Dr. Catherine Schaff-Stump

I am destined to not make it out of Boston cleanly. United had us at the gate on the plane for a while as we had generator issues. We did leave, and I figured I'd missed my flight. Poor Chicago weather delayed my connection, so I made it on! I arrived in Cedar Rapids about midnight, Bryon came and picked me up, and we hit the hay at 1:30.

It's been a low key day, but luckily I'm on vacation.

***

The Clarion Write-a-thon continues apace. This is the week of chapter 7, and I got a good jump on that yesterday. More about this to come.

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In transit, I also read books: The Last Chevalier, Red Hood's Revenge, A College of Magics, and Extras. I'll have something to say about all of those eventually.

***

It was fantastic to see about 1/4 of my VP workshop buddies over the weekend. We hung out, a lot. Perhaps the most interesting facet of the convention was that hanging out seemed to inspire creativity in us all. We would talk, do a few panels, and wander away to our rooms to sleep or write. And then we'd get together and talk about what we were doing. It makes me think that maybe what we want to do is save our pennies for reuniting at writer's retreats, rather than hooking up at cons, but you guessed it, more on that later too.

Shout outs also to Sarah Prineas, who wasn't there but said hello, Eugene Myer, who one can have an action-packed hall conversation with, and Elizabeth Bear for the 4th Street information. Our reading went very well, and hanging out with alumns and meeting more VP folks and nice writing people was just good.

I won't be going to Readercon next year, as I'm already booked for North American Discworld in Madison the same weekend. While I liked Readercon fine, it's not going to be one that is a must go for me. I missed my Wiscon with its open parties and it's less hierarchical structure, and its feminist vibe. It was a little bit like going to Disney World first, and then going to Disneyland--I should have done it the other way around.

Priority one is writing the novel this week, but I'll try to get back her and say something interesting and relevant. Right now, I'm thinking more dozing.

Catherine

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.

The English front office is weird today. I'm...the only one here. Which I did not expect, and which makes me wonder if I should get trained in how to contact all these folks if there is no one here.

We interview our last job candidate today. I hope the rest of the committee turns up. I baptized myself with about a third of this morning's latte, so at least I'll smell like Grandma's kitchen for the interview.

***

Write-a-thon: Why yes, I have finished chapter 5. Yes, that is four days earlier than planned, thank you. So, right now, I'm reading through the first five chapters and ramping up the description factor. Sunday begins chapter six. So far, on schedule.

The Writing Process: I think I've covered what I do for revision, but I haven't talked about proof reading. I do have to confess that I am the worst proofreader of my own stuff in the world, and I often default to good friends who are awesome proofreaders (my friend Lisa can spot a misspelled word from across a crowded room). It's important, no matter how lazy, and/or type A you are, to put the work down for a couple of days and look over spelling, punctuation, and spacing. Don't be like Grandma Cath. Do this carefully. It's important.

CONVERGENCE:

Because I've been focusing on writing in my spare time, I'm not doing any panels. However, I am doing a reading. That would be the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading with me and Kathy Sullivan, and it would be Friday from 3:30-4:30 upstairs in that literary place it always is. I will be reading the Augean Stables bit from Hulk Hercules, O-Taga-San, and if there's still time, the Hephaubot scene from HH.

I like reading at conventions. I'll be doing it next week again at Readercon. I think I might do a post on how to ramp that up, eventually.

One more thing to post for today, and then I'll move on.

Catherine

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.

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

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.