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While I was at Worldcon, I attended three kaffeeklatsches. There were also beer gatherings available.

For those of you who don’t know, or who go to cons that don’t have these, kaffeeklatsches are small gatherings, just the pro and 20 fans. The quality of the kaffeeklatsch is more intimate, the questions are more direct, and the stories are also less general.

I had the pleasure of visiting with Lee Harris from Angry Robot, Eddie Schneider from JABberwocky, and John Scalzi from…um…John Scalzi.

Each klatsch had its own idiom.

Lee Harris spent a lot of time talking about the history of Angry Robot, their new imprint Strange Chemistry, the open call for books that they do, and their genre combining ways. I enjoyed Harris’s sense of humor and learned a lot more about an up and coming publisher.

Eddie Schneider talked a lot about what agents do, what kind of thing his agency looks for, how agents work, and what agents want from authors. Also, there was some insightful conversation on why he became an agent and some conversations about specific book deals he’d done.

John Scalzi was his usually entertaining self. He shared information on his upcoming projects, recent discussions in fandom about creepers and harassment, his role as SFWA president, and The Old Man’s War movie.

Even if it’s illusory, the ‘klatsch makes me feel I’ve spent a little more time getting to know someone better, and I certainly get to participate in a different kind of discussion.

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Three more Worldcon posts to go!

So. You know, you go to a science fiction gathering, and there will be big names there. My roommate Michele had one major geek out moment with George R. R. Martin. She kept ramping up to get a picture and walking away without saying anything. At the third try, she finally asked. And my friend Lisa discovered we were standing behind folk singer Janis Ian on the way into the Hugos, and her fan chatter activated.

Even I can geek out, from time to time.

Continue reading “The Ursula Vernon Story”

Although this might be a more appropriate post before Worldcon last.

I thought that I would mention some of the more fun food outings that I had in Chicago, so if you find yourself downtown, looking for some food, well, you can check these places out.

Pat Scaramuzza and Beth, his SO, and Beth’s family took me and my roommate Michele to Billy Goat’s Tavern, immortalized by Saturday Night Live in their cheeseburger skits in the 70s. It was a real hole in the wall, with cheeseburgers on homemade buns, chips and soft drinks. Also, atmosphere so thick you had to cut it with a machete. For a place with character and atmosphere, not to mention economical food, it was a good trip.

And remember, if a stray billy goat wanders into your bar, the obvious thing to do is open a burger joint.

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Next up, a trip with many great writers (hello Lawrence and Fran and Oz!) to La Tavernita, which bills itself as a sexy, spirited, modern restaurant. Lots of unusual tapas and many great drinks, and you feel you are nibbling your way to oblivion in a tiny bites kind of way. Easily the tastiest restaurant I got to all weekend. It is a bit atmospheric as well. Hearing cannot always be your main priority at La Tavernita.

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Finally, a Chicago staple for pizza, Giordano’s. Michele and I went for the deep dish lunch special. We were not disappointed, and it did seem appropriate to have at least some Chicago style pizza in Chicago.

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The con was wonderful, which meant I found myself more often eating next to the hotel or in the hotel. I will say that the Indian restaurant near the hotel, Khyber Pass, was pretty bad, and I can’t recommend it to anyone. When we ate there, the buffet was poorly stocked, overpriced, and spoiled. Bleah.

DaddyO’s, the hotel’s Irish pub was adequate, but nothing special. Similarly, Houlihan’s was fine, although the reputation was a bit overrated.

But The Bistro at 151 gave me a couple of notable meals. Their portabello mushroom sandwich was faboo, and if you get stuck in the area, this is probably where you should eat. I thought that the green omelette I had while breakfasting with Jeannette and her husband was pretty all right.

There are, of course, a great many wonderful restaurants in Chicago. I regret that I was much too busy to get away from the hotel to try them, but them’s the breaks at a good convention.

Next Chicago post…I promise the Ursula Vernon story.

Cath

I thought it might be useful for me to share the life changes that I’m making as I learn to live with my osteoarthritis, as some of you out there might find these changes to be useful information. I’ll freely admit that a lot of what I’ve learned over the last few days is daunting, and I will have to make some Lifestyle Changes (TM) that are probably going to require time and effort from me. Woo.

So, food is going to be my most important focus. Why? Because I am 70 pounds overweight, and every single thing I read about osteoarthritis, particularly that of the knees, tells you that you must get weight off. After the pain of this last week, I am totally there.

The trick is how to get the weight off. I haven’t had too much success in recent years with that, so I thought that maybe doing some research into what was good and bad for arthritis sufferers might be in order.

Let’s start with the no’s.

Continue reading “Living with Osteoarthritis: Food”

with Joshua Bilmes, J. Kathleen Cheney, Courtney Schafer, and Bryce Moore.

There were a wide variety of ways these people gained their agent. Joshua Bilmes is an agent, and he reps Bryce Moore.

Bryce began in a writing group with Brandon Sanderson, one of Joshua’s clients. He spent years sending books to Joshua while he also subbed other agents. An editor ultimately offered him a deal, and Joshua took him on.

Courtney went the route of sending a query, partial, and then full to Becca Stump, who reps her. After some revising, there was an offer of representation.

Jeannette (J. Kathleen Cheney) signed up for a pitch with her dream agent at a convention.

One of the things all the panelists agreed upon is that doing any research into the world of agents is a plus. Many people just send work out into the universe.

Make sure you have a finished book. A finished fiction book. That is your best work. And then you can think about submitting.

Continue reading “Worldcon Panel: How I Got My Agent”

One of the reasons I like Obama is that he has an inherent sense of fun. He, and I by default, celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day.

The caption for the Tweet? Arr you in?

Hoping to start the World Con posts tomorrow.

Catherine

Not just my age, but well, it’s a big number today.

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I just had an interesting exchange on Twitter, not so much with a Romney supporter, but with an Obama non-supporter. There were a lot of interesting things said. At first he thought maybe I was trying to disprove what he thought, but no, I was interested to see what he thought. I carpooled to Worldcon with a guy in the back seat who thought much the same.

One hundred and forty characters per message is no way to find out about anyone’s basis for an ideology. And the guy was really convinced of the truth of what he was saying, which did sound a lot like what you heard at the Republican National Convention. If he were a composition student, I’d ask him to get some facts and counterarguments. I figured it was more important to be civil, and perhaps create the image that all we liberals are not delusional. I’m pretty sure I didn’t create that image, but I was polite. And he was informative, which I appreciated. And we disagree heartily, which I have to respect, even though you know, I think differently and I wouldn’t be happy in his version of America.

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So, I would have written a post about Romney’s “private” statement, but instead, let me help you a little with some of those facts and counterarguments written by other logical, eloquent people.

First of all, direct from Scalzi’s Whatever, Misconceptions and Realities about Who Pays Taxes. What this article does is look at the demographic of taxes, and who pays what. A really salient fact from this article:

When all federal, state, and local taxes are taken into account, the bottom fifth of households pays about 16 percent of their incomes in taxes, on average. The second-poorest fifth pays about 21 percent.

It’s a good article, and it really breaks the number 47 down in interesting ways.

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Next up, John Scalzi writes more or less the post that I would write myself, except you know, I overpay my taxes every year because I live in fear that my deductions will shift in a less friendly America. Usually I get a nice return as a result, but better safe than sorry.

And finally, from Jay Lake and the Daily Beast (truly your liberal media), some speculation on what Romney’s campaign may mean for the Republican party.

I’ve actually wondered about this for sometime, as I’ve had a lot of conversations with really conservative Republicans, moderate Republicans and RiNOs, and there seems to be a real lack of unity here. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.

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Let’s try to remember there’s a campaign on out there. Remember, what you say does count.

I am sorry for being Spammy McSpamerston today. Last one. Promise.

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When I was a girl, I had a friend at school whose grandfather was dying because he was diabetic and he couldn’t change his eating habits. He would do okay for a bit, but the family always had to ride him hard, and he would decide to go off his diet. By the time he died, he was wheel chair bound and had seriously impaired vision.

I remember thinking that I would never jeopardize my health like that.

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About my 45th birthday, I had a talk with my doctor about how I wasn’t losing weight, and how she was okay if I was eating well and exercising. At that time, I began to pursue vintage clothing and try to enjoy my body as I thought it would be. I freely admit that I am not comfortable wearing this much weight. It slows me up when I travel, and I can’t do the things I used to, but I figured that this was the way it was going to be, because I hadn’t been having success.

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And now I have osteoarthritis. A good friend of mine sent me some very good information about arthritis. It is all about joints. My swelling is in my right ankle and right knee, both of which I injured when I was younger. I am to lay off exercise for two weeks, keep liberally applying ice, and ease back into physical activities.

Another thing that helps people with arthritis is losing weight.

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So, here I am again. You may know that I’ve been part of Weight Watchers, more or less maintaining my weight while eating better. But at this point, I’m willing to do something that isn’t easy because I’m in a great deal of pain right now.

So, it’s going to come down to the big three again: 1. Drink your water. 2. Eat your veggies. 3. Avoid sweets. While I eat healthy, I need to now think about doing things to take this weight off my defective joints.

The other thing I have to do is keep moving. Tonight Bryon and I will play some Wii kayak. You sit, you row. As long as it doesn’t use the legs, I can do it. And then, gradually and slowly, I will work my walking back up to snuff.

So, now it’s not just about body image. It’s about health. And yeah, logically, weighing about 70 pounds less would be less pressure on my knee and ankle.

Feh. I wish this were easy.

Catherine

As part of the effort to consider myself more authorly, I’m going to get back in the habit of doing these posts. Here are all the projects I have going at the moment.

Since this is more for me, I will put a lovely little cut here, although you are welcome to take a peek.

Continue reading “What I’m Working on Now”

Courtesy of Lawrence Schoen at Paper Golem:

Cucurbital 3 is the seventh work published by Paper Golem, and continues the series of mini-anthologies that provide a peek into the writing process itself. Authors are always asked two questions: “where did you get the idea for your story?” and “how do you go from idea to finished tale?” This series offers insight into the second question by handing the book’s authors the answer to the first one. Here are nine short stories that began with the same three prompts: madness, darkness, mattress. They cover the spectra from comic to mythic, absurd to poignant, pragmatic to breathtaking.

Nine Authors • Three Prompts • One Anthology

Edited by Campbell and Hugo Award nominee Lawrence M. Schoen, Cucurbital 3 is distributed by Ingram.

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This is the book that Mark Twain’s Daughter is appearing in. For ordering information, go here. While you are waiting for Cucurbital 3, you can buy some of these other awesome books as well.

Cath