I think I should probably acknowledge that while SFWA hasn’t had any significant impact on my writing life, it does cut into the blogging pretty severely. Not that I don’t have time so much as that I don’t have the inclination as much.

Some of it also is that I feel like my life is not terribly interesting at the moment. For instance today, I spent in a coffee shop doing some writing and some Nebula stuff. Granted, I’m in Nashville visiting family but there’s not much to say about that besides the fact that I’m here. I like my family and we get along so there’s no drama to report.

In other news, Mom is doing really well. She drove yesterday and has permission to not wear the leg brace all the time.

Tomorrow I head to Grand Rapids to record more audio fiction. That will be fun.

Are you a SFWA active or associate member? You have cast your ballot for the Nebula Nomination Period, haven’t you? I mean, today is the last day.

The biggest reason I hear from people who haven’t is that they just haven’t read much this year. I understand that. But here’s the thing, if you read anything that you really liked this year you should put that on your ballot. Maybe it won’t make the final ballot but maybe your nod will be the one vote needed to push it into the running. And if you’re the only one who votes for it? It will make that author’s day just to have the story listed on the tally.

So, participate. Please?

Online Ballot: http://www.sfwa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=626

You must cast your nomination ballot by tonight, Feburary 15th, 23:59 PST.

To login, you’ll need Your Name, with spaces, as it appears in the SFWA Directory.

If you need your password you may reset it here:
http://www.sfwa.org/forum/ucp.php?mode=sendpassword

If you have any questions or need additional help please let me know. And if you have already participated, thank you. Now please, guilt one other person into doing it too.

It is snowing in Chattanooga!

When I was growing up, it seemed like it snowed every day on my birthday or on the day of my birthday party.  That hasn’t happened in years.  This year it snowed for about three minutes on the 8th, just enough for me to feel like it was a real birthday.

Today, it’s really coming down.  Now, mind you, if I were in Iceland people would laugh at me for calling this snow. Still, this is what Woodthrush Woods looks like in the snow. If you click through there are some other snow pictures plus some non-snow pictures.

From Woodthrush Woods

From Grandma’s 104th Birthday

One of the side benefits to Mom’s disagreement with gravity is that it means I get to be in Tennessee for all of these birthdays. If you haven’t met her, allow me to assure you that my mom is fantastic. If you have met her, then you know exactly what I mean.

She’s an arts administrator and has always made sure that our lives were filled with all of the arts. The fact that I’m a writer and a puppeteer is directly attributable to the fact that Mom and Dad saw nothing odd about a career in the arts.

I hope your birthday is a happy one!

I made one of those random dinners that I made up with what was in the pantry. It was tasty enough that we all wished it was a recipe and repeatable. Here is what I think I made.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small shallot, sliced
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
3 oz. mushrooms sliced
3/4 bottle of leftover cheap white wine
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
6 oz. fontina cheese, grated
1/4 cup heavy cream or milk
1/2 lb. macaroni

Boil macaroni until al dente

Heat olive oil over medium flame. Saute shallots and mushrooms until soft, about five minutes. Add artichoke hearts, white wine, balsamic and Italian seasoning and turn heat to medium high. Reduce until only 1/4 of the liquid remains, or about as long as it takes to boil the macaroni. Reduce heat to low.

When the pasta is done, add it to the artichoke reduction with the 3/4 of the grated cheese and the cream. Stir together. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Finish under broiler until the cheese is melted and browned.

With less than a week from the release of my pal David B. Coe’s newest book, The Dark-Eyes’ War, the third and final installment in his Blood of the Southlands trilogy, he’s having a contest.  If you like swash-buckling fantasy with hair-pin plot turns, you’ll like David’s work.  The Dark-Eyes’ War will be released by Tor Books as a hardcover original next Tuesday, February 16th.

I have a contest up on my website right now, and the winner gets a free signed hardcover copy of the new book. All you have to do is go to my site, follow the link to the sample chapters of the book, and, after reading them, answer the contest question. That’s all there is to it. So give it a try. And next week I’ll be posting more about the new release.

via An Exchange of Words: David B. Coe’s Weblog – Win a Signed Book!.

I love Beaker… Poor guy.

I know a lot of people refuse to admit their age, which has always struck me as a little silly since surviving another year is a good thing. Of course, the fact that Grandma is 105 and still sharp does tend to skew my perception of what “old” means.

You know, I’m still a decade away from middle age given my family.

All in all, 40 was a really fantastic year on the fiction front. Sold 2 novels, 10 short stories, made the Hugo ballot, and my 1st short story collection came out. I’ve been doing less puppetry over the past year, which gives me an identity crisis but nothing world-shaking.

In personal life, Rob and I moved back to Portland and it’s a lifestyle that suits us better than NYC. I miss my friends back there and, strangely, the subway, but I like getting enough sleep.

I look forward to seeing what 41 brings. It’s starting off well. Mom and Dad sang to me first thing this morning and I get to spend the evening with Grandma.

I spent the day at Grandma’s for her 105th birthday party. It was a lot of fun seeing all the relatives and catching up with folks. Grandma was in good spirits and excited to see everyone. Here she is with her birthday cake.

As we were getting ready to go, Mom was getting out of her chair, which is a little slow since she’s got a brace on her leg. Grandma looks at the effort it’s taking and with just a hint of a smile says, “Do you need to borrow my walker?”

I love my Grandma.

I had a completely stress-free travel day and arrived in Chattanooga this afternoon. Mom is in really good shape and it is quite clear that the hard part of her healing process will be convincing her that it is okay to sit down and relax.

Here’s a simple Meme…answer the following questions:

1. What Book Are You Reading Now?
2. Why did you choose it?
3. What’s the best thing about it?
4. What’s the worst thing about it?

Here are my answers…

1. Storm Front: Dresden Files #1 by Jim Butcher
2. I’d heard good things and he’s also represented by my agent.
3. The character, Harry Dresden, tells the book in first person. He’s a cynical, damaged man with a sense of humor and gallantry that makes him charming.
4. The magic system feels like it totally makes sense, except for the pseudo-Latin. I don’t understand why it’s that, although Harry Dresden does make a crack about the fact that it’s pseudo-Latin so he’s self-aware of it.

(via SF Signal)

I’m heading out of Grand Haven today, driving to Grand Rapids and then catching flights to Chicago, Charlotte and Chattanooga.  See you later.

Grandma turned 105 today and I’ll actually be in Chattanooga in time for her birthday party on Sunday.  She is a remarkable woman and the inspiration for my novelette First Flight.

I had been on a panel about research we were talking about the importance of primary sources.  One of the panelists said, “Of course, you can’t get a primary source if you want to talk about the Spanish Flu epidemic.”

It suddenly occurred to me that I could, because Grandma was born in 1905. It started me thinking about all the things she had seen in her life. In the story, the main character says:

I’ve lived through two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Collapse. I lived through race riots, saw us put men on the moon, the Spanish Flu, AIDS, the Titanic, Suffrage and the Internet. I’ve raised five children and buried two, got twenty-three grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren with more on the way.

I’m not making any of that up (although I am losing track of the number of cousins I have).  I mean, the things she’s seen and the way the world has changed in her lifetime is staggering.  She’s an amazing woman, still sharp and interested in everything. I can’t introduce you to her for real, but the story comes pretty close.

The last couple of days have been really good ones. I’ve been recording Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary and Rue, which I’m having a great time doing.  I really like October Daye, the main character, and since the book is first person it’s fun to “be” her for a couple of days.

Yesterday evening, I went out with M– one of the fine folks at Brilliance, who also turns out to be a writer. She and I hung out a Jumpin Java and wrote for a couple of hours. It was a very nice break from the routine.

After work today, I went out to dinner with J– at Kirby’s and it was so nice to just hang out and shoot the breeze. It helps with the whole mental fatigue that comes from reading for hours.

It is surprisingly tiring. I mean, on the face of it, all I’m doing is sitting in a chair and talking, but I have to be word perfect and that requires a weird sort of concentration. I’ll do a post at some point about what that focus is like.

For the moment, I’m heading to bed. We’ll wrap up the book tomorrow.

I’ve seen some speculation floating around about the Macmillan/Amazon thing that the Amazon response on the Kindle forum was not official.  Apparently… it was.

See, this weekend I sent this message to customer service.

I am deeply dismayed by Amazon’s removal of Macmillan books from their catalog. Since this covers a significant number of books I read as well as books I’ve written, I can’t see the need to maintain a relationship with Amazon.com anymore.

How do I delete my associate account??

Today, I got response and I thought you’d be interested in the way it opens.

Hello,

Thanks for sending us your comments. We will e-mail you when these titles are available again, which we hope will be soon. For more information regarding Macmillan books, please see the latest update posted here:

http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum/?cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx2MEGQWTNGIMHV

However, if you still would like us to close your Amazon.com Associates account…

So apparently, the key word in the original response was the word “ultimately” as in, “at the end” but not now.