I got in last night around 11:00 and Rob came out to the airport to greet me. I have missed him terribly. Coming home was so strange because the season turned while I was away, a fact particularly emphasized by spending the last week in snowy Grand Haven. Here cherry trees are in bloom and the apple trees in our courtyard show signs of following suit. There are daffodils by the path up to the apartment.

In the apartment itself, Rob had two beakers of irises waiting for me. These are the flowers that we had at our wedding so very sweet. The cats were indifferent and needy in the way that only cats can pull off. Rob had also baked some of his famous chocolate tart cherry bran muffins. So tasty. And what had he baked them in?

This.

I’m sitting in the airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan waiting for my flight home. I’ve been on the road for a month and last night Rob said the sweetest words to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I’ve been gone longer than this before, but we usually know that I’ll be gone for months and you can prep for that, emotionally. This time, we thought it would be a week and a half. We do manage to talk almost every night, but a month is still a long time.

So the fact that I will see Rob, tonight, makes me a very, very happy girl.

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.

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

Last Friday, my mom took a tumble down the stairs. I’d mentioned this in a couple of private forums, but with Mom’s okay am actually blogging about it. She’s going to be fine and it’s not the sort of fall that require surgery, but she’s got a cast on that’s keeping her pretty immobile.

I’m flying to Chattanooga on Saturday to help my folks out for a couple of weeks. I am, I think, going to try to teach my dad to cook.

I know.

But he’s clever and it’s just like mixing emulsion for silk screening, but not poisonous. Usually. We haven’t decided how long I’m going to stay yet, but I wanted to keep you up to date on which time zone I’m in.

Rob and I don’t own a car so my bike is my primary way to commute. This month I’ve been riding nine miles pretty much every day and lately I’ve been having some trouble with my shifters. On Tuesday, the gears locked as I was coming up a hill — not fun — so I took it in to have it looked at.

There was nothing obviously wrong. So the awesome mechanic at Bike Gallery lubed it, tightened a couple of things and didn’t charge me, since he “didn’t really do anything.” It’s riding like a dream now, so I disagree.

While it was there, and in the stand, I noticed that my saddle was crooked. At first I thought it had just spun on the mount, but no. No, the rails were actually bent and probably had been since we moved back from NYC. I know the bike fell at least twice while it was in the back of the moving truck. So, I invested in a new saddle.

Today, my toes went numb during the last ten minutes of the ride both to and from work.

So, back to the shop today and I have a new, different saddle. Another awesome mechanic took the time to check the fit to make certain that there wasn’t anything else going on.

Let’s hope the new saddle does the trick. It’s funny though, how when you change one thing a cascade of little changes begins.

The trip back from World Fantasy was lovely and fascinating. Lovely, because it was the train. Fascinating because there was a crazy person in my car. Not your run of the mill, a little bit off, no, no. Full. On. Crazy.

I’d decided to get a lower level seat because they tend to be a little quieter than the upper level seats and I was hoping to sleep. The first thing I noticed walking into the car was a certain pungent aroma. My immediate thought was that I’d made an error in judgment and hadn’t accounted for how close the bathrooms were to the lower level car.

Then I heard the conversation that was going on.

This woman said, “Yeah, I was in pain all the time and thought it was West Nile Disease, because that was all the rage. It turned out that I was possessed. All that pain and it was a spirit possessing me.”

Whoa, thought I, crazy.

Woman #2 said, “Oh, I know what you mean. With me, they diagnosed it as fibromyalgia.”

Woman #1 “What’s fibromyalgia?”

Woman #2 stumbled, clearly totally stumped about what her disease is. “Well… it’s where you have these 18 energy points in your body and they get inflamed. And then they don’t share the energy and it gets trapped there. That’s what hurts.”

“Oh,” said woman #1, “The only thing that takes me out of the pain is eating. Eating makes the pain go away.”

Meanwhile, I was wondering if either of them are currently possessed or if I should find another seat. Around this point, the train pulled out of the station and woman #1 began to groan interspersed with whimpers. Did she have to pay extra for her demon to travel with her? I mean really.

Normally, this isn’t an issue on the train.

I’m heading to the train station, where I will catch the train to San Jose for World Fantasy. I’m looking forward to the ride and having the quiet down time to just focus on writing and reading. I’m taking Tobias Buckell’s Ragamuffin for the trip.

Rob had to drive down to Sacramento yesterday to pick up so FYB’s for City Winery and is on his way back up. We’ve realized that I can take the train down to Eugene to meet him.  Then we can stay at a Bed and Breakfast and then spend tomorrow out in Oregon wine country as he makes deliveries.  This does not sound like way to spend the day.  So I and my computer are hopping Amtrak south at about 2:00 today.

This will let Chris and Laurel, who are staying with us, have the apartment to themselves for the evening. I’m pleasantly surprised by how well the apartment is working for having house guests.

I have safely arrived in Montreal for WorldCon after a really delightful train trip. The entire train was packed with folks coming up for the con so it was like TrainCon. I wound up sitting with Jim Minz which was fantastic and terrible.  Fantastic, because he’s fun. Terrible because I got very little writing done.

On arrival, I discovered that I had not booked the hotel I thought I had. The one that I was in set off alarm bells in my touring brain when I walked into the lobby.  At the same time, I was like, where else will I stay. The receptionist said she needed to reserve the amount of the stay PLUS a security deposit.

The hotel fee, sure. A security deposit?  More alarms, so I asked if I could see the room.  When I walked in it smelled like a blend of listerine and sweat, but it was also 9:00 and really, where else was I going to find a room. I expressed my dismay on Twitter and then I checked in.  Hoping that someone would be able to take a roommate, I asked for just one night instead of the six I’d planned.

Went back to the room — which, to be fair, was worn and ratty but clean.  But it smelled bad and I found myself not wanting to touch the bed.

Then I got a direct message from Pablo Defendi saying that I could stay in his room if need be.  Grabbed my untouched suitcase, and checked out.  And yes, the hotel charged me for the full night.

Anyway, it looks like I’ll be able to stay with another friend through the length of the con, but I’m deeply, deeply grateful to Pablo for rescuing me.

We hung in the bar with the usual suspects and now I’m going to sleep.  Looking forward to tomorrow.

I’m off to Orlando today. While I’m in transit you can swing by AMC to check out my top 10 list of Fantasy Chick flicks. There are two films that I genuinely like, plus eight that for me range from “run-screaming” to “not my cup of tea.” Can you guess which is which?

Yesterday, Rob and I picked Maggie’s body up from the vet, where they’d been holding her in the freezer. Yep, Maggie the Catsicle.  You can tell we are feeling better because the gallow’s humor has emerged.

We got on the motorcycle and went to upstate NY where some friends of ours had generously offered a corner of their backyard. We were both braced for this to be a really hard trip, but it wasn’t. I think the whole burial ritual, or funeral ritual in whatever context, evolved because you really need that sort of closure to get on with things. Even if the creature you are mourning is a small fuzzy gray cat.

While we were back there, Mrs. L– beckoned us and said “Look! Racoons!”

Rob kept digging, but I went over to look, and sure enough there was a family of mama and two baby racoons coming out of their garage. Mama and one of the babies hightailed it across the lawn.

The other one wandered over to check out what Rob was doing.  It stood up on its hind legs, about two feet in front of him as if to say, “Hi there! What are you doing?”

This amused all of us, while at the same time, being glad that Rob had a shovel just in case Mama decided to feel protective. Rob waved at the little guy, who dropped back down to his haunches.

Then stood up again. “Whatcha working on? Huh?”

Sadly, attempts to establish a true cross-species dialog didn’t proceed past that and the little fellow trundled off to his mother, who probably said, “How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers?”

Sorry that the photo is as fuzzy as the racoon.  It was awfully cute and a nice place to leave Maggie.

We spent the night and then had a leisurely morning up there.   Rode back today, taking the scenic route.

I’m in Raleigh, N.C. I came down on Wednesday for my niece’s graduation. 12th in her class. Usually I have free time when I visit family, even around an event, and that has not been the case on this trip.  It’s been fun. In a constant, total immersion sort of way.

I got in about 11:30 to the airport here in Detroit and immediately hooked up with my roomie, Alethea Kontis. We headed over to the overflow hotel, checked in and walked over to the real hotel to register. The moment we walked into the lobby, we ran into the Scalzis. Since none of us had panels, we spent the rest of the day hanging in the bar with them, adding Cherie Priest, Doselle Young, Yanni Kuznia, Bill Shaffer, Elizabeth Bear, Anne Murphy, Sarah Monette and about a bajillion other people.

Eventually a group of us splintered off to get dinner at the Mediterranean place next door. The hotel menu has ZERO vegetarian food on it and two fish items, both appetizers. Foodwise, the weekend looks bleak for me.

When we got back, I found out that Scalzi and my Schmoozing 101 panel had been moved to 10:00pm that night, into the slot vacated by Wil Wheaton. We had some audience members who were there to see us, but most of the session was waving people off who’d come to see Wil read. It was still fun.

I gratefully dropped into bed back at the hotel and now I’m off to my slew of panels today.

I think I forgot to mention that I was going to Penguicon this weekend, because, you know, I’m not doing enough traveling. A lot of good friends are going to be there so it should be good fun. Let me know if I’ll see you there.

May 2, 2009
10:00 am — Ballroom 7
Making Fiction Work In Audio

What to avoid when writing a story to podcast, and what to change to adapt one. Concise language, appropriate pacing, holding attention, choosing a performer to read, and more tips from two of the leaders in podcast fiction: Steve Eley of Escape Pod and Rick Stringer of Variant Frequencies.
Steve Eley, Mary Robinette Kowal, Rick Jackson, Rick Stringer

11:00 am — Ballroom 7
Can I Be Your Friend? Bringing Authors and Readers Together

Facebook, LiveJournal, WordPress, MySpace, Twitter, website, etc. — SF/F/H authors are encouraged to engage in self-promotion on the web. Some, like John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton, make it look easy. But where’s the line on privacy and personal details for the authors? And what about fans bent on making the transition to troll or stalker? No one said this was going to be easy.
John Scalzi, Jim C. Hines, Wil Wheaton, Mary Robinette Kowal, Daniel Hogan, Dr. Philip Kaldon

1:00 pm — Poolside 1
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Character Development. Bringing your imaginary friends to life. Discussion of what makes a character live on the page. Heroes, villains, supporters. Different methods and ways of making your characters real to your audience.
Elizabeth Bear, David Crampton, Mary Robinette Kowal, Sarah Hoyt, Dan Hoyt, Cherie Priest, Jeff DeLuzio, Sarah Monette

3:00 pm — Poolside 3
Johnny Can’t Read and Nobody Thinks It’s a Problem

Illiteracy is a major problem in our society, or perhaps it’s not, given the lack of attention it gets. Can children read? Are they reading? Should they read more? How can we get them to read? How can we read more as adults? Our panel of mostly experts will discuss the issue.
David Crampton, Richard Herrell, Mary Robinette Kowal

7:00 pm — Poolside 1
Lie to Me!

Authors telling lies….what will happen next?! (PS – the audience gets to lie too!)
Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Mary Robinette Kowal, Sarah Hoyt

8:00 pm — Poolside 1
Schmoozing 101!

Conventions offer a chance to meet some of the top names in the field. How can you take advantage of that without coming off like a weasel? Learn about the etiquette of talking to editors and how to effectively “work a room.”
John Scalzi, Mary Robinette Kowal

May 3, 2009
8:00 am — Poolside 1
National Novel Writing Month

Every November hordes of would-be writers as well as established pros unite to attempt to produce 50,000 words in one month. Good idea or waste of time? Does it help or hurt writing? What about the pressures of deadlines in general? Does slow and steady win the race, or does the pressure cooker of trying to produce so many words in the last hour really work?
David Crampton, Jim C. Hines, Mary Robinette Kowal, Daniel Hogan

9:00 am — Poolside 1
How to Give an Effective Reading

Learn to make your words sound as great out loud as they do on the page. Using both demonstration and audience participation, we will explore voicing, narration, and pacing.
Mary Robinette Kowal

11:00 am — Poolside 1
Finding Your Voice

1st Person vs 3rd Person writing. Discussion of pros and cons of different voices in writing. Benefits of the “God” point of view for an author and a reader. Benefits of the main character as narrator for the author and reader. Limitations of both.
Elizabeth Bear, Mary Robinette Kowal, Sarah Hoyt, Dan Hoyt, Sarah Monette