Just finished re-reading and tweaking Chapter 17 yesterday – Chapter 18 today. I’m happy with the way it’s going! Oh, and I put two submissions (short fiction) in the mail this week! Yay! Plus, I had the opportunity to read a selection from “The Director’s Cut” at Pages Books on Wednesday night as part of a joint Tesseracts 14 / Rigor Amortis launch. It was fun, and we had 42 people present!
Workshop and ConVersion
The past week has been excellent! Let me see if I can remember ALL the fantastic things that happened! First off, the writers’ workshop with David B. Coe as our guest author was amazing! I was very fortunate to be his host and billet during the workshop, and so as we drove back and forth to various workshop and social events, I was able to have some very enlightening and stimulating discussions about writing and the business with him. The workshop itself was very informative, as we discussed a number of topics as well as doing our critiques. And, I got some good ideas for further working and marketing my short story.On his Facebook page, David wrote: “Great workshop. I had a wonderful time, and was blown away by the level of work I read and the level of professionalism I encountered. Thanks!”
The workshop was followed by ConVersion, which, for all its shortcomings (such as having no idea when or where any of the panels were occurring — including absolutely no mention of the big musical production I was involved in — communication was an issue) was very profitable on a number of fronts. The Monster Mash, our musical, was a big hit in spite of its time being switched multitple times right up to the day of performance (we were lucky all the actors got there on time). I got to sing a song and I played the villain, which is always fun.
The literary programming was run by IFWA, and as such, was very successful. Panels had interesting presenters, were well attended, and took the various topics to new places for most people. I was able to do a panel, judge the Robin Herrington Short Story Contest and do three separate readings, which all went well (and I got some nice compliments!). I attended a number of entertaining functions tool, such as having the opportunity to hear wonderful stories at Bedtime Stories with IFWA, Writers’ Idol and launches for Rigor Amortis and Edge Press’s Tesseracts 14, as well as improvisation by the hilarious 404s.
One really special highlight was my opportunity to receive my Aurora Pin as a finalist for my short story, “Back” in Analog. It is a gorgeous pin, and part of a limited edition just for winners and finalists. Very special!
And naturally, I also had opportunities to buy books (and get autographs!), t-shirts and art, network with authors, editors and publishers, and make connections for future writing opportunities. Very exciting! And on top of ALL THAT, I got to spend big chunks of my weekend with my two daughters, who also took in parts of the convention (one performed in the play with me and the other attended panels with me!). AND both my daughters received publishing credits for artwork they did for the 2010 In Places Between chapbook!
My husband took care of the home front (he is to die for!) and we even got to spend a fun afternoon together today getting out of the city on his motorcycle. AND, my oldest daughter was able to skype me from England to say her interview for her application for her doctorate program went well!
All in all, I feel like about the luckiest person on the planet, right now.
Women of the Apocalypse Book Launch
Can’t think of a better way to spend a Friday evening — too dragged out from the week to write, but didn’t want to veg. Erika, Dave, Randy, Val, Kim and I were there as part of a packed house, and it was great fun. Thanks to Pages On Kensington for running stuff like this for authors — we are very lucky to have them (I bought a book, not only to support the authors, but to support Pages as well). The writers only read a little, but told stories about how the work came to be (which was relaxed and hilarious), and then a bunch of us went for drinks and late dinner after — it’s wonderful to network with other authors. Look on my blog roll for a link to Eileen’s website.
Susan
Edge’s Classy Reading
I went to the Edge launch of its new imprint, X-Press, at the Venturian Art Gallery. What a first-class event! The venue, which was awesome (gorgeous art work) was packed and it was semi-formal, with nibblies and wine. I had the opportunity to read (I love to read) as well as Randy McCharles and Marie (last name?) who runs Edge’s podcasts. Marie also told some very funny stories. After the break, Rob Sawyer read, who is always awesome, and Christian Bok, a poet whom I hadn’t heard before, but whose performance was breathtaking.
Also, it was great to touch base with some people I rarely see, such as Quartet Publisher, Rose Scollard. Barb Galler-Smith (whose first novel, Druids, will be coming out from Edge in the fall) and Ann Marsden came down from Edmonton. And — here was my surprise for the evening — Brian and Anita’s son was there: he works with my husband. What a small world!
The Write-Off Was Great – As Always
So I am going to Rob Sawyer’s writing workshop this summer and we are studying long-form works. For that, I need to have chapter 1 and an outline. I wasn’t able to attend the whole write-off (from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM on Saturday I was at the Young Writers’ Conference, which was a lot of fun) but I went Friday night, Saturday after the conference and all day Sunday, and I pretty much have the first draft of the package. As it’s not due for a month, I should have time to revise it by then. Felt very productive.
And — Rob’s book launch for “Wake” is in Calgary on Tuesday, so a bunch of us will be there to listen to him read. Will be great!
Susan