Okay, where was I?
Saturday A.C. Crispin's Master Class for Novelists! Met with all the students to go over issues we had in common: pacing, foreshadowing vs. predictability, the importance of query letters. Will meet one-on-one later for a personal novel critique.
Stood in line next to an Ozzy Osbourne lookalike for the DragonCon After Dark costume contest - a lot of waiting for too short a show. Saw Stan Lee walking by. Stayed up for a midnight screening of Zombieland, possibly the cutest zombie movie ever made, but not the same caliber as Shaun of the Dead.
Sunday Dropped a lot of money in the dealers' room. Hope to track down Kevin J. Anderson and Kevin Murphy later and get autographs. Going to dinner tonight with some friends & writers. Also, just got an email from an editor about my Time Travel Story saying it's passed the first elimination round but needs some revisions. I can handle revisions. Tonight: a late, late Cruxshadows concert, unless I really am too old to rock and roll, but too young to die.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Dragon*Con: Post One
Thursday A.C. Crispin's Basic Writing Workshop, bright and early. Lots of good information, starting from the basics (just like it says on the tin). Characterization. Plot. Show-don't-tell. Story Logic. Setting and description. Point of view. Lots of handouts, lots to share with my writers group in Hoover. Bunch of websites to check out, such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), Caveat Scriptor, and (of course) Absolute Write. Looking forward to tomorrow. Strangely compelled to write in sentence fragments.
Then, got in line to get my badge. Let me just say, for the official record, "Oh my fucking God!" Four and a half hours in line. Four and a half hours. First, I had to completely circumnavigate the Sheraton, winding through part of the parking deck along the way. Once I got inside the hotel, they sent us to a ballroom where we had to navigate the endless rope-maze from hell. Once we got to the front, they broke us up into lines alphabetically by our last name. What never occurred to anyone organizing the check-in process was that names are not evenly distributed in the alphabet. Apparently, the biggest cluster is L-O, so while the H-K's and the T-Z's were zipping through, anyone with a name of French, Scottish, or Irish descent was stuck in eternal purgatory. For four and a half hours.
Gasp. Pant. Wheeze.
Cold pizza for dinner. Then to bed. (Or foldaway cot, as the case may be.)
Friday Writing workshop part II. A word on copyright. Writing alien aliens. The importance of research. Marketing & Networking.
Special guest Nebula Award Winner and former Writing Workshop student Eugie Foster dropped in to talk about marketing short fiction. She's sold about 100BZillion stories of her own in the last few years, including "Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast." Her new story collection is Returning My Sister's Face.
Then, ran over to the Exhibitors Hall to find the Kerlak booth and met the awesome Kimberly Richardson and Allan Gilbreath. Pictures will follow in a later post.
Chillin' for a while, then off to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 reunion / Cinematic Titanic show.
To be or not to be continued...
Then, got in line to get my badge. Let me just say, for the official record, "Oh my fucking God!" Four and a half hours in line. Four and a half hours. First, I had to completely circumnavigate the Sheraton, winding through part of the parking deck along the way. Once I got inside the hotel, they sent us to a ballroom where we had to navigate the endless rope-maze from hell. Once we got to the front, they broke us up into lines alphabetically by our last name. What never occurred to anyone organizing the check-in process was that names are not evenly distributed in the alphabet. Apparently, the biggest cluster is L-O, so while the H-K's and the T-Z's were zipping through, anyone with a name of French, Scottish, or Irish descent was stuck in eternal purgatory. For four and a half hours.
Gasp. Pant. Wheeze.
Cold pizza for dinner. Then to bed. (Or foldaway cot, as the case may be.)
Friday Writing workshop part II. A word on copyright. Writing alien aliens. The importance of research. Marketing & Networking.
Special guest Nebula Award Winner and former Writing Workshop student Eugie Foster dropped in to talk about marketing short fiction. She's sold about 100BZillion stories of her own in the last few years, including "Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast." Her new story collection is Returning My Sister's Face.
Then, ran over to the Exhibitors Hall to find the Kerlak booth and met the awesome Kimberly Richardson and Allan Gilbreath. Pictures will follow in a later post.
Chillin' for a while, then off to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 reunion / Cinematic Titanic show.
To be or not to be continued...
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tick-tock, tick-tock
A week from today, I'll be at Dragon*Con for the first time in three years, and my head's about to explode from the waiting. I'll be attending A.C. Crispin's writing workshop, which looks like it's going to be a blast. In the interim, I really ought to be working on the rewrite of The Blood Prayer.
Problem is, I can't stand to look at the thing. Therefore, I'm blogging instead.
I know, I know. I'll get back to it tonight, I swear. I really, really want it to be over and done with, so I can get to work on the sequel rewrite that I've been putting off for a year now. I'm aching to get busy on something new, but now it looks like that'll have to wait for November, when I dive into book III of my Majadan trilogy.
*sigh* If only it wasn't for that pesky day job.
Hey! As long as you're hanging around, why don't you slip over to Barnes & Noble and grab a copy of Dreams of Steam.
Problem is, I can't stand to look at the thing. Therefore, I'm blogging instead.
I know, I know. I'll get back to it tonight, I swear. I really, really want it to be over and done with, so I can get to work on the sequel rewrite that I've been putting off for a year now. I'm aching to get busy on something new, but now it looks like that'll have to wait for November, when I dive into book III of my Majadan trilogy.
*sigh* If only it wasn't for that pesky day job.
Hey! As long as you're hanging around, why don't you slip over to Barnes & Noble and grab a copy of Dreams of Steam.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Dreams of Steam is now for sale!
It's officially gone from "coming soon" to "get yours today."
Read about it at Kerlak's website and order your copy online at
Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Get to it!
Table of Contents:
Flight of the Dragon - Rachel Pixie
Dead Man's Hand - Jared Millet
The Bunker - Stephanie Osborn
Black Rhino - M. Keaton
The Ballad of Angelina Calamity - Angelia Sparrow
Endeavour of the Rose - Sidney M. Reese
Blood and Brass - Kimberly Richardson
Five Copper Bowls - Dale Carothers
For the Love of Steam - Missa Dixon
In the Mountain Skies - Stephen Zimmer
Harry Was One of Us - Sara M. Harvey
Engine 316 - Nick Valentino
An Odd Demise - Allan Gilbreath
Artificial Love - Dwayne DeBardelaben
Phoenix - H. David Blalock
Ultimate Weapon - Jeff Harris
Long Shots - Kirk Hardesty
Read about it at Kerlak's website and order your copy online at
Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Get to it!
Table of Contents:
Flight of the Dragon - Rachel Pixie
Dead Man's Hand - Jared Millet
The Bunker - Stephanie Osborn
Black Rhino - M. Keaton
The Ballad of Angelina Calamity - Angelia Sparrow
Endeavour of the Rose - Sidney M. Reese
Blood and Brass - Kimberly Richardson
Five Copper Bowls - Dale Carothers
For the Love of Steam - Missa Dixon
In the Mountain Skies - Stephen Zimmer
Harry Was One of Us - Sara M. Harvey
Engine 316 - Nick Valentino
An Odd Demise - Allan Gilbreath
Artificial Love - Dwayne DeBardelaben
Phoenix - H. David Blalock
Ultimate Weapon - Jeff Harris
Long Shots - Kirk Hardesty
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