And, the day after I got home from the motorcycle trip to Washington, I hopped a plane for Chicago. Chicon was wonderful. I got my “Analog Mafia” pin, and was there to congratulate Stan on his retirement and Trevor on his new position. Got to meet the author I work with as an editor for Edge, in person. Sat on two panels (moderated one) and had a reading and a workshop–some good stories, there. Met new people and explored a bit of downtown Chicago, the edge of Lake Michigan and the Chicago Institute of Art with old friends. Good times!
Some surprises just work
It was a year in the planning, but we were able to surprise Don for his birthday. Yes, we did it AGAIN. What helped was holding the party at my sister’s house (which is absolutely gorgeous, about 8 km south of Golden, perched on a height of land overlooking the Columbia river). On the way home from our motorcycle trip, I just casually said, “Hey, why don’t we visit my sister on the way home?” and Don said, “Okay.” So we stopped in for a cup of tea and had a surprise birthday party instead, with all our family, as well as his siblings from Ontario! Bingo.
Back on the road
If one holiday wasn’t enough–I got a second! We left right after WWC for a motorcycle trip around the Olympic peninsula (Washington State) and down into Oregon. Beautiful country. The highlight for me was camping at Ozette Lake (we were very lucky to get a campsite–there were only fifteen, but we arrived on a Sunday evening and actually had a choice of 3-4 sites). We hiked the 3 miles to the beach, the 3 miles along the beach and the 3 miles back on the triangular path through the rainforest. Very inspiring. And–as a prairie girl, I never get to see/smell/feel/hear the ocean, so that was a real treat. And–so much to tell! The twisty roads our motorcycle ate up, great food, wonderful camping, friendly people. Very relaxing.
When Words Collide–another huge success
Where do I start to rave about When Words Collide? Our numbers were up–over 400 attendees. The Keynotes were inspiring, especially Adrienne Kerr’s and Anthony Bidulka’s. Personally, I sold 4 paintings, read at my own reading, two book launches (and had a new story come out in OnSpec) and IFWA’s Bedtime Stories, attended a really well-run Aurora Awards banquet (I didn’t win for best short story, but congratulations to Suzanne Church, who did! Woot!) and some really fun parties. AND, I launched my first collection! But of course, the best part, as always, was the incredible energy of the participants from so many different genres of writing. And exhausting, but very satisfying weekend.
Adrienne Kerr workshop was awesome!
What an opportunity twelve of us had, to have our cover letter, synopsis and five pages of novel critiqued by Adrienne Kerr, acquisitions editor for Penguin Canada. First, just reading everyone else’s submissions was an education in itself (they were all very different), and I learned tons just from putting myself in an editor’s shoes and thinking about why I would or would not ask an author to send me more material. Then there were the critiques themselves, listening to everyone explain their thinking on pieces I had already made my mind up about–very eye-opening. Next, there were the critiques I got on my own writing–thanks, everyone! And finally, there were Adrienne’s observations, from the position of someone who does this work professionally every day. An unforgettable experience.