An In-Between Moment

Hey there.

I’m back from Convergence, where both Bryon and I usually have a great time. This time was no exception. I enjoyed myself immensely, if not always because of the convention, then certainly because of what Minneapolis has available.

We saw Voltaire sing, I had a great visit with Caroline, the Broad Universe Rapid Fire reading went smoothly, and I saw Labyrinth and part of Wrath of Khan in Cinema Rex.

A couple of the more interesting panels I saw were an anthropological examination of Steampunk, and a Dr. Who writer’s stories about working for Russell T. Davies.

Went to see Last Airbender Sucked all the joy right out of it, and sort of missed the point of the original. I hypothesize that if you haven’t seen the original cartoon, you’ll be scratching your head a lot.

All ready signed up for next year’s Convergence, and took the time to register for North American Disc World in Madison next year as well.

Yes, I am still writing for the Clarion Write-a-Thon. This is the week of chapter six. Why don’t you send in some money? To any of us? Even me, if you like…

Catherine

Busy-ness

That was a blindingly busy weekend. We had dinner with friends on Friday, moved the in-laws to a more accessible apartment and had another dinner with another friend Saturday, and saw that most cultured of films, Jonah Hex with a third friend on Sunday. The evening was polished off with a psychedelic movie about Revelations.

And…I got my line edits for Crystal Vision (the next Swill, coming out in August), and had to respond to a series of interview questions for the local paper Iowa Source about Hulk Hercules.

So, yes, I am going to spend my evening catching up for the Write-a-thon, as I need to make up some time for yesterday.

Great big and all kinds of shout-outs to Catrina, Shannon, and Brent, who have already sent lovely money. Remember guys, every bit helps a fledgling writer.

Gotta go get a shot, buy some spaghetti, and get my butt in a chair.

Catherine

Birthday Thanks, Bits of This and That

Thank you all for the birthday wishes yesterday. I spent most of my birthday in meetings for the glory of the college, and every one of them ran late. Bryon took me out for dinner and dessert, and darned if that didn’t take some time too. And well, I won’t talk about afterwards, but yes, I didn’t have what you would call a productive day yesterday. It was a wonderful day nevertheless. It’s always a good day when you get roses.

Interesting birthday trivia. Even though we roomed together for a week at Viable Paradise, I did not know that Chia Evers and I shared June 10th as our birthday. That’s cool.

Today I’m waiting for Russian lessons, but something must have come up. Olga has a Russian friend who’s in the hospital with a serious affliction, and I could well imagine she’s translating somewhere. I have a meeting with the Iowa City dean and my dean about expanding ELA offerings down here, so I would have been here anyway. Yes, I know it’s Friday. That’s why I took a large chunk of Wednesday off to write.

And speaking of writing…O-Taga-San still needs clean up. I’ve gotten some great feedback, and I’ll get that in there. I received a yes to my query, so now I have to send in the story.

Early next week work will be killer, as we have some students coming for a summer program. I expect to have Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning, and all of Friday to write, however. I’m in Kaz Mahoney‘s summer camp. This troll novel will be done by August. Enough is enough.

I’ll see you all again after my story is off.

Catherine

Forty-five

I like the birthdays with fives and zeros. This particular birthday has the bonus of being divisible by 9, which happens only, say, every 9 years. 🙂

I also finished O-Taga-San last night. A little polishing, and it’ll be ready to go out.

I have to admit, I feel pretty good this birthday. My lost weight is making me feel more zippy, and writing always makes me feel less compressed.

How are you this fine June day?

Catherine