So, as per usual, at Boskone, I met lots of cool people and learned about lots of great books to check out. This is at best a partial list, based on my faulty memory and what notes I managed to jot down. (Some of these I’ve read already; some I have not.)( Read the rest of this entry » )
Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.
I started the day by dropping in to a reading (Victoria Sandbrook, who was reading some unpublished short pieces. I can’t wait until they’re published so I can point people to them), then dealt with stuff like getting tea, picking up a $3 pair of earrings in the dealers’ room because they matched my outfit, and checking out of the hotel.
My first panel of the day was small — medical advances, science or science fiction, with Dr. Robert Finegold and David Shaw. That was an interesting panel — very cool images and videos with stories behind them. We talked about the MUSE headband, electrodes and prosthetic control, prosthetics, exosuits, 3D printing, lab-grown grafts, CRISPR, new imaging techniques, antibodies as medicine, side effects, personal genetics … It was a really great panel, I’m glad I was on it, and I hope I get the chance to do it again (but I’ll prepare with notes for next time!).
Then it was off for a spot of lunch and socializing with friends before my second panel — great beach reads for winter, which I moderated. Panelists included William Hayashi, Tui Sutherland, and Susan Jane Bigelow (all of whom are now on my “grab their first books and go from there” list). We discussed comfort reads, rereads, length of reads (Tui said that she’s more likely to take on an epic book like Neal Stephenson or a trilogy (currently, one by Jo Walton) in the winter. We talked about classic SF, cozy mysteries, and Regency romances. One young audience member pointed out that one reason he likes to reread is that the first time through, there’s all this tension, but when you reread, you can just enjoy. One audience member asked for short fiction recommendations (Susan recommended Long Hidden and Hidden Youth; I suggested two collections, Ken Liu’s Paper Menagerie and Caroline M.Yoachim’s Seven Wonders of a Once and a Future World). I regret not mentioning the Nebula reading list as a great place to discover new favorites. I really enjoyed that panel, and I think it was probably perfect as an introduction to moderating.
All in all, it was an excellent con, and I’m looking forward to next year, when I hope to be on the programming again.
And I wrote this evening!
Words written today: 400
Words written this month: 9,941
Words written 2017: 50,456
Average words/day 2017: 1,009
Books completed 2017: 1
Pages read: 2 chapters
Books read 2017: 2
Exercise reps: 0
Staying with my friend Bonnie tonight, and I’ll drive home tomorrow. (And write, of course.) Tuesday, we will resume our ordinary life of making school lunches, copyediting, grocery shopping, and so forth. Life is good, both the quotidian and the extraordinary.
Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.
Panel on the perfect teenage hero went well this morning. I’ve been fortunate in having moderators who are good about asking for input from all of the panel members, making sure everyone gets a chance to speak. Perhaps too much so, as I occasionally have nothing to say and feel like I should try anyway.
My reading … the reading itself was good. Need to work on the main character’s voice, as I was told it sounded too girly. My reading actually ran a little short, so I could pick another scene to round it out a bit. The only other issue was not unexpected — only my son and best friend were there. At least it was a friendly audience!
Spent the afternoon attending panels — there were some very funny lines in both the making your own mythology panel and the worldbuilding in urban fantasy panel. I’m afraid I drowsed during the other talk I went to. Also spent a bit of money in the dealer’s room.
Eating was fraught. The bar was packed, but it was still easier to get a seat in than the Irish pub. I think between showing up to look for a table and finally paying (or signing for it to be charged to the room, anyway) and leaving, my son and I were there for more than 2-1/2 hours. For a burger and a wrap.
Anyway, I did eventually sit down and get some words.
Words written today: 408
Words written this month: 9,541
Words written 2017: 50,056
Average words/day 2017: 1,022
Books completed 2017: 1
Pages read: 2 chapters
Books read 2017: 2
Exercise reps: 0
As you can see, I finally broke 50k. Maybe after I get back home, I can get that average word count trending back up again.
Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.
Drive to Boston went well, although as usual, I’ve gotten too much sun on my face. You’d think I would remember that. Son picked what we listened to in the car — first, the Hamilton soundtrack (downloaded with Amazon Music — I love Prime!), then the first couple short stories in The Legend of Drizzt (from Audible, grabbed when it was a Daily Deal — great voice talent on this).
The Once and Future Teen panel — wonderful group of people on the panel. We talked about agency and vibrancy, how much more extreme things feel for teens, about the value of firsts and how romance isn’t required. I mentioned a book (not by name) that I wanted to throw across the room because of the stupid decision the protagonist made — but how it was in character and totally believable for a teen and how my son thinks I should finish reading the series so he can talk about it with me.
Designing a Game panel — another amazing varied group.value of immersion, designing for fun, how graphics aren’t everything and computing power could be used for more than particle effects. Value of story. Iterative design. Value of being able to pick up a game and start playing without long explanations.
Bumped into a few people I knew, like John Murphy, and chatted more with people I met on panels. Now have the recommendation to watch Something Rotten.
Last event of the evening was Pictionary with the Pros. My team lost, but we had a lot of fun playing. There were interesting things that came up, like how do you convey “union” in a picture?
After getting back to our room, I realized I still needed to write, so I did. Hence the late update. Fortunately, I can sleep in in the morning.
Words written today: 160
Words written this month: 9,133
Words written 2017: 49,648
Average words/day 2017: 1,031
Books completed 2017: 1
Pages read: 2 chapters
Books read 2017: 2
Exercise reps: 0
As you can see, I didn’t break 50k for the year yet, although I did finally break 9k for the month!
Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.
It’s a bit stormy through the Mid-Atlantic right now. Last night, as I was going to bed, I heard something fall. Worried about it, wondered about it — but nothing came crashing through the roof, so I went to sleep. This morning, I found this branch off the walnut tree in our backyard. I’ve been meaning to call someone to deal with it for a while now. Anyway, I now have a to-do on my list for March (better weather, I hope) to call someone to take it down — with the phone number, so I don’t have any excuse.
Today is, without a doubt, the best writing day I’ve had in a long time. I hit that “the end is sight” point (though really it’s still thousands of words away), and everything just started flowing. Very pleased about this.
Words written today: 5,051
Words written 2017: 33,786
Average words/day 2017: 1,469
Books completed 2017: none yet (getting close!)
Pages read: 1 chapter so far
Books read 2017: 1
Exercise reps: 0
I didn’t exercise today mostly because I was so busy sitting at the computer typing. Tomorrow, I’ll get different exercise — lifting many boxes of Girl Scout cookies for transport — so I’ll be counting that, regardless of whether I do formal reps of any sort.
( Read the rest of this entry » )
Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.
It’s February. More specifically, it’s President’s Day weekend (I’ll save the rant about remembering when we got two separate days, Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s birthday), and that means another trip to Boston for Boskone. As this goes live, I’m actually driving home, having attended a wonderful convention:
As with last year’s Boskone, I took my son with me.
I’ll post later in the week with details about some of the panels I attended, snippets of what I learned, and maybe even a photo or two. Right now, though, I’m just grateful that such conventions exist, that I get to go and learn and see friends and make new friends, that my son is interested in going too and spending time with me, and that I’m on my way home now to see my husband & daughter.
What are you grateful for this week?
Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.
Just some quick notes today.
I didn’t post from Boskone itself because Wi-Fi at the hotel was $13/day, and I couldn’t get my iPod Touch to log on correctly in the lobby, where access apparently was free.
My son had a terrific time, got his picture taken with Bruce Coville, went to a kaffeeklatsch with both Bruce Coville and Jane Yolen, played games with other kids, learned how to armor a knight, and attended several panel discussions (including the one where he vehemently disagreed with the audience member who said that our education system traumatized kids for math and science, which is why they also won’t look at science fiction; those are his favorite subjects).
I also had a good time, and this year I attended a wider variety of events than my usual, including the play on Saturday night (“The Giant’s Tooth,” based on a story by Bruce Coville).
Between the busy weekend and the long drive home, I’m still feeling a little tired, but I should be up to posting some notes later this week.
Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.
Tomorrow is time for my annual pilgrimage to Boston to attend
Boskone, to see other writers face-to-face, to get all tongue-tied
around editors (Oh, no, wait — I’m actually planning to try to talk
to them this year, even ask a few questions for a Vision article!),
and to overload my muse with new ideas to write about.
I’m taking my iPod Touch, so I won’t be out of contact — at the very
least, I’ll try to hit Twitter and Facebook a couple of times over
the weekend. I’m also testing my ability to post to my blog by
e-mail, as well as the new plug-in that should cross-post entries to
LJ. I’m not live-blogging by any stretch of the imagination, but I
should be in touch.
Every year, I have trouble deciding which panels to attend. Since I
write across the board, everything is interesting. This year is going
to be slightly different — yes, I will still attend panels and
sometimes have trouble choosing between a couple of different
options. However, there is the aforementioned attempt to be more
sociable and talk to editors, and this year, I’m taking my son with
me.
He’s done the children’s counterpart to NaNoWriMo, the Young Writers’
Program, a couple of times, and he even printed out copies of one of
his books a couple years ago and distributed copies to his classmates
– which means he’s actually planning to go to a panel discussion or
two himself. He’s also really excited at the chance to meet and talk
to Bruce Coville (even planning on staying up late Friday to go to
Bruce Coville’s 10 p.m. reading) and to see the swordplay
demonstrations. So sometimes my choices will be determined by what he
wants to do.
It’s going to be a lot of fun, that much is certain. Boskone always
is, no matter who I see or what I listen to!
Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.
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