So, how cool is this? I spent a week, along with five other writers, at a writing retreat hosted by Rob Sawyer! I got lots done, though didn’t do nearly as much as Gerald, who got 18,000 words written! On the Tuesday evening, Rob invited his editor, Adrienne Kerr over for dinner, so you can imagine the conversation was very interesting.
World Fantasy was a blast
One of the highlights for me of World Fantasy this year was running into R Scott Bakker, whom I hadn’t seen for several years. We had a great conversation, late into the night. Also, my reading was well attended by about 15 people, which really surprised me. Also, got my copy of Among Others signed by Jo Walton. The art show was small, but high quality. Good friends, good restaurants, Edge book launch!
Gearing up for World Fantasy
So, the mermaid novel is on hold for a bit, while I make sure I have everything I need for World Fantasy. I’m doing a reading, not a panel, and I have my piece picked out; and of course, I need my pitch ready and my completed novel in good shape. It’s a while since I looked at my whole novel, and you know, I really still love it. Found an awkward sentence or two to fix, and now all I have to do is meet the right agent or editor!
I wrote a poem!
I know. I don’t believe it, either. But it was a lot of fun. It is a “one ring to rule them all” poem for the opening of the novel, and it is a sea shanty, so of course it is sung (and it rhymes), but it is needed to help the protagonist figure out how to defeat the mermaids at the end of the book. But the coolest part was how much I enjoyed writing it.
Novel is going well
Got really inspired this week about my novel. As an alternate history, it is speculative, but it didn’t have any aliens or ghosts or anything magical–and now I have a cool idea about introducing evil mermaids. This is great, because they will help me save the antagonist at the end of the book. Took some time on September 29 to re-structure my outline, and am very excited about how the new line is weaving in with the old.