Arrived at Potlatch quite early yesterday. Got some day jobbery done, had a nice lunch with
This morning we’ve been taking it slow, but I’m off soon to be a pro at the writers’ workshop while
Tomorrow we’re off to Do Stuff, but hopefully I’ll see some, all or none of you today.
Posted: 11:42 am Sat February 28 2009 | Comments(0) |
Potlatch blogging here and here
Unmasking Europa: Of Ice and Controversy — Centauri Dreams with more on the politics of space science.
In Love with A. Lincoln — (Snurched from The Edge of the American West.)
?otD: Who gives the givers?
2/28/2009
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a (travel day)
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville; Black Blade Blues by John Pitts
Posted: 11:35 am Sat February 28 2009 | Comments(0) |
1,700 new outline words today, very detailed stuff down in the scene level. Unusual for me. My last note of the day: “Does this book have an ending?” I swear, I am not outlining a trilogy here, but Green herself doesn’t seem to agree.
More to come.
Posted: 3:19 pm Fri February 27 2009 | Comments(0) |
Being in Austin has put me in a reflective mood. I lived here for eighteen years, longer than I’ve ever lived anywhere, and possibly longer than I ever will again, depending on what the future brings me. Though I did not start selling fiction until after I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2000, in some very important ways, my career began here. Specifically, in the hands of a particular writer.
I owe this person an immense debt of gratitude. She introduced me to such basics as manuscript formatting, cover letters, critique, and even the very existence of workshops. She mentored me from an unbelievably wet-behind-the-ears newbie, through the convinced-of-my-own-undiscovered-genius phase, through the I-resent-the-conspiracy-against-gifted-newcomers-that-is-publishing phase, and many of the other tiresome but apparently necessary evolutions in the process of my becoming an actual working author.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the bookshelf. When I started showing measurable success, instead of merely expending effort, my mentor found this challenging. When I started appearing in tables of contents, and on bookstore shelves, with a higher profile than she has ever achieved, this writer became one of my most savage critics — not only of my writing, but of my professionalism, my behavior, my blog presence, and even my fashion sense. She eventually drove me off a mailing list and out of a social circle with her profound and unrelenting unpleasantness.
I value friendship very highly, I am almost stupidly loyal, and I can be a slow learner, but in time I learned I had to shut this person out of my life and work. It only took several severe outbursts and a great deal of my own emotional distress to get me there. As a result, someone who’s name should be in the dedications of all my books is instead someone I have not seen or spoken to in years, and probably never will again.
Coming to Austin has somewhat forcibly and sadly reminded me of this 15-year arc of friendship which ended so very badly. And it reminds me that we writers tend to be jealous creatures. Another friend of mine in this business asked me a while back how my friendship with
Yet my first and greatest mentor turned out to be exactly that kind of friend to me. And oddly, my second great mentor, who was very important to me in the years after I moved to Oregon and first began publishing, hasn’t spoken to me since 2005, except once or twice out of social necessity. Which of course, has me wondering if there is some aspect of my behavior which is to account for this.
Now there is the fubar going on in our little well-tempested teapot about when writers are “supposed” to deliver books. I know personally almost everyone who has weighed in, and respect them all. My only comment is that I’m supposed to deliver the book when the contract says to do, and so far I haven’t missed one yet. Not even when I had cancer. There’s one book I will never contract until after it is done, for precisely the kind of creative reasons that
These are big words, I know, and I almost certainly will be called upon to eat them some day, but for now I will say this:
My friends are my friends, and their successes only magnify our friendships.
My books are due when they’re due, and my own personal definition of my professionalism has me turning them in on time.
Maybe some day I’ll learn differently, but I sure hope not.
Posted: 5:23 am Fri February 27 2009 | Comments(2) |
At gate 13 in the Austin airport, waiting for the nerd bird to San Jose. I misread my reservation and showed up even earlier than is my usual wont. (Which beats being late, I am well aware.)
Lake’s Law of Power Outlets is in full effect: there are at least six outlets in this gate area, and access to every single one of them is blocked by people who are not actually using them.
Potlatch this afternoon and onward. Y’all play nice.
Posted: 4:37 am Fri February 27 2009 | Comments(0) |
Monkeys Online — Cheryl Morgan on link love and primate grooming.
Images that show the inside of breaking waves (Thanks to
Dark Roasted Blend on abandoned power plants — Using some of my photos (with proper credit, of course).
Growing nanotube forests — Wow.
Vaster Regions of Antarctica Melting Into Sea — Antarctic glaciers are melting faster across a much wider area than previously thought, scientists said Wednesday — a development that could lead to an unprecedented rise in sea levels. Darn those liberals and their global warming lies. Even the Antarctic ice coverage is going along with the scam. I’m sure Rush Limbaugh can explain all this.
?otD: Is it as hard, hard, hard as it seems?
2/27/2009
Body movement: 45 minute stationary bike ride
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a (travel day)
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville; Black Blade Blues by John Pitts
Posted: 3:49 am Fri February 27 2009 | Comments(2) |
Had a very nice dinner tonight with JH from work,
Posted: 7:19 pm Thu February 26 2009 | Comments(0) |
Dinner at 6:30 at Threadgill’s on Riverside Drive here in Austin is on. See some, all or none of you there.
Posted: 10:22 am Thu February 26 2009 | Comments(0) |
Hey, Austin peeps, I’m going to tentatively schedule a dinner for 6:30 tonight here in Austin. I’m going to need someone to pick me up, though (I’ve asked
Let’s say the Threadgill’s on Riverside down near the Palmer Auditorium, 6:30 pm, Thursday 2/26. I will confirm here on the blog and via twitter as soon as I know for sure.
Posted: 5:55 am Thu February 26 2009 | Comments(0) |
Partially Clips on the difference between fantasy and science fiction — (Thanks to
Edwin Salpeter and the Gasbags of Jupiter
More on mapping mutual incomprehension
Fruit Flies and Volcanoes: Why Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin Should Run in 2012 — Your friendly neighborhood GOP: still uniting morons at the polls and in office. (Snurched from Bad Astronomy Blog.)
?otD: The way is shut. Who shut the way?
2/26/2009
Body movement: 90 minute suburban walk (including a nice stroll through a pioneer cemetery)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a (travel day)
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville; Black Blade Blues by John Pitts
Posted: 5:49 am Thu February 26 2009 | Comments(0) |