I feel so lucky she's my agent. And my friend. <3) We also talked about the new secret book, which I'd just sent her to read, and much of my AWOL-ness this week has been because I'm revising (spoiler alert: she likes it; whew). After a bit from Blackwood, I read a little section of it at my reading--audience choice, and in my experience, people always want to hear from the new secret thing--and burbled about it afterward and was very much relieved at how enthusiastic people were. And they sold out of copies of Blackwood after the reading, ever happy-making. My husband, the original Christopher Rowe, is in this program, and so I went back last night to see Justin Cronin read and hang out and people still wanted to talk about the new novel. This is the kind of thing that makes a writer happy.

Having Jenn in town meant I finally got to meet a couple of other local authors previously only known on the twitter machine: Andrew Shaffer and Tiffany Reisz. Not to mention, one of my favorite things in life is taking visitors to our fab local bookstores and favorite restaurants, and I got to do that too. Puck the Dog, who is famously picky and hates everyone, loooooves Jenn. So there. A great weekend.

Anyway, I'm busily trimming away bits of research loveliness that aren't strictly speaking enhancing the story (or unstrictly, let's be honest!), and doing a bazillion other things, and still trying to catch up on reading I owe people and wearing the wrong earrings together by mistake, etc. But I shall return victorious or triumphant or something or other. I also managed to take no pictures, so no pictures to share.

But I do have a few little Friday hangovers:

• The Woken Gods was included in i09's 2013 Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Preview. Yay. (Also, panic. Let's be honest. That's THIS year. It's okay, though, months and months away. Breathes.)
• The Gandalf Problem-Solving Flowchart. 
• What a story does to the brain.
• Anita Silvey's daily children's literature almanac has a fascinating entry today, about Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH author Robert C. O'Brien, who never appeared in public because his contract with his employer, National Geographic, had a non-compete that forced him to write under a pseudonym and keep his identity secret--even when he won the Newbery.
• Toby Buckell kindly posted some thoughts he shared with his intern about being a writer. This is a must read. Bookmarked, to point people to.
• Chronicling teen bedrooms.
• Saladin Ahmed wrote a great piece on worldbuilding for ye olde NPR, "At Home in Fantasy's Nerd-Built Worlds."
• Pickpocket profile in the New Yorker. (Hat tip to Matt for the pointer.)
• "Exhaustion is not a status symbol"; thought-provoking WaPo piece.
• And, the post of the week without question, Jo Knowles' beautiful blog entry about living your life.

Resolving, Etc., And A Reading

Welcome to 2013, dear readers.

I've been really enjoying everyone's resolutions posts this year, but don't have much more to say here than what I did already. I really only have one overall resolution* this year: to play more. Which isn't to say I intend to do less work--I enjoy working (plus, I can't afford not to)--but that I want to have more time for play. This is harder than you think for someone who likes work and perhaps, at times, is guilty of saying yes too often. I suspect that won't change, but my plan is to say yes to Actual Fun Things Too. So there.

I sent off the secret book to mine agent on New Year's Eve, just barely making my own personal deadline. So now I'm trying to catch up on everything else--email, manuscript reading, etc. etc.--before I travel back to revisionland. If I owe you something, it'll be coming in the next week or two.

A few other things:

• I also have a literary resolution in terms of reading this year, which you can find over at the LA Times' Jacket Copy, along with 14 other people's. And, hey, it fits in with the other one too; approaching book selection as play now and again sounds like fun to me.

• Colleen Mondor's year-end reading round up is as wonderfully eclectic as always. I'd point to it anyway, as I always find new reads from Colleen's recs, but she also had some very kind words for Blackwood (made my day when I read it). And SFF reviewer Rob Bedford also kindly includes Blackwood in his year's favorites (day made again).

• And I'm particularly excited to be starting off this new year as an official guest author at the Bluegrass Writers Studio winter MFA residency this coming weekend in Lexington. Aforementioned lovely agent Jennifer Laughran will be there as well, so we can do a panel for students on Saturday. BUT there is also a free and open to the public reading event featuring yours truly that evening at 7:30 at the Hilton downtown. I'll be reading some combination of things--while I may read a snippet of Blackwood, I'll read from either The Woken Gods or the secret book too. And I'll be around after to chat and sign any copies of Blackwood people want (I believe there will be some for sale). All the details here. If you are local, there's lots of other great evening events happening too. So, check out that schedule.

And now I must crawl back into the catch-up cave.

*Other mini-resolution: Hopefully, at some point this year, I'll get my act together and find someone to help me give ye olde website/blog a makeover (problem is, I just want a design spruce and face lift, but I like typepad's back end and hosting *clings to what I know*). If you know someone or are someone willing to work within those parameters, lemme know. Though I probably won't be ready to tackle it for a couple of months yet.

Season Of Reflection

That's what we're in, isn't it? We're surrounded by lists of things from the old year, and thinking ahead to what we're looking forward to or hope to achieve in 2013. This past year was a crazy packed one for me, in a way I was only tentatively allowing myself to hope for at this time a year ago.

What a difference a year makes--since then I've really begun the career I've been working toward for years by selling two books and having one come out (!),  having that book optioned for TV and then put into development at M-freaking-TV (yeah, I still can't believe that happened), and, in addition to everything else, writing two books this year. (Yes, I got to the end of my revision on the secret book; doing clean-up and it will be off my desk for a while by the end of the year.) You were not apocalyptic, but you were full of surprises and anxiety and busybusyness, 2012.

ANYway, editor Amanda asked us for Best lists of 2012 for the Strange Chemistry blog. As I explain over there, I'm a little fatigued by the whole concept of Best of lists at the moment (though not too fatigued to blow kisses at Kat Howard at Fantasy Matters, Leo Elijah Cristea, and Jenny Davidson for including Blackwood in their end of year reading wrap-ups this week). But one of the things I have learned this year--and, oh boy, I have learned a great many things--is that bookstores are even more important than I thought they were. And I've always thought they were important. I remain thrilled that you can pick Blackwood up at B&N, but a great gift of having the book come out has been getting to meet and talk to so many new book people (book people are the best people) and many of the most special times this year took place at independent bookstores. Each one unique and wonderful, and a reflection of the community it serves. As a new author, the support of booksellers has meant more than I can say. But I tried in my entry about my Favorite Places of 2012, writing about the seven fabulous indies I got to visit this year.

Go check it out, and leave your own indie love in the comments if you like. I'm hoping to get to some new places this year, especially when The Woken Gods comes out (July! soon enough I will start to talk more about this and at some point there will be a cover and ARCs and things of that sort! panic!). And while these are stores I wanted to single out because I visited them this year, please know that I appreciate each and every bookseller, reader, blogger, librarian and generally kind soul who has read Blackwood, reviewed it, put it into someone's hands or encouraged someone else to read it. I mentally give a frolicking kitten wings whenever a copy is handsold or passed on to a friend. And I hope you'll all be excited about The Woken Gods too. I'm excited for you to read it.

But who knows what 2013 holds? Not me. And I'm okay with that. I'll take another ticket for the roller coaster, please.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Tripping Whirlwind

Back from the last travel of the year, which was a weekend so packed it seems I must have been gone for a week. But I know I wasn't, because it was all so quick and there were far too many people I didn't get to see at all. Alas! Next trip to New York will be longer.

The lovely and wonderful Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner were kind enough to let me stay with them, and we had some great talks and meals and even went to see a play--something I really don't do often enough. (It was Volpone, an acid Renaissance comedy that featured an interesting cast playing truly despicable characters.) I also managed lunch at Tea & Sympathy (yum) with Ellen Datlow and Genevieve Valentine. Then we meandered around seeing holiday sights (and possibly witnessing the birth of RAR--crowd-induced rage-a-hol syndrome), including some fantastic window displays:

 

(Bergdorf Goodman)

(More behind the cut...)

Ghost Stories

Last night's event at Joseph-Beth was a great deal of fun--especially since I fully expected to be talking to my parents and Christopher, given cold, miserable weather, but ended up with a good-sized crowd filled with a few familiar faces and more unfamiliar ones. So thanks to all of you guys who came out and, of course, to the wonderful Joseph-Beth crew, as ever and always. MWAH.

Anyway, as promised, I told a little ghost story, which I had to preface with my general ghost story disclaimer. Which is, the ghost stories I tend to tell people come from my family members--primarily my grandmothers--and like most such stories that come from people relating their own personal tales of spooky happenings (or those of people they know/knew well), they tend not to really be story-shaped in the general way we think of stories. They aren't so much about an arc, a beginning-middle-and-end, as they are about an experience that happened to someone. If there's a revelation or overarching meaning, it's usually on the part of the person who experienced it. But, often as not, it's just a shared incident, a "this happened to me and it was strange and now I'm telling you about it" or "here is a seriously weird thing someone told me happened to them." Not to say there aren't masterfully shaped ghost stories that are stories, but they aren't usually the ones I tell. And I find the open-endedness of these ghost vignettes, let's call them, can be satisfying in an entirely different way. (And, in this sense, I believe in them the way I believe in all stories.)

SO, I thought I'd tell one here in honor of Halloween.

The one I told last night is from my paternal grandmother, and happened to her when she was a kid. It involves seeing a long table laid out with a sumptuous feast and people eating and drinking (but without sound she could hear) in the middle of a usually deserted field while she was on the way to feed the cows. I'm not going to tell that one here, because you can read a probably-more-satisfying version of it in Kelly Link's fabulously creepy "Two Houses," in the Ray Bradbury tribute anthology Shadow Show. (Bonus: There's also a borrowed creepy story of Christopher's in there, too.)

But here's another family ghost story, which I've dressed up a little for the occasion, but not too much...

There was this two-story house way back in the woods, off a certain ridgeline. It's abandoned now, but she remembers when people lived there. That was a long time ago, when she was a little girl. The family was tight-knit, but not from around the area originally. They moved in from somewhere vague, and never really fit in. After a few years living there, someone in the family died--maybe more than one someone--but no one can ever remember who it was. It might have been the older brother, away fighting a war, or the mother from some lingering illness. Maybe it was even the little girl. But the death devastated the family. They lost their money. They lost the house.

They left. The house was in an isolated area to begin with. It was a place that only became more and more isolated as roadways got established elsewhere. The road left to it was basically a deserted dirt track. No one else ever moved in, and no one knows who owns it, if anyone does. The bank might, if they bothered to claim it. The unmowed yard grew up all around it, and the trees kept watch. But mostly it was a forgotten place.

 

(photo courtesy of JanZio, not actual house in question)

Except, of course, not entirely forgotten. After a few years, there were some teenagers who remembered the family had lived there, and thought they'd go check it out. She was with them. One of them claimed the younger girl in the family told him a ghost story about the house. There's a single wide chimney that runs along the far side of it, two fireplaces stacked on top of each other--one on the first floor and one on the second. The girl told him that if you took off your shoes and put them in front of the fireplace on the top floor, then went back downstairs, your shoes would be waiting for you in front of the bottom fireplace. But only if you do it by yourself.

It seemed harmless and silly to try it. So, she said she would. She went in alone while the rest waited outside. She comes out ten minutes later, just as they're starting to worry, holding her shoes dangling from her hands and laughing. She swears to them that she went upstairs and put her shoes in front of the dusty fireplace, then picked her way down the rickety stairs to check. She swears it felt like someone was watching her as she found the shoes waiting there, just as promised, picked them up and came outside. But here she is, fine, holding her shoes.

No one else goes in to try it. Maybe they believe her, maybe they don't. I went and found the house with three friends when I was in high school, many years later. It was still standing, but barely. There were empty beer bottles on the porch. We dared each other to go upstairs and leave our shoes, but no one would go in alone. It was too dark that night, even with our flashlights.

And I don't think I'd have had the guts to try it anyway. I've always wondered, what happens if the house decides not to give them back?

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Update: Joseph-Beth Event, Hijinks Elsewhere

Happy Monday! If you're in the path of uber-storm, please stay safe. Here's hoping this is another one that won't be as bad as expected--though looking at the scary satellite photos makes that seem unlikely. Here in the Bluegrass we don't expect much except some moderate wind and rain (with snow in the mountains), at least at this point. Which means if you are in these pleasantish environs you should DEFINITELY come out to Joseph-Beth tomorrow night for my pre-Halloween event there. 

The details: Tuesday, October 30, at 6 p.m., Joseph-Beth Lexington, me discussing and signing Blackwood. Be there or be square. (Should you be attending the Walking Dead creator event at UK, I think you'll still have plenty of time to get there. Do both!) In addition to talking about Blackwood and taking questions, I plan to tell at least one ghost story and I might, depending how things go, read a short scene from The Woken Gods.

(If you can't make it but want a personalized copy or want to order one if you're elsewhere, then I'm sure the store would be happy to hook you up. Here's their contact info.)

A couple of other quick things:

• Last night I participated in the groupwatch/live tweet of The Flowers in the Attic movie that Leila put together. She has now storified the results over at Bookshelves of Doom. It was fun, and hopefully we'll do it again with another movie soonish.
• And I'm guest posting over at Sons of Corax today about names in Blackwood, their significance and how I came up with a few of them.

And yes! I'm still waiting for the big news to be share-able, which should happen anytime. Keeping secrets is hard. But soon. Soooon.

Bookish Updatery, Tuesday Five Edition

Five things to share today, so a quick update. I'm knuckling down on the second half of this revision and staring down the barrel of jury duty later this month, with more revising of a different project coming soonish...so probably this will be a season of less frequent updating. (But if anyone has requests or suggestions for a particular topic for a blog post, then let me know in the comments or at twitter or via email and I'll do my best to work it in.) Also, hello lovely visitors by way of Vampire-Diaries.net. *waves*

• First things first:

Received confirmation this morning that barring mega-earthquakes, volcanic explosions, or other large-scale protests from the Earth, the release month for The Woken Gods will in fact be next July! (Which means there will probably soon be an official description and maybe preordering type links. Cover discussion has tentatively begun. In the meantime, if you want to know more there's this.) Cue *nerves*. Not that there is going to be time for them.

• Second things second:

Are you in Kentucky, particularly near Lexington? Then you should come out to the fabulous Joseph-Beth Booksellers on Tuesday, October 30, at 6 p.m. I will be discussing Blackwood and telling a scary ghost story or two in honor of Halloween and taking your questions and I might even share a little snippet from the new book, time permitting.  (Signed copies of Blackwood make a great stocking stuffer--and Christmas will be here before you know it. Just saying!) I dropped by the store last Friday and was a bit woozy to see that I have a table display and an event banner:

 

 

This is particularly cool and surreal because this is the bookstore that first taught me what a wonderland bookstores could be. It was basically my favorite destination as soon as I discovered it in high school, having before only had access to a WaldenBooks (which was itself an hour away). And the team from Joseph-Beth has been absolutely wonderful to me. *draws hearts in air* This one should be fun. So, cooome out, okay? Okay.

• Third things third (you see how this is going, right?):

New audiobook review from Bob Reiss of the excellently named audiobook-focused blog, The Guilded Earlobe: "Blackwood is a strong YA tale with themes that permeate the label but are done in a unique and engaging way. The strength of this novel is in its characters. Bond created two engaging protagonists, and a slew of secondary players that are well developed."

Want to sample said audiobook? I thought you'd never ask. The folks at AudioGo have just put up a youtube clip for your sampling pleasure.

• Fourth comes fourth:

Two things absolutely made my day yesterday. The first was a review from Delaney, age 12, in the October issue of the Sacramento Book Review. Snippet: "Blackwood was an amazing book! ... This book was an excellent mystery, full of romance, ghosts, ancient curses, historical figures, betrayal, and so much more. I loved how the already intriguing mystery of the Lost Colony was given some unexpected twists and turns. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves mystery and magic." (Thanks to the one and only Bookalicious Pam for the pointer.) *beam*

• Fifth and final:

The other thing that made my day was this photo from Ballou High School:

Look at this @gwenda - your book has arrived at @balloulibrary twitter.com/BallouLibrary/…

— Colleen Mondor (@chasingray) October 15, 2012

You can see another photo of books arriving and read more about the impact the Ballou High School book fair has over at Guys Lit Wire. To whoever sent my book to Ballou, my love to you, kind soul. And if you haven't sent a book via the Powell's wishlist yet, there's still plenty of great ones left to choose from.

Annd that's it from me today. Have a great week, everybody.

Dept. of Nice Surprises Redux

So, yesterday was a loooong Monday.  I still had some work to do when I got home, but I couldn't get home. All the streets surrounding our house were blocked off for some mysterious race, so I had Christopher meet me at the only accessible pub grub place I could find. As we were--finally--on our way back after the streets re-opened, I was checking twitter on my phone and saw an i09 update that said "What's more thrilling than a fantasy about the Chosen One? How about the Cursed One?" And I actually thought to myself, Huh, the cursed one instead of the chosen one is kinda how I think about Blackwood; I wonder what the link's about?

Wellll, it turned out to be a lovely review of Blackwood by the fabulous Charlie Jane Anders. Snippet:

There have been a ton of young adult fantasy novels lately where one person stands against a dystopian world, or faces a terrible menace, and they're sort of the chosen savior. But Gwenda Bond's YA debut, Blackwood, takes a very different tack: Her heroine, Miranda Blackwood, is the cursed one, who bears the mark of the betrayer, and she's also the most hated person in her small town. Blackwood is a neat spin on all of those YA fantasies about being special — especially when it turns into a story about "freaks in love."

Go there for the rest. I don't read all reviews (because I don't want to go crazy), but it really is amazing when someone has read the book you were trying to write. And that's how I feel about this one. Day = made, in other words.

Also, a new interview conducted by the delightful Megan Whitmer has just been posted at HerKentucky.com. I talk about Blackwood and Lexington's wonderful literary community and Other Things.

And! I'm told that SOON I will be able to share VERY EXCITING NEWS...but not quite yet. *commences secret chair dancing but tries not to be obnoxious about it*

Tuesday Hangovers & Nattering & You Want Some Bookmarks?

We had a lovely weekend with the Small Beer Press contingent--Kelly, Gavin and Ursula--and Karen Joy Fowler in town for the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Topics discussed included: should we be the first to cosplay or start a tribute band based on The Casual Vacancy (related: I adore J.K. Rowling; she comes across as the smartest and classiest in every interview she does*), socialist credentials, and ice cream. It was LOVELY.

A few links of note:

• Holly Black answered a couple of Tumblr questions on writing, plot and originality, well worth your time.
• C.J. Redwine offers some smart advice for writers on dealing with inaccurate or mean reviews.
• Digital Book World piece on book discovery in a fragmented landscape.
• "The Measure Of What Is Possible" by Molly McArdle at The Rumpus.
• Libba Bray's Top 10 Horror Movies. 

Fabulous books I have read lately: Meljean Brook's Riveted (another excellent steampunk romance), Sarah Rees Brennan's Unspoken (gothic banter, ftw), and David Levithan's Every Day (just gorgeous).

A few Blackwood things, including free-to-a-good-home bookmarks:

• Nova Ren Suma is running a big international giveaway where you can win a featured debut of your choice, including Blackwood.
• A Fantastical Librarian review: "It turns out I was right to be excited, but I ended up loving the book for completely different reasons than I'd expected. For it wasn't the historical elements that drew me in or the theatrical aspects of the story; no, I got completely taken in by the story's female lead and titular character, Miranda Blackwood."
• Serendipity Reviews review: "I was totally hooked throughout the book. I really love how the author has interpreted this piece of history. An excellent debut where the author has taken a true story and completely made it her own by adding elements of magic and paranormal activity."
• Also, a little reminder that if you've recently read the book, you might be interested in my photoset from our Roanoke Island trip and/or my pinterest board for Blackwood.
• We're almost a month out from release now (ack! hard to believe!). It's a complete thrill when people get in touch to say they enjoyed the book, so please do if you're so inclined, and tell a friend, your favorite teen, a review site of your choice, etc. It is all much appreciated. We live in a complicated bookish world, and the best way to sell books is still through word of mouth. Thanks for any of that you do, and for reading the book. I hope I get to write lots more of them.
• AND, finally, I still have quite a lot of bookmarks, and it seems silly to keep them in the box behind my desk. If you're a librarian, teacher or bookseller (or similar) who'd like 50-100 (or some other number), get in touch. (And if you know same who you think would be interested, please pass this on to them.) They are lovely--this photo doesn't even really show how lovely (Christopher designed them); in reality they are glossy and beauteous and fine, fine bookmarks.

And now back to my previously scheduled cold and trying to catch up on All The Things.

Updated to add: I've seen some buzz about the part about unicorns in this New Yorker interview--it seems like a joke to me? Frankly, I find the need to comment on her make-up and the pop psychology moments and intellectual snarberry (snark meets snobbery) as far more worth getting mad over.

Sometimes You Need To Hear It

Last night we went out to Libba Bray's kick-off event for her tour in support of The Diviners (out now in all fine locations) at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (*blows kisses*). (Rest of schedule here, and definitely catch her if you can. I'll be at the final event in December at Oblong Books with Libba and Maureen Johnson, filling the riff-raff position.;-)

Every time I go to a book event, I'm reminded why I always vow to go to more. Not just because it's nice for the author if there are people there -- though it is; I've been very lucky so far not to have a crickets event yet (I'm sure it will happen) and so grateful to every person there -- but because there's often a moment when something that's said is just what I need to hear at any given moment as a writer.

I'm not and never will be making any claims at being some kind of expert on writing or anything just because I have now published a book. I still feel just as terrified (if not more so) and flummoxed and full of questions when I'm writing as I ever did. At one point last night someone asked a question, I think about advice for writers (but it might have been a different one) and Libba said read everything (YES, completely agree) and also, "Be brave." Paraphrasing, she talked about how a writer she admired said once that during the first draft we protect ourselves, and it's only in revision that we can go deeper, risk more. And that every book you write should change you, when you come out the other side.

Yes, yes, yes.

The book I'm revising, I see this all over it -- the protecting myself in the first draft. Much of it comes from the fact that, as usual, I didn't know the character(s) well enough in the first draft to be true to them. For me, so much of the first draft is just beginning to figure out what the book is, and making many wrong turns along the way. This particular book, which I don't want to talk about too specifically yet (hopefully someday I'll be able too), is near and dear to my heart. It's a bit of a departure (first person, for one) and the main character is something of a daredevil. I've been kicking myself because while she was daring, even in the first draft, she was also not daring in places where she should be -- that's a lot of what I'm working on in this revision. Because true daring? Requires vulnerability. Dropping shields, being open to injury, to falling, to failure... It requires caring enough to risk everything.

Just as being the kind of writer I want to be requires being brave enough to risk all that, too. Every time.

A reminder I needed to hear just when I needed to hear it.

Weekend Update

This weekend was a catch-up weekend, coming off the first week without travel (or a book party) for a while.  The office got cleaned, I read the (brilliant) novel of an old friend in manuscript, mountains of laundry monsters were slain, and we went out for a little light bookstalking, as you do. (Honestly, restraint to have waited this long--only because things have been so busy was I able to.) So, instead of a true and proper update, I'm annotating the weekend's instagrams...

At the local Barnes and Noble:

 

 

(Blur due to furtiveness, as for some reason I was a little nervous about being caught Photographing The Book--though I have found as a general rule that pretending something is forbidden always makes it more fun.)

And then at our largest local independent, the venerable and amazing Joseph-Beth Booksellers flagship store. You'll see one of the reasons I love them so (*waves to excellent, fabulous booksellers*):

 

 

(Why, yes, those are Blackwood bookmarks in the books along the back. ♥♥♥ I'll be doing an event there at 6 p.m. on October 30; can't wait. I love Lexington and its literary community.)

There are SO many fabulous books coming out this week, keep my little paperback debut in mind when you're at the bookstore if you haven't picked it up yet? *bats eyelashes*

Yesterday I finally got down to business on making my real and true revision plan for the secretish new book I'm working on. I have a full first draft, got lots of feedback on it months ago, and am now 15K into making it a presentable book. So, time to make a chart, which is how I spent the non-reading part of yesterday:

 

 

And the result:

 

 

Now I just have to follow it for the next monthish or so.

A couple of people have asked for some elaboration on this chart-making process, so I'll try to do that soon. Basically, it encapsulates the major plot developments and character arc. It's something I've only adopted this year (after first encountering at the Bat Cave retreat), but I really am finding it crucial at helping me feel less flail-y during revision. And you can repeat it however many times you need to. More on that to come, in case anyone else finds it useful.

And that's it for now, I do believe. I'm digging into the aforementioned revision this week, catching up on other things, juggling the usual, hoping for good news on a front or two, and there are several friends coming to town for events of various varieties, all by way of saying I may be relatively thin on the ground this week. 

In the meantime, there are three open Blackwood giveaways still going:

• Stacked giveaway - Signed copy of Blackwood, US/Canada only, open until the end of September.
• Ink Scratchers - Copy of Blackwood, UK only, open until Sept. 21 (and not many entries yet, so get cracking UKians!). 
• Nova Ren Suma's Fall Debut Series - Signed copy of Blackwood and swag duct tape rose pen, US only, open until Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. EST.

Enter and/or spread the word. And there'll be one more super prize pack giveaway with the *last t-shirt* coming up soon. Also, the audiobook is now up on the AudioGo site as well, both US and UK, and it's a little cheaper there at the moment than at Audible/Amazon.

It's back to work with me. Have a good week, everybody.

On the Road, Misc.

I was delighted when Stefan Fergus asked me to do an interview for his Civilian Reader site. It's up now--I reveal a dirty reading secret (sort of!) and talk about genre and writing habits and other such things. Check it out, if you're so inclined.

This "reviewaka" of Blackwood made me happy (and I just love the whole concept of reviewakas). Poetry meets brief reviews.

And, finally, we're on the road! Cue up the Johnny Cash and Jim White! Today we'll hit the Outer Banks. If you're down there (or know people there, spread the word), then do come by Downtown Books tomorrow afternoon, anytime from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (Though you might want to come at 1 o'clock--when Eleanor Dare and John Borden from The Lost Colony will be in attendance in costume!)

For now, the interstate awaits.

Friday Five of Random Chatter

1. Christopher is coming home today. YAY. In case you were wondering about the grossness sweepstakes (I know you were, c'mon), the dead bird count is holding steady at three. The tragic bird Okies seem to have gotten their tiny plan together to not fall out of trees into the Dust Bowl and/or Emma the Dog has been unlucky instead of wrathful. Whatever the case, I say again: YAY. Now if I could only stop yawning. (I did reveal on twitter the secret head-tapping trick of wakefulness, provided by Barb at a Wiscon, I believe. It works. At least temporarily. You just tap your scalp with your fingertips and ignore the strange looks. *taptaptap*)

2. So, I didn't finish the draft of the gods book this week, but I managed a respectable 7,000 words. The lion's chunk of that was on Sunday, which is possibly the only time I've ever drafted a chapter in a day. The rest was pecking away. But this was a week filled with family medical issues and hospital trips and ambient stress and running le household solo and tres dead birds and such. I'll take it. Annnd I'm finally in the home stretch, aka the last 10K (I hope this isn't one of those false horizon endings...), so next week should do it. Resisting panic, since I'm really looking forward to digging into the 1.0 to 1.5 or (with any luck) 2.0 draft. For once, I actually have a list of pre-notes for that first pass of revision. Speaking of which...

3. Terri Windling had a typically great collection of quotes (and Tilly photos) this morning in a post titled "The courage to be bad," which says it all, doesn't it? I tumblred a piece of it, and I just saw Kat Howard has a nice process post inspired by it too, in which she talks about how we learn to let go of that idea of perfection in first drafts as we get better at revision. And, yes, what she said. I think one of the most freeing things for me about the First Draft now is that unlike when I started out and would sometimes hand this off to C or others unvarnished as soon as I finished*, I now know that the Real and True First Draft is for my eyes only. It makes the writing go much easier to know no one will ever see it quite so messy, except me. (Barring the bus crash that is one of my greatest writerly fear fantasies; to have left a first draft on the desk and get hit by a bus is only topped by the thought of a half-done revision and getting hit by a bus.) And not that this first revision will be the only one by any means, but hopefully it will be enough to enable the REAL revision that will inevitably be necessary. I think the bones of this draft are pretty solid (the outline more or less held), but it needs some facial restruction and skin grafts and emo therapy here and there. As always. Not that I'm not half-panicked during a draft the whole time, because, believe me, I AM. But I feel like I've also learned to let go of the idea of solving all the problems (especially smaller ones) during a first draft. I can take it on faith now that if I keep writing, those little alarms in the subconscious about reveals or the fuzzy parts of the ending or characters who aren't quite right yet will present solutions or at least that solutions will be able to be teased out of the completed draft (almost goes without saying that's with the help of writer friends, agent and editor, but always worth saying, of course). Not to say I never stop and actively come up with solutions, but I'm way more comfortable rolling with uncertainty now. Once it's complete I can be more efficient about problem-solving. Maybe. Anyway, something I noticed and decided to natter about. Clearly.

4. Remind me of all this when I start panicking during the revision about how it will never be any good and there's no way I'm equal to the task, what is wrong with me for even trying this, etc. etc., okay? (Seriously, this book has been hard for lots of reasons. Because it's big and epic and *hard*, natch, but also perhaps because I'm writing it while careening toward the release of my debut novel--more fun with ambient stress!--and my worry has been deep at times, but now I'm back to loving it, and I just want to finish so I can Make It The Best I Can. Hallelujah. Not a moment too soon.) Those feelings are a completely normal and unavoidable stage, too.

5. But enough process-o-mancy. Some things well worth reading elsewhere: "it's who you are at the core" by Justine Musk (HELL YES); "10 Things I Learned on Book Tour" by Austin Kleon (good stuff in here applicable to lots of situations, not just touring); "The Incredible Resilience of Books" by Peter Osnos (the sky is the sky and cannot fall); Shannon Messenger on figuring out how to deal with reviews and best interact with review(er)s online as a debut author (to which I can only say, yes, and always thank you to anyone who reads my book--I commented there too); and, finally, the Books That Shaped America exhibit at my beloved LOC (thoughts on the list?).

Have a great weekend, everybody. *mwah*

(*Finished as in typed The End, not as in really finished. The whole problem. And, okay, so I totally did this to Beth Revis and Laurel Snyder at our retreat earlier this year, but I had no choice. It was an extreme situation, and there was No Time. Sorry, guys! I sure hope I don't get hit by a bus before I get around to taking another pass at that one.)

Organization Fu

Sometimes I need a weekend that's about putting things back into their boxes, about cleaning and prepping and, yes, organization. I think organization may be my superpower these days, or at least the only difference between feeling like things are under control and manageable or are off the rails and spinning into chaos. (Of course, my brand of organization likes to leave a little room for chaos. Things tend to get stale fast without it.)

This is a summer of writing, both for me and Christopher. I don't know about you, but whenever I'm entering a big push on a project or starting a new phase on one, I go on a cleaning jag. This weekend involved major league office tidying, as well as starting new scrivener files so I wouldn't have visual "clutter" in the ones I'm working in, and some major shelving of TBR stacks. Christopher kindly spent all day yesterday assembling two new bookshelves (the leftmost one below, and another just like it) and we managed to get almost everything off the piano in the front room, the office shelf that's supposed to be for research only, and the guest room floor. Oh, the guest room floor piles, aka my hostess shame.

But now the guest room is looking good. No more piles, see? Come, friends.

And despite all this busywork, I managed to get a good chunk of writing done on the projects I'm working on, one drafting and the other revising. I am hoping this pattern can hold for the next month or two. And I ran all the errands ever. Today started my getting back to early morning wake-up writing, at 6 a.m., which blessedly isn't pitch black at this time of year. Oh, sun, never leave.

Here's hoping you had a nice weekend, too.*

*We did not, however, manage to see The Avengers. And I still haven't seen The Hunger Games movie. Woe. WOE. Maybe next weekend.

Thank You & Some Miscellany

Thanks to everyone who tweeted/blogged/facebooked the cover reveal yesterday. As any author can tell you, the hardest battle for most books--especially first ones--is simply making people aware they exist. There'll be more of that to come and I'll try to make it fun and not obnoxious. And please know that every shout out, recommendation, link/tweet is very, very appreciated.

The Blackwood ARC giveaway at the Book Smugglers will be open until Saturday, April 7, at 11:59 p.m. (PST). All you have to do to enter is comment on the post. So, it's not at all too late to enter or spread the word.

Reading the comments has been truly fascinating--obviously I am so glad that most people seem to be keen on both the cover and the premise, and it's fun to get to share them. The reason the contest is running for two weeks, by the way, is because the ARCs are currently in the production process. Soon they will be winging their way out into the world. This is both nervous-making and exciting...but mostly exciting. I tried to put all the things I like best into this book--mystery, romance, humor, smart characters, creepiness, some subversiveness, a girl who says frak, SPOILER, and etcetera--and so fingers crossed you lovely people like it. I've often said that my favorite kind of book is the meaning-of-life page-turner.* That is, more or less, a book with something to say that's also into giving the reader pleasure. I hope Blackwood is that kind of book.

A teensy round-up of some links from yesterday, besides the Book Smugglers: Heroes and Heartbreakers did a nice post, Leila at Bookshelves of Doom cracked me up (I am no John Grisham, madame!), and Colleen Mondor is too good to me, as always. Also, thank you to the wonderful Book Smugglers ladies for being so, well, wonderful.

I've updated my Blackwood page with the cover and also pre-order links. The cover is already up at Amazon, though for some reason it has kind of a neon glow there (I assure you it won't have that in real life--unless you get a rare radioactive copy), and at goodreads, and I imagine it will show up other places soon too. Bonus points for asking your favorite indie bookstore to order it for you and/or encouraging them to stock it. September 4 will be here before you--or at least before I--know it.

OH, and I just added a new (and soonish) event to the Travel & Events page (note to self: must start thinking about fall events soooon). At 7 p.m. on April 26, I'll be part of the Southern Kidlit Writers Cabal Panel at Malaprop's Bookstore in Asheville, N.C., with a whole bunch of people WAY fancier than me--Alan Gratz,  Carrie Ryan, Beth Revis, Megan Shepherd, Megan Miranda, Tiffany Trent, Laurel Snyder, and Kristin Tubb. If you're in the area, check it out. We'll be almost a week into a workshop by then, and probably a bit punchy.

Have a great weekend, everybody. And, again, all the ♥ in the world.

*As coined by the brilliant Sean Stewart.

I Heart ICFA

Another International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, another fabulous time. I loved Jeff VanderMeer's post about the conference; what he says is true. I think part of what makes it so special is the size--fairly small, very relaxed alongside all the serious and academic conversations, and then there's just some indefinable magic that can't quite be quantified (but which is probably the cumulative effect of having so many amazing people in one place).

In many ways, for me, this year felt like a family reunion--it tends to feel like that every year, but especially this one. Christopher and I actually met at an ICFA just over 10 years ago, introduced by our common friend Kelly Link. Kelly was guest of honor this year (along with the delightful China Miéville). In fact, lots and lots of my friendships if they don't go back to ICFA directly, certainly deepened there. By far the highlight of this particular weekend was getting to see Ursula in action.

Anyway, silly pictures were taken, there was writing talk and gossip, there was me trying to show my cover art to people on my tiny phone screen, there were froofy drinks. I learned important lessons, like that Barb and Kelly will take advantage of my weak swimming with the borrowed water weapons of young girls. And we all--except Chris Cevasco, who already knew--discovered that first edition D&D had a quite detailed...prostitute class. EEP. (Seriously, you must look at the designations on the hilariously-named Harlot Encounter Table.) I stayed up until 3 Saturday night and still made it up for a breakfast at 8:30--I'm usually early to bed, late to rise, but there were just too many wonderful people to spend time with. In fact, as always, there were far too many people it was wonderful to see for any sort of comprehensive list.*

This was also the year we finally got a good look at the alligator, which entertained with some hair-raising growls during the banquet-refugee gathering on Saturday evening. Swamplandia = necessary ICFA reading, and not just for fun.

Other recommended reading: Fantasy Matters will be talking about the conference for the rest of the week. Check it out.

*I will say, however, that Charles Vess let me have a little peek at the graphic/novel hybrid he's working on and, wow, is that going to be *gorgeous* when it's done.

Friday Five

1. This is primarily a Friday Five about why I was MIA all week.

2. Vacations tend to have that effect, don't they? You get home, rested but with all the things you would have done during that time waiting, plus the new stuff of the week at hand. So lots of things. Deadlines swirling, massing, menacing. And I had two episodes of The Vampire Diaries to watch. A girl's got to have priorities.

3. And some of those priorities included line edits! Yay. I do love to edit. Now those are all done and Blackwood is off to be copyedited. I happily clink my glass with yours. And fabulous editor Amanda also sent cover art thoughts this week too, and let me tell you, I am excited. The concept is thematically perfect and I do believe it will be COOLMAZING.

4.  Also this week I've been working hard to nail down all the details of the synopsis for the second book of my contract. Synopses are hard, even if you have a handle on most of the book already (and had a massively helpful brainstorming session with lovely geniuses in Mexico). This book has a pretty seriously involved world, which I want to make sure the story lives up to. So...yes, hard. But it is beginning to fall in line, and once I finish figuring out the exact details of the ending, I think I'll have a good road map for the book. And then I will turn it in and see if we're all agreed. And then--fingers crossed--write like the wind if the wind could write.

5. All of which adds up to: I am taking tonight off. Oh, yes, I am. Couch, Bitterblue, television (Castle two-parter! Fringe!), and a glass of wine. Or two. Here I come.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Sunny Days, Home Again

We're home, and a catch-up on posting is in the offing in the next day or two. In the meantime, I put up some photos on flickr that Christopher and I took on our last full (and sunniest) day, part of my resolution to take more photos this year. Here are my new cowboy boots, aka my book sale present to myself.

They are divinely comfortable, and were purchased on a fun adventure into the wilds of the market of San Miguel led by adventurer-in-chief Theo. My thanks to Robin Wasserman (whose fabulous The Book of Blood and Shadow is out in April and just got a starred PW review) and Sarah Rees Brennan (who has not one but TWO fabulous new books due out later this year) for helping select just the right pair. Said boots have already proved their magic in a mad dash through the Dallas airport, in which we made the flight but our bag did not.

The rest of the photo set is here.

Travel Check-In

So we're down in Mexico on a writing vacation (a vacation for writing, not from it). The weather isn't entirely cooperating; it's been warm-ish and cloudy-ish most days. But the company more than makes up for that. Many writing talks being had, about specific projects and more generally, in that way that kicks the story brain into gear. I just finished my revision pass and sent it in to editor Amanda, managed a couple other nervous-making business-y emails, and tomorrow will start thinking in detail about the plot of the book I'm writing next. I'm hoping to get a synopsis written in the next couple of days, so that I can get into the real work of it once we're home.

There is guacamole with most every meal, and later there will be margaritas. The pool is warm, even if the outdoors isn't quite.

Basically: I can't complain. I wouldn't even dream of it.

The Fast-Talking Smarties

So...I was trying to think of something to post about, and I thought I'd tackle one of the complaints that bugs me greatly (and that I see again and again) about certain types of characters in YA. The contention in question is that given characters aren't "how teens really are," usually said to mean that teens don't think or talk in a complex or sophisticated way, and almost universally applied to bright, precocious characters or a certain type of stylized dialogue. Maggie Stiefvater did a great post about this some time back, on the myth of the "teen voice."

This complaint tends to surface more frequently whenever John Green has a new book out, which is why the topic came to mind. Let me say right off the bat: I haven't read The Fault in Our Stars yet*. I'm definitely going to; I love all John's books with great and huge buckets of love. In fact, one of the reasons I loved Looking for Alaska so much was because I had an immediate sense of recognition when I read it. THESE were the smart Southern** teenagers I grew up around.

But I digress. The problem, of course, being that teens aren't a monolithic group. They--just like adults--are individuals. If a character doesn't work and isn't believable, that's one thing. But I will buy just about any type of speech or action from a character as long as it feels developed, specific, and honest to that character or story. And for every person who has trouble buying into hyper-verbal or branier-than-the-norm characters, I think there's also a counterbalancing number of us who adored, say, Buffy, Gilmore Girls or Veronica Mars because of those qualities (among others).

My suggested rule of thumb is that if you'd never say, "That's just not how adults are" about an adult character (and, really, you wouldn't, would you?), then don't vary the same theme about teen characters in YA.

*This is primarily because I lost a good friend to cancer when we were both 16. I'm so glad that TFiOS exists, because being a bookish girl as I was, back then I really wanted to find a book that might help me understand that loss. And I couldn't. Because most were too saccharine, and not at all funny, and I hated saccharine inspirational (not least because so did my friend) and my people are funny people. So I know this book needed to be written, and believe John was the perfect writer for the job, and I can't wait. I just need a weekend when I can be Completely and Utterly Wrecked, and retroactively grateful.

**My "Southern" cliché rant will be saved for another day.

Of Goodwill

So, you are all kind of amazing. All your congratulations and good wishes and interest in the book--here, on twitter, on facebook, etc.--have been so, so appreciated. I couldn't manage to respond to everyone individually, but please know how much it means. As most of you know, I've been working toward this first novel sale for years (which is not at all unusual--interviewing writers for PW is always a great reminder that we only ever see the tippy tops of people's careers and the iceberg of all the work and setbacks and the rest of it is beneath the water, concealed from everyone but those people in our daily lives). And I always have a tendency to expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised if things don't go down in a flaming ball of fiery doom.

All this positivity is disconcerting. I'm not used to it.

Anyway, io9 did that great piece (how much do I love those guys? they are so great for SFF and YA and the world in general, so pinch moment number two--pinch moment number one was when the initital announcement from SC hit). And today the deal made it into Publishers Marketplace--and was mentioned in the daily Publishers Lunch newsletter, surreal pinch moment number three. I have read that newsletter every day FOR AGES and to see my book mentioned...my little #nerdromancethriller-that-could. Here's the text of the PM listing:

Gwenda Bond's BLACKWOOD, a young adult novel about a modern-day Lost Colony; when 114 people disappear from Roanoke Island, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back, to Amanda Rutter at Angry Robot, in a two-book deal, for publication in Fall 2012, by Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (World English).
Translation: Taryn Fagerness Agency

It's listed as an international deal because Angry Robot is based in the UK, but for those who've asked, like Angry Robot, Strange Chemistry will be a global imprint, and the book will be available in the US, the UK and I believe Australia as both a physical object and as an e-book (and Angry Robot also sells DRM-free e-books at their web store). And for booksellers (I LOVE YOU), Strange Chemistry/Angry Robot's US distribution is through Random House.

I really can't wait for you guys to get to read this book. Which I started, oh, back in 2005, I believe. I had the initial idea then, started it as a screenplay, realized I really should be writing YA and so re-started it as a novel...and set it aside for a lot of years because I didn't know the solution to the mystery. And I felt like if I was going to write a fantasy about Roanoke Island and the Lost Colony, I had to solve it, one way or another. Cut to last semester of grad school, a desperate need for a workshop piece, and I pulled out the opening I had. The group (led by the divine Cynthia Leitich Smith) were very, very helpful, but still, even though I knew the overall shape of the story, I didn't know what was causing the disappearances, so I shelved it again... And then, finally, the third time I started to work on it was the charm. Lightning, research, reading: Alchemy. Though, of course, I'm not going to reveal exactly *how* alchemy figures in.

The title Blackwood is actually from the masterminds of Angry Robot, by the way. My original title was too similar to the imprint name. And I like this so much better. It fits the story in every way and...

I really, really can't wait for you guys to get to read this book. So soon! In September. And I can't wait to get my edit letter from the fabulous Amanda and get to work on it again. And then on book two (which will be unrelated to this one; Blackwood is a standalone).

Also, just an aside: Jennifer Laughran is a goddess among agents. There are agents who wouldn't have hung in there with me, lo, these several years, and continued to be wonderful and excited about my work. Jenn did. So...

PINCH ME. But, don't worry, my head won't stay in the clouds, not when I have this: 

Pirate Hemingway Don't Care About Books

(Note: No actual eye-patches were used in this photo. Am playing w/ Typepad's new photo editor Aviary.)

 

 

And now back to work. More soon.

Trapping The Wild Time Monster

A couple of posts I really liked lately that might not immediately seem related:

• Nora Jemisin on the price of time (and how sometimes spending money to get yourself time is a wise calculation): "So I’ve had to reassess my life as a writer, and decide whether some things that I’d previously dismissed as too expensive on a financial basis were, in fact, costing me far more in the long run due to lost time."
• Miriam Forster on "emotional flu" and taking downtime when you need it, like after finishing a giant project: "When you're physically sick, you need rest. Same goes for the emotional flu. So this week I'm going easy on myself.  No writing, no being productive at home unless I feel like it or it's urgent, like my husband running out of socks. No yelling at myself.  I'm going to go to work and spend time with my husband and pet the cat."

I recommend reading both in full. *waits*

Both of these really resonated with me, because of course we all have our own battles with time. And I get asked a lot how I manage to juggle all the things I regularly juggle (true answer: sometimes with little effort, sometimes with lots, most of the time somewhere in the middle). I definitely use both the techniques above.

I'm not particularly wise on the money front, but I agree that there are some things that it just pays to, well, pay for. For instance, if I have completely wrecked my neck hunching over papers or the laptop on a deadline or it's likely I will, I book a massage because I know I'll need it. (Yes, I realize this makes me sound like a brat, but I have learned from experience that it will often save emergency appointments and days of pain. Worth it.) The DVR, as Nora mentions too, is something I would sob and be very unhappy without...because:

One thing I do is try to give myself nights off. This isn't always possible. But we don't have kids, so more often than not it is. (Seriously, I'm in awe of anyone who manages to write and keep a household with children going, and I know there's often a day job in the mix too. *bows*) So, generally speaking, unless I'm on a major deadline, after 6 or 7 is play time. Brain dead time. Reading time. Going out to dinner time. Having a glass of wine and watching TV time. Twitter, blog reading or writing, etc. Guilt-free, all of it. This isn't exactly what Miriam is talking about, because that's something different--when you need a big chunk of relax, no-obligations-on-self, no-self-recrimination time to recharge. I'm not always so smart about taking that. But I do try to take some time every day that's "off." Otherwise, I go a little crazy.

I get up early just about every day and try to clock an hour minimum and two hours maximum of writing time before work. I also work during lunch. So that's three hours or so a day on the wip on a good day, at least an hour and a half on the bad days. Sometimes other things have to get subbed in here, but if I'm really in the middle of a book, I try to make sure I get the morning writing time in at a minimum.* During my writing time I don't mess around, and I don't have access to the web. That time is for writing only. Generally, that's about all the good time I have in me per day during a first draft anyway, so it's enough. Much more, and I'm burned out the next day. Revision takes bigger time chunks, so that's a little different, but.

Big freelance projects--proofing, PW pieces--mostly get done on the weekends, though they can slip into writing time on days I make word count and have time left over. For me, it's all about prioritizing. It's all about what's most pressing and how can I give it as much undivided time as possible until it's done? Because I find that multi-tasking is largely a fiction. It's a last resort. When I'm multi-tasking, the car is in the ditch, I am in the weeds. (I admire greatly those who can do it.)

And now...I have to go write an article. I'm definitely curious though, if anyone wants to talk about how they manage their days and writing time, feel free to in le comments.

*This is not to act like there aren't times when this gets disrupted because I really need the sleep instead or hit one of those natural pauses where there are a few days off, because there most definitely are.

Star Power

Last night, taking the dogs out for a late walk at my parents' in the country, I was looking at the sky. One of the biggest trade-offs we make living in light-polluted cities is losing the stars. Even though it was a foggy night, there were still plenty of things visible, including a star shining so bright it had to be a planet.

When I came in and said this to one of my nephews, he flipped out and asked if we could go back out and see it. So we did (aside: barefoot in late November; it was chilly, but not bad: what have we done to our own planet?).

I love astronomy and wish I'd held onto more of it, so sad to say I had to google to find out which one it was. (My mom was using an app on her ipad, but I cling to the old ways.) I was able to figure out via the help of Astronomy Central and EarthSky that the planet in question was Jupiter.

(photo from Astronomy Central)

According to this University of Oregon page: "Jupiter is the largest of the nine planets, more than 10 times the diameter of Earth and more than 300 times its mass. In fact, the mass of Jupiter is almost 2.5 times that of all the other planets combined. Being composed largely of the light elements hydrogen and helium, its mean density is only 1.314 times that of water. The mean density of Earth is 5.245 times that of water. The pull of gravity on Jupiter at the top of the clouds at the equator is 2.4 times as great as gravity's pull at the surface of Earth at the equator. The bulk of Jupiter rotates once in 9 hours, 55.5 minutes, although the period determined by watching cloud features differs by up to five minutes due to intrinsic cloud motions." There are lots of other fascinating things about Jupiter, including that if it grew much more in mass, it would actually shrink through gravitational compression. 

Science is awesome.

Afterward, Christopher and I talked about how day lengths govern the entire rhythm of our lives, and the "extra time" at the end of the day in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books, and whether the loss of cultural interest in space travel has any correlation to more people living in light-polluted population centers.

*

I dreamed a movie that never existed with Marilyn Monroe and Cary Grant opposite each other, on an enormous ship. Different kinds of stars.

The Giving of Thanks

As stated elsewhere, I'm attempting to stay off social media (aka The Services, to invoke a more sinister, Skynetish flavor) for the next little bit. There'll probably be a few more posts here in the meantime. It's not that I feel like I've been spending too much time on twitter, etc., of late or that such things are particularly disruptive or a bad influence or anything like that. What they are, though, is noise, and I'm at the point with this book where I need to cancel out as much noise as possible, the better to capture the signal. I think it's a good plan. There are those times when you just need to be in the book you're writing, as much as possible, and cutting down on distractions (like the controversy of the week or, more dangerous by ten times, the fascinating convo of the week--everything but Cute Animal Pictures, really) is very helpful with that, in my experience. Particularly when it's one of those books with a lot of "no one will ever get this, everyone will think I'm just insane, because this is insane" moments, which this one is.

So: Thanksgiving. I hope you had a happy one if you're celebrating, and if you're not I still hope you had a nice day.

Setting the problematic historical context aside, Thanksgiving is the major holiday that stresses me out the least, and the one I typically like best. (Apart from Halloween, of course.) The lack of gifting means lower stakes and less insanity, and at heart I am very down with the concept of pausing to appreciate the good things in our lives. Be it refugee Thanksgiving with friends, as we've done in past years, or lovely days with family, like this one, I feel like one extremely lucky lady.

And, even though I'm avoiding The Services temporarily, I wanted to pop in here to say how grateful I am that I'm able to be a part of such wonderful virtual (and real!) communities, full of people who talk and laugh and grouse and support each other, whether from up close or afar. That is no small or imaginary thing. You're all much appreciated.

Home Again, Home Again

Though I really don't believe in jigs. World Fantasy was great fun, despite the strangeness of being at a convention sans Christopher, and the extreme sprawl of the property, which had the odd distinction of feeling like a set from Dynasty or Falcon Crest, The Prisoner, Dirty Dancing, CSI or Bones*, Swamp Thing, and The Shining, depending what part of it you happened to be in.** Plus, there was a painting of a terrifying girl in a blue dress in every single room. (The one in mine and Tiffany's was between the wall and the TV hutch, where you forgot it was there...until you looked over and its eyes were following you.) Maybe there was a little Addams Family--with palm trees--going on with the property too, actually. At night blown bulbs left the illuminated sign over the convention center saying CONVEN CENTER.

Though I brought my camera, I then discovered it was out of batteries and never bothered to replace them. So these memories of the bizarro Town & Country will have to live on only in the mind.

I somehow managed to miss a few people entirely, which I can't remember ever happening at a convention, and to see others far too little, which happens at all of them. But there was plenty of fabulousness to make up for this--running into dear friends in the bar or the cafe, finally getting to meet some lovely people previously known only in virtual world, an impressive quantity of Korean BBQ, and many, many bits of hilarity, including a spectacular outdoor Couples Theater performance on the other side of the glass at The Cheesecake Factory. Good times.

I came home with a scratchy throat that I originally chalked up to laughing too much on Sunday night, but it seems to be ebbing away as the day wears on. It was probably destined I'd get sick as soon as I told Alice and Alaya--during a conversation about Contagion, natch--that I never get sick at conventions because I compulsively wash my hands and don't touch anything in a communal bowl. Note to self: Refrain from tempting the germs of fate.

Now it's back to work on many things.

*You know, where the murder has taken place.

**And which had lots of other, more serious issues. I also had the good fortune to miss the creeper.

Two Things

1. My long interview with the delightful Beth Revis has been posted at Lightspeed. She had many smart and excellent things to say, so do check it out. (Also up at Lightspeed this week is Cassie Clare's fabulous story from Steampunk!, "Some Fortunate Future Day." Do not miss. And, really, don't miss the whole anthology--it's crazy wonderful.)

2. Gabrielle Gantz interviewed the one and only Laura Miller about many things for the Rumpus, and Laura gave me a little shout out and says to do whatever I tell you. Mwahaha. But, seriously, if you're here from there (hi!), you might be interested in the bar of recommendations from this year's reading over (and down a bit) in the righthand column.

Aside: Off to World Fantasy tomorrow, arriving late afternoon, staying until Monday morning. I have some meetings, but most of my time is blissfully unscheduled. I hope to see you there.

Saturday Randomness

1. I meant to do this yesterday, per the Friday Five tradition, but instead it's the Saturday Six. Yesterday I hit a bleary, exhausted state, chased off only by a block of couch time to consume the first part of the Project Runway finale (Tim Gunn hugs = should be bottled and sold) and Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck. I think my love for Hugo Cabret was no secret, and once again, I just felt drawn in and recalibrated by this beautiful book that no one could have done except this particular author. The old cinema feel of both is outrageously in my wheelhouse, and I'm so hoping the Hugo Cabret movie captures even a little of it.

2. Actually, I've been having a run of reading great stuff, some for review, some for other projects, some just because. About as far from Wonderstruck as possible is Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold, but I thought it was bloody amazing fun. By which I mean bloody and amazing and fun to read, without losing any of its weight. Highly recommended for George R.R. Martin fans who only want to read one book and not a series (this is a standalone, although now I'm going to have to read his trilogy too), and who love a fierce, complicated woman at the center of the narrative.

3. Another really complex, fabulous book I just finished reading is Delia Sherman's The Freedom Maze--I won't say too much at this point, because I'm reviewing it for Locus and I'll have to write that review to truly sort out my thoughts. But this is truly a special book, and one that's perfect for middle grade readers, teen readers, and adults alike. Managing what Delia has managed here is really something. And, OH, I also just read Kelly Barnhill's The Mostly True Story of Jack and it, too, is amazing! Like I said, good run of books. It's odd for me to read this much middle grade in a stretch, but these are really perfect examples of how middle grade--especially with a classic feel to it; I'm thinking of Laurel Snyder's WONDERFUL Bigger Than a Breadbox too--is so universal in its appeal. This is a really great year for both YA and middle grade, in general.

4. Speaking of good things for YA: Lauren Myracle. Can we all just give her a standing ovation? One of the things that ticks off those of us in children's and YA lit is how there are always these clueless representations of the field in the media, from people who really know nothing about it. (See this brilliant Mad Libs version of the typical YA rant.) I've made my feelings about the whole NBA mess known elsewhere (twitter, tumblr). It's the most unfortunate thing, and I HATE that Lauren Myracle was forced to endure it; I felt heartsick for her from the moment it became clear what was happening. I feel terrible for all the nominees now (and Chime really is a truly brilliant book--people at media outlets summing it up as a "teen witch novel" should, y'know, read it), and I also do feel bad for the folks at the NBA. Still, it was their responsibility to clean up the mess, and that's what they should have done, rather than making a Bigger Mess. ANYWAY, what I wanted to say is, the one good thing in all of this, of course, has been the wonderful bright light of Lauren Myracle. YA couldn't wish for a better ambassador to show what it's really about, and her appearances on NPR (I teared up) and everywhere else, not only demonstrated what a class act and wonderful person she is, they made the entire field look good. So, hey, mainsteam media, next time you need someone to talk about YA? CALL HER. (Or someone else FROM the field.)

5. So, well, yes, I've been reading and working lots on various things. And also working on the circus book, which has at last found its footing, but is still by no means one of the easy ones.

6. World Fantasy approaches! And, yes, I'll be there, though I'm not doing any programming. I will also be Christopher-less, but I do have a most excellent roomie. Anyway, I can't wait to see/meet/hang with all of you. Happiness.

Friday Five

Randomness!

1. As usual, am juggling all the things. While keeping fingers crossed for other things. It's hard, though, with the weather changing from Hotter Than The Sun to Oh, Summer, You're So Nice, Come Here to not just go walkabout and ride in canoes and walk the dogs a million times in the woods and sit in the backyard drinking a nice Mulderbosch rosé and reading obsessively. Just having these impulses mostly turns out to be enough to satisfy them, and instead I've been meeting deadlines and getting back into the morning word count routine with the circus book, which has stopped being mad at me for setting it aside for a couple of months to work on something else--at least, I think it has. This weekend: some proofing to do, some interview q's to send, and a Sunday meeting of the YA Books Adult Beverages Book Club (Graceling this time around). Fun.

2. Another truly fantastic piece from Alexander Chee at the Morning News, this time on Tarot. I defy you to resist this essay after reading the first paragraph: "Like many children, I wanted to be more powerful than the world around me, and so I became interested in magic. I read novels of wizards and sorceresses, dragon-riding heroes and lost kings hidden from their enemies, raised as commoners to protect them. I went to the library and read first into the mythology section and soon found myself coming home with The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer. This, I did not know until I got it home, was a famous anthropological work on magic. I’d hoped it was a spell book. All I knew was that I wanted to whistle up a wind."

3. Another fabulous essay, this time at Serious Eats and about the origins of Cookies n' Cream ice cream, by local star and pastry chef of the gods Stella Parks, aka the Brave Tart. She even comes around to the infamous Baskin Robbins Clown Cone, which I'd forgotten existed (!): "Love for Clown Cones related to their rarity. Like diamonds, they existed in abundance, but tightfisted parents controlled the market. Their unwillingness to shell out four times the cost of a single scoop turned the Clown Cone (in all frankness a cheap conglomeration of icing squiggles and horror) into the most desirable of treats." Seriously, go read this. I love excellent food writing and this is. Bonus: Scary Clown Cone photos.

4. Survey says we like spoilers. I don't find this surprising at all, actually. Many of my favorite TV shows are ones I picked up in the fourth, third, or second seasons (Buffy, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, respectively), and one of the unexpected benefits of this was making up the imaginary narrative that explained the things from the past the characters referenced. The actual causes always turned out to be slightly different (sometimes majorly so), but that wasn't disappointing; it was fascinating. It's a good way to learn about stories, reverse engineering them, or even just looking at the engineering as it goes if you're starting at the beginning. A good story should withstand foreknowledge. All that said: sometimes I do like a narrative surprise, but it doesn't have to be a big one, the type that spoilers reference. Often the little surprises are the best.

5. Finally, from Stephany Aulenback, a photograph of a face emerging from a storm cloud. Magic.

The Secrets We Keep From Ourselves

I already tumbled this fabulous quote from Terri Windling's blog, but I'm putting it up here too (not least because, um, cleanliness wasn't meant to stay at the top of ye old Shaken & Stirred for a whole week--oops):

"What you need to know about [your next piece of art] is contained in the last piece. The place to learn about your materials is in the last use of your materials. The place to learn about your execution is in your execution. The best information about what you love is in your last contact with what you love. Put simply, your work is your guide: a complete, comprehensive, limitless reference book on your work. There is no other such book, and it is yours alone. It functions this way for no one else. Your fingerprints are all over your work, and you alone know how they got there. Your work tells you about your working methods, your discipline, your strengths and weaknesses, your habitual gestures, your willingness to embrace.

"The lessons you are meant to learn are in your work. To see them, you need only look at the work clearly -- without judgement, without need or fear, without wishes or hopes. Without emotional expectations. Ask your work what it needs, not what you need. Then set aside your fears and listen, the way a good parent listens to a child."    -- David Bayles & Ted Orland, Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

First off, I'll definitely be seeking out Art & Fear, just based on this snippet.

Anyway, this quote immediately made me think of one of the wisest things anyone ever said to me about writing, one of those lessons that I come back to often. The advice, because I think it does qualify as advice, came from Tim Wynne-Jones (recent Horn Book award winner--yay!) in an early packet response my first semester of grad school. What he said was essentially that we give ourselves the solutions to the problems we encounter in our work. That when really and truly stumped, the answer is often to be found hidden, obscured, embedded somewhere on the page. The subconscious is a tricksy beast. I have found that this is a great and powerful truth.

When I really can't find the answer, no matter how much long dog walking and listening to playlists and banging head against desk and vacuuming I've done, I go back to what I have and I look at it and I think about it and I usually do find the answer in hiding there, right in front of me. Occasionally it's the absence of something that's the answer, or that something feels wrong, but often enough it's a grace note, an image or a line that appeared and that I didn't understand the importance of yet. When I give notes to someone else or talk out my own plots (Christopher is very patient on the dog walks where this happens, and sometimes we talk out his too), often that's what I come around to. It's that "OH! It's already in there! I just didn't RECOGNIZE it!" moment.

We give ourselves the answers we need, we only have to be willing to look for them.* Every piece is its own secret decoder ring.

Unrelated, but amazing, a feature slide show of photographs of aging dogs from Nancy LeVine's Senior Dogs Across America.

*Of course, for this to work you have to make pages where the answers can hide first. That is the Greatest Secret of All: Everything is possible once you make the pages.

On Cleanliness

No, I'm not about to go biblical on y'all, but when I was fishing for a topic over on twitter, Paolo suggested: "How often should the average writer shower?"

This isn't going to go Dear Aunt G, though it certainly could. There are strong opinions.

First off, we're going to have to leave this whole "average" business out of things. Let's just get that out of the way now. Writers are too neurotic to get cozy with that word. "Me? I'm not *average*?" Or, ten minutes later, "I'm not even average. I'm below average. I can't even see average from here." And that leaves aside if we're talking about some mean of age/sex/race/etc. Which we aren't.

So, then we're left with just: How often should a writer shower? Scalzi proposed that if Paolo had to ask, he probably ought to go ahead and do it. This is true. If you're wondering, Do I need a shower?* The answer is almost certainly yes.

But, in my experience, it's the writers who don't wonder about this that truly need the guidance. In our house: I'm saying every one to two days. In your house: I don't care so much.

At any rate, Mr. Rowe (and Paolo and Catherine) can pretend it's about conservation all they want, but I know the truth of the freelance cave. It's the same impulse that leads people to grow beards until they finish a book, or to build elaborate sink pyramids. To order wingzone when the missus is out of town.

On a more serious note: Not completely losing touch with reality, even when you work at home, is important. Bathing regularly is part of that.

Hey, I made an entry. Now I'll just go hug my Lush bath products.

*I, personally, shower daily. At least.

All The (Well, Some Of The) Things

Yes, MIA, I know. I know. May, you are the Enemy of Sanity. But you're almost over now, so ha. If I survive, I win.

At any rate, here are some things:

• My latest Heroes & Heartbreakers post was about how much I love reading scenes in romances: "Readerly Kinks: A Closer Look at Characters, Well, Reading." (I'm surprised at the lack of examples of this in contemporaries, but there must be some out there, right?)
  
  
• I reviewed Erin Morgenstern's (wonderful) The Night Circus for Publishers Marketplace's BEA Buzz Books coverage (account required). All the buzz books reviews were excerpted in the free daily lunch newsletter (which you should subscribe to, if you don't already). And I'm told that non-PM subscribers can access all the BEA content through their handy, dandy app. Go forth and appreciate the amazing Sarah Weinman's hard work (and her colleagues' too, of course).
  
  
• Speaking of which, if you're attending BEA, I did many, many pieces for the Show Daily. I had some really fun assignments this year, including interviews with Anne Enright, Dava Sobel, Alma Katsu, and Charlaine Harris--all lovely to talk to. Whenever I have time during an interview , I ask what people have been reading. Charlaine Harris had just finished Pat Rothfuss's The Wise Man's Fear and Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News? So she obviously has great taste. Looks like the Show Daily content will be on the PW site this year.
  
  
• There are still plenty of stories to come in the Subterranean issue; the schedule is more or less weekly, but with breaks so it's not over too quickly. There's a review posted this week. And catch up on any stories you've missed thus far.
  
  
• Wiscon! Yes, it's here. Now I remember why I tend to skip actually attending BEA. Here's my Schedule of Things:
  
  • Reading: ...And Other Circuses (Sat, 4:00–5:15 pm Conference 2) Richard Butner, Christopher Rowe, Genevieve Valentine, and moi. I will be the nervous one with the ink-barely-dry first pages of the circus book. (Unless I chicken out and read from the creepy island book instead. But the tradition is to read something new, and our reading has circus in the title, so I'll endeavor to be brave.)  
  • Panel: The Trials, Joys and Tribulations of Tiptree Jury Duty (Sat, 10:30–11:45 pm Senate A) Alexis Lothian, Gwenda Bond, Karen Joy Fowler, Geoff Ryman, Sheree Renée Thomas. (No, I actually can't explain what I was thinking when I agreed to a 10:30 PM panel, but it should be fun given the other participants.)
  • Panel: Fringe: How Is Olivia Dunham So Awesome? (Sun, 2:30–3:45 pm Senate B) Joanna Lowenstein, Gwenda Bond, Mely, Xakara, Amy Thompson.
   See you in Madison!

Friday Five

1. Yeah, I know I said things were normalizing and that I'd be here more. That was tempting fate. Especially since I knowwww that pre-BEA season is always the slammedest-crazytown of my year. So, yeah, probably thin on the ground for a couple more weeks. But I'll continue to pop in when I can, and to point to new Subterranean issue stories.

2. Am feeling slightly less overwhelmed after taking all the deadlines I know I have (with awareness there are a couple of floating ones, and some that will likely still pop up) and making a detailed plan for the rest of the month. This weekend turns out to be all about reading (and visiting mom, of course, for Mother's Day), which doesn't seem stressful at all, really. And then I can get a couple of later-in-the-month deadlines out of the way, so as to focus on more pressing things. Voila. I had to take a week and a half off from working on the circus book, which is in a very fragile infancy, to juggle various freelance projects. Getting back into it was harrrrrd. That can not happen again. Thus, the planning. Which will allow me to do my morning writing time (by preventing the overtiredness that leads to oversleeping) and possibly even slip in some extra sessions during the week. One of the lessons we all have to learn is protecting the writing time and how hard that really can be sometimes.

3. Said circus book is terrifying me. See this Libba Bray post, which is brilliant, as usual. I finally printed out the first 30 pagesish and passed them off to Mr. Rowe so he can tell me if I'm just acting insane or if the book is insane. If it is something I should ever allow other people's eyeballs to see, or whether said pages would burn out people's eyeballs in one fell swoop of first-draft awful, and I should really abandon this project and learn the banjo instead. I could get a fancy hat, and perhaps people would toss in shiny coins. I have to have something new to read at Wiscon, though, and I get grumpy when I don't do the writing so*... Sometimes you just have to keep showing up.

4. My inbox. It's a little out of control. But I think I've whined enough.

5. The Vampire Diaries! Spoilery discussion welcome in the comments. I wasn't surprised by any of this week's penultimate episode of the season (SPOILER BUT ONLY IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE SHOW, SINCE THIS HAPPENS BASICALLY WEEKLY) deadings, and thought it was a nicely done, emotional episode. But I want to TALK about it, and I will do so in the comments. I definitely think TVD has managed to avoid the sophomore slump I feared early on in the season. Whew. And tonight FRINGE finale. Eek. Bites nails. Maybe spoilery comments section talk about that one too, after.

In the meantime: Happy weekend. Wherever you are, may there be sunny skies overhead.

*Okay, sometimes there is grumpiness at other times too, but only when strictly warranted.

**There is a lot of sometimesing in this post.

Something Adorable In Denmark

I usually try and indulge my zooborns love elsewhere, but I feel like this is one video I'll need to watch again and again in stressful moments.

Baby buckethead the polar bear at the Aalborg Zoo:

The Fantastics

The alligator at the Orlando Airport Marriott's own private Swamplandia is not quite as impressive as the one on the cover of Karen Russell's book. Still, much time was spent looking for the tell-tale shiny black head drifting along the edge of the waterhole, though mostly what got spotted were various long-legged birds striding around the shoreline and--my personal favorite--birds with necks like periscopes, miniature Nessies, or tiny dragons extending out of the water. Said birds could later be seen sunning themselves to dry their wings. Said alligator never bothered to exit the water. How rude.

I'd post pictures of these things, but, as usual, I forgot-slash-decided-not-to-bring our camera. I never end up using it, though I always think longingly of having photos later. Anyway, yes, we had a grand time at our first International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (aka ICFA) in ages, and give a big thumbs up to the new hotel. As you can probably tell from the paragraph above, I spent a good deal of the weekend hanging out in the gazebo that overlooked the water. This was an excellent place to set up shop, since lots of people wandered out periodically to do their own alligator/snapping turtle/carp check. Among the wildlife present but not frequently spotted were mosquitoes; my ankles and the sole of my right foot are the proof.

I'm a bit terrified to do the list thing, because there were entirely too many fabulous old friends and fast new ones and people I got to say hi to but not spend nearly as much time talking with as I wanted... in the usual conference way.* It was a pure delight to watch Terry Bisson get feted, and to see/meet/chatter with--for various snippets of time--Richard Butner and Barb Gilly, Ted Chiang, Jeff Ford, John Kessel, Andy and Sydney Duncan, Brett Cox and Jeanne Beckwith, Paul Park, Veronica Schanoes, Peter Straub (aka the best-dressed man in SFF), Brian Evenson, Jim Kelly, Ellen Klages, Liza Groen Trombi, Dora Goss, Karen Lord (met by happy accident in the magic gazebo), Deanna Hoak, and Nalo Hopkinson. Oh, and the extra gift of seeing local pals Jackie Dolamore and Larissa Hardesty again. I already know I've forgotten people. Please to forgive and forget.

That's the main reasons I go to these things. To have fascinating discussions with wonderful types (many of whom are like members of an enormous second family). And try to spot alligators.

Unusually, I also went to a number of programming items (and sat on a panel with people far wiser than me--Nisi Shawl, Graham Sleight, Liza, and Gary Wolfe) including: a panel on the fantastic in Shakespeare; one on taxonomies and genre (good stuff, though it got the fun sort of weird); a fab reading by Jeff, Richard and Connie Willis (!); and the world premiere of Andy's harmonica-playing raccoon as part of a panel on the ridiculous. I was sad to have missed the romantic comedy panel that started the conference, but then managed to bend a gracious Connie Willis's ear on the topic before the banquet.** Can you beat that? I sure can't.

*I felt like I had to do at least a cursory con report, because Jeff Ford cheerfully guilted me about all those long stretches where I just post teensy entries about being busy.

**I was both gratified and relieved to discover we are in total agreement about the true nature of good romantic comedy.

Travel Day

We are off to the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts* (ICFA, aka science fiction spring break), where the sun shines brighter. I'm on a panel tomorrow, I believe, but don't have the schedule handy to nab the title and other participants at the moment. It's at 10:30 tomorrow morning; this happens to be opposite Christopher's reading--with Mike Allen and co-guest of honor Terry Bisson. If I were you, and not me, I'd go to the reading. But I'm sure the panel will be fun too.

Other than that, I will be by the pool or pool bar, as it were.

Airplane reading: Finishing up a book for review and then The Tiger's Wife.

p.s. I participated in the latest Mind Meld, posted today, about ideal SF television shows. I clearly decided to interpret SF as spec fic instead of science fiction, in this context, but only so I could give out some fantasy show love too.

*Where C and I were introduced by Kelly Link, lo ten years or so ago.

Friday Five

1. Well, whew, yesterday was interesting, wasn't it? I do a love a good multi-faceted discussion, and I really hope that it was a corrective for people worrying too much for no good reason. As I said to someone in the comments of my last post: God knows if you want to be in this business, there are plenty of actual things to be anxious about. (That aren't these.)

2. And, I suppose I should say, maybe I'm biased, because my blog has been nothing but good for me. I've always thought of myself as a writer, first and foremost, and the blog as one venue where I do it in an informal way. I started doing this to be part of a conversation with my far-flung writer friends, and quickly discovered an even larger conversation that we're all in now, and that's constantly evolving to new places (like twitter) and in unexpected ways (again, like twitter). Almost every professional opportunity I've gotten can be traced back to my blog, at least indirectly. People who recommended me for various things knew me from here, or saw a piece of writing I did here, or I met someone at a conference who had read the blog, and so on. Best of all, I've made a whole bunch of real friends through blogging (and through just being lucky enough to be a part of so many intersecting and non-intersecting communities--science fiction and fantasy, YA and kidlit, lit fic, more lately a toe in romance, and etc.; many of them largely keep in touch online). Basically, blogging has been a great pleasure for me, and only an occasional annoyance. I know we've all been hearing lots of speculation about how blogging (or doing other types of writing like reviewing) can hurt your career or propositions or reputation. But it can also be good for your career and propositions and reputation*. And it's important to remember, as people wiser than me have said, that getting to the place where you can knock on the right doors is the easy part--nothing will get you through except the work. And that is true For All Doors. (Don't tell me if this blog has actually ruined everything for me, okay? And the world is filled with my secret enemies? I would rather not know.)

3. So, enough about all that.

4. Let's talk about kissing instead! Or, at least, let's talk about Kelly Fineman's fabulous analysis of several kisses that worked for her in prep for writing one herself. This is precisely the kind of thing people did in my grad program when they were struggling with a certain issue in their own work. She even identifies a flexible formula for same. Definitely go check it out.

5. If you didn't pop in for the D&D roundtable, do. not. miss. (Note: This is where a lot of those elusive teen boys go to read when they jump from middle grade to adult books, then and now.) I was so, so pleased with how it came out. You'll discover how Jed learned to tell stories, why Paolo worried more about his DragonLance novels than the Playboys stashed in his room, how Shveta read every Faerûn book in the library, how Chris realized he could be creative with other people, and how my own Christopher fell in love with the books so much it's only fitting his first novel became one. Speaking of which, there's a great interview with Christopher at the Wizards of the Coast site today, in which he reveals such tidbits as why Holly Black is to blame for Sandstorm, and shares some good advice that he gives to aspiring writers when teaching:

The most important advice I give is related to the biggest trap I see my students fall into over and over again. And that is this: read, read, read, and read some more. Read especially in the genre or genres you’re working in, but never neglect other forms of fiction and nonfiction. Be aware of who the players are by reading contemporary works, and be aware of what the foundational texts are by reading classics. It astonishes me how resistant to this idea many new writers are—you must be an expert in your field, and that means reading widely and deeply in it.

And I think that's a good enough place to wish you a grand weekend. Mine will be spent on deadline for a PW piece. Bring on the lattes.

*No, I am not channeling Mae West. Not *those* kind of propositions. Although, Mae West sometimes wore extremely large hats, and I approve.

Secret Cabals Are Overrated

So Holly has a great post about the supposed YA Mafia and the Ruination of Careers. Snippet:

But even if a bunch of writers got together and actually managed to fit scheming into their day, they still couldn’t ruin your career because no one can ruin anyone else’s career. Just like sometimes there is a really great book that doesn’t get the attention that it deserves or a book that you hate that everyone else loves, a lot of being a professional writer is luck. You find the agent that’s looking for the book like yours. Or you don’t. You find the editor who loves what you love. Or you don’t. You get a great cover. Or not. Your book is picked up by people who love it, who then tell their friends. Or it’s remaindered in piles.

There have been a few posts around the internet recently that talk about the value of being positive — and I do not in any way disagree. Of course someone isn’t going to blurb you if they know you hate their book. Of course an agent is not going to be thrilled if you negatively reviewed a book they represent. But that isn’t the ruination of anyone’s career.

Wholeheartedly agree with this, and the whole post, which you should definitely read (along with the comments). I’ve actually gotten a couple of emails lately from people who were curious if reviewing could ruin their careers. (Not even negative reviewing, just reviewing.) Many, MANY authors also write reviews. So, no*.

I was perhaps coming at it from the other direction, but that’s where no. 4 on my friday five last week was aimed:

Keep working. Behave with integrity. Be a professional, which means taking your work and your actions seriously. (Even before others do.) Something you do or say at some point will prickle someone’s skin the wrong way, but if you’re being thoughtful, professional, and acting with integrity, that’s all you can do. Help other people when you can. Do what feels right and meaningful. Keep learning. The rest will sort itself out. I promise.

Justine also has a great response to Holly’s post.

I think it can be really hard for people at the beginning of their careers (or just starting to interact with the community) to know what's true and what isn't. If they hear 'you'll never publish fiction if you write reviews' and etcetera*, they may take that as gospel. Which is where I think a lot of this YA mafia idea comes from. Hopefully, these posts and the resulting conversations will serve as a general corrective.

Just be generous to a fault. It’s better.

p.s. My mafia name is the Deadly Southern Belle. Belle for short.

*Solid, honest reviewers are good for books. We need them. And I endorse Emily St. John Mandel's views about dealing with bad reviews (the link). Reviewing can also make you a better writer. Doing a billion synopses for my bibliography in grad school was a tremendously helpful exercise in thinking about story shape in a condensed way. See also: John Green on reviewing for Booklist.

**Give advice, sure, but a lot of advice seems to be delivered like the One Truth these days. Everybody's career looks different. We all have to find our own way.

ETA: Another good post at JJ's: "Nobody can ruin your career but you, and the best way to go about it is to stew in bitterness. I mean stew–steeped in a concentrated brew of it’s-not-fair and nobody-understands-my-work and it’s-their-fault-I’m-not-published. I’m not saying you shouldn’t voice your opinions or your feelings because honesty is important; I’m saying you shouldn’t let your feelings cloud your rational mind–for too long anyway. It’s okay to have a blow-up, but try to minimize the fallout. In private, offline, with your friends is best."

Friday Five

In which we return to random Fridays.

1. The children's and YA literature community lost one of its brightest lights this week, in L.K. Madigan (aka Lisa Wolfson). I never met Lisa in person, but we exchanged a few emails (always memorable, always funny), chatted on twitter and shared an agent. (In fact, I believe the weekend I signed with Jenn, Lisa was at a retreat with Laini Taylor; Laini wrote with congratulations and mentioned that at the retreat her friend had said her agent just signed someone new, and that the writer's name must be a pseudonym--to which Laini laughingly told her she didn't think so. I was thus thoroughly charmed by Lisa before we ever interacted.) She was someone I very much wanted and expected to meet someday. I was a huge fan of her work, and have the greatest of sympathies for those who knew her well. The outpouring of memories in the past couple of days is quite astounding. We should all be so lucky as to touch so many lives. A trust fund has been set up to help fund her son's college education; I can't think of a better way to remember her. Donate if you can.

2. I don't know where to go from there, but it didn't seem like something I could save for the end of this post.

3. I've been horribly behind and playing catch up this week. Also, trying to remind myself how many things I've gotten done in February, despite lots and lots of whirlwind, and thus not stress about the fact that I'm only resurfacing now. I've been in such a weird space of such busyness that I haven't even been watching The Vampire Diaries as it airs. I know! Worrisome. I start it, then decide to save it for later. (I have, however, been watching Fringe when it airs. Oh, show, you have me biting my nails. I will never have sympathy for Fauxlivia!) Please do not cancel this one, network. I want at least one more season.

4. I've been thinking a lot about all the advice that goes around for people at the beginning of their careers (a lot of it for before those careers really start). And the thing I keep coming back to is: It's different for everyone. Everyone's path is different. So don't worry too much about prescriptions (or proscriptions) that say you can do this, but not that; that if you do X, then you'll never do Y. Take the opportunities that come to you if they are ones you want to, and don't worry too much about the ones you don't take or that aren't right or that never come your way. Keep working. Behave with integrity. Be a professional, which means taking your work and your actions seriously. (Even before others do.) Something you do or say at some point will prickle someone's skin the wrong way, but if you're being thoughtful, professional, and acting with integrity, that's all you can do. Help other people when you can. Do what feels right and meaningful. Keep learning. The rest will sort itself out. I promise.

5. In very exciting news, my sweetie Christopher Rowe's first novel* Sandstorm is due out March 1. Which is next week. Eek! Yay! It's the fulfillment of a since-teenagedom dream he's had to write a novel set in the Forgotten Realms, novels that were very, very influential for him as he was growing up. And I couldn't be prouder or happier. I've been reading one of the author copies that showed up this week (you might find it in a few stores already, actually), and it's just as good as I remembered--full of exciting intrigue, and some of my favorite characters ever. As he described it in a recent interview: "Sandstorm is a fantasy novel that features action, adventure, gladiators, monsters, love, loss, revenge, some more monsters, genies, an assassin with the head of a crow, an ancient book of stories, twins, minotaurs, evil priests, epic battles, floating palaces, secret societies, and the finest circus in all the Forgotten Realms." If you like high fantasy (or have ever played D&D), give it a try. To celebrate the release, I'll be hosting a Dungeons & Dragons Salon with the thoughts of some other very smart, excellent writers for whom gaming and/or the related fantasy novels were also influential. So make sure you drop by on Tuesday.

*He's hard at work on the second one now, Sarah Across America, and it is DIVINE. Although the fact he writes on the typewriter and doesn't like leaving a sheet in it overnight means that he frequently ends the day in mid-sentence, on the biggest cliffhangers ever. My nerves! I can't take it.

The French, Werepossums, Millionaires and Circus Folk

What do these things have in common? They have made my sickbed languishing this week far, far less obnoxious*.

I'm feeling better today, finally, though off to the doctor anyway to make sure I don't now have a sinus infection as I'm still Not Well and my left eye's a bit swollen. But a list:

1. Anna and the French Kiss by (the delightful) Stephanie Perkins. How much do I love this book? So much I stayed up half the night to finish it even though I was on major league nighttime cold medicine. I'm  sure you've heard many wonderful things about it already, and I've been looking forward to it for an age; it really did live up to my every expectation. An absolutely wonderful and rare contemporary YA romance, an impeccably executed story both frothy and substantial, and well worth your time. Anna, her friends and family (especially her dad--Nicholas Sparks, your ears are burning) all feel absolutely real to me; every character has their own compelling narrative, which makes for crackling scenes and the kind of rich world so essential for boarding school stories (in this case SOAP, the School of America in Paris). This book also has two things I wish I saw more often: a love story based on a real friendship (swoon) and friendships between girls that are believably complicated and important to all parties involved. Plus, they go see It Happened One Night.

2. So the only thing I could find a true marathon of on Tuesday was Millionaire Matchmaker, a show I was unfamiliar with previously. I was ambivalently switching back and forth between Portia de Rossi on Oprah (did you know she made up her name after she and a h.s. track competitor shared the same one?) and this show until Judith Regan turned up as a matchmakee. I couldn't. look. away. A lot of these guys though, clearly serial killers, and even some of the women, wow. And I just love these cattlecalls they hold to "cast" the soulmates and then there's this one episode where they are surprised to find a golddigger in the ranks and, really? You're introducing people to millionaires and they have to stand in front of you in an open call and be humiliated by charmingly frank assessments and they're not supposed to be golddiggers? "Oh, I'm not a golddigger, I just think that I would have a lot in common with a millionaire." Um, sure. Also, apparently all redheads must dye their hair if they want to find love. This show is CRAZYTOWN.

3. Blessed by (the wonderful) Cynthia Leitich Smith. I've been looking forward to this one for MORE than an age, since long-time readers will remember how much I ADORE its predecessors Tantalize and Eternal. Blessed rounds out the trilogy (are there more? I shall find out), and is a direct follow-up to Tantalize, bringing back teen restauranteur and (not-really-a-spoiler) newly turned vampire Quincie Morris. Characters from Eternal soon show up on the scene, including guardian angel Zachary, and Quincie's going to need them because not only is her maker Brad going Dracula in her dreams, everyone who had the chilled baby squirrels he prepared at her vampire-themed restaurant has been infected and will soon go vamp too... unless she can stop it. And did I mention her best friend Kieren (more best friend romance, yay!) who she's recently hooked up with is now disappeared to a secret wolf pack locale? Yes, yes, you must read this one. Even if you are totally sick of werewolves and vampires and angels. (Did I mention there's a werepossum?) This series is set apart by its rich, quirky universe, the way Cyn plays with gender dynamics, and how truly funny and poignant it is. Not to mention it's in direct conversation with Bram Stoker's Dracula. I. Loved. It.

4. Circus. My long-time fascination with all things circus-related will surprise no one. Anyway, Barb and Richard were here for the New Year's weekend as usual, and by Sunday sick girl was really not wanting to do much of anything but laze on the couch and watch television. Luckily, I had all six hours of the Circus documentary series about a year in the life of the Big Apple Circus, which aired on PBS earlier this year, stored on the DVR. Every time I'd turn them on in C's presence, he wasn't interested (despite the fact that his book is a fabulous circus book), but Barb turned out to be the perfect viewing companion. We got completely sucked into the personalities and dramas (I still want to know what happened to horse groom Heidi, and hope she makes her way back to the circus). It was highly enjoyable, and now I'm toying with a circus book in my backbrain. Also, I so wish there were trapeze classes around here somewhere.

Next up some Dia Reeves and, hopefully, being WELL.

*Does not deal well with forced breaks. And, in all fairness, the millionaires part was kind of noxious.

To All Of You

Happy New Year, and the wishes for whatever you long for to be yours. I am currently longing for delicious champagne cocktails, and wonders, a cocktail maestro is on hand to prepare them.

I take this as a good sign.

Also, having caught up, I'll be back and posting next week.

Pleasant Hibernations

It's rainy and dreary. Our roof seems to have a small leak, based on the small drip drip drip in our utility room when the rain comes down hard; this is only to be expected in a hundred-year-old plus house, so I'm not too worried about it. Especially since the source is mysterious despite Christopher journeying onto the shingles, the roof itself isn't that old, and our neighbor who used to be a carpenter says their hundred-year-old house built at the same time as ours also has a mysterious leak and they don't worry about it too much. Don't worry or leave dread scenarios in the comments. We'll call someone to look at it, promise.    

Anyway, there's part of me that feels very Pippi Longstocking about it.* Leaky houses always seemed like the kind of glamorous thing encountered in books, while, you know, the far less glamorous flooded basements were the stuff of my own childhood. No alluring buckets, only the ugly roar of shopvacs. I just need to wear mismatched patterned knee socks around the house, and the effect will be even better.

My sojourn from the creepy island book is done, and today I dive back in. The beginning of winter (in terms of actual weather) seems like an ideal time to hunker down in the writing bunker. Hibernation only without the hibernation part**. Oh, how I love this part of any project. The first time you roll up your sleeves armed with pen and someone else's notes and begin the journey to version 2.0. Or from beta release to one that is... less beta.

I've been cheating on hangovers for the past week or so, experimenting with sticking little links at Tumblr instead. This seems easier to manage, and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, with random natterings like this one and book recommendations landing here. We'll see.

For now, I'm donning those socks and rolling up my sleeves.

*Or very Rivane Neuenschwander--when we were last in NYC Scott took us to the New Museum and they had a big exhibition of her work on display, including a riveting immersive installation called Rain Rains involving aluminum buckets hung from the ceiling dripping water into buckets below. The cumulative soundscape ended up making everyone quiet as they began to take it in. Pretty amazing.

**There's a new issue of LCRW just out on the street and the Dear Aunt G features much on the topic of hibernation. Also, space madness. Forewarned is forearmed.

Smash Cut/Vamp Talk Thursday

I am ALMOST done with draft one of the new novel, but not quite. Still, after many words written this week, the end is very close. If I don't hit it before we leave for WFC in the morning, it'll happen in the car on the Neo.

Draft! will make me very happy. As will tired brain Thursday viewing of:

Masquerade. Damon and Stefan devise a new plan to deal with Katherine at the Lockwood's masquerade ball. Katherine asks her friend, Lucy, to join her at the ball. Bonnie, Alaric, and Jeremy do their best to help Stefan and Damon with their plan, but Katherine has a surprise that none of them expected. The evening takes a bad turn when Tyler and Matt start doing shots with their friends.

Will attempt a post or two from Columbus, but that may be overly ambitious. Onward.

Monday Five

Because I haven't managed to do the random post on Fridays lately, and really, why not on Monday?

1) Lots of people are recommending scary reading in honor of Halloween, which is a lovely idea that makes me happy. I always struggle with making lists, afraid (ha) to leave things out. Anyway, I've been doing lots of scary-ish research reading lately, primarily about alchemists and their alchemical tricks, for the current work-in-progress. And I'm rereading Stephen King's Danse Macabre for the first time since high school, and finding it just as absorbing as I did then. (In addition to Cybils reading, natch.) I recommend tracking down the November issue of Harper's for Téa Obreht's fabulous essay Twilights of the Vampires: Hunting the Real-Life Undead, a delightful travelogue through Serbia and Croatia to examine the roots of the really old stories. You'll like it.

2) It's my intention to (finally!) finish a draft of the aforementioned work-in-progress by the time we load up the car and drive to World Fantasy on Friday. This is highly doable. And then I can fix it.

3) I like it when friends are on book tour, especially when they come near us. Spent a delightful day in Cincy yesterday with Scott and Justine (and other wonderful localish folks, Scalzi and Megan). And then there's WFC and its horde of delightful types coming up in just a few days. A girl could get spoiled.

4) Apparently the National Book Foundation doesn't believe in fairy tales, at least not as something that qualifies for its awards? Which is crazy. Kate Bernheimer and Marie Tatar are on the case.

5) If I owe you an email, you will get it today. Promise.

Bring It

Stop playing Fallen London (effing nightmares!) or whatever productive activities you're engaged in immediately. It's time for Dear Aunt G to answer some more questions for the upcoming ish of LCRW. Entrust your burning inquiries to Gavin within the strictest of confidences.

Note: There has been a rash--an outbreak, really--of questions of the, shall we say, meta variety. We can only handle so many of these. Surely you've got a few more specific conundrums to feed the advice-o-tron.

Spoiler Space

So I'm reading Mockingjay now, and I'm figuring I'll want to say spoilery things verrry soon so feel free to do the same in the comments section below if you want. Which is where I'll put mine. Having trouble finding such discussions and this seems easiest. After all, the talktalktalk after is part of what makes communal reading experiences fun.

(Lovers, haters, skeptics and fools alike are welcome, as long as rules of polite conduct are observed.)

The Other Kind of Power Ballad

I've posted here before about the importance of playlists in my writing process. And I always love reading other people's playlist posts--it's one of the reasons I like largehearted boy's Book Notes feature so much. It's a particular look through another writer's window, slightly and enjoyably voyeuristic, even though limited to the book in question. Another way of understanding both writer and novel, or just of finding new bands or being reminded about old ones. For my own part, I know a project's taking on life when I feel the need to pause and make the big playlist that I'll listen to while writing, though that playlist evolves along the way. A new draft means a substantially tweaked playlist, usually.

Anyway, I realized this morning that I also tend to find a new song sometime along the way through the draft that I come to think of as the book's anthem. Typically, it shows up right before the last third of the story, and this morning the creepy island book's came blaring out of the car stereo muse-sent from my very own iPod,* a song I'm not even sure I'd ever listened to after I downloaded it. The song is "Kick In Your Heart" by Gliss (which can be heard here, if you like). I suspect I will listen to it a millionty times in the next few weeks.

The anthem is different than the playlist. First, it gets played on repeat over and over again, and usually when I'm consciously thinking about the story, instead of while actually writing. The song tends to conjure strong visualization of big scenes, call up emotion to match, and lead to lots and lots of plot nailing-down. It begins to represent the whole story I'm working toward having told. It becomes the song of the book that will soon be written.

The last book had, I'd say, three distinct anthems: "Golden" by Sister Suvi, "Splintering" by Arizona, and "Golden Children" by Black Feelings (the last was probably the anthem).

What about you guys? Do you do this, too?

*Good thing I haven't quite figured out how to manipulate the contents of my birthday present yet (it's fancier than my old one!), or I probably wouldn't have had the song on there in the first place. Autoload can sometimes be serendipitous.

Friday Five

I seem to be embracing this random Friday thing after all.

1. If someone nice at St. Martin's wanted to send me an ARC of Jennifer Crusie's Maybe This Time, I'd be very happy about it. It's a take on The Turn of the Screw. I know I could just ask, but this way is better. And it's out at the end of the month, anyway, and it's not like I lack a massive stack of books I can't wait to read. But it'd make me happy to have it NOW and I'd do the post office dance. (In my stack, an ARC of Karen Joy Fowler's short story collection from Small Beer. Major dancing.)

2. We just finished season one of Fringe, a show that I've taken way more of a shine to than I thought I would at first. Which just goes to show something about tastes and assumptions not always being predictable, even when they're your own. I wonder if some of it is Brad Anderson's hand, since most of my favorite episodes are the ones directed by him--in fact, the science fiction of Fringe seems to share a lot in common with the science fiction of Happy Accidents, albeit with a bit more of an overt genre take coloring it. The gonzo humanity of it strikes me as similar though; audaciously, outrageously posited, but narrowed down on individual lives in a way that makes it compelling to go along with, to care about. Also, I am President and Treasurer of the Nina Sharp Fan Club. I don't care if she turns out to be good or evil or sit somewhere in between--I'll still love her. I cheer when she comes on screen. She makes me want to write an essay. Season two doesn't come out on DVD until next month. Boo.

3. Pulling a link to a fascinating story from the comments on the last post since I probably won't do hangovers until next week: Crop Circles on Wall Street, a story about what mapping out traffic at certain times on Wall Street in a certain way shows (nefarious activity). The guy whose spotting the trends names the patterns, which are maybe my favorite part of the story: "Castle Wall, The Waste Pool, Depth Ping, Boston Shuffle, BOTvsBOT, etc." Very science fictional, no? And, hey, if I'm including links, here's one to famous literary last words at the Guardian.

4. Am still playing catch up, but turned in another PW piece this morning, and will do some proofing and reviewing this weekend. I also owe emails, maybe even to you. Maybe you don't even know I owe you an email. But I do. And you will get it soon, maybe?

5. The creepy island novel proceeds apace, which is to say it's clicked back into place and I'm moving ahead. Running seems so hard to me that it must be an apt metaphor for novel writing. My last novel was pretty much a sprint--it never slowed down, just kept coming and I tried to gallop along and keep up with it. (Until revision started, of course.) This one is a marathon, even though it's theoretically simpler than the last (it's a standalone, for one), and I basically paused to take a big breath at the first third mark and--more recently--at the two thirds mark. I'm hoping to finish a draft this month, and am relieved that it suddenly seems doable. For the record, I would much rather write a novel than undertake a sprint or a marathon. I was the girl who faked running the mile to the cheerleading coach, and loathed that the basketball coach actually watched us the whole time to prevent cheating. Plus, after I finish, I get to go down to the place it's set for a last dose of research before revision. And we all know that island means BEACH.

It's All True

Herein, my RWA diary aka the post about the Romance Writers of America conference in Orlando. I'll say up front that I didn't attend any Actual Programming except the big signing and the awards luncheon (for one, I didn't want to be taking too much advantage of the fact I got to go sans registration fee and for two, I've been working too hard and needed some major downtime). This means I've now discovered my ideal conference schedule: Days at the pool and resting, evenings being social*. (Note: This also means there will be a surplus of other-people-mentioning, so if that annoys you be forewarned. Blue skies at night, namedropping in sight, etc.)

Day One: Wednesday

We had one of those insanely early flights, requiring a 4 a.m. wake-up and much bickering to get out of the house on time. But! We made it! Arriving mid-afternoon for shuttle eavesdropping of someone describing the steampunk party they were throwing and another describing a heated debate with her editor over taking a pseudonym or not, and finally arriving at le Dolphin, where we had terrible and overpriced burgers (the overpriced was to be a theme, but the food was just fine after this). A quick recovery was made by a visit to the pool for pina coladas; fortified by the booze I intrepidly followed children up a small mountain and braved the water slide. It was heroic. We watched two staff people try to catch a rogue duck for half an hour. Things were looking up.

I'd made plans to meet up with the lovely and local-to-Orlando Jackie Dolamore (fellow member of the LiteratiCoven) and Larissa Hardesty (whose book sounds amazing) at the literacy signing. (The literacy signing was huge and awe-inspiring and you should watch the video at Smart Bitches if you haven't; 500 authors raised $62,000 for charity in two hours. Wowza.) So we all wandered around and waved hello to various people--I met Diana Peterfreund for the first time, only to find out later that she was taken aback when I turned out to be southern because she'd thought I was Australian**--and then we ignored Larissa's GPS and magically found a dinner place off the resort. After dinner, Christopher abandoned us and we went off to see if the RWA Blogger Bar Bash was still going on, but it wasn't. So instead we hung out by the pool for a few hours more of talktalktalk, during which I was mooned by a swimming child's dad (unbeknownst to the dad) and we were menaced by a cute bunny***. It was tremendously fun.

Day Two: Thursday

It's possible that we slept until almost noon on this day. Then we trundled around the elaborately confusing grounds to the pool again. I did a swimming check to see what everyone around the pool was reading, and then perched on a set of stairs in the water and read Cherie Priest's Dreadnought for a bit. More slide! The threat of sunburn! Christopher had a short story draft to finish, so we headed back up to the room and he worked while I visited the hotel boutique to correct a packing mistake (wrong black top, horrors!).

One of my Veritas Award Winner perks was an invitation to a private reception early that evening, so I stopped by that in a moderately nervous state. Of course, as was the case throughout the entire event, there was no need for nerves. RWA really is full of the nicest writers and professionals you'll ever meet. I've never been to a conference more welcoming. I ended up chatting with Jo Beverley for some time, and also met Heather Graham and her posse. Then Allison Brennan showed up--we share a good friend in common (the fabulous Toni McGee Causey--Allison and Toni are part of the really excellent group blog, Murder She Writes)--and we had a wonderful, wide-ranging conversation and it turns out her teen daughter reviews YA and has the best taste in YA fantasy ever (which is to say she loves all the same books I do).

I tore myself away to dash off for dinner with the amazing Alisa Kwitney****, who I hadn't seen in almost a decade, when a common friend introduced us and we hit it off gangbusters. Alisa's seriously cool daughter (reading The Princess Bride) and the seriously cool Liz Edelstein (aka Liz Maverick) were joining us too, and we had a great time. I let Alisa kidnap me back to the Yacht Club where she was staying after dinner and we stayed up for an age gabbing and having a fabulous time in the lobby, long enough for Liz (who'd gone off for parties and seeing people) to return with the supernice and funny agent Miriam Kriss. Seeing Alisa alone would have been worth the trip. Eventually, I braved the hundreds of leaping bunnies in the bushes to get back to the hotel. Heroically.

Day Three: Friday

No pool managed this day, alas. Although only because I had to accept the Veritas, so that's a tradeoff I'll take. We sat at a table with a bunch of really interesting Australian writers, including Joanne Lockyer, who was nice enough to use her fancy camera to take photographs, which will keep me and Christopher from being bludgeoned by my mother. Always appreciated.

People kept telling me how cute I was afterward, on into the evening, and I hardly ever get cute--so I think this means I must have seemed incredibly nervous once I got up there, which I wasn't, really, but I was BLINDED by the seriously bright lights. I've been in front of a fair amount of crowds for this reason or that reason--day job or Tiptree jury or etc.--and it doesn't bother me all that much, but I had a mini-freakout when I realized I couldn't see anyone in the ballroom. At any rate, the set-up was great to watch from the audience (big screens are nice when there's a massive crowd), and I'm hugely impressed at how well all the other award winners--and especially keynoter Jayne Ann Krentz (aka Amanda Quick)--hid their blindness, if they experienced this phenomenon. Maybe what I had was a case of HYSTERICAL LUNCHEON BLINDNESS. Anyway, it was a lovely time and the acceptance speech of the day definitely went to RWA Librarian of the Year Jennifer Lohmann from Durham, who we got to chat with a bit afterward in the hall. (Turns out she ran a book club with one of Kelly Link's collections.*****)

After the luncheon, we FINALLY found the most excellent Victoria Janssen after two days of exchanging messages and texts. Then Diana came by and introduced us to Patrick Alan, who has the best con reports ever, and then Victoria, Diana and we decamped to the bar area to hang for a good while. I'm posting Victoria's pic of us below, since I took none, even though I look incredibly shiny. Proof that I survived giving my tiny awards' speech blind, and was practically glowing from my brush with doom:

Later it was on to the Avon party, where we'd been invited by Pam Jaffee, one of the best publicists in the business. After taking the bus ride through the backstage of Epcot to get there (trailers, trailers, everywhere), we were excited to see actual living sea creatures in the aquarium at the party. Also, the agent-in-chief at Christopher's agent's agency in a pirate hat (okay, we didn't actually witness that, but we did get to say hello sometime pre- or post- hat). And Diana's next project will involve wererays. (You heard it here second.) While taking advantage of the free cocktails (the Dolphin could run into some serious tab), we met scads of wonderful people who I hope to encounter again soon, including Sarah MacLean (who was awesome and later took us to see the Michael Jackson made of candy), Lavinia Kent (who has some seriously A-game cocktail facts from her historical research), Tera Lynn Childs (whose books I can't wait to read, as we are fascinated with all the same stuff), Colleen Gleason and lots of others I'm blanking on. You were all lovely. Go, Avon, with your fab authors.

We didn't even attempt to crash the Harlequin party, on sheer principle. Also, we'd been told it would be hard. So we loitered around the lobby, where Sarah introduced me to the beautifully steampunk-dressed, newly-minted dual Prism winner Leanna Renee Hieber (whose The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker I'm now reading and loving--very cross-over to YA readers so far, too). I had champagne, met many more people (I believe Katharine Ashe gave me a pep talk), ran into Liz again, and briefly chatted with the gorgeous Roxanne St. Claire, who told me her lunch table had liked my haircut. At some point, they decided to close the lobby bar and, shocked it was so late, I zombied off to bed knowing that with such a great evening, heroic pain was sure to follow in the morning.

Too true, but we were leaving anyway. What a fabulous, fabulous trip. Thanks to everyone who made it so. (And a special thank you to Erin Fry and Allison Kelley of RWA for answering last-minute questions and being so helpful.)******

And, despite not attending any of the actual writing programming, three days worth of excellent conversations with supersmart writers has left me thoroughly energized to tackle the last third of my novel-in-progress. This is a good thing.

*As opposed to being social all day long and doing too much programming--not that I'm going to stop going to readings at Wiscon or anything, but seriously, SF, let's choose some tropical-type locations with excellent pools for conferences STAT.

**Because of Justine.

***When the bunnies rise up and overthrow their oppressors, you do not want to be at the Swan/Dolphin. I'm just saying. #thebunniesarerising

****If you haven't read Alisa's books, both as Alisa Kwitney and as Alisa Sheckley, you're missing out. I love them.

*****I forget why exactly this came up. Possibly because Kelly's name came up lots, since I discovered while packing that I was nearly out of real business cards (they just have my email address on them anyway), so I had to dip into the stash of novelty non-business cards Kelly made for me (and others) years ago. Sample messages: This is not a business card; Gwenda Bond: Innocent Villager; Gwenda Bond: I don't care; Gwenda Bond: Member of The A-Team since 1982. I just wrote my email address on the back when I started giving these out.

******My only regret is that I didn't get to meet Sarah from Smart Bitches. I'm thinking of hitting RT next year though, so maybe there? Also, I can't wait to read books by people I met or was recommended books by (that I haven't already read, natch), because I know they will be awesome.