Pimpin' Is Easy, Writing...Not So Much

This wasn’t a bad writing week. I finished another big chapter, and I’m now barreling towards the climax. There’s a certain satisfaction in moving past the world building and into the blowing crap up part. Still, the finish line seems miles away. I’m very jealous of quick writers. I get so impatient to finish, but it’s not easy for me to carve out any more time for writing. This is also, of course, my first attempt at a novel. I expect that the process will get a little easier as I learn more about writing.

Writing used to fill me with terror. I enjoyed the end product, but I used to freak about getting everything perfect on the first try. I was hard on myself for not being an original genius who would fart brilliant rainbows of groundbreaking prose and poetry each time I typed. I can’t say that I’m completely cured, but I’ve overcome this garbage enough to actually write regularly.

I am so happy to be in the Internet age. Reading the blogs of brilliant writers has really demystified the process for me. It’s reassuring to know that they also have insecurities, bad drafts, clichéd ideas, and the other writing problems that I have. For the first time in my life, I’m not giving up.

I am still confident that I will reach my goal of having a revised draft of my first novel by WisCon.

Back on the Chain Gang

Well, it’s back to work. Lynne, Caitlin, and I had a very relaxing holiday break. The only thing that was really stressful was the problem with the ice dams on the roof. As of this morning, my epic “discussion” with the city is over. It took about 8 months, but the city has finally commissioned a company to replace the gutters, soffit, and fascia. The work should be done in the next two weeks. This hopefully will keep the melting ice and snow on the outside rather than coming into our house through the front door frame. There will even be enough money from the grant to replace about 7 windows. Hooray for being poor enough for HUD grants!

Caitlin is back to school. Today went well, though she was a little grumpy to have to work again. We’re off to Easter Seals in a bit. It’s a 45-minute trip on country back roads, so I’m hoping that the predications of thunderstorms are erroneous.

The writing is going well again. I’m making that final push on the first draft of the novel. I feel very confident that I will get it done in the next few weeks. I’ve also been assigned another essay for Fluid Links. I’m pretty jazzed about this essay. I think that I’ve complied some good notes for it.

The Aicardi Conference planning is in full swing. Everybody seems to be very excited about the process. I hope it lasts.

Just Finished Reading- Dragon Champion by E.E. Knight (It was marvelous)
Elric of Mellnibone by Michael Moorcock

Currently Reading- Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell

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

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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

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