The Good, The Bad, and the Stalking Opp

The good, first:

Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory has won the 2011 EPIC Award for anthologies for the electronic version!  Huzzah!

 

Additionally, my friend, Dr. Anthony Francis, also one 2011 EPIC for the e-version of his excellent novel, Frost Moon.

xx

The bad:

I continue to be plagued by car issues.  I spent a good part of this weekend working because of all the time I lost sitting at the repair shop.  Especially on Friday, which was an unexpected issue, so I didn't even have my netbook or my packed "office" to get anything done in my quiet corner of the repair shop.

The silver lining?  It should be fixed now, God willing, and it didn't cost me any more.  And, with great appreciation to being a freelancer, I didn't entirely lose the money I could of made if I were working a regular hourly job.  It just meant I spent a lot of a beautiful weekend inside.  On my laptop. 

There were a few breaks, though, which I needed for sanity.  But… a lot of work.  le sigh

xx

The Stalking Opp:

I'll be at Conbust at Smith College in Northampton, MA next weekend!  J  Yay!  This is a fun little feminist convention in one of my favorite little towns out here.  I'm staying with my Mom and packing most lunches/dinners, so it's not a huge expense, either.  And I've got some great friends I see out there, too.

So, if you want to come and find me, here's my schedule:

Friday:

Tarot and Writing - 5 pm - Room 204.

Description: The Tarot is a powerful tool to help individuals discover the paths of their lives, so why not harness this power to discover the paths of your characters and stories?  You need no experience in Tarot reading.  In fact, feel free to leave what you know at the door.  We'll take a fresh look at the imagery of the cards, how to listen to our own muses and Spirit, and how to turn that into a character study - and even the basis of a plot!  Paper and pens will be provided, so be ready to write.  Everyone will come away with the beginnings of a story that they are free to pursue."

Saturday:

Character Building 101 - 11 am - Room 106. Description: "The nice thing about fiction is that you can fill the world with fascinating people you’d like to meet. Learn to round out your characters, from Our Hero(ine) to Bar Patron #3 to the talking alligator in the swamp."

Co-panelists: George Claxton, Lynn Flewelling

Faeries - 1 pm - Room 208. Description:" From Elves to the Sidhe to the Wee Free Men, fantasy is rife with various descriptions of the Fair Folk."

Co-panelist: S.J. Tucker

Sunday:

Children's Fairytales - 10 am - Room 202. Description:" 'Once upon a time...' there was a panel involving brave orphans, lost princesses, evil witches, and a fuzzy talking animal. The story continues..."

Co-panelist: Jennifer Allis Provost

Broad Universe Round Robin Reading - 11 am - Room 201. Description:" Please join our lovely ladies for a round robin of reading!"

Readers: Trish Wooldridge, Jennifer Allis Provost, Connie Wilkins, Phoebe Wray

Hope to see you!

Belated Blogging

My car has gremlins.

My personal joke about these gremlins is they are all potheads because the code they throw per the "Check Engine" light is 420.

For those of you who don’t know, the 420 code is anything potentially related to the catalyst and exhaust.  Which means, potentially, a whole bunch of crap at varying degrees of wallet devastation.  At least once a year, usually around when her sticker is due, my Buick baby (ok, my mature Buick who is pushing 200,000 miles and is 10 years old), throws this code and it's something different.  This year, she threw it a second time a month after I got my sticker. 

Most of the 420 issues are not "must fix now or your life is endangered by driving this vehicle," so I do my best to work around my favorite garage's schedule.  So, for about two weeks, we played musical appointments, and then Thursday we brought her in.  I always pack Little Rosie with me so I can get work done for the several hours I'm without my car and without a ride.  Well, we'd planned ahead for a full day on Thursday, and I was going to spend it writing at my friend's studio.

Long story short, it's Monday and we're waiting for another, entirely unexpected, part to arrive before my poor engine can be reassembled. 

Even better:  The H-of-A's car also broke over the weekend. 

Excellent!!

(H-of-A has a much easier problem than mine, a broken sway bar, that wasn't fixed at home because you need a few special tools.)

Add to that a mild stomach bug, weekend visitors, a handful of deadlines, and a few other things… and I'm terribly behind on a whole lotta stuff. 

In fact, I just remembered that I actually have this month's Broad Pod completed and ready to go by the fabulous Jean Marie Ward.  And I forgot to post it.

So, this is a brief space-holder blog for until I get home and can post the podcast.

On the other hand, my silver lining is that I've gotten a lot accomplished on Kelpie.  Waiting for repairs has some benefit.

Please wish us luck!