Pat Rothfuss Rocks

Our friend Pat Rothfuss just had his debut book, The Name of the Wind, named as the best book of 2007 by The Onion’s AV Club. (http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_best_books_we_read_in_2007). That’s Best Book, not best SF Book. I highly recommend it. Pat was able to take all of the genre conventions of Epic Fantasy and somehow made them fresh again. His prose is also exquisite.

This goes along with his Quill Award. I suspect that more awards are coming.

I'm Resting

It’s been a while since I blogged, but not for bad reasons. I have actually been taking a break. I can’t remember the last time that Lynne, Caitlin, and I did this. We’ve just been luxuriating at home, watching TV, listening to music, and reading. I’m beginning to feel recharged.

Christmas was nice. The family got together in low-key fashion. Prezzies were exchanged, and all was well in the world.

Boxing day was spent with our friends Eric and Stephanie enjoying Bond films and the RiffTrax http://www.rifftrax.com/ version of Glitter. Much fun was had.

Fluid Links work was busy with many discussions between the writers and editor. I’ve also been doing a serious rethink of the last third of the novel. I think that I have fixed some problems, and I now have a solid outline for the last four chapters.

The Bears played well today, not that it matters.

The Cubs first spring training game is February 29.

Go Cubs!!!

Fukudome Fever, Catch It!!!

Just Finished Reading: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
Currently Reading: Dragon Champion by E. E. Knight

Merry Christmas, Or Not

I just wanted to wish all of our friends a very Merry Christmas, unless you don’t celebrate Christmas or it offends you. Then just have a nice few days with friends and family, unless you hate your friends and family. Umm...Peace on Earth. Yeah, who can’t get behind that? May there be Peace on Earth.

I do want to thank all of you for being such good friends to us this year. There was a point in our lives when it seemed like certain issues would make it impossible to socialize and meet people. Lynne and I feel so lucky that our lives remain full and rich. We are the richest family in Bedford Falls.

Happy Life Day!

May the Force be with you. Always.

The Six Greatest Christmas TV Episodes for Geeks

6- The Venture Brothers- “A Very Venture Christmas”
Eleven minutes of brilliance. Like the series, it somehow mashes up everything pop culture while never feeling like a mere parody show.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Very_Venture_Christmas

5- Xena: Warrior Princess- “A Solstice Carol”
It’s just a lot of cheeky Xena fun as all of our modern tropes are transported into Xena’s mythic Greece.
http://www.whoosh.org/epguide/solstice.html

4- The Avengers- “Too Many Christmas Trees”
Rarely in cult television is the Christmas episode one of the best episodes of the series (note the lack of Buffy and Angel on this list). This is one of the greatest Avengers episodes ever. It’s fun and creepy. Steed gets great lines, and Emma gets to beat people up. There’s even a great Honor Blackman joke.
http://theavengers.tv/forever/peel1-13.htm

3- “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
It’s still smart, cynical, funny, and topical. We always dance to “Linus and Lucy.” Lynne and I still know every line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas

2- Doctor Who- “The Christmas Invasion”
Brilliant. One of the strongest introductory episodes for a Doctor ever. David Tennant is marvelous, and Billie Piper is exquisite. It’s funny, exciting, and full of Christmassy goodness.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2005/christmasinvasion.shtml

1- “A Muppet Family Christmas”
This is Christmas. Everything Jim Henson brought together in one fantastic special. Kermit and Robin meet the Fraggles! Big Bird meets the Swedish Chef! Christmas music and laughs throughout. It is a perfect special. I dare you not to tear up when Jim Henson shows up at the end.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Muppet_Family_Christmas

Caitlin's Week Before Christmas

It’s been a challenging parenting week. Much of this is in Lynne’s blog. It started with Caitlin developing blisters on her left foot. This is, of course, not a good thing. This meant that Cait and I had to run out to her orthotic shop to get some alterations done to her Ankle Foot Orthotics (they’re like braces). So, Thursday night we ran out to the joint, which is just south of Fox Valley Mall on Route 59 during the peak of holiday shopping. It was not fun.

The worst part, however, was the massive fog that has been blanketing our area as the snow melts on the corn/soy fields. It is never fun driving at night on a rural expressway with 30 feet of visibility. The important thing is that Caitlin’s foot should be fine now.

Yesterday Caitlin finally had a big seizure. I still see this as a big win. She was almost two months seizure free. Considering that she was having two massive spasms a day during the summer, this is still a good thing. Of course, giving your five-year-old child rectal valium because she won’t stop seizing is never fun.

Caitlin is also cutting some rear molars. This has given her some bouts of crying all week. Lynne is off to get more Tylenol suppositories for her, which should help. Unfortunately, it’s all she can take.

On the plus side, she is very excited by the whole Santa thing. We’ve also had a relaxing week together as a family. The shopping was pretty much done days ago. It’s really just been a few days of hanging out watching TV.

Argentus Is Out

Steven H Silver’s Argentus Issue 7 is out. My article on Doctor Who continuity, 1963 and All That: A Look at Doctor Who Continuity, is in there. There’s a lot of good stuff in this fanzine. It’s worth reading if only for Mike Resnick’s piece about his friendship with Anton LaVey.
http://efanzines.com/Argentus/Ag07.pdf

Writers:
Matthew Appleton
Georges Dodds
Richard Horton
Howard Andrew Jones
Fred Lerner
James D. Nicoll
John O’Neill
Mike Resnick
Peter Sands
Steven H Silver
Allen Steele
Michael D. Thomas

Artists:
Sheryl Birkhead
Brad Foster
Deb Kosiba
Rotsler
Taral Wayne

Best Christmas Song Ever

I never get tired of this.

Friday!

Life at thirty-three is not all that different from life at thirty-two. Things more or less returned to normal by the middle of the week. Now it’s just cold with no rain, ice storms, or school closings.

Caitlin had a good week. She went “wandering” at school on Thursday and visited the office with her aide. The highlight was Caitlin standing at the main counter for a few minutes while blowing kisses to the staff. Her standing is really improving. Now she just needs to become more consistent with her walking.

I got some writing done this week, but less than I would have liked. I’ve been wrestling with a character. I just don’t get him yet. He plays some vital functions in the plot, but his motivations are still murky to me. It’s a good thing that writing becomes a piece of cake with experience (“Hah!” laughs all of my pro friends). I’m not sure if it helps or not to know that the self-doubt and difficulties never end.

The holidays are on schedule for a change. The decorations have been up for a couple of weeks, the cards were mailed yesterday, and Santa is finished. Lynne and I are even done shopping for each other. Hopefully all of our Internet purchases will make it on time. All that’s left is buying for my family.

We’ve started watching Flight of the Conchords (one of my birthday gifts). It’s as good as the hype. I can’t remember laughing that hard at a television show.

Our copy of Jackie Kessler’s Hell’s Belles finally arrived from Amazon. Lynne got first dibs. I’m still reading Goblin Quest by Jim Hines. It’s wonderful. I’ve decided that I want to play in a D&D game that Jim DMs.

More Bad Weather

It’s been a weird few days. If it wasn’t for the never-ending bad weather, they would have been great. Unfortunately, we are getting hit again with ice and precipitation. It’s frustrating for a variety of reasons. This first involves some stuff that I can’t publicly rant about involving something that should have been done by others months ago, but hasn’t been done for reasons that are pathetic.

The second is that our life has ground to a halt. Yesterday, Lynne was home due to weather and a threat scare at NIU. Today, Caitlin is home because school was cancelled. It’s really thrown off my routines. I was able to get some writing done this morning, but I need some time alone at Panera to bang out this next chapter. I just can’t write and take care of Caitlin at the same time.

The plus about all of these bad weather days is that we caught up on our reading and DVD viewing. I was very impressed with Blackpool. The scripts were fun, and the acting was amazing. We also polished off the first season of Heroes. It was fantastic, though I do believe that Chris Claremont is owed a check for the future jaunt in the final episodes.

I have also polished off A Clash of Kings. George R.R. Martin continues to be full of genius. He pulled off bunches of tricks that I doubt that I will ever be skilled enough to manage as a writer. It’s amazing how he juggled all of the POV characters. He made it seem like not a word was wasted in a book that was over 700 pages long. I doubt that I could get more than 400 pages out of that plot.

Just Finished Reading: See above
Currently Reading: Goblin Quest by Jim Hines

My Birthday

Today I am thirty-three. It’s one of those anticlimactic birthday ages. I don’t feel particularly old or young.

We have light plans for the day. The original plan was seeing folk artist Carrie Newcomer in Bloomington tonight. Lynne received these tickets two months ago from our super-awesome friends Sarah and David for her birthday. Unfortunately, they’re predicting another ice storm tonight. We’ve decided not to risk the 4 hours of driving on rural expressways during bad weather. After losing our friend Tara this year in a bad weather accident, we’ve become extra cautious.

It’s likely that Plan B will be a trip to the movies to see The Golden Compass. We both just read it for our library’s SF reading club, so we’re obviously interested in how it translated to the screen. It’s also pretty rare that we get out to see a movie.

My gift from my daughter came yesterday. She got me the Doctor Who Utopia action figure set. I now have a Derek Jacoby action figure, and that is, as the kids say, made of win.

My Daughter, the Fartiste

Blogging by the light of my Christmas tree...

Writing got cut short today. Little miss Caitlin had a gas bubble at school. After 45 minutes of crying, they decided that it was best for her to come home. A couple of rainbow farts later (TM Jim Hines), she is happy and singing. It would seem that she is getting her father’s bad attitude about going to school.

I did finish writing a tough chapter. I spent much of it reminding myself that I can fix things in the revision. The next chapter isn’t shaping up to be much easier. I really need to revisit my outline to figure a few things out. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m introducing a character a little too late in the novel. I may have to add some stuff to the earlier chapters to fix this.

I have been asked to be part of another MNP author’s brain trust for their sekrit project. I am very honored. People are going to be giddy about this project. It’s a book idea that I had thought about proposing, but this person is in a much better position to write it. There are also some people in the brain trust that I’ve admired for years, so it is very neat to be a part of these discussions.

More Fluid Links

Here is today’s official announcement from Mad Norwegian Press:
http://www.madnorwegian.com/news/news.php?id=219

Mad Norwegian Press has announced two new projects for release later in 2008: a Second Edition of About Time 3, and the debut of Fluid Links --- a brand-new Doctor Who novel / audio guidebook series that will entirely replace the company's debut I, Who guides.
In the Second Edition of About Time 3, Tat Wood vastly expands the discussion of the Jon Pertwee Era, bringing this About Time installment up to the size and elaborate depth of its fellows. Lawrence Miles, a co-author on the First Edition, will receive a "With Additional Material by" credit, as his text has either been left as is, or folded into the many revisions and additions of the new edition.
New essays in this Second Edition will include “What the Hell Were the Daemons Doing?”, “Where Were Torchwood When All This Was Happening?” and “Is This Any Way to Run a Galactic Empire?” At present, Mad Norwegian has no plans to do Second Editions of the other About Time volumes.
Meanwhile, the multi-volume Fluid Links is designed to benefit from the experience Mad Norwegian has gained since first releasing I, Who back in 1999. The series will start from scratch and vigorously examine the Doctor Who books and audios in lavish, comprehensive detail. This project is so sweeping that it has four authors (Lars Pearson, Robert Smith?, Michael D. Thomas and Anthony Wilson), and strives to become the definitive guidebooks to the material in question.
MNP Publisher Lars Pearson said: "I, Who served a purpose back in 1999, but it was done when I was new to the world of small-press publishing, and doesn't reflect the quality we've attained in recent years with the likes of About Time and AHistory. Unfortunately, it would've killed me to go through all those books again solo --- it's a LOT of material, after all --- so Robert, Michael and Anthony duly stepped up to the plate."
The initial Fluid Links installments (likely two volumes) will cover the whole of the BBC's Eighth Doctor Adventures - from its inception in The Eight Doctors straight through to its conclusion in The Gallifrey Chronicles. Essays in these volumes will include "How Much Occurs in the Vampire Science Gap?", "Is There Any Point to Parallel Universes?", and "Was Miranda the Doctor's Biological Daughter?"
Release months and retail prices for the new About Time 3 and the first Fluid Links books will be disclosed at a later time.

Outpost Gallifrey

Today, Outpost Gallifrey (http://www.gallifreyone.com/) effectively ended. The home of Doctor Who Fandom for the last decade has become merely a portal to a diminished news page, links, the Forum, an archive, and the Gallifrey One Convention. It’s a bittersweet thing.

I salute Shaun Lyon and all of the hard work that he did for us during the wilderness years. I’m not sure how he did it, but he did a magnificent job. Over 27 million visitors since 1996 agree with me. Let’s see if those shippy, young whippersnappers can hold a candle to his legacy.

Dungeons and Dragons

I am done with Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons. This week, Scalzi pointed out the screw job that they are doing to SF authors for their revamped Dragon Magazine (http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=159). The gist is that they are paying bare minimum for original short stories, and then they keep the copyright to the work in perpetuity. That is not cool.

I realize that this is their response to screwing up on writers’ royalties for their CD-Rom project of past Dragon issues, but this is ridiculous. If you want to do work-for-hire, then pay real rates. Otherwise, you are just going to be the official publisher of amateur Forgotten Realms fanfic. I’m pretty sure that this is not what the paying subscribers want to be reading.

Look, I understood why WoC made the move to 4th Edition. They were running out of interesting book ideas for third edition, and I’m sure that it was reflected in their sales. There just isn’t a world ready for the Complete Kobold or The Expanded Grappler. Unfortunately, I just don’t buy into 4th Edition as a consumer.

Much of 4th Edition seems to be predicated on paying for online services in addition to shelling out hundreds of dollars for books. Much of this online stuff is for Internet play. That’s a great idea in 2002, but ridiculous now. The technology they are planning on using is pathetic if compared to World of Warcraft. There simply is not a compelling reason for me or anybody else to move to the new system.

Overall, this seems like the last desperate gasps of a dying division of a major toy company (Hasbro). As a gaming consumer, I’m unimpressed. As an aspiring writer, I’m insulted. They will not be getting my money anymore, and I doubt that I’m alone in this. I would not be shocked if D&D is dead in four years.

SFWA

As all of you know, I’m an aspiring SF writer. As such, it is my goal to publish and then one day joining SFWA, The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (www.sfwa.org). It is the professional organization of SF authors and has been around since 1965.

It is a problematic organization at the moment. SFWA has recently had some serious problems with determining its role in disputes over online copyright. There are also many things that it could be doing in other areas that it simply isn’t, such as promoting SF literature in general. From the outside, it seems like a dying organization lacking in funding or enthusiasm. It is an organization of “futurists” who have a web design that is over a decade old. They are a reactionary, conservative organization that seems obsessed about how the interweb is stealing their monies, a “problem” that arguably does not yet exist. Those in charge seem to be older authors who have a sporadic publishing history.

I’ve been reading the blogs of my generation of authors, and it seems that many are being driven away from SFWA. They are not joining, or they are simply letting their memberships expire. I find this very troubling. This organization should be growing and changing. If it loses the younger members, it will die without anything there to replace it.

I hope that my generation of authors reconsiders. Change must happen from within, and the only way to do that is to have younger, more dynamic voices in the organization. The change will not come overnight, but that is the best way to initiate it. I have seen this play out in my special children’s organizations. It is nearly impossible to start a successful new organization, and it is unnecessary to do so if one already exists.

So please, be patient and loud. Eventually, SFWA will evolve into a wonderful organization like the Romance Writers of America (http://www.rwanational.org/).

Sekrit Project = Fluid Links

My first sekrit project for Mad Norwegian press has finally announced at Chicago TARDIS. Here is the ad that appears at the back of About Time 6:

************************************************************************

Coming Soon... Mad Norwegian Press debuts Fluid Links- the successor to I,Who, and a multi-volume guidebook series to the Doctor Who novels and audios.

Designed to benefit from the experience Mad Norwegian has gained since I, Who first published in 1999, Fluid Links starts from scratch and vigorously examines the Doctor Who books and audios in lavish, comprehensive detail. It’s a project so ambitious, it requires four authors (Lars Pearson, Robert Smith?, Michael Thomas and Anthony Wilson) and strives to become the definitive guidebook to the material in question.

The initial Fluid Links installments (likely two volumes) will cover the whole of BBC’s Eighth Doctor Adventures- from its inception in The Eight Doctors straight through its conclusion in The Gallifrey Chronicles. Essays in these volumes include “How Much Occurs in the Vampire Science Gap?” , “Is There Any Point to Parallel Universes?” and “Was Miranda the Doctor’s Biological Daughter?”

**************************************************************************

It’s a massive project, and I’ve been working on it for over a year. My own main niche is that I’ve accumulated everything for the Lore sections of each novel. This has meant hundreds of hours of research as I poured through interviews, the Usenet, mailing lists, and forums for every scrap of information about the novels.

The book should see publication next year, but there is still a ton of work that needs to be done.

In addition to this, Lars has asked me to participate in a new sekrit project once we are done with this one.

I am so thankful for these opportunities. I am living out my dream, and that’s something that I never expected to happen. It sure as hell beats corporate finance.

Back from Chicago TARDIS

My brain can finally cope with blogging. The con trail is finally at an end. I am definitely getting too old for this “three cons in three weekends” thing.

This was an odd Chicago TARDIS for me. It was a low key, but pleasant convention. Many of our regular friends were unable to attend this year (Bill, Shaun, Robert, Michael L., Gary, etc.), so we were pretty much in a clump with the Mad Norwegians. This was also not a convention where I was very interested in the Guest of Honor, Eric Roberts. Finally, the Sekrit Project was revealed. The end result of all of this is that I am slowly transforming from pure fanboy to fan semi-pro. It’s a bit unsettling.

Thursday night, Lars and Christa stopped by on their way from Iowa to Chicago. It was awesome. They got to meet Caitlin, see the house, and we got to generally catch up. It was nice to see them after a year of emails and phone calls. Lars brought copies of AHistory (2nd Edition) and About Time 6. Both look great. I was one of the Associate Editors for both, so it was extremely cool to see the transformation from manuscripts to real books. The best part was the back of About Time 6. Lars and Christa created an ad announcing the Sekrit Project, now entitled Fluid Links. It’s a guidebook to the Doctor Who novels and audios. I will go into more details about it in a later blog

The next day we dropped the girl off at grandma’s apartment. My mom has been phenomenal for the last few weekends. We couldn’t have done it without her. Then we entered the convention at the new hotel. The Crowne Plaza was very nearly the hotel for the Aicardi Conference, so I knew it well. It’s a nice hotel, but it is very much about nickel and diming you to death. We ended up sharing a room with Lars and Christa, which was fun. It was like a high school sleepover.

Lynne and I spent most of the convention socializing with old friends and meeting new ones. We were able to see and hang out with Tara, Bohus, Ed, Jenny, Michael Z., Steve M., Steve J., Rob, Jason, Arnold, Stephanie, Steve, Scott, Nick, Karen, Kathryn, Jennifer, and Allan. We also got to meet and befriend the wonderful squee girls of Iowa, Heather, John, Heather, and Laurel, They are full of awesome and we really wish that we were closer to their fan club.

The events of the weekend are a blur of geek and drink. I bought toys and books. We went to Gibson’s with a clump that included all of the UK guests. We drank in the bar and in rooms. Lynne became a voice for fangirl squee after being on about six squee panels. Lars and I talked about the book to about 20 people at 10 a.m. on Saturday. I got some books signed by David. My panels went fine. Eric Roberts is what you would expect.

I want to thank everybody working the con for all of their work. It’s not an easy job.

Next year, Colin Baker returns and I should have a co written book in the dealers’ room.

Yikes!

We already miss everybody. We’ll see you next year.

Chicago TARDIS

Chicago TARDIS (http://www.chicagotardis.com/) is almost upon us. It is taking place November 23-25 at The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois. Here is the guest list:

Eric Roberts
"The Master"-- the Doctor Who TV-Movie 
and "Thompson" on Heroes

Eliza Roberts
"Miranda"-- the Doctor Who TV-Movie

Robert Shearman
Writer for both the new series and Big Finish

Jason Haigh-Ellery
Big Finish Head

Scott Alan Woodard
Big Finish Writer

Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg
Howe's Transcendental Toy Box, Zombiemania!

Lars Pearson and Christa Dickson
Mad Norwegian Press

Nicholas Briggs
Dalek and Cyberman voices, Big Finish Producer

David J. Howe
Howe's Transcendental Toy Box, Telos Publishing

Cynthia Cummens
Illustrator, Doctor Who Trilogy Cards (Saturday Only)

My book project with Lars and some others will be announced at the convention. Here is my panel schedule:

SATURDAY
10 a.m. Mad Norwegian (Main)
3 p.m. We Love the JNT 80's (Main)

And here is Lynne’s panel schedule:
SATURDAY
11 a.m. Ongoing Squee 3 (alt)
2 p.m. Torchwood (alt)
SUNDAY
1 p.m. Gender Differences (alt)

Please drop by if you’re in town and have any interest in Doctor Who.

Overextended

I am getting a bit overextended.

I found out last night that the Aicardi Syndrome Family Conference got more complicated again. I’m stressing out trying to come up with a solution.

Here are my current commitments:
Co-chair of the 2008 Aicardi Syndrome Family Conference
Co-chair DeKalb County Local Interagency Networking Council (LINC)
Member City of DeKalb Advisory Commission on Disabilities (a job that’s growing)
Member of an Easter Seals Committee
The Disability Commission’s representative on The Access to Recreation Committee

I do all of this while being Caitlin’s caregiver, coordinating her school, therapies, doctors, and insurance issues.

Oh, and I’m co writing a guidebook for Mad Norwegian Press.

And I’m writing a novel.

Somewhere in there I also clean the house, do laundry, and try to have time with my wife.

I’m beginning to think that I need to start saying no to things.

Back from Fantasy Matters

Wow.

Just wow.

Lynne and I have had an amazing year of conventions and events, but the Fantasy Matters Conference was maybe the best.

We dropped Caitlin off at my mom’s apartment on Thursday night. I can’t explain how weird it was to spend the night in our house without her. No coughs, no calling for Lynne at 3 a.m. for a diaper change, and no gentle grinding sounds from her feeding pump. We’ve been in hotels without her, but never the house. It was a bit unsettling.

Friday morning we left at the crack of dawn in an NIU Prius Hybrid. My wife is now in love with this car. The drive was long and mostly uneventful. We’re starting to get used to this drive through rural Wisconsin. The biggest weirdness was the number of road-killed deer on the way.

We arrived in Minneapolis with time to spare. The hotel was off of the highway and couldn’t have been easier to find. We arrived just in time for a business lunch for Lynne with one of her Popular Culture Association colleagues, Randy. He’s a sweet, retired librarian from St. Olaf College and is an internationally recognized scholar of Dime Novels. He is also the editor of Dime Novel Round-Up, the peer-reviewed journal that publishes Lynne’s papers about cross-dressing girls. It was a lovely and productive lunch for my wife.

We then plunged into the conference. It took place in U of Minnesota’s Mondale Law School. It was a nice space, though the seating was a bit formal. There were almost no SF fans at the conference. Everybody was an academic or and author. It was a little strange since we ended up hanging out a lot with the authors. We spent time with some recently made friends like Pat Rothfuss and Jim Hines. We also met a slew of other authors like Jackie Kessler, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Drew Bowling, Bryan Thao Worra, Caitlin Kittredge, and David Anthony Durham. They were all smart, funny, and fascinating. We ended up having coffee with most of them on Friday, Lynne worked her charms, and I learned a lot about writing.

Friday night we went out for Indian food with our friends Jenni and Perrin. We had a great time swapping behind-the-scenes convention stories. We then made our first pilgrimage to Mall of America so that Jenni and Lynne could go to Lush. We met our other friends Christopher and Michael there. The boys talked much about Doctor Who while the girls looked at smelly soaps and shoes. We all ended up back at Christopher’s house where Alicia joined us to watch Time Crash, the Doctor Who Children in Need special.

Time Crash was very charming. It was definitely a love letter by Tennant, Moffat, and RTD to Davison and the 80’s. As I child of that time, I ate it up. There was also much squeeing from the ladies.

The next day was filled with a ton of programming. We went to many panels and readings. Jackie Kessler’s, David Anthony Durham’s Pat Rothfuss’s readings particularly blew us away. We then had another business lunch with authors Kelly McCullough and Naomi Kritzer. It was Indian again, and the meeting went very well.

That afternoon I mostly hung out with our friend Jody and a variety of authors. The afternoon also had Neil Gaiman’s keynote reading. He was amazing. He read the unpublished first chapter of The Graveyard Book. Neil described it as a retelling of The Jungle Book, but with a child in a graveyard. It was exceptionally good, and I’m looking forward to its publication. He then talked about why fantasy lit is important and signed some things.

Lynne had a meeting with Neil Gaiman where she was apparently as spazzy as everybody else around him. She had to wait a while, but apparently got talk to Steve Bissette, the comic book artist, while waiting. She then talked to Neil and even got a hug.

That night was the reception where we ate and drank with our peeps. It was bloody brilliant. I was outed as an aspiring writer, and Pat, Jim, Kelly, Drew, David, Caitlin, and Jackie did a fair amount of mentoring. I learned so much about the craft and business of SF writing that my head is ready to explode. I can’t tell them how much I appreciated it.

The next day Lynne gave her paper on Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls. It went very well. We also attended a reading by Jim Hines that blew our socks off. We are now anxiously awaiting the publication of his first princess book, The Stepsister Scheme.

We said our goodbyes, and then hit the road. It was slow going, and we saw a disturbing number of hunters returning with dead deer strapped onto their cars. It was about 9 ½ hours of driving before we returned home with the girl.

I hope that this conference happens again next year.

The Fantasy Matters Conference

And so ends our “rest.” Today Lynne and I are organizing the massive logistical process of getting Caitlin to grandma’s apartment for the weekend. It ranks slightly below Hannibal’s trip over the Alps. We have it down to a science, but it’s a lot of work to get her medical stuff and normal packing all together.

Tomorrow, we leave for the Fantasy Matters Conference in Minnesota (http://www.fantasymatters.org/index2.html). It’s a big work weekend for Lynne. She is giving a paper on Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls, we’re meeting with some authors who have said yes to her archiving pitch, and she is accosting a whole bunch of new authors. It should be a hoot. It’s part SF con, part academic conference. The best part for me is that I get to sit back a bit and enjoy it.

For all of our Minnesota peeps, the conference is free except for the keynotes and receptions. So please, come on down and hook up with us. Lynne is working the room, but I would love to hang with you.

Fantasy Matters Conference
Nov. 16-18
University of Minnesota
Walter Mondale Hall (Law School)

Keynote Speakers:
Neil Gaiman
Jack Zipes

Attending Authors:
Pamela Dean
Patrick Rothfuss
Naomi Kritzer
Jim C. Hines
David Anthony Durham
Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Kelly McCullough
Barth Anderson
Alan Deniro
Jackie Kessler
P.C. Hodgell
Theodora Goss
Peg Kerr
Drew Bowling
Haddayr Copley-Woods
Marissa Lingen
David J. Schwartz
Caitlin Kittredge

Lynne’s Schedule:
Women and fantasy literature panel discussion, Saturday at 5:00 in Room 40. What role do women play in the field of fantasy literature, both as characters and as authors? Led by Theodora Goss, Lynne Thomas, Jim Hines, and Lauren Lacey.

“A Mother's Madness: Reconstructing Womanhood in Paladin of Souls.” Presenting
at 8:30 am Sunday in Room 35.

We hope to see you there.

HOW WE GO OUT VERSION 2

I got this Leslie Hall video from my friend Sarah who got it from Feministing.com (http://www.feministing.com/). It is a joyous thing.

Adventures in Caregiving

I’ve been handling some more sensitive stuff recently for Caitlin, and it’s been extremely stressful. Even when you are in the right, the system is set up to save money, not to necessarily help people. Luckily, I have the support of RAMP for this headache. As most of you remember from Caitlin’s fundraising Grand Marshall gig a few weeks ago, RAMP is an advocacy agency for people with disabilities. They have been a lifesaver. It seems that I have finally stood my ground, and Caitlin will get what she needs to thrive. I just wish that people didn’t actively work against families like mine when we have so many normal difficulties to conquer each day.

Otherwise, Caitlin has been doing well. She is weaned off of Topamax and is on only one anti-epileptic for the first time since she was 3 months old. Unfortunately, it’s the expensive Vigabatrin that is approved everywhere else the world except the US. Everything seems to be working, though, with the current Vigabtrin/Ketogenic Diet/no-nap combination. During the summer, Caitlin was up to two strong spasms a day that lasted up to seven minutes each with the occasional blockbuster that went over 10 minutes until Diastat was administered. As of today, Caitlin has been seizure free since October 26. We’ll take it.

This has made her much more aware and with it. Caitlin had an awesome day at school doing very well with her vision therapy and physical therapy. She really is starting to stand for longer periods of time with minimal assistance. We’re so proud of her.

Things seem to also be going well with her and her little boyfriend. He and his mother have been arriving at school at the same time as us. The last two mornings he has insisted on holding her hand as I wheel her into class. This makes for a happy Caitlin. There is nothing quite like five-year-old love.

Last night I had my City of DeKalb Advisory Commission on Disabilities meeting. It went very well. We have finally started the process of networking with the similar committees at Northern Illinois University. It was great to share information and plant the seeds for future projects. The town/gown divide is ridiculous. This way we will combine our resources and ideas to hopefully make the community as a whole better for all of the people with disabilities. The only downside is that I think that I increased my workload again. Just call me Ado Annie....

Back from Windycon

We are back from Windycon. It was a profitable weekend for all of us. Lynne was able to talk to about a dozen authors. One of the authors there and then placed their papers with her. Hooray! Many of the other authors also made positive noises. I am very proud of my wife. She is making NIU a true SF research center. Years from now, this is going to benefit posterity, future academics, and the entire genre. This is one of the ways SF literature will survive into the future and get the respect it deserves.

I was on three panels. The “A Distant Backwater of the Internet” panel was fantastic. We had a lot of fun with our fellow panelists, John O’Neill from Black Gate (http://www.blackgate.com/) and Dawn Kuczwara. It went well, though we were all a little surprised that so many people were unaware of sites like LJ and IMDB.

The Buffy panel was fine, and the Doctor Who panel was feisty. It was interesting to have a bunch of panelists who were eloquent and passionate about their differing opinions. Even with strong disagreement, everybody kept it polite and thoughtful. Jody Lynn Nye in particular made some compelling arguments about the problems of the new series as a family show due to how it relates to children.

Unfortunately, all of our meal plans fell through on Saturday. Still, we were able to have some nice conversations with many people over the course of the two days. We spent some moments with E.E. Knight, I had a great conversation about SFWA and copyright with Jim C. Hines and Steven Silver, and we had good chats with Tobias Buckell and our new friend Allan.

Lynne and I are exhausted, but satisfied.

Caitlin also had a great weekend with her grandma. The highlight was a trip to the circus on Sunday. Caitlin loved it. She was especially happy with the horses.

We finished the weekend with a big family dinner at my aunt’s house. It was nice to see everybody.

Today I was plunged back into reality. I had to wear my caregiver/advocate hat for most of the day. I have plenty of fires to put out before we leave for the Fantasy Matters conference on Friday.

I Drink a Lot of Coffee

There are reasons that I drink gallons of coffee. The last couple of days have been frickin’ exhausting. Wednesday was a doctor day for Caitlin. As most of you know, we live out in the cornfields of DeKalb. Since Caitlin has many rare medical problems and we want to get her the best care, all of her doctors are at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. This means that her regular appointments with her five doctors are all-day undertakings.

We left the house at 8 a.m. and ventured through traffic and construction to the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Traffic was reasonable so we were there exactly in time for our 10:15 a.m. appointment. Mapquest says that this is 1 hour and 15 minutes trip. Mapquest lies.


By the time we got there, my eyeballs were floating from all of the coffee. It wasn’t pleasant. We were in theory seeing Caitlin’s Rehabilitative Specialist and Orthopedist. We checked in and discovered that someone had messed up her scheduling and put one of the appointments on next Tuesday. Luckily, this was fixed immediately. Caitlin then got her hip x-rays. That was fine, and we started waiting. It was at that point that Caitlin started to cry from something. After about 15 minutes I soothed her. By 11:30 we were finally called in for the first doctor.

The appointment went well. The Rehabilitative Specialist was impressed by Caitlin’s physical gains with sitting and standing. There was also this exchange:

DOCTOR: Caitlin, can you use your words and talk to me?
CAITLIN: No.
DOCTOR LAUGHS
DOCTOR: I see that your daughter has discovered irony.

That’s my girl.

That appointment was over at about 12:05. Then we waited. And we waited. My hopes of getting out of there by a reasonable time quickly evaporated. By 1:30, I was flagging down nurses to find the doctor. I also had to start Caitlin’s tube feeding since she was supposed to start at noon. By 2 p.m., he sent a resident in to ask some questions for no particular reason. By 2:15, he swept into the exam room, apologized, poked Caitlin, told me that her scoliosis and hips were about the same, and swept out again three minutes later.

By three I finally ate lunch in a Burger King parking lot, and then we were back on the road. We got home, ate dinner, and then the whole family went to the public library’s SF reading club so that we could deconstruct I Am Legend.

The next day was about as hectic. I woke up, did some writing, got Caitlin to school, handled some business with the school district, talked to Lars about the MNP project, did some emailing for the City of DeKalb Disabilities Commission, picked up Caitlin, and then headed off to chair a LINC meeting.

The meeting went fine. We finally came to a decision about how to spend some funds left to us after a tragic accident. A teen mother and her child with disabilities died in a car accident a couple of years ago. Our organization received the memorial fund. We are working with a continuing education program for teen parents that is going to use our funds to buy some teen parent advocacy supplies.

We also continued to work with Easter Seals to try and get a satellite office placed in our community. Currently, people have to drive 45 minutes to get center-based pediatric therapies at Easter Seals. There used to be a center here, but it closed a couple of years ago due to staffing problems. I have been agitating for a while to get them to reopen as our community has a great need. We are finally making some progress. After the LINC meeting, I was asked to serve on the exploratory committee by the Easter Seals representative. Being me, I was unable to say no.

I also agreed to rewrite the LINC bylaws this month because I have sucker written on my face. Caitlin and I then got home and worked with her Physical Therapist.

Today is just watching Caitlin, some speech therapy, and packing for Windycon.

Did I mention that I drink a lot of coffee?

Hooray Writing!

Today I reached 46,000 words on the novel. I am made of awesome. Not really, but it feels good. I would almost be done if this was for NaNoWriMo, and everybody pretended that I’ve been working on the novel for 6 days instead of a few months. It’s going slower than I hoped, but I think that I’m doing well scratching out time to write while keeping up with all of my commitments to Caitlin, her therapy, her doctor appointments, the Aicardi Conference, the City of DeKalb Advisory Commission on Disabilities, LINC, and the Mad Norwegian Press books. And somehow I still sleep. :)

I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done on the novel. I’m confident that this is good work. Most importantly, I’m writing nearly every day. I’m really starting to believe that I’m a writer. My current goal is to have a complete and revised manuscript by WisCon. I’m confident that I can do that.

I am so jazzed about the upcoming SF Cons. I’ve spent the last week jealous about all of the folks who went to World Fantasy Con in Saratoga. The next two weekends I will be listening to dozens of authors doing panels and readings. It should be a lot of fun. I learn a lot from these events.

Not a Good Start

Well, just as I thought the dreary year was on an upswing, Lynne called. She was in a minor traffic accident on the way to work. Everybody is fine, but it’s still an unpleasant start to a week. She was riding in to work with our friend Sarah when they ended up getting hit by a car ricocheting off of another accident. I am still getting the details, but the front of Sarah’s car was smooshed. I was in the middle of getting Caitlin to school when I got the call, but luckily Sarah’s husband David was working from home today and was able to pick them up. It wasn’t a huge deal, but it’s still very unpleasant.

On the plus side, Caitlin is finally getting over her cold. Today should be a normal day of school and therapy at Easter Seals. That means that I have a chance to get some writing done this week. I actually got a decent amount of writing done last week. I am very happy with the shape of the novel, though I am currently writing a chapter that is fighting me.

Otherwise, we are gearing up for convention season. This weekend is Windycon. It should be fun. The next weekend is the Fantasy Matters conference in Minnesota. This will be my first opportunity to go to a Neil Gaiman reading, and Lynne will be giving her paper on Paladin of Souls. And finally, Thanksgiving is Chicago TARDIS. I’m going as a forthcoming writer for the first time. That is going to be awesome. It will be nice to see so many friends in the next few weeks.

The weekend was nice and quiet. We got some tasks done, our good friends Leanne and Drew had their baby shower, and all of us got some rest. Barring any more accidents, I think that November should be a great month.

Joss Is Back!

Hey, kids, there’s going to be a new Joss Whedon show! It’s official!

It’s called Dollhouse, and it stars Eliza Dushku. Hooray!

And Tim Minear will be involved. Huzzah!

And it’s on Fox...

Okay, that’s not good. But hey, we get at least seven episodes

It sounds like some weird mash-up of Quantum Leap, Fantasy Island, and every conspiracy theory show ever. It should be good.

“Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.”

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=972f7d73-e0a2-43ea-abad-0abf6afba1f3

Sick Halloween

Happy Halloween! A blessed Samhain!

Caitlin’s cold continues to be bothersome. This morning had more vomiting with the occasional bouts of crying. Caitlin got better as the day continued, culminating with a pedie appointment. It was supposed to be her five-year check-up, but it became a chance to make sure that it was just a cold. All considering it went well, and Caitlin now has some new influenza vaccine in her body.

Otherwise, it was an uneventful day. I cobbled out some more writing while Cait watched Dora. Many children came to our door and left with candy. Caitlin didn’t go out, but she did get to dress up as Hermione Granger. Her friend Nora also visited dressed as a fireperson. We finished the evening by watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Caitlin's Still Sick

Caitlin’s little illness continues...

We made it through the night just fine. There were a couple of runs when she coughed, but the overnight feed stayed down. We went through the normal morning routine, I dropped her off at school, and then I went to Panera to try to get some writing done. It was not to be. The school ended up calling because Caitlin had diarrhea and cramping. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was refreshing to pick her up for a normal childhood illness. There’s no fever or vomiting, so that’s something. Since there is a 24-hour illness-free policy at school, Caitlin will get tomorrow off, too.

She’s currently sitting next to me on the couch watching some Old School Sesame Street from 1972. It kicks the modern stuffs’ butt. That’s right kids, Sesame Street used to be funny. It also wasn’t Elmo-centric. The new stuff is sanitized and boring. And yet, it remains the best show for toddlers on television. Heck, it and South Park are the only shows that regularly show children with severe disabilities.

Hopefully, she will be well enough for ticks or treats tomorrow. She is so excited about her Hermione Granger costume. Every time we tell someone about it, she just gets this big grin.

Caitlin's Sick Birthday

Well, Caitlin ended up being sick for her fifth birthday. It’s just a bad cold, but nothing is simple for a child with disabilities. She had been goopy for a couple days, but it seemed that we would be able to go see my family for the big family birthday on Sunday. Then little miss decided to spike a 102-degree fever. A few hours later, it was gone.

I kept her home from school today, and she seemed better. The cold, however, had other ideas. Unfortunately, my daughter is unable to really blow her nose. The snot drips down, tickles her throat, she coughs, and then everything comes up. It’s not pretty. Tonight she managed to do it right after she got her seizure meds, so now she’s also more likely to have a big spasm tomorrow. The other problem with her throwing up is that Caitlin is a silent aspirator. Anything in her throat could end up sliding into her lungs causing infections and pneumonias. We love cold and flu season around here.

Hopefully some Benedryl will do the trick tonight. We’re certainly not looking forward to making a dash into her room every time she coughs.

Caitlin did have a wonderful birthday with friends on Saturday. She wore a birthday tiara, earrings, and everything. She now had about 100,000 My Little Ponies. We can’t thank all of our wonderful friends enough for giving her such a special day.

Not much else going on around here. Lynne is revising her second peer-reviewed article and doing an editing project. I keep chugging away at the novel. I slowed down a bit to work on some short stories, but I’m now at the 40,000-word mark.

Just Finished Reading: Hammered by Elizabeth Bear
Currently Reading: Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber

Caitlin's Birthday

It’s Caitlin’s Fifth Birthday Weekend!

Tomorrow is her actual birthday, but the first party is today. Friends will be over this afternoon for cake. Sunday we’re bringing her out to my family. It’s pretty exciting stuff. Caitlin picked out a My Little Pony theme, which is hardly a shock. I spent all of yesterday on some cleaning projects. I finally sorted out her toys and eliminated the baby stuff. She just not interested in that stuff anymore. Caitlin is now obsessed with her ponies and games, just like any five-year-old girl.

I also spent yesterday organizing the Doctor Who collection. I think that I’ve created enough room for all of my holiday acquisitions. It has been a wonderful nightmare keeping up with the new series. They’re just making so much stuff. It’s meant that I’ve had to stay focused on only a couple of areas of collecting. Of course, the collection does come in handy. I am becoming Mad Norwegian Press’s reference expert. It helps having nearly every Doctor Who non-fiction book.

I better get cracking. Today I need to clean my office and do some yard work while Lynne entertains the girl (who is getting a cold) and bakes two cakes.

Yikes! I'm a Writer!

I took a big step today. This morning I sent a manuscript of a short story to an SF magazine. I’m a little bit freaked out. I was cracking Lynne up this morning since I am usually the calm one during a crisis. I’m fine with life and death, but I’m a mess with this writer stuff.

This is only the third time I’ve ever submitted anything. The first time was some poetry that got rejected. The second was for a contest. This is the first submission that really means something to me. This is the next necessary step on my journey.

I think it’s a good little story, though I know they will reject it. That’s just part of the process. Almost every author that I have met has accumulated dozens if not hundreds of rejection letters. It’s how you learn, and I’m finally ready.

Work is heating up with the Mad Norwegian Press project. It was very odd to have Lars call me a co-writer yesterday (there are four of us). When it is hopefully released next year, I will have my name on the cover. That is pretty frickin’ awesome. For years I’ve amassed a collection of books on this general subject, and I’ve admired those researchers and authors. It’s very exciting to know that I will soon be joining their ranks.

The book is also going to be massive. Our goal is to be the definitive work on the subject. I will be walking on air at Chicago TARDIS after its announcement.

Magic!

Must...stop...and...breathe...

It’s been a busy few days of work and play. Caitlin is happy and healthy. On Sunday, we had to change out her mic-key button for her g-tube. Lynne and I are still unsettled by the process. The button is in the hole that goes from her side into her stomach. This is hooked up to tubes for her feedings. It is a little plastic device that looks like the air hole on a beach ball. It’s held in place by a balloon filled with water. Every few months, the button has to be replaced because of the damage done to it by the stomach’s acids. We used to do this at the hospital, but now it’s our job. Lynne holds Caitlin down, there’s some screaming, and then it is done.

We‘ve been watching baseball like crazy. Lynne was very happy that her Red Sox won another pennant. I’m happy for her, even though it’s pretty bittersweet being a Cubs’ fan and all.

We also started playing in Cason’s Exalted campaign. So far, it’s been awesome, though we are all still adjusting to the rules.

Otherwise, I keep pumping out the writing. I finished revising a short story, and I’m getting ready to send it out. I’ve also polished up some of my Mad Norwegian Press work, started a new short story, and chugged along with the novel.

Tonight I’m off to The Magic Cabaret with my friends Kevin and Cason. It should be a hoot, with lots of fun parlor magic at the historic Biograph Theater (John Dillinger was killed there).

http://www.magic-cabaret.com

Still Reading: The Mirador by Sarah Monette

Nine Things That Didn't Suck This Week

It’s a quiet Friday, and I have a sleepy girl. It looks like most of my day is going to be spent keeping her awake. It’s been a bummer of a week, but some positive things have happened.

1- The 2008 Aicardi Syndrome Family Conference was announced. Hooray!
2- Lars just asked me for my year’s worth of work on the Soon-To-Be-Announced Guidebook for Mad Norwegian Press. With AHistory 2nd Edition and About Time 6 off to press, Lars and the team can now focus on this gigantic book. It was good to send those files away.
3- I has new Doctor Who action figures! This month I got Dr. Constantine (The Empty Child), The Gelth Zombie (The Unquiet Dead), Mickey Smith (Doomsday), Brannigan (Gridlock), and a Scarecrow (Human Nature). My collection is getting crazy big. I have about 55 of the little buggers and the TARDIS Playset. The sad thing is that I’m still missing a number of figures. I can’t say enough how much I love these figures. They are so wonderful, especially when they are compared to the Dapol figures of yore. I feel like I’m 10 every time I get one.
4- Lynne did some mad networking at a work function on Wednesday night. It was a dinner for new faculty hosted by the President of NIU. The food was good, the bar was open, and we got to meet numerous department chairs and deans. I also got to network with some of the Special Education professors. It looks like Caitlin and I may be speaking to some classes in the future.
5- We really got a lot of support from our friends and family. It is always nice to realize that we are not alone.
6- I got my first LJ friend request from someone who was a mystery to me. I am now about 90% sure that I know who the person is.
7- I finished revisions on a short story. I am much happier with it than the last one. Lynne is currently looking it over.
8- I was mentioned by first name in two separate blogs of successful authors this week. Thanks to Lyda Morehouse and E.E. Knight for that little slice of cool.
9- I asked a question on the Wyrdsmiths writers’ blog (http://wyrdsmiths.blogspot.com/) that actually inspired some discussion about when someone can call himself or herself a writer. As it turns out, I’m a writer. Yippee!

Tonight we are off to Trader Joe’s. You know you’re getting old when you look forward to a Friday night out at the grocery store.

Just Finished Reading: I Am Legand by Richard Matheson
Currently Reading: The Mirador by Sarah Monette

The Ninth Biennial Aicardi Syndrome Family Conference

Good news, everybody!

After months of sometimes frustrating work, the contract is signed and the announcement has been made to the families.

The Ninth Biennial Aicardi Syndrome Family Conference will be held the weekend of July 11-13, 2008 at the Pheasant Run Resort & Spa in St. Charles, IL.
http://www.pheasantrun.com/

The Aicardi Syndrome Foundation is paying for two nights of hotel stay for each family who has an Aicardi child. They are also paying for two dinner buffets and two breakfast buffets. There will be dozens of speakers on every aspect of our children’s lives. We should have about 90 families there.

I also now have a Co-chairperson. This is a great relief as I was getting a little stressed from the workload.

All of our Illinois friends are officially on volunteer notice. :)

I Miss My Cat

My cat is gone. I keep catching him out of the corner of my eye, thinking that he’s about to jump up to get petted. Joey was a large cat, so it was always fairly thunderous when he made that leap onto the couch or bed. Now there’s nothing.

It was rough this morning. Caitlin had a big seizure at 5:40. After she fell asleep from the Diastat. Lynne and I returned to our bed. That was usually the point that Joey would come to us to give comfort. He always did after Caitlin had a big spasm. Cute and purring, he would just rub on you until you petted him and felt better.

We’ve had a lot of death this year. I lost an uncle, a close cousin, the father of a good friend, a couple of the Aicardi girls, and a very dear friend well before her time. I have absolutely nothing profound to add, I just want it stop happening so damn much.

I ended up taking care of Joey by myself yesterday. It was very difficult. I broke down for a minute or two, and then I got back to business. I did the best I could for him.

I miss him terribly.

Thank you, everybody who gave condolences. It did help.

Joey Passed Away

The vet just called. Joseph passed away. They don’t know why. We are devastated. He was the greatest pet that a family could ever want. He was sweet, kind, and funny. Lynne raised him from a kitten, and he was my constant companion as I struggled with Caitlin’s illness. We couldn’t have loved an animal more. He was a magnificent friend and a complete member of our little family.

This is horrible. Please give my wife as many virtual hugs as you can.

Joey Is At The Vet

Well, Joey Cat is at the vet. It looks like we have another cat that is medically confusing. I guess it’s a family tradition around here. Joey is still very weak. Last night he also started to wheeze. We brought him in at 8:30 am. It seems from his x-rays and initial blood work that he perhaps has bronchial pneumonia in his lower lungs. The problem is that he has no fever. They put him on antibiotics to combat this.

The other thing they discovered is a high glucose level. He may have diabetes, but they are waiting on him to pee again to get a ketone level to confirm. They also have blood work that’s gone out to see if something else is causing all of this.

Hopefully, he will be all right. Unfortunately, this means it’s going to be a lean Christmas this year.

On the positive, I finished with the Mad Norwegian Press manuscript only hours before Lars needed my notes. Once Lars is done with that, we will start cranking on the big, unannounced project.

Just finished reading: His Majesty’s Dragon
Currently reading: ?

Joey Is Sick

We has sick kitty.

It’s a little tense around here today. Joey isn’t feeling well. He’s been lethargic since Friday. I made a Monday appointment for him almost as soon as he got lethargic, but he’s now a little bit worse. He’s still eating a little and using the box, but he is really out of it. This morning his breathing started to get a little short and raspy. Of course, we immediately called the vet. The vet says it’s probably an upper-respiratory thing, and we can wait until his Monday appointment. Still, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t really worried.

Lynne and I are very close to Joey Cat. Lynne got him 11 years ago as a kitten back when she was alone in Philadelphia. When I entered the picture, Joseph and I bonded. He is my cat. He checks up on me, sits in my lap, and is generally the most awesome cat ever. It’s been two years since we lost Sarah Cat to diabetes. We just aren’t ready to lose him, too. Of course, who is ever ready to lose somebody that they love.

I’m tired of illness and death.

Friday Lull

I am sitting on our big, red couch during a nice morning lull. Caitlin is still asleep. It’s time for her to be awake, but I’m letting her sleep in after a long and frustrating week (I really wish that I could publicly rant about what happened). Anyway, I would hate to wake her up into a seizure.

I’m back to cranking on the novel. It went well this week. I was only able to write 5000 more words, but that isn’t bad considering all of the other Caitlin business I needed to handle. After working on some short story revisions, though, I decided I wasn’t quite ready to workshop at Windycon. There are a lot of problems in my writing that I am finding on my own. I’m afraid I’m still too rusty to get anything other than discouragement from a workshop. My new goal is to be ready to workshop by Wiscon.

There is one last piece of business from Geek.kon. There are now pictures up on the website. The thumbnail on the main page is of the SF/F panel. That picture shows Tor Senior Editor Jim Frenkel, Hugo-winner Joan Vinge, Spectrum-winner Sarah Monette, Quill-winner Patrick Rothfuss, and my smiling face. I hope that this is one of those happy omens of things to come.

Hinted at announcements should be coming in the next couple of weeks. Next week I will be able to announce the location and dates for the Aicardi Syndrome Family Conference. The Board has the contract, and I don’t foresee any problems. I will be very happy to get this behind me. It’s been a lot of thankless work. I have no idea how some people can chair conventions year after year without cracking.

Lars let me know that the book that I am working on for Mad Norwegian Press will be announced by mid-November at the latest. I can’t wait for the throngs of fans that will surround me at the Chicago TARDIS convention. ;)

Well, I hear the girl singing, so it’s time to put back on my caregiver hat...

Windycon

I received my schedule for Windycon (http://www.windycon.org/) yesterday. I’m on three panels:

Saturday

11:00

Heathrow: A Distant Backwater of the Internet: YouTube, and LJ and
Locus. There’s a lot more to the internet than the popular sites. Come
and learn about the small backwaters that are tucked away but provide
browsing gold to those lucky enough to strike it rich. D. Kuczwara, J.
O’Neill, L. Thomas, M. Thomas

3:00

Narita A: Across the Mediaverse: Since Buffy the Vampire Slayer was
introduced in 1992, it has had a life as a movie, a television series,
and now as an officially sanctioned “Season 8” comic. This discussion
will look at its various incarnations, what they’ve taken from each
other and how they’ve, of necessity, changed. D. Levin, S. Lyn-Waitsman,
N. Rest, A. Rosenwarne, M. Thomas

Sunday

Noon

Michigan: What Makes Doctor Who?: From William Hartnell to David
Tenant, the ten primary actors to play the Doctor have manages to make
the role their own. What are some of the commonalities that keep the
Doctor essentially the same from regeneration to regeneration. S.
Clemmons, K.-E. Kelly, J.L. Nye, L. Thomas, M. Thomas


Windycon is a Chicago SF institution with some pretty amazing guests this year:

Author Guest of Honor:
Tanya Huff

Artist Guest of Honor:
Jody A. Lee

Editor Guest of Honor:
Toni Weisskopf of Baen Books

Fan Guest of Honor:
George W. Price

ToastMaster:
Richard Chwedyk

Special Media Guest:
Richard Hatch
(Captain Apollo of "Battlestar Galactica")

Special Guests:
Phyllis and Alex Eisenstein
Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett
Tina Jens
Frederik Pohl and Betty Anne Hull
Mike Resnick
Brenda & Bill Sutton

Some other favorites that will be there include E.E. Knight, Jim C. Hines, and Tobias Buckell.

Geek.Kon

Geek.Kon exceeded all expectations. We had an amazing time in Madison. This was our first time in the campus/downtown area, and it really lived up to the reputation. This was one of the coolest campus towns that Lynne and I have ever visited with its beautiful buildings, lakes, shops, and restaurants. We immediately fell in love with the State Street area.

The con itself was fine. It took place in the UWM Humanities’ building. The building is terrible marriage of urban brutalism and bomb shelter. It must be the most depressing place in the world to take a class. There were quite a few people at the convention. My unadvertised Doctor Who panel had at least 45 people there. It was fun. I love doing this panel. People are just so damn enthusiastic about the new series. They really can’t get enough, and it creates such a positive vibe.

We had a great lunch on Saturday with Amanda, a friend from Odd Con, at a Nepalese restaurant. We then went to panel with game designer/writer Monte Cook. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about the creation of D&D 3rd Edition.

Lynne had a very successful coffee with a well-known, fantastic author. This person is ver cool and some very positive stuff came out of the meeting for Lynne and the library. Hopefully, I will be able to talk about more of this soon.

That evening we had dinner with the amazing author Sarah Monette (http://www.sarahmonette.com/) and her cool husband Allen. We ate at very good Afghani restaurant. Lynne and Sarah got along extremely well as they talked shop and baseball, and the news was great for the NIU library. The next day, Sarah Monette officially donated her archives to NIU, joining Jack McDevitt and E.E. Knight. This is a huge deal as Sarah is one the best fantasy authors out there. She has won a Gaylactic Spectrum Award and has been nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at the last two Hugo Awards. I’ve read her first two novels, and I can’t recommend her enough.

Lynne’s library panel went well, and we had a great time at all of the SF lit panels. We also found some time to have a delicious breakfast at a European style cafe and to shop at an excellent feminist bookstore called A Room of One’s Own (http://www.roomofonesown.com/). While we were there we bought Caitlin a “Girls Rock” t-shirt and an “I’m a Mini Feminist” button.

The trip was capped off with dodging a pot rally and a trip to Sarah and Allen’s house to pick up the first part of her archives. We couldn’t have asked for a more successful trip.

We can’t wait until we’re back in Madison for Odd Con.

Caitlin and the Cubs

Well, the Cubs didn’t come back. The things that I harp on all of the time bit them in the butt again. Jim Hendry has an amazing love for power hitters with no plate patience and average defensive skills. The Cubs of the last few years have been killed by bad OBP and unproductive outs. The bad defense has also put a lot of strain on the pitchers.

The real shame is that this is not a young team that can look to get better next year. Our farm system has almost no impact prospects. The new ownership will have no choice but to throw around more money at free agents if they want to make a run next year. Let’s just hope that this time some of the new guys will be able to get on base.

Caitlin is fine. She had a good weekend with Grandma. There was a small vomiting scare, but it turned out that she wasn’t sick. This will be the last week with her loaner Dynavox. Hopefully it won’t take to long to get her permanent device.

Tomorrow is picture day. Everybody keep your fingers crossed that her photos this year are as good as last year’s.

Sleepy Caitlin

I am sitting here watching Scooby Doo with my daughter. It is one of the Scooby Doo Movies with the Harlem Globetrotters. She loves Scooby Doo as much as I did at her age. In retrospect, though, it really isn’t very good. Thank goodness for Wi-Fi and iPods.

Otherwise, Caitlin is fine. She’s a bit sleepy today, so I will be spending much of my day trying to keep her awake. When I’m not poking her I will be doing laundry and cleaning before our trip to Madison. My mom will be here watching Caitlin while we’re gone. It's very sweet of her to help us with Caitlin. Hopefully everything will be fine. It’s not that I don’t trust my mom with Cait; it’s just that I don’t want to be away for a medical emergency.

Just finished reading: Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse
Currently reading: His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik and a Mad Norwegian Press manuscript

Now It Is Time to Panic

Arghhh!! Stupid, stupid hope!

The Cubs are choking. Lucy has pulled the football away from me once again, and I am staring at the sky with a bruised butt.

I expected to lose game one. Webb is arguably the best pitcher in the NL. But how could we not beat Doug Frickin’ Davis ?!? What happened to Ted Lilly? Now we have to win the next three. It could happen, but I’m not holding my breath.

The worst part about this is that the Cubs are an old team. This was their best shot, and they are blowing it. Oh well, maybe the new ownership will sign Hunter, A-Rod, and trade for Santana. A boy can dream...

Geek.Kon

I just wanted to mention one more time that Lynne and I are in Madison at Geek.Kon (http://geekkon.net/) this weekend. If you happen to be there, I am on a Doctor Who panel at 3 PM on Saturday. Lynne is doing her usual SF in Special Collections panel at 2 PM on Sunday. This year I will have done Doctor Who panels at Odyssey Con, Convergence, Geek.Kon, and the upcoming Windy Con. I am sure that some people must be getting sick of me by now. Of course, this will be the millionth time that Lynne has done her library panel (Windy Con, Capricon, Odyssey Con, the Nebula Awards, Convergence, and many more to come).

It’s weird becoming “regular” panelists. I think that the oddest thing for me is that I had always thought people would fight for the honor of being a panelist. Now that I’m more on the inside, I’ve come to realize that programming organizers actually have a lot of trouble getting panel ideas and panelists.

The second oddest thing is people coming up to you at parties and acting like you’re somehow impressive because you know the name of the costume designer who came up with Tom Baker’s burgundy outfit. Who knew that my lameness was a marketable commodity?

It does make me feel better when I having those moments of “Does anybody really care about this stuff other than us?” while doing research for the big, unnamed, Mad Norwegian Press book that consumed my year. Meeting the other obsessives out there makes me feel a little less crazy.

Mostly, it’s fun for me to be up there spouting my crap and making lame jokes. It’s also a gas hearing other people’s opinions and excitement about the show I love. Hopefully it will keep me from becoming a cynical, grumpy old fan like so many before me. If Doctor Who ever becomes joyless, it will be time to get out.

The Cubs

As many of you know, I am a big baseball fan. It is one of my few “normal” hobbies. I love baseball. I love watching it on TV, listening to it on the radio, reading about it, and debating it. Lynne and I have built vacations around visiting ballparks. I am also a stat-head. I love reading the numbers, and I enjoy learning about new statistical modeling (Yes, I managed to even geek up my love of sports).

I am a Cubs’ fan. My family are Cubs’ fans. It is in my blood. The Cubs have taught me my perverse loyalty to lost causes. The collapse of the 1984 Cubs in the NLCS haunts me to this day.

My team is back in the playoffs. We came close to a pennant in 2003, and it’s taken the Cubs this long to get back. I am full of unreasonable amounts of hope. The National League is bad this year. We are facing the Diamondbacks in the Division Series. Other than Webb, their team is awful. If you dig into the stats like run differential, they are one of the luckiest teams in recent memory. My Cubs have been playing great baseball after a terrible first couple of months. We are the most balanced team in the NL playoffs. I am starting to believe that this is the first Cubs team that will go to the World Series since 1945. Of course, the AL winner will then kill us.

Here is an article from my favorite stat-head website, Baseball Prospectus. They are very positive about the Cubs in the Division Series.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6781

Game 1 is tomorrow at 9 PM. You can probably guess what I’ll be doing.

Seizure Day

It was a seizure morning. Caitlin is now upstairs sleeping off her Diastat after a 14-minute spasm. At least her schedule was light today.

Not much else going on this week. I am polishing up some Aicardi business and some stuff with Caitlin’s school. I’ll go into detail as soon as things are settled.

The writing continues. I am still working on the novel in the early morning. My short story rewrites in the late morning have been taking longer than I wanted. There is some massive work needed on the two stories. On the plus side, I think that I solved some problems in both. I just need a boost of time and energy.

We are getting ready for Geek.Kon this weekend. It looks like I am doing a Doctor Who panel, and Lynne is doing her usual library panel. Lynne is also doing some cool work stuff, so hopefully that will go well.

The Cubs start the playoffs on Wednesday. I am not pleased with the 9 PM start times. I guess that the Cubs will just have to blow out the Diamondbacks in the early innings. I like this match-up for the Cubs. This is a light-hitting Diamondbacks team with only one special starting pitcher. I believe that we can win this series.

Wheel-A-Thomas

The RAMP Wheel-A-Thon went well. Caitlin was very pleased to be the center of attention. They even gave her an official “Grand Marshall” t-shirt. Unfortunately, it said “Catlin” on the back. Nobody noticed, of course, with her in her wheelchair.

It was a beautiful day for a Wheel-A-Thon. Our friends Sarah, David, Jennifer, Lily, Kristen, Mike, and Nora joined us. Everybody seemed to have a good time. We ended up racing all of the college kids towards the end of the route. They ate Caitlin’s dust.

We raised $1,110, the largest team amount. We can’t thank everybody enough for their hard work and generosity. This is an important local organization that aids many individuals with disabilities. We just wished that we could do more.

Here is the local newspaper article:
http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2007/09/30/news/local/news04.txt

Cubs Win the N.L. Central!!!

Woo f*#%ing hoo!!!

The Cubs are back in the postseason, and the field is weak. Bring on the Mets/Phillies/Padres/Rockies/Diamondbacks!

It has been a strange year, but the team is starting to come together. Zambrano has his ace stuff again, and the big bats are finally hitting for power. Anything can happen once you’re in the playoffs.

Fanzine Article

I can now talk a bit more about my SF fanzine article.

I was asked to submit an article on Doctor Who continuity for Steven H Silver’s Argentus. Steven H Silver is an SF fan, bibliographer, publisher, convention runner, and editor. He has 7 nominations for the Best Fan Writer Hugo Award.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_H_Silver

Argentus is a yearly fanzine that has previously published things from writers such as many of the folks from SF Site, Mike Resnick, S.M. Stirling, Gene Wolfe, and Larry Niven. I was gobsmacked to be asked, and I am honored to be included.

http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/argentus.html

Everybody that I know will be getting a copy for Christmas. :)

Busy Friday

I am sitting here poking my daughter, Seizure McGulicuty, to keep her from falling back to sleep. I got very little writing done this morning. Caitlin woke up with a spasm at 6:15 AM. It was only for three minutes, but she’s now out of it. That pretty much, understandably, spoils my muse. I was able to flesh out the plotting of the next chapter in my novel, so that’s all good.

Lynne is only working this morning. She’s coming home this afternoon to help program the Dynavox with Caitlin’s Speech Therapist. It will be nice to have her home. It also gives me a chance to spend the afternoon at Panera doing revisions.

I’m currently reading through a new Mad Norwegian Press manuscript. It’s another hefty, quality book on Doctor Who that looks great.

Yesterday we had a nice evening out with our friends Sarah and David. Italian food and Borders are good for the soul. I finally got the new New Pornographers album. It is much gentler than the previous albums. I like it, but I really need to listen to it a few more times on the ole’ iPod to pick up its subtleties. Lynne picked up Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway. She is becoming a giddy fangirl for this series. I’ve heard her recommend the first book, Tall, Dark & Dead, to a good dozen people.

Tomorrow is RAMP's Wheel-A-Thon. If any of our peeps are near DeKalb at 11 AM, please come out and walk/wheel with us. We are very proud of our little Grand Marshall, and it’s an important local organization. We certainly are very thankful for their educational advocacy. I can’t begin to tell you how important it is for there to be an organization that will help people with disabilities fight for their rights.

Fighting and Writing

A couple of things that sucked happened today. Both are sensitive, so I can’t properly vent.

First, DeKalb County did not receive the Access to Recreation Grant. 14 communities tried, but only 4 received the funds. We put a lot of hard work into the grant proposal, so this is very disappointing. Hopefully, we will do better next time. Our county really needs better parks and recreational facilities for people with disabilities.

The second thing has to do with some bureaucratic hiccups with something that Caitlin needs. I am taking steps to smooth it, but I am not looking forward to the fight. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I won’t win. You don’t want to mess with my daughter...

Otherwise, Caitlin is well. The seizures are still under control. I was also able to catch up on her paperwork and filing today.

I sent my fanzine article away. Hopefully, the editor will like what I did. I can’t wait to talk about this more, but I hate to jinx things.

I went back to the novel today. The plan is to write the novel at my fixed 6 AM time, and then use the time that Caitlin is at school to do edits. I also hope to have both of those short stories cleaned up in the next couple of weeks.

I am thinking about sending one of them to the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. It seems many of the authors that I respect got their start with it. I am sure that people out there can guess why I have trepidations. Are there any thoughts about it from those in the know?

Currently reading: Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse
Just Finished: WebMage by Kelly McCullough

Great Post in an Unexpected Place

I just found this great post on The Onion’s A.V. Club Blog. The author and I had very similar life journeys and opinions about fantasy literature.

http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/flight_from_fantasy_jordan_eddings

Wow

Wow. I am speechless.

http://community.livejournal.com/atlanta_furs/

A Normal, Average Week

It was a long if not particularly memorable week. Caitlin is doing well. After her terrible Tuesday, the rest of her week was fine. She was seizure free and able to get good work done at school and in therapy. We’re starting to really use her Dynavox, and she was also able to walk with assistance out into our yard this week.

We had a meeting with RAMP on Thursday in anticipation of the Wheel-a-thon next Saturday. I am very proud of our little Grand Marshall.

We are taking Caitlin to the movies for the first time today with her best friend, Lily. It is a showing of Ratatouille. All of the admissions are being donated to RAMP. It should be a lot of fun.

Everything else went well this week. Lynne was added to the editorial board of a journal. There are some other cool things going on in her career, but it’s too soon to talk about most of them. Suffice to say there is a lot of excitement around here. She is really doing some special stuff with her rare book department, and I am very proud of her.

I am in revision hell, mired in the process of editing an article, two short stories, and the first chunk of the novel. At least I have time before any of the deadlines hit.

Our registration is officially in for Windy Con and Fantasy Matters. Along with Geek.Kon and Chicago TARDIS, we have four cons before the end of the year. It should be fairly wild. So far, I’m only doing panels for Windy Con. Geek.Kon was a last minute thing, so it looks like we missed the window for panels. It might actually be refreshing to be back in the audience for a change.

We lost another Aicardi girl this week, and there’s another girl who’s probably going to pass in the next few days. Please keep them and their families in your thoughts and/or prayers.

Just finished reading: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Currently Reading: WebMage by Kelly McCullough

Yarrr...It be a talk-like-a-pirate day entry...

This is a quick blog because I’m really just stalling before I start to do some real work. I am in the middle of writing a fanzine article about Doctor Who continuity. It’s a topic I enjoy, but it’s such a huge subject that I’m having trouble keeping it focused. I am already 2/3 of the way to my word limit, and I am probably going end up well beyond that number. I must remind myself that it is better to have too much than too little. I can always edit it down.

Caitlin is fine today. The meeting with her doctor went well. There was a new fellow from the Epilepsy Center and a visiting doctor from India who joined Caitlin’s doctor for the appointment. Caitlin’s doctor was still very proud of Cait’s progress and spent much of the time bragging to his colleagues. He strongly approved of our “no nap” solution to control her epilepsy, and we decided that it was time to wean the Topamax. We all felt that it wasn’t doing anything other than making her sleepy. With her off of that drug, it also frees us up to try something new if Caitlin’s seizures stay bad.

Lynne and I are now definitely going to Geek.Kon (http://geekkon.net/) in Madison. It sounds like a hoot. Lynne will be working, but there should be some time for play. It is a free con, but it has some neat guests. It is also Lynne’s birthday weekend, so it will be nice to have some couple time. My mom will be watching Caitlin, so everybody please cross your fingers that Caitlin’s seizures don’t go crazy while we’re gone.

Mixed Morning

Ugghh... Mixed morning.

On the plus side, the Cubs came back to win last night. I’m also really whipping through writing this new short story.

On the minus side, Caitlin woke up with a massive 13-minute seizure. She’s upstairs now sleeping after a massive dose of rectal valium. No school for her today.

On the plus side, we are seeing Caitlin’s Pediatric Epileptologist this afternoon. He probably doesn’t have any more miracles up his sleeve, but I can dream.

LiveJournal

This blog now has an identical twin on LiveJournal for those who prefer LiveJournal:
http://michaeldthomas.livejournal.com/

Why We Fight

I don’t think of myself as a hero. Some people call me that, but it always makes me a little uncomfortable (though flattered). In my mind, I’m just a father who loves his daughter. Caitlin is an amazing little girl, and I just want her to be the best Caitlin possible. That’s a parent’s job.

Today, Caitlin had a good day at school. She was able to start using her Dynavox 4 to communicate. She also was able to go to the playground at recess and laugh and play on the swings. This is only what she deserves. Neither was easy to obtain, especially the swing.

When Caitlin started at her elementary school two years ago, she was one of many special pre-schoolers going there. The playground was completely inaccessible. Even though it was built during the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it was not remotely up to code. There was a dirt “ramp” leading from the blacktop to the playground and then 8-inch barrier that had to be hurdled to enter the playground itself. There was also no equipment for children with disabilities. I brought my concerns up at Caitlin’s first IEP meeting only to find out that there was nothing that the school could do to change the situation because the playground was actually owned by the park district.

This started my two-year trek to rectify the situation. I brought this up to her educational advocate, and she convinced me that I should talk to the City of DeKalb Advisory Commission on Disabilities (I am now a member). They agreed that it was a problem, and that put into motion numerous meetings with the park district. They came to our meetings, and we went to them. I also had meetings with the park district at the school. It took months of agitation before some promises were finally made. It then took months more of agitation before those promises were kept.

As of a couple of weeks ago, there is now a sidewalk connecting the school blacktop to the playground surface. There are also now two high-backed swings. My daughter is able to truly enjoy recess with her friends for the first time. More importantly, this will be there for all of the other current and future children with disabilities who just want to go and enjoy a playground with their friends and families.

This is why I keep fighting. It’s just the right thing to do, and my daughter’s laughter is all of the validation that I need.

New Profile Pic (Me in Paris)

Wicked Busy

This is one of those wicked busy weeks. Today Caitlin and I have to run around doing some business for the Aicardi Syndrome Family Conference. Tomorrow I have to do my Co-chair thing for a LINC meeting. Lynne and I are still wrestling with Caitlin’s Dynavox programming. There are a few dozen phone calls that need to be made, and I need to sort through some paperwork. I really need some helper robots. Our damn cats are simply not pulling their weight.

I finished with my first draft of a new short story. It was a bitch to write, but I’m pleased with the result. Now it’s Lynne’s turn to read it. Lynne is an excellent editor. Of course, she should be after all of those years of fancy schooling. This is a project I did on a whim for an anthology. After Lynne finishes it, I need to write a letter of query. I am a little nervous about that. I have no idea how I’m going to sell this story in a summary.

Time Wounds All Heels...

It’s, not surprisingly, a melancholy day today.

Yesterday was a mediocre one for Caitlin. Her seizures had been better, but that morning she woke up with a 7-minute seizure. It’s always a bad way to start the day. Yesterday was also the day for Caitlin to get fitted for her new Ankle Foot Orthotics (braces that help her stand and keep the bones and muscles in good shape). We go to a place in Aurora by Fox Valley Mall. It’s always a weird time. I spent some of my formative years in that area, so it’s strange to go back and see the changes. It’s also hard to believe that this will be Caitlin’s fourth pair. It seriously doesn’t feel like that much time has passed.

We really like the Orthotist there. He is a sweet man who is in a wheelchair. He is very gentle with Caitlin, and she adores him. It’s also nice to have somebody who sees her yearly. In some ways he can see her progress better than I can.

It was a hard moment for me when we left. A couple was entering as we were leaving. They were in their late 60s, and they were bringing in their daughter with severe disabilities who was probably a little bit older than me. There is always a knowing look between the parents of children with special needs. It’s an unspoken weariness and sadness. We all love our children, but this is a hard life. I can’t imagine still doing this when I am their age, but I know I will be. I love Caitlin too much to put her in an institution, and I don’t want to think about the other alternative that life could deal us.

Of course, everybody is aware of today’s anniversary. As a kid, I didn’t quite understand the whole “What we you doing when you found out that JFK was shot?” thing that Baby Boomers had. I certainly do now. My memory of 9/11/01 is still so clear in my head. I was at work at Bic when one of the other employees got the phone call from her husband about the first plane. I spent the next hour trying to get to a website that had the news. Only the USA Today site was working for us. I remember how the news kept escalating up until the Pentagon was hit. At that point I called Lynne to get her out of Yale, which suddenly felt like too viable a target. We were all let out of work early that day. Being business people in Milford, Connecticut, many of us had friends and loved ones in Manhattan.

Lynne and I spent the rest of the day watching TV in the same shock that everybody felt that day. We had a couple of friends over who didn’t have cable and spent our time flipping between CNN and BBC America. We didn’t lose anybody that day, but it hit us hard.

That was the night that we made the decision to have a child. It just felt like it was right to bring some life into the world after that. A few months later, Lynne was pregnant with Caitlin.

Madeleine L’Engle Passed Away

This is really sad news. Madeleine L’Engle was one of the first authors that really moved me as a child. She created for me a life-long love of SF. She is also one of Lynne’s favorite authors.

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/07/rip-author-madeleine.html

Lynne just made an excellent post about her passing:
http://rarelylynne.livejournal.com/

Destination Wonder

Last night we had our first meeting of Destination Wonder, the new DeKalb Public Library SF reading club. We had gone in not really knowing what to expect. Our friend Steve is running it, and I will admit that I was a little worried that Lynne and I would be the only ones there. I was way off the mark. The club was packed to almost standing room only. It was wonderful. I had no idea that there were so many SF fans in town who would be interested in a reading club.

This month’s book was The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. We had a nice discussion with cookies. What else could I want? It was also heavily leaning towards women who outnumbered the men about 3 to 1. It was a very polite, intelligent discussion. The only difficulty was trying not to play up the fact that Lois is an acquaintance of ours. This club is definitely a great addition to our calendars. It will keep us reading things that we would otherwise not give a try. Here is the schedule for the rest of school year:

Oct. 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury

Nov. 7 at 7:00 p.m.
I Am Legend
Richard Matheson

Dec. 5 at 7:00 p.m.
The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman

Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Small Gods
Terry Pratchett

Feb. 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Paragaea
Chris Roberson

Mar. 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Resume with Monsters
William Browning Spencer

Apr. 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Last Call
Tim Powers

May 7 at 7:00 p.m.
Hyperion
Dan Simmons

Leonard Nimoy singing - Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

This is something that every Tolkien fan should know by heart.

Working Like a Dog

It’s an odd feeling to have evolved from procrastinator to workaholic. I find that if I stop and think about my commitments for even a moment, my old self starts to freak out. I find that the best course of action is to just do as much as I can each day. What used to scare me into procrastination when I was younger was the ability to see the enormity of a commitment. Now I try to focus on just doing a little each day. I live by the old proverb about eating an elephant; I take one bite at a time.

Caitlin has been seizure free for a week. It is exhausting keeping her awake and stimulated all day, but it sure as hell beats the alternative. She’s settling back into her school routine. I miss her while she’s away, but it does give me more time to focus on my own projects. Today is Easter Seals and OT. I always enjoy watching her smile and laugh on the swing.

Speaking of my projects, I just agreed to write a short article about Doctor Who for a modestly prestigious SF fanzine. It really came out of left field, but I couldn’t be more pleased. This is a zine that has published articles from Hugo and Nebula award winning SF authors (the editor has also been Hugo nominated). It will be cool to be associated with it. The deadline is a little tight, but it’s a subject that I know very well.

On a related note, I will be doing at least one panel on Doctor Who at WindyCon this year. It should be a fun time. I certainly enjoyed my panels at Odyssey Con and CONvergence. Last year I was tagging along with Lynne in the shadows. This year I will be on panels and taking a writer’s workshop. Not to mention we will be having a couple of meals with prestigious SF authors for Lynne’s work. It’s nice to be living instead of dreaming.

I am finished with phase one of my Mad Norwegian Press work. It took ten months and hundreds of hours, but it is done. Lars and Christa just returned from DragonCon, so I am still awaiting my next set of orders.

Happy

I am pretty damn happy at the moment. It is a beautiful sunny day outside after weeks of terrible days, and the clichéd symbolism couldn’t be more spot on than that. Caitlin had a great first week of school. Now that I’m keeping her from having naps, the seizures are back to being under control. I have no idea why it’s working, but it is. She has been happy to see all of her friends, teachers, and therapists. We even have another assistive communication device for her to use. This makes us all happy.

Professionally, I really feel like I turned a corner. I only have a few more hours of clean-up work left for the MNP project. It has taken hundreds of hours over 10 months, but it is ready. I am very pleased.

I have always wanted to be a writer. I have been in and out of it for over 15 years. It took me a long time to shake off the “artist” myth. It also took me a while to work out my own anxieties and problems. The one real plus of having a medically complicated special child is that everything gains real perspective. Perfection and accolades mean nothing when all you want is your baby to live. Today I finished the rough draft of the first third of a novel. This is a huge accomplishment for me. I also started a new short story. I am not sure where this will all go, but I feel good that I am at least trying.

I really need to thank a bunch of authors who have helped inspire me and who have demystified the process. Thanks to my wife’s work, I’ve been spending a lot of time at SF conventions. Through panels and blogs, I’ve picked up tons of good information about the writing process. So I want to thank Jack McDevitt, E. E. Knight, Lois McMaster Bujold, Sarah Monette, Patrick Rothfuss, Lyda Morehouse, and Kelly McCullough. They are all wonderful people, and they have all had very poignant things to say about the process. It has made it all much easier. I hope that one day I’ll join their ranks.

This should be a good weekend to geek out. We have a big pile of DVDs to work through. We’re still finishing up the new Doctor Who releases (Survival and Robot). We’re also working on The Muppet Show Season 2, and Lynne just picked up Season 1 of Heroes today. It should be a nice relaxing time with plenty of family cuddles.