Driving home the other day, I saw this sign and just HAD to turn around and get a picture of it:
Just seen in Salt Lake
Category: geekiness
Spaces still left for worldbuilding seminar
We still have about 11-15 spaces left for the worldbuilding seminar this Saturday, so if you were thinking you might come but weren’t sure if there’d still be room for you, be assured that we’ve got plenty of room. If Paypal was the trouble, at this point, just bring your check ($45 for an individual, $35 if you’re in a group of 5 or more) with you to the library, but still be sure to email my intern, Chersti, at cjstapley AT gmail DOT com with your registration information to let her know you’ll be coming.
Hope to see you there, and for those of you not local, I’m still working on the online workshop idea. Last week was rather slow on that end, however, due to a family emergency and my own asthma problems–I’m still waiting to hear how my ten-year-old niece is doing (thank you all for your thoughts and prayers–she’s doing better, and every time they do a test, like taking her off the heart bypass machine, she continues to improve, but we’re still just waiting to hear about a number of tests that I’m not sure that they’ve been able to do yet). I’m trying to get that ox back out of the mire from last week, which means getting several critiques back to people who have been very patient as I’ve been dealing with other things. Thank you all for being so kind and thinking of my niece–between all of my friends, and all of my siblings’ and cousins’ and aunts’ friends, I think there must be thousands of people thinking of her and praying for her. Thanks, everyone.
Testing
Updating my previous posts to get them to show up on LJ doesn’t seem to be working. At least it’s not that many posts to copy over, if it comes to that. Here’s a test post to see if the plugin is working correctly on cross-posting NEW entries, even if it’s not working on updating old ones.
ETA: That seemed to have worked. I’m still getting really frustrated with the linkback, though–it keeps adding backslashes before the apostrophe. I just deleted FIVE of them! And now they’re BACK!
Ramblings when I should be off reading the Maze Runner ARC or sleeping
Not really much to post about. I had a great time at Conduit seeing friends and talking books. Very nice Schlock Mercenary launch party, for which I dropped in and took some pictures. I’ll be downloading those straight to Sandra, who will probably post them on her LJ or Howard’s blog or both. I’m not terribly satisfied with the pictures–it was pretty dark in that room and I had to use flash, which always flattens the subject–but hopefully the Taylers and Schlock fans will enjoy them.
Went on my first bike ride of the year and it was nice, but I probably should have started with a jaunt closer to home, because while the outbound trip was awesome, I realized just why that was on the way home when the wind hit me squarely in the face. Between the wind (it was pretty blustery), my sore behind from not being in the saddle for six months, and being tired from the ride out, I ended up getting off and walking at least twice. I’m thinking I’ll take a rest day tomorrow and try again on Wednesday, but not try a total of about 7-8 miles round trip. Perhaps 2-3 total for a few days, to get back in the swing of things!
Had my own personal Bones marathon today, watching all the episodes from this season that I’d missed and had been recording on the DVR. Maybe if I clear out the DVR I won’t feel so bad about dropping the cable, which I’m really going to have to do. Also went to a barbecue at a friend’s, and thought about all my family members and others who have served in the military. I come from a long line of farmers, salt of the earth kind of people, and as you can imagine those are the type that tend to get drafted. (I also descend from one draft-dodger, and I’m grateful he did, or I wouldn’t have been born a Whitman, I suppose–he stowed away on a cattle boat to avoid the draft of William the First and Bismarck, the Second Reich that killed off a great number of Prussian peasants, and came to the US, to Illinois, and became my great-great-grandfather.) I have ancestors who served on both sides of the Civil War, including one who was on Sherman’s March to the sea, several vets of the War of 1812 (another reason I’m an Illinoisan–western Illinois was veteran pension land-grant land for War of 1812 vets), vets of several minor skirmishs, two grandfathers and a great-uncle who served in the army and air force, respectively, during WWII, and an uncle who fought in Vietnam.
More recently, I have an uncle who served in the Marines during peacetime (during the 70s) and an uncle who just retired from the Air Force as a navigator a few years ago. That same Uncle Kevin served two or three tours post-September 11th as a translator. My brother and several cousins have served in the reserves wherever needed. I have several friends who have done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and several friends whose husbands are currently or who have been deployed.
I wouldn’t consider my family a “military” family. Far from it. We’re just average working Americans, and each of these people served when they were called to do so, or even just to find a better life through the GI Bill. But it makes me proud of them to know that they served when they were needed, even if they occasionally did so a bit cantankerously. The cantankerousness–that’s just a Whitman family trait. 🙂
Back to real life tomorrow, catching up again on those short pieces I didn’t get to yet last week, and two manuscripts that I have waiting in the queue as well. I’ve got a few other things going on this week that I’m excited about but can’t talk about yet, so when I can, well, I guess I’ll drop the mystery and post it. 🙂 Off to sleep!
Provo Book Festival (& other recent events, including a reading cat)
Well, now that I’ve gotten my camera back up (I killed the battery Saturday, forgetting to upload the pictures while it was still hooked up for hours, and now I’ve finally gotten back to it), I will share with you some of the fun things that happened at the Provo Book Festival. I was really impressed. This was the first time I’ve been to it, though I’ve heard good things about it for a few years, and I must say, it was really cool to see how the kids who came were so excited to get involved with books, to see their favorite authors speak, and to be able to get books signed by them. There had to have been twenty or so local authors involved, and several illustrators as well.
I’m trying out this “insert gallery” option. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try individual pictures. We’ll see!
ETA: Whoops! I’m fixing it!
Okay, to purge the photo files, before we get to the festival, here are some shots from the recent book signing by Carol Lynch Williams, at which she read a portion of her book, The Chosen One, as well. I have an ARC and can’t wait to read it. Just have to catch up on work first!
Notice how Cheri Earl (Carol’s partner in crime on many endeavors, most notably the BYU Writing for Young Readers conference every June) must either make a face at me for taking her picture, or turn away. It’s all a ploy to show off her cute hair.
Mogget likes to read, too.
Now, on to the festival! They had a puppet show for the kids (the farmer’s animals kept making all the wrong noises! cats baaing, cows meowing–what is a poor farmer to do? turns out he forgot to read their owner’s manual.) Shannon and Dean Hale performed an interpretive dance of their collaboration project, and authors who signed books all afternoon include Emily Wing Smith, Aprilynne Pike, Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, James Dashner, Carol Lynch Williams, Mette Ivie Harrison, Jessica Day George, Shannon and Dean Hale, and many, many others.
The end. Say good night, Mogget.
Good night, Mogget!
My Conduit schedule, and other interesting goings-on that weekend
Note that Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary is the Guest of Honor at this year’s Conduit. Along with that, the Taylers are hosting a book launch party at the show for the latest Schlock book. Head on over to Howard’s site for all the details.
For you YA-type and writer-type people, here are some interesting panels that I won’t be on (the schedule isn’t final yet, from what I can tell, but here’s the latest info–go to Conduit’s site to be sure of the very latest news). (Also note that there will be a lot of geeky fun for all sorts of fannish things, which I won’t list here. Go look at the Conduit site for more info.)
Friday, May 22
- Noon: Grammar, schmammar: When to follow the rules. And when to break them. (Michael R. Collings, Dave Wolverton, Kathleen Dalton Woodbury, Lee Allred, Anne Wingate, Berin Stephens)
- 2:00 PM: How do you write a great “evil overlord”? (Clint Johnson, Ann Sharp, Roger White, Dave Wolverton, Howard Tayler)
- 3:00 PM: Culture-Building in F&SF: How Do You Create a Viable and Consistent Culture? (John Brown, Lee Modesitt, Roger White, Dave Wolverton, Elisabeth Waters, Brandon Sanderson)
- 5:00 PM: Howard Tayler Main Address: Practice Makes Perfect (I find it odd they have so many other things going on during the main address, but I’m new to this con, so… what do I know?)
- 6:00 PM: Howard and Sandra Tayler Part 1: Structuring Creativity to Get Stuff Done Howard and Sandra will discuss how they structure their lives to fit all the business tasks, creative tasks, and family tasks into each day and into one house. They will also discuss how things worked differently in the earlier stages of their creative life and how they expect things to change in the years to come.
Saturday, May 23
- 11 AM The Stenchless Chamberpot – how real should historical fiction or fantasy be?
- (Ann Chamberlin, Jessica Day George, Clint Johnson, Robert J Defend, Dave Wolverton, Karen Webb)
- Noon Howard and Sandra Tayler Part 2: The Nuts and Bolts of Running a Creative Business. Howard and Sandra will discuss the inner workings of their business and all the tasks necessary to keep it going. Accounting, Marketing, Networking, Shipping, Printing, and Comic Creation will all be discussed.
- 3 PM The Twilight Books Phenomenon. Why are so many girls (and women) reading Stephenie Meyer?
- (James Dashner, Nathan Shumate, Kathleen Dalton Woodbury, Suzy Gehring) I love that they have two guys on this panel about why girls and women are reading Stephenie Meyer!
- 4-7 PM Howard Tayler Book Launch Party and Signing (Con Suite)
- 4 PM The science of evil: why are villains the way they are (John Brown, Ann Sharp, Nathan Shumate, Eric Swedin, JoSelle Vanderhooft, Dan Wells)
- 5 PM Main address–Dave Wolverton
Sunday, May 24
- 10 AM Writing Red Herrings. Red herrings are standard in mysteries, but how can you be sure yours works? (Ann Chamberlin, Ann Sharp, Anne Wingate, Elisabeth Waters,Lee Modesitt, Paul Genesse)
- 2 PM My Favorite Books. What books are writers reading? (Jessica Day George, Howard Tayler, Paul Genesse, Brandon Sanderson, Lee Allred)
And here’s my schedule. Note that one of the panels will be on worldbuilding for children and YA, so you’ll have a chance to get a taste of my opinions for the class I’m planning for June.
Friday, May 22
- 3:00 PM What is a YA/MG editor/publisher looking for? (James Dashner, Mette Ivie Harrison, Julie Wright, Stacy Whitman, Dan Willis)
- 4:00 PM It’s not your parents’ fiction. Writing for the YA/Children’s Market (James Dashner, Mette Ivie Harrison, Julie Wright, Stacy Whitman, Brandon Sanderson, Heather Horrock)
Saturday, May 23
- Noon What can writers learn from Harry Potter? (Suzy Gehring, Stacy Whitman, Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury, Eric James Stone, Jason Anderson, Brandon Sanderson)
- 2 PM How to publish and market your YA/MG book (James Dashner, Mette Ivie Harrison, Rebecca Shelley, Julie Wright, Dan Willis, Stacy Whitman, Sandra Tayler) (I don’t know about the other panelists, but I’m coming to this one to talk about marketing, because there are several other panels already about the publishing side of things.)
- 4 PM “The next . . .” Publishers are looking for the next Harry Potter or Twilight. How can you get your book sold in spite of overblown expectations? (Mette Ivie Harrison, Julie Wright, Aprilynne Pike, Stacy Whitman, Robert J Defendi, Lee Modesitt)
- 6 PM Worldbuilding for YA/MG writers (Stacy Whitman, Mette Ivie Harrison, Jessica Day George, Dan Willis, Aleta Clegg)
I think that’s all of mine. If all else fails, look at the schedule to be sure.
The TBR pile
My desk is still groaning under the workload that I’m catching up on (finishing up another manuscript right now, about to send out the editorial letter, then on to more!), so I haven’t had much time to do much else. Hence the reason I haven’t posted in almost a week–not much to report. I’ll have more to report once I catch up and can finish the other things I have waiting for me, which aren’t work so much as kinda-work-related-fun. Such as:
- Halfway through Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce ([ljuser]tammypierce[/ljuser]). I liked her Alanna series, but I LOVE this latest series in the Tortall world featuring Beka Cooper, one of Alanna’s ancestors. The narration on the audiobook of the first book, Terrier, was just awesome–I’m not sure where the narrator’s accent was from, but it fit the story perfectly. I’m a slow reader in print, though–probably because I do so much reading for work–so I’ve had it for a week and I’m only about halfway through, like I said. But so far, that halfway part is good stuff.
- ARC of The Maze Runner by James Dashner, which I had a little tiny bit of a hand in, so it’s excited to see the end product. (True story: I wanted it. Couldn’t acquire it for a multitude of reasons, had to say no. A week later, James sold it to Delacourt. Delacourte! [picture me there, fists to the sky, like Stephen Colbert] I’m really glad to see he found an editor who saw the vision of the book and took it probably farther than I could. So far, everything about the book is far and beyond better than what I read in manuscript form. Which it should be! That’s what the editorial process is for.)
- ARC of I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells. He’s big in Europe. 🙂 Seriously! His first YA thriller came out already in England, though it won’t be published here until next year. The concept: a kid who is a sociopath but is trying not to grow up to become a serial killer. Creepy stuff! I haven’t read this book yet, but I’m excited for Dan, who is a personal friend, and looking forward to the read.
- ARCs and full books of How to Ditch Your Fairy, Graceling, Skinned, Wintergirls, Skin Hunger, The Thief, Nightmare Academy, Kiki Strike, The Lightning Thief… the list goes on and on. Actually, all in that list were final books–I’m way behind, still, on my reading. I thought going freelance would give me more time for reading, but instead I find that I spend even more time working just to make ends meet, so when I’m done working I just want to do something else! Hence the anime craze lately.
What are you reading lately?
Speaking of social networking
I’ve decided to try out twittering. If you want to follow me, you can find me at http://twitter.com/stacylwhitman.
This just in: rubber chicken JUGGLING!
I’m just now going through my photos from Memorial Day weekend, including my Monday morning stroll through Folk Life, a festival they have here in Seattle every Mem. Day weekend.
And what do I find? I knew I got shots of juggling, but little did I know that the chickens had invaded the juggling world, too!
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