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Another post I need to sneak in today is that today is my 48th birthday. I try to do a State of the Me address every year. Today is a normal work day, with a night devoted to packing for the upcoming trip to Vietnam, some exercise, and some writing. Tomorrow we’ll actually go out for a nice dinner and celebrate the occasion.

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What’s it like to be 48?

Physically: When all things are said and done, my weight remains mostly constant. The lowest I’ve been this year is 211, and the highest (returning from the Writer’s Retreat, which fattened me up nicely) is 220. I am currently 218ish. That puts me at 70 pounds overweight, which is not good because of the below health issues.

Lots of small things are wrong with me: arthritic right knee, dust allergy, acid reflux disease, slight depression, slight anxiety, and thyroid issues. All of these are kept in check with minor meds, except the reflux, which requires a more potent med. Diet and exercise, remarkably almost exactly the same diet and exercise, are recommended for all these problems, except the dust allergy.

This year I plan to walk more (good for the knee), do more yoga and tai chi (good for the knee), and eat less more frequently (good for the knee and the stomach.Probably good for everything else.)

Now, what about physical appearance? Well, normally, I’m not thrilled looking at photos of myself these days, but you know, I can still clean up pretty well if I have to. I’m getting used to what I look like at this age, weight and wrinkles and all. It begins to seem foolish to me to lament the loss of a more youthful appearance, because there’s no hope of things improving. In fact, quite the reverse, so I’d best get over my vanity. I continue to dress in unusual clothes and dye my hair red, both of which are working for me at this time.

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Mentally: The brain remains sharp. While my memory isn’t what it used to be, human beings don’t have memories like that. I’m talking about my formerly uncanny ability to remember lists and lists and dump them out on tests, or floor people with quick memorization. Now my memory approaches something more akin to “normal” and I’m fine. There is one place where I’m finding a little bit of a scramble. I read a word occasionally and guess what the word is incorrectly, and misinterpret the message. That usually doesn’t make sense, and I have to take a second look.

But I’m not forgetful, I still have a strong sense of memorization and remembrance, and I can still read and process a great deal. Probably pretty usual for 48.

Continue reading “48”

Steve Buchheit posts this from Kameron Hurley. And…it makes wheels turn.

The last thing I needed was another blog post to distract me from catching up. Thank you very much, Steve…

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Maybe I can fold this sucker into a post about our retreat. Yeah. I’ll do that. First of all, from May 29 until June 4 I was at or in transit to/from a writing retreat in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. This is the third retreat I’ve done organized by roughly the same group of people, although I would say there’s some turnover in attendees every year. Miranda Suri has an excellent post on the retreat here, and most of this I agree with. I honestly don’t know if I’m going back or not next year, but the retreat was very good. It’s that I’m limiting myself to one next year. Mama’s gotta start making some home repairs to sell her house and move to Florida in a few years. Ten years can, in fact, get away from you like you wouldn’t believe, and I want to make sure that dream happens.

Anyway, here’s the lot of us in a formal picture from the retreat. I’d best put a cut in here, yes?

Continue reading “Artistic Dreams”

Most of the day, Writer Tamago was down due to some server difficulties, but it looks like all the problems have been handled, and we’re back on the air!

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So, now, some snippets from the day. First of all, Paradise Icon registration via Pay Pal is now available. There’s a link at the top of the page. Talk to me if you think coming to Iowa in November is an awesome idea. Really. It’s gonna rock.

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Preparation for Vietnam continues apace. I’ll be shopping in some unusual places this weekend (Dick’s Sporting Goods; thrift shops). I’m prepping for mosquitoes and construction, not glamor.

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Speaking of glamor, Margo did my hair last night, and today, even though I’ve gained weight (curse you, Glenwood Springs and fluctuating body hormones!), I felt chic. Honestly, vainly chic. All black outfit, copper hair pulled back in 60s style. Yes, I know you wanted to see it. You have to imagine it though. It’s the end of the day, and I am no longer chic.

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Did I mention I’m on thyroid meds now? So, I have finally gotten over the leg cramping part of the adjustment period (which totally was nasty) and now my body thinks it’s a good idea to gain a little weight. Or more importantly, help me maintain the weight I put on while I was eating like a horse in Colorado. Stay tuned. This too should pass.

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Next week, expect Wiscon and retreat posts. I’ll get to as many as I can. For Wiscon, there’s one on readings for sure. I managed to get good notes for at least one panel. The rest may be all partials, alas. I’ll post what I’ve got. And then retreat pictures and comments.

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So. Good to be live again.

It’s been a while since I went to Wiscon, and there’s been another trip in between, so it seems like I’m looking through the mists of time. It was also an atypical Wiscon, because I didn’t do many of the usual Wiscon things.

I didn’t go to the Gathering. I know that’s something like sacrilege, but I hooked up with fellow Taos Toolboxer Chris East, whom it was excellent to see. We talked about…writing! It was during this time that I was introduced to my theme tea for the weekend, Evening in Missoula, which I bought a bag of to take home. I’d like to be drinking it right now!

Chris was hail and hearty and doing great, so it was good to see him. After Chris, I headed back to the hotel to hook up with Yolanda, Dan, and Lisa, the good friends that I travel to the convention with. We had dinner at Ian’s Pizza, which isn’t all that, but is the place to go if you feel the need to have, say macaroni pizza. Then Lisa and I went to opening ceremonies.

Karaoke returned this year, but unlike usually, I only sang one song. I discovered on my first song that while the audience might not have noticed, my voice cracked a couple of times, and we weren’t quite ready for that kind of vocal box activity. Thank you again, bronchitis. Still, a good time was had, and after that, I checked out some parties, went to a reading, and hit the hay.

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I’ve been staying in the Governor’s Club for the last couple of years, and I do like the free breakfast, the complimentary drinks (which are mostly non-alcoholic in my case now), and some of the lovely snacks. There is a view in the lounge of the capitol that is very pretty at night. Julia Rios and I hooked up for breakfast and chatted about this and that, and then I was off to a day of panels and readings. I’ll tell you more about them as we move through the posts.

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Hooking up with more friends is always wonderful. I had a chance to praise Chris Barzak for his new book, and chat with Will Alexander. Caroline Stevermer, Yo, Lisa, and I went out for both dinner and coffee. There were some more fly by conversations with folks. It was just nice to be free and easy, relaxed and see people. I had a chance to say hello to Kimberly Long- Ewing and volunteer at the Broad Universe table. I said hello to Eddie Schneider. Lisa Cohen, who was mistress of ceremonies at the Tiptree, was kind enough to save us dessert salon chairs by the main stage.

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I did hit a lot of parties, but I must tell you, this year Jennifer Pelland is to blame for any anti-social tendencies. Why? I made the mistake of starting Machine just before beginning the trip, and oh my. I couldn’t put that thing down. I stayed up late Sunday to finish it. This was after my reading and checking out the genderfloomp and the parties for a brief moment. It’s an excellent book, but very disturbing. Check it out, but that said, Jennifer’s autograph says not to allow children withing 300 feet of it. That’s right.

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Leaving Wiscon this year made me very pensive. One year, I’d like to go to Wiscon as an agented writer. That year will come, but two “young” writers I knew had agents this year, so to see transformation like that actually makes you believe it will happen to you in good time. Hunh. New writing problems, yes?

And I realized that this was the first part of about a month where I will be in and out of my own life. I feel a bit like a stranger in Iowa, standing in front of this computer, working in drips and drabs while I’m getting ready to go somewhere else. Like I said, pensive.

Next–I’ll talk about readings and some panels. I really didn’t do a lot of either this year, given the social stuff that was going on, but I’m happy to share what I did do.

I would like to thank Lisa Spangenberg for finding the SFWA Harassment policy for me. I’m glad they have one.

Reproduced here:

The SFWA administration, employees, members, and volunteers are responsible for assuring that all persons who participate in SFWA programs and activities do so in an atmosphere free of all forms of harassment, exploitation, or intimidation. Sexual harassment is unlawful and impedes the realization of SFWA’s mission to inform, support, promote, defend and advocate for our members. SFWA will respond promptly and effectively to reports of harassment and discrimination of any kind and will take appropriate action to prevent, to correct, and if necessary, to discipline behavior that violates this policy. This policy applies to any events or spaces sponsored by SFWA, including but not limited to the SFWA discussion Forums, the SFWA website, the Nebula Awards Weekend, and the SFWA suite.”

That’s well written. I think that now the part for SFWA to exercise is the part I’ve put in bold:

SFWA will respond promptly and effectively to reports of harassment and discrimination of any kind and will take appropriate action to prevent, to correct, and if necessary, to discipline behavior that violates this policy.

Part One: Done. I know many of the grievants have received notes from the SFWA officers. Part Two: I assume that is what is going on now. Organizational time can be a bit slower than what most people think is prompt.

But, it is clear that the gentlemen that wrote the column(s) are in clear violation of the organization’s policy. I think that the organization will be more careful about what goes into the bulletin from here on out, and I would imagine correction would be the next stage.

Good luck, SFWA Board. Again, kudos for the policy. It’s pretty flexible, and allows for almost all possibilities connected to your organization. Now, just get a link to it on the front page of your site! (Unless I am just a jet-lagged dork who can’t see it. If so, nevermind.)

Here we go.

You might remember that I’m board president of the Mindbridge Foundation. This dubious distinction means that I often get to field pleasant and unpleasant conversation as a representative of the organization. It also means I get to make the meeting agendas. Yeah. It’s a worthy thing. I also have an interest in organizations and visions because of it. So…let’s talk about SFWA.

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I’m not even there yet, but I’ve had questions about joining SFWA when I do get there. First of all, I already belong to a freakin’ huge union that gives me benefits to all sorts of wonderful support (and it is the NEA). Secondly, I may end up being a better fit in SCBWI or another organization, as I don’t know if what I write when I have a writing career will be a good fit for SFWA. And thirdly, I have a tendency to wade into messes and try to fix them, so I may stay away from SFWA just so I don’t have another item on my to do list. 🙂

And then there’s the recent controversy regarding the Bulletin.

Continue reading “Discrimination Policy: Where’s SFWA’s?”

Well, I’m back.

There are details from both Wiscon and the writing retreat that I was just on to catch up with, and I will as best I can, but I’m occupied now with getting ready to go to Vietnam and catching up with work so I can leave without leaving a black hole here. I will post as I can.

I had a great writing workshop, but I’m glad to be home with my husband at a lower altitude. Curse you mountains, why do you have to be so high?

Anyway, I suppose that I need to take a look at this SFWA thing. Because, you know, as head of a geek organization, I have a sort of interest. Post coming soon. It’ll be fraught with policies.

Anyway, nice to touch base with all of you, if only for a second. Work continues. Writing continues. Nothing else to see here, except a trip to the camping store for serious DEET and to Menards for paintbrushes.

And now, debut author J.Kathleen Cheney shares her writing process.

Tamago: Do you have a regular drafting process, or does your drafting process vary from book to book. Can you describe it to us generally, or at least for one project?

Kathleen: I’ll have to say that for the first couple of novels I wrote, I had no process. I’m now actually working on my 7th. By now, I’m finally forming a process.
1) I take a couple of weeks to do initial research and do my preliminary outline.
2) I start writing, more or less straight through the novel.
3) Once I reach the end, I re-outline, and then rewrite.
4) Once I reach the end, I re-outline, and then rewrite. (I do this twice.)
5) I let someone read it.
6) I clean it up, considering their input.
7) I submit it (to agent and editor).

Tamago: Is your writing process the same for short stories as it is for novels?

Kathleen: Surprisingly, not much different.

Tamago: Which part of writing–drafting, revising, critique from others–do you enjoy the most? Why? The least? Why?< ?em>

Kathleen: Revising. I could do that endlessly. I enjoy shaping words into what I want them to say, and every pass seems to make the meaning clearer. I dislike the outlining phase the most. It seems so unproductive, even though I know it needs to be done.

Tamago: Do you belong to a writer’s group, or do you work solo? Why do you follow the approach that you do?

Kathleen: Sadly, I work solo. I am a member of several writers groups, but I don’t have those people critique my work. It’s difficult to find the right balance in critiquing. I did have a great first reader, but she passed away recently. So for now, I’m pretty much just running things past my husband, and then turning them in.

Continue reading “The Writing Process and J.Kathleen Cheney”

And…tomorrow I’m leaving for Wiscon.

Where I’ll see some good people that I know, hang out with some wonderful friends, get some books signed, belt out some karaoke, and eat, drink, and be merry.

Since I am busy working on a Vietnam thing with students, and actually have some panels planned for Convergence in July, I am keeping my activities for Wiscon pretty light. If you’d like to hear an excerpt from my new novel The Poison of thy Flesh (or as Julia Rios likes to call it, Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Poison), that’ll be 10 pm -11:15 pm in Conference Room 2. You know, you can come all sweaty from the genderfloomp and take a break, and then go right back. There will be some book drawings and a wide diversity of things read.

And I’ll be at the sign out Monday early, just in case you win my copy of Cucurbital 3.

But mostly, I’ll be being social. So, see you there?

Catherine

Well, let’s talk about Kindle Worlds, then.

In 2001, I graduated with my PhD in second language writing after seven years. Before I began those seven years of academia, reading a ton of stuff that wasn’t about creative writing, I had this idea to become a novelist. And I’d had some nibbles, and then I went off to grad school (again!) and disappeared for seven years.

After grad school, I was rather keen to see if I could still write. So, I thought a safe arena to try this out in would be fan fiction. As it turns out, Harry Potter fan fiction. I was captivated by Book 3, The Prisoner of Azkaban. I also wondered how Rowling could build a character like Snape so he’d actually be like he was portrayed (I wasn’t one of those change Snape women who wanted to put him in Argyll socks and wash his hair.) Mind you, this is weird for me. IF the author has done their job, I am usually pleased with what there is on the page, and I never feel the need to add a foot note. But here, there were too many questions that I wanted to answer.

One day I was thinking about this Snape problem, and a voice whispered in my ear. “Come over here,” it said. “Let me tell you what happened.” And it was NOTHING like what really happened, of course. But, this is me talking about why Kindle Worlds may not be such a good idea for you fan fiction writers–namely, you don’t know what you’re going to want in the future.

Read more, if you are so inclined.

Continue reading “Kindle Worlds: A (Former) Fan Fiction Writer’s Perspective”