Conbust Schedule!

Three months into the year, and it’s a FOURTH convention schedule I’m posting! Woohoo!

(At some point my personal blog posts will be more than convention schedules; I promise! I have thoughts on a variety of things and some health updates, too...)

Anyway, I know it sounds redundant, but this is another beloved convention of mine! Conbust!

Conbust is a student-run feminist SF/F convention held at Smith College every spring.  I found out about Conbust through Broad Universe, not realizing that such a gem was basically in my back yard. 

(I grew up in Springfield, about 15-20 minutes from Northampton.)

I have a pretty ambitious schedule this year at Conbust, so if you’re looking to follow me to all my panels (and they are pretty awesome panels, so you might want to), make sure you are loaded up on your favorite coffee or energy product! I’m scheduled in the very first panel slot, the very last—with eight panels in between!

Also, I’ll be traveling to and from the convention with my friend and editing colleague, Suzanne Lahna, who has their first novella out.  They’ll be on a bunch of excellent panels, too. Find out more on their blog!

Since Conbust is on a college campus, I won’t be hosting a party here, and we don’t have either a Broad Universe or New England Horror Writers table here, so it’s all panels and catching up with some of the great people I only get to see at this convention. I’m excited!

Oh—quick note, these aren’t the official convention descriptions. They’re mine—and subject to change depending on the audience / panelists.  I’m also not listing the panelists here because there were some last minute changes that I don’t know got finalized... but just check the guest list!  I’m on panels with almost all of these spectacular people!

Without further ado, here’s where I’ll be:

Friday, March 23; 5:00 PM; Room 101 – Fandom and Criticism

Can you criticize what you love? Should you? Why is it important?

Friday, March 23; 6:00 PM; Room 201 – Hero, Protagonist

Discussing writing the protagonist hero, or analyzing them.

Saturday, March 24; 9:00 AM; Room TBA – Believable Fight Scenes

This was my favorite panel of last year’s Conbust. Actual reenactment fighters play out writer battle scenes! Of course, now I need to figure out which gods’ awful fight scene of mine needs the most work / will provide the most entertainment to the audience...

Saturday, March 24; 10:00 AM; Room 101 – Suspension of Disbelief

What throws a reader out of a story? How can writers avoid these pitfalls? What’s the term “Flying Snowman” (coined by John Scalzi) and what does it mean to writers and readers?

Saturday, March 24; 11:00 AM; Room 109 – Freelancing: More Ways to Make Money Writing

This panel will discuss the ways people can make a living working with words. No, it’s not easy, but it’s also not impossible. See if this career works for you or if you want to stick to the day job.

Saturday, March 24; 2:00 PM; Room 204 – Everything but the Writing

Note above panel on making money while writing? That’s Making Money Writing 101.  This is Making Money Writing 102 and talks about the business decisions you’ll have to make if you decide you want to make money while writing.

Saturday, March 24; 4:00 PM; Room 109 – Children’s Fairy Tales

Fairy tales is my jam. So is writing for kids. This is a thing that far predates my efforts, though, so I love studying and talking about it. Come discover all the nerdy, geeky goodness children’s fairy tales have to offer!

Saturday, March 24; 5:00 PM; Room 109 – Fairies

Rather apropos that this is in the same room immediately following Children’s Fairy Tales. Except the fey are NOT just for children. In fact, they can be kind of predatory on children—or humans in general. And they go waaaay beyond “fairy tales.”

Sunday, March 25; 9:00 AM; Room 106 – Female Protagonists / Female Villains

Because, yes, we still really need to talk about women characters, how they’re included in stories, and how authentic they are.

Sunday, March 25; 1:00 PM; Room 102 – A Monster Manual Beyond Dragons

There’s already a panel about how awesome dragons are, but other fantastical creatures need and deserve our love, too! Find out about other magical beasts and their proper care and feeding.

Sunday, March 25; 2:00 PM; Room 204 – Tarot and Writing

Two great tastes that taste great together! I love giving this workshop at convention. Come learn a little about the Tarot and how you can use it in your life and writing.

There it is! It is SUPER crazy, and I am SUPER excited because it’s my last convention until probably July. I am so excited to return, and SUPER excited to catch up with a lot of amazing people.

The Great Recovery of 2012

It seems more of this year has been recovering:

Recover from Scott's trip

Recover from Arisia

Recover from Boskone

Recover from arrival of new roommate

Oh, yes, an old friend has moved in with me.  :)  I'm very happy about it, but there is a lot of work involved because my house really is quite a mess.

I'm back in that pattern of reaction as opposed to pro-action…

Or not… it was my invitation that brought Katie here, and part of that plan was some serious house fixin' work.  To make Scott's old room livable, I knew there would be a lot of work.  It was pro-active.

But now, I have to react to fit the rest of my life around this.

As it is, I'm going to have to work around much more travel than I planned: two extra international trips to visit Scott.

"Work around" sounds so negative… it's AMAZING to get this chance to travel with my Husband-of-Awesome.  It's an opportunity I can't miss.  But, I do still have responsibilities and deadlines (many of those new, too) that must be balanced around the opportunity.

My blog has not been as regular as I'd like, though.  I'm back to making it a work in progress.

I'll aim for Monday and Thursday updates for now.  That's about all I can promise.  There are too many Fridays that I am traveling and Thursday nights I'm prepping. 

I'll do my best to keep things updated… like, ahem, my website… for which I'll send my webmistress edits tomorrow night.  (And I'll see if I can sneak in a person-to-person visit amidst my errands tomorrow.)

In any case, it's another reinventing of my work, my job "title," and, in essence, my life.

And I'm happy to share it for all its lessons.

Monday's News and Organizational Blog

The snow is disappearing!  The snow is disappearing!

Even the "neighbors" are happy.  Or they are just so sick of it that they'll get this close for a picture in case it may provide food.

In any case, more sunlight means I can get more done!  Why?  Well, there's the biological, vitamin D thing.  And the psychological and emotional need for at least a little sun - even for this semi-stealth Goth girl.

Of course, it so happens that there's plenty to do with this increased energy and sunlight.  Here's some of what's been going on:

A teaser: I've seen the sketches for the UnCONventional cover, and they are fabulous!  I can't share yet, but I squeed all day despite the aggravation of being late on some of my reviews.

If you're interested in being part of this excellent anthology, our submission guidelines are up here.  Check 'em out!

xx

I met with my webmistress about a redesign of my website.  :)  Have I actually gotten my news updates to her yet?

Um.

*scribbles on to-do list.*

xx

My email inbox is still just under 150 emails that need me to do something at sometime… so, uh, if you're waiting for some sort of response from me, you're welcome to email me again with a  virtual kick in the caboose.

xx

Still working on Big Editing Project, and I've got a bunch of equine writing deadlines this week.  Along with the few team reviews I'm behind on… but those WILL get done when I wake up.

xx

I'm slowly moving forward on Kelpie.  I met up with a few more writing friends from the Common Ground group that was active a few years ago, and they're pushing, too.  I also owe a letter and a copy of the UnCONventional open call to my correspondence writing group.

xx

I'm waiting for checks.  And that just sucks.

xx

I need to go to bed so I can now be better prepared to do all this stuff that I didn't do today… when I wake up on Monday/today.

This is even more "Bits and Ends" than my usual.  Therefore, it needed a different name.  Logically.

Yes, I'm tired.  Happy day!

A Very Late "Bits and Ends"

We're a week into February, and I'm feeling the crazy-busy of the month big time.  So much that I was up so late last night that I didn't have time to blog.  (And then, promptly, overslept… bring on the Vitamin D and Sunshine!)

So, in a semi-chaotic, Manic Monday form, here's some stuff I'm doing that I hope you enjoy!

Saturday, February 11th, 12-3PM

ROMANCE READINGS at

Stained Glass Creations and Beyond

2 River Road, Stafford Springs, CT.

Because Renée and Sean are close friends, their store gets my very special reading rates:

$10 - individual

$15 - couple

Each reading is about 15 minutes long, possibly 20 for a couple.

Please come out.  If you've never seen the Tarot Reader side of me, I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised.  Thanks!

xx

Sunday, February 12th

Romance Broad Pod!!

Five Awesome Broads share snippets of romance fiction from their novels in the Broad Universe sponsored podcast based on our popular Rapid Fire Reading events at science fiction/fantasy conventions.  Now you can enjoy the fun from the comfort of your mp3 player every month.

http://broadpod.posterous.com

xx

Sunday, February 27

Broadly Speaking: Writing Romance hosted by Rae Lori

I can't tell you how excited I am about this second Broad Universe podcast!  We're interviewing authors based on the topics of the Broad Pod, and it's a whole lot of fun - and educational, too!  We talk about writing technique, research, craft, marketing… whatever we can in our 30 minutes.  Please, tune into this second episode!

http://broadlyspeaking.posterous.com

xx

Besides those public things:

I'm meeting with my writer's group tomorrow, which is always fun and wonderfully inspiring for me.

I've got three more article deadlines for the month.

I've got a fabulous new project I'm starting this month that I signed an NDA on.  ;)  (So, I can't tell ya' 'bout it!)

I need to get back to Conbust (in the next few days) with the details about my Tarot and Writing workshop!  (So, go to Conbust!  Register now!)

I need to catch up on my fiction submissions (1 submission all year, alas!)

There's 200 emails just sitting in my inbox, most needing pretty quick action.

I have the first set of Spot-Checks and reviews due for my tutoring team.

Oh, and I actually want to spend some time with my horse, cat, rabbit, and husband… y'know?  Selfish stuff like that.

So, that's why my Manic Monday blog is so flipping late.  And why there's a bunch of you still waiting for responses from me… for which I apologize very much!  I'm continuing to work - promise!

Fantasy Friday I (because I'm sure there will be more)

After a horrific drive to my chiropractor appointment during Snopacalypse 3 of the past 2 weeks, I decided to wait for the state of Massachusetts to get its Commonwealth butt in gear to actually plow and sand the roads.  So, I pulled into Sturbridge Coffee House and wrote another scene and a half of Kelpie over breakfast and coffee.  When the sun came out, I noticed the lamppost and path through the woods directly in front of my car.

Which is where I wish I could tell you was where I lost all my time.

Alas, no.  It was work.  And snow removal (note how short the lamppost looks.  Yeah, snow.).  And a minor diversion into Volume Two of Skin-Horse, which I bought at Arisia.

And a conference call about a cool new editing/educating opportunity.

And calls for the dried fruit & nut article I'm working on.

That is why my blog is posting at, like, 11PM at night.

But it's here!

And it will be short(ish).  Because I still have sh*t to do!

Some briefs:

Great write-up of Arisia here, which specifically mentions the wonderfully well-run "Take Back the Sci-Fi" panel.

Every other panel was also a great time.  As I mentioned on my schedule, I had some amazing panelists behind the tables with me.  I was on 10 panels… and I'm so not ready to recap them all.  The Broad Universe reading went well, and our party was fantastic… full almost all night with lots of compliments on the food. :)  (I put together tea party like snacks: mini sandwiches (salmon mousse, cucumber, pomegranate sweet pepper), prosciutto-wrapped figs with goat cheese, prosciutto-wrapped melon, Danielle's fabulous hummus (with people coming back just for that!) … and yeah, Yay Broad Universe Party!

Also, Whee-Yay-Squee for the Pi-Con party which was happening right across the hall from the Broad Universe party. 

And now that the website says it, I can "Officially" announce that I am the Guest of Awesome at Pi-Con this year!  Wooooooooooo!!!  It's true!  The Interwebz provez it!  You will here more of me saying why else you need to come to the convention - trust me!

(Here's me at the Pi-Con party with Nchanter and Mike who does programming! - Thanks Justine for the camera, and Scott for taking the pic!)

Also, special thanks to Danielle, Roxanne, Justine Graykin, Kate Kaynak, and Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert for helping me out with both the party and covering table hours when everyone in Broad Universe was otherwise engaged. 

You are all made of WIN!!

And now, I must return to work!

Happy weekend. :)

Working for yourself…

Dear Hooman, WTF?!

… is that constant, "I gotta get this done" mixed with the entire purpose of wanting to work from home or work for yourself: Freedom!

I don't wanna be chained to the desk or a schedule. 

I like that fact that I can shoot out to go visit a friend who, well, likely needs a friend.  Or I can escape to a wonderful artist studio to get some writing done.  Or I can write while eating a delicious lunch.  Or that I can make my schedule around playing with my horse.

But… I still have work to do.

When I'm sick, I can - in theory - take some time off.

But… no one else will do the work.

It's a constant mental struggle sometimes.  I have a strong work ethic.  (Thanks, Mom! :) )  I also know the value of being true to one's physical, mental, and spiritual needs.

Like not signing on right away on a Sunday after playing with friends and your horse because the kitty just looks so cute in this nifty bow that came from a gift basket you won at the latest horse rescue fundraiser…

I iz soooo impressd wit these ribbons and pumpkin. Can't U tell?

… besides that, as I think I've mentioned, I've been going straight for the past few weeks.  Saturday I finally got my "crash and burn" day and slept in until about 3PM before shambling downstairs for H-of-A's pumpkin waffles and then going out to dinner (ok, that "counts" as work as it was a review) and then seeing a movie (back to my Day of Rest).

I totally needed it.  I was getting cranky as well as sick.

Can't U C I'z trying to sleep?  GTFO of mai face with dat camera!

In any case, this week is….. HALLOWEEN! 

Samhain for many of my friends. 

Also coolness for this week:

A'ight. Wuz kyoot 4 u.  Food nao!!

Voltaire!!  Who I actually wrote a blog about a while ago because he's a great inspiration to me as an artist/writer/make-$-by-doing-what-I-love kinda person. He'll be HERE in Worcester!!  I'm so psyched!

And THEN, also coolness, I will be on the RADIO!  :)  Dr.Chris, who I met at Rock and Shock the last weekend ago, invited me, my H-of-A, and other cool horror-y writers and other folk to be on his radio show on Halloween!  So, if you are local, it's WCUW or hop online at www.wcuw.org and stream us from 8PM until midnight (Eastern Time) on Halloween!

Now, as for that whole freedom thing?  Yeah, announcements made:  I'm going to bed!

Happy Halloween & Blessed Samhain!