Manic Yet Writerly… bunch of days…

I'm reminded of my earlier comment about having to figure out automatic posts BEFORE I next travel.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook & Twitter, you may already know I'm stuck in a Comfort Inn in Detroit.

Not in the city mind you… on the outskirts of the Detroit Metro airport… which is not entirely bad. My hotel window looks out over some beautiful farmland and a pretty bush that looks like honeysuckle, but if I were down south, I'd have smelled it through my window, so it's either a non-scented northern version or something else. I scared a poor little chickadee doing lower back and calf stretches by the open window; poor thing doesn't realize the screen is bolted closed.

The smoker before me did and burrowed a tiny hole in the bottom where cigarette ash betrays their peccadillo – if my lungs hadn't already clued me in when they required an extra inhaler puff.

I thought it was just the stress of having my flight cancelled after running through the hellishly long corridors of Detroit Metro.

Regardless, I had intended a rant post about crappy flying, but while I'm still indignant, I'm not furious… and I fully intend to negotiate with Delta about making sure I don't pay double luggage and seeing what they can do for me regarding plane tickets for Dragon*Con. I have been very nice and cooperative – if not pitiful or sweet enough to get a nice pilot to kindly skip to the front of the line for me to obtain some basic info, a hotel voucher, and then walk me to the shuttle area in said hellishly long airport. There were very, very many families who were absolutely hysterical because they had to get home to children and sitters. One woman who got word of a death on her cell phone right beside me. And two other families who had separated from children on the connecting flight and now the children (not little, but around their teens) were "home" and they were not.

So, I gird myself for calm negotiating now because I do have a Husband-of-Awesome who is picking me up at midnight on a work night… who I really hope I can get a free or steeply discounted flight for over Labor Day weekend. And no kids.

(To those of you who ask me why I don't have kids yet, see above comments.)

The cause for this disaster? Heavy thunderstorms and torrential downpour & flash flooding at the airports in Detroit and Chicago.

How am I also turning this Writerly post (because, it ought to be pretty evidently manic)?

If you're flying to conferences or conventions…

Don't use those cutesy carry-ons that look like mini suitcases. They are the first to get put below when you have an overstuffed flight where everyone uses them as their two carry on items. Get yourself a small duffle or high-school sized backpack (No, not one of those fancy hiking packs!)

And then pack your netbook (or laptop, though I strongly suggest you get a durable netbook or something of similar small size) in it's protective skin, surrounded by one spare set of clothes, underwear, extra socks, and pajamas, along with all your charging wires (for cell and computer), your important jewelry, and paperwork and/or reading material.

Ladies (and open minded men) you can also carry a small purse (or a small laptop bag that may function as a purse).

The back-pack or duffle should be squishy enough to go below the seat in front of you along with said purse or laptop bag because those stupid carry-ons DO NOT. And if you can get it under the seat in front of you, you won't lose it!

Things that I will now ensure to take in my carry on? Toothbrush, toothpaste. The hotel ran out of it.

I did have baby wipes though (long story, but I keep them in my purse). They make a great facial cleanser in a pinch. I also have a tiny handcream and moisturizing hand sanitizer in my purse. The hand sanitizer also makes a decent facial moisturizer while traveling because stress makes me much more likely to break out – and that is the best anti-zit treatment besides straight-up triple-antibiotic gel to destroy threatening or existing zits.

Looking ahead, and assuming I _survive_ (cue melodramatic music and hand stapled to forehead gestures) the trip back home, Foodie Friday will be usurped by Feminist Friday where I'll disclose my Wiscon adventures… and the Friday after that will resume Foodie-ness because there's lots of fun food to talk about from this trip.

In the mean time, grab a copy of Massachusetts Horse magazine or buy a book from K.S. Augustin and help the awesome horses that I'm missing at the Bay State Equine Rescue.

Also – happy thoughts for making it home tonight are much appreciated!!

Stalk me at Wiscon!

Feminist Friday usurps Foodie Friday today – despite my many food adventures in South Carolina. (I'll write more about those later.)

In any case, I'm at Wiscon, now, and want you to find me.

Why?

Well, I should have some copies of the NEW Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory, and even if I don't, I'll have BAF copies and BAF 2, as well as The Unicorn & The Old Woman… And other Poems.

There's also this really nifty bunch of panels that I'm on:

Flesh-Colored Bandages and Skin Jobs in Real Life & SF

Friday, 5/28; 4:00-5:15 PM

Senate B

Fat Sex – There's More to it than YS PLS

Friday, 5/28; 10:30-11:35 PM

Conference 5

The Future of Food (Look – still a food mention for Foodie Friday!)

Saturday, 5/29; 2:30-3:45 PM

Assembly

The Cultural Construction of Sexuality

Saturday, 5/29; 4:00-5:15 PM

Assembly

Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading

Sunday, 5/30; 4:00-5:15 PM

Assembly

Oooh – and a Broad Universe Party starting at 8PM Sunday Night. Feel free to De-Con-Press with us over wine, beer, tea, coffee, some tasty aperitifs – and, of course, our favorite books. The location will be announced on the flyers – or ask a Broad!

See you there!

Faerie Gates and Gardens

I'm spending today/Wednesday at Brookgreen Gardens, one of the must-go places whenever I'm down here at Myrtle Beach.

In fact, the Gardens figured in when I asked Danielle about what sorts of stories she needed for the new Bad-Ass Faeries anthology. She said something to the effect of not having received anything post-Apocalyptic… or with gangs… or with demigods, well, I took it as a challenge to include as much of that as possible and texted Christy.

That night, a scene popped into my head.

It took place in Brookgreen Gardens.

This weekend, Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory debuts. I'm hoping to have some copies for Wiscon – and Danielle is having a Legendary Triple Launch at Balticon – that promises to be Bad-Ass for all you faerie-lovers.

In celebration of that, I'm giving you all a sneak peak – cameo setting: Brookgreen Gardens!

Nancy could smell the salty swamp that had replaced the entrance fountain. A pile of rocks stood like a cairn in the center. She struggled to remember what statue the stones commemorated.

Timo slowed his bike alongside her and Morrow. “Where’s the Gate?”

“The Children’s Garden.”

“Is it blocked or protected?” Morrow asked. “This was a public place.”

“It was token-activated. You need a Faerie token to get through.”

They left the motorcycles and wandered past brick and glass piles that had been the visitor center and gift shop. More kudzu and vines Nancy didn’t recognize—a sickly purple—overgrew both structures. The copper children that once stood saluting an American flag had fallen into warped monuments of deformed bodies around an unadorned flagpole.

The world swam as fear-tainted memories spun in her mind, twisting like the surroundings. She stumbled, unable to see. Vikar caught her before she collapsed.

Timo squatted before her. “I can still feel it here. You’re going to go home.” Her eyes were drawn to his necklace. She could see what resembled electric sparks in its depths. What was the story behind that token? He continued, “I can feel it.” He looked at the rest of the gang. “Can’t you all?” He was met with three nods.

Dee whispered, “This really the last one?”

Timo replied, “If there’re others, they’re too small or private like this one . . . we’d never find them unless someone knew about them.” Grinning wickedly, he transformed into a red squirrel, circled around them, then disappeared into the trees. He looked alien in the barren garden.

As they entered the Palmetto Grove, Nancy looked at the wrought iron statue of Orpheus and Eurydice. Vines had pulled Eurydice from her pedestal and half into the ground. Hades was reaching to consume her because Orpheus had so impatiently looked behind. The demigod’s harp lay in pieces on the ground, tainted by lichen.

Staring over her shoulder, she walked into Morrow’s tense back. “Huh?”

“Hand the human over...”

Please, make sure to purchase your copy of Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory this weekend! It's already available via Mundania Press here. Or, if you're going to Balticon or Wiscon, look for it in the book rooms!

Automatic blog updating, Vacation, and Painful Sushi

Dees auto blog update thingies… I needz to figurz it outz.

I suppose that also goes with, you know, writing blog posts ahead of time, too.

Yeah… working on that.

I'll keep you posted. Assuming this damned hotel WiFi lets me…

Meantime, one of the many particularly cool things of this trip:

My husband is a Bushido Legend!!

No, he hasn't been playing with swords, but he did beat the Spicy Tuna Maki Challenge at the Bushido Restaurant in Charleston, SC.

(My very important role in this matter was cheering him on, documenting, and making sure the waitress kept him stocked with tea.)

I'm very proud of him!!

Now… to bed!

Southern Eating

Every year Scott and I go on vacation down to Myrtle Beach. (Potential robbers: We have a security system and friends in police and fire!)

In any case, we are here… in the land of fried chicken, fried pork chops, vegetables like fried okra and that heavenly concoction of liquid sugar flavored with tea (aka sweet tea).

It's not at all good for my diet.

On the other hand, I do an awful lot of walking down here: walks along the beach, walks through Brookgreen Gardens (looking for hidden gates to Faerie), and walking around the shopping stops. Oh – and horseback riding. :)

But Southern food is definitely a great cuisine. While I see lots of "Southern style" cooking up North, there is very little that actually resembles what I eat down here. We hit the "cheap" buffet restaurants, yet the food is still good quality. Also unlike the "affordable" restaurants back home, the servers are also all extremely polite, so eating out is always a pleasant experience.

(Except for the aforementioned diet guilt, of course.)

As a food reviewer, the overall flavor, quality, and service down here is always high. On the other hand, while these buffets have plenty of selection, they are all very similar… it's clearly Southern and American cuisine. There was some "teriyaki" chicken, and nachos, and tacos… but they were still "American." There are more Japanese restaurants around here now, and some Italian-American restaurants, but there is not a lot of ethnic restaurants nor any restaurants that cater to "healthy" or organic eating. There aren’t a lot of bistros or coffee houses – and that I miss.

Now, Myrtle Beach is also a "tourist" town, so there would be a lot of conformity and touristy places – those familiar restaurants that families can all go to because they know their picky-eating family members will eat something. It's not a real college town, and it's not urban… so I'm sure that has a lot to do with the lack of diversity.

The question is, what do you think is more important: Have a few things that are ALWAYS good? Or have a wide diversity where a cuisine or restaurant could be excellent – or just "different"?

Meet the Voices in my Head

I'm far too distracted to do any useful blogging right now. My mind knows I'm going on vacation (next few blogs will be coming from Myrtle Beach (there's a reason for that particular link - you'll see next week!) and Wiscon!), and my characters are already fighting for who will get the time I don't dedicate to horseback riding, painting, or -gasp!- perchance… relaxing!

First things first: A giant THANK YOU! to K.S. Augustin who already donated towards the BSER Blogathon! You've met her here before for the Great Broad Blog Out, but now I get to ask even more fun questions of her… Homework: Go buy her books! They are HOT!

Now, thanks to second hand advice and conversations from my friend, Victoria Durm, per her meetings with Mark David Gerson, I'm going to introduce you to a few of the people who are contending for my attention.

Heather MacArthur is an 12-year-old with the good fortune of living in a haunted and magical castle in Scotland with her crazy family, and the questionable luck of… living in a haunted and magical castle in Scotland with her crazy family. She lives in a potential series of novels that started off as an idea for a short story.

Aurelio Sangreleyes, a vampire of more than a few centuries, is torn between the duties of protecting his race and a blood promise to protect a 15-year-old orphan (Sophia Marquez) - whose duty seems to be driving Aurelio crazy. Aurelio lives in a comic I'm writing with my friend Stef Gannon in which the story wouldn't manifest itself in any good writing until I realized the comic book medium.

Thomas is a "biomech" who dares challenge the status quo of human-android relations by falling in love and risking everything for the human he loves. And, if that's not bad enough, he insists has a soul and has the data to prove it. He lives in two different novels, one that's about 2/3 drafted, the other only a synopis. (Thomas also looks like David Tennant.)

Alec Bradshaw is having some "issues" with immortality and immortal beings. During the Apocalypse. Oh, and he's supposed to help stop said Apocalypse with the unattainable girl he loves. Alec lives in the novel (and potential sequels) that I'm currently working with Christy on.

Kyra Starbard is meant to continue the family legacy of interpreting the future from the stars' songs. Her deafness, incurable by the best medics, breaks her mother's heart and pushes her father to explore anything to help his little girl--including the expensive purchase of a telepathic alien servant to help Kyra communicate on a planet inhospitable to unfixable genetic defects. She is currently querying agents with her best friend, Marne.

Lily Minor knows that graveyards are safe because her mother never locks the doors there - and when decision proves dangerous, the cemetery angels come to life and dead relatives come to their aid. Lily lives in a short story that is basically done with some minor edits from my correspondence writing group.

… And those are just who is on my mind right now. Demanding immediate attention. I tallied it up and I've got about 15 worlds in my head, with 2-4 (or more - Heather's 1 of 5 siblings and has two "interesting" parents!) major characters in each.

So, if you're wondering why I may seem distracted, it's THEIR fault!

To my writer friends, who is on your mind??

The Broad Pod Episode 4: Maternal Lines

The Broad Pod May Episode by Broad Universe  
Download now or listen on posterous

May Broad Pod.mp3 (12358 KB)

Welcome to the May episode of the Broad Pod!  Join Sue Burke, Theresa Crater, Karen Romanko, Roberta Gregory, Kathryn Hinds, with hostess Trish Wooldridge, as the Broads celebrate motherhood through stories for the whole month!

Posted via email from The Broad Pod posterous