Food from many lands

Day 2 at DragonCon and I'm really loving this! I can definitely see me making this a yearly thing if at all possible. I've really been enjoying everything about the con, especially the panels. So far, every single panel I've attended has been intelligent, well-run, and fascinating. My favorite panel was one from this morning, What Women Want in SF/F Roles, with Lois McMaster Bujold as one of the panelists. The room was packed, and not just with women, which was nice to see. At the beginning of the panel, the moderator mentioned that this panel was about "what women want." That made everyone titter a bit. Then I realized I was sitting squished between a long-haired gamer dude and a man Edward Gorey might have described as a "well-set-up older gentleman," and I realized also that I was pretty close to what I want. :)

Anyway, I met my friend Kevin for lunch and we went to an awesome Brazilian restaurant where they bring meat around on skewers and carve bits off for you. It was excellent, and I ate so much I kind of assumed I'd never want to eat again. It was also wonderful to catch up, since I hadn't seen Kevin since the late 1990s--hard to believe. Then after the afternoon panels I got together with my cousin Molly for supper; I figured I'd just have a small salad and tea or something, but she said, "Do you like Mexican?" Oh yes I do. Oh my yes. So we went to this tiny but excellent place called Pancho's and had enchiladas and margaritas, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to explode.

I'm completely worn out but having a wonderful time. Tomorrow I've got three more panels I want to attend, and then I'm heading home, where I will spent the rest of the three-day weekend eating nothing but crackers and ice water and not much of that. Also I will sleep a lot.

Safe and sound, and free wifi!

I may be staying in a craptastic cheap motel in Marietta, but it's got free wifi. It's also really close to downtown Atlanta.

So yes, I arrived safe and sound around noon today, got checked in at DragonCon, and hit a few panels before coming to the hotel. My gawd this is a huge convention! I'm now intimately familiar with this area of downtown Atlanta, because the con is spread out over four huge hotels and I've been roaming among them along with many, many other people. Lots of folks in costume, but I haven't really looked at them because, you know, don't make eye contact.

I'm killing an hour or so before I head back to meet my old friend Kevin (who I haven't seen in about 15 years) for an MST3K thing. That should be a blast any way you look at it. Then tomorrow I have my itinerary all planned out, and fortunately everything I want to go to takes place in the Hyatt so I don't have to do a lot of walking. I'm starting off with a panel on What Women Want in SF/F Roles, which should be interesting.

Oh, and so far? No books. Geez, people, where the hell are you hiding the booksellers! Horrible thought--maybe there aren't any. Good thing I came prepared!

The road food's in the car

I'm more or less ready to set off for Atlanta and DragonCon in the morning! This has been a busy day.

Accomplished:
oil change/tire rotation/brake inspection (all AOK)
washed car, cleaned it out, topped off the tank
washed and ironed clothes
made five more bookmarks, dozens more stickers for the free table
packed everything I don't need tonight
printed out directions, hotel reservation email
put Kevin's and my cousin Molly's phone numbers in my phone (I always forget I can do that)
cleaned bathroom, mowed lawn (neither have anything to do with DragonCon, but they were on my to-do list)

Still to do before bedtime:
Type up the writing that I did this morning
Burn CDs!
Quadruple-check that my DragonCon reservation card is in my suitcase

I'm taking Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint with me, just in case there aren't any books available at DragonCon. Heh.

WIP Wednesday FTW

I've finally gotten back in the rhythm of writing. In fact, I've written over 8,000 words just in the last few days. It feels good! I'll be taking my laptop with me to DragonCon, and I hope to make some time in the evenings and/or early mornings to write.

Of course, the outline I worked on so carefully a few weeks ago is totally useless. It was totally useless within 1,000 words. I kind of expected that, though; this is a swashbuckling adventure, and I wanted to be free to add details and chase subplots as I thought of them. I'm only about 19,000 words in total so far, and I'm really happy with the way things are going. There's not a lot of swashbuckling so far, but that's about to change fast. Right now Our Heroine and her expedition-mates have been captured by bandits, but she's going to escape (with some help). Very soon she's going to acquire a sword and a few good reasons to use it.

It's spelled S-H-A-W

Aaron Polson tagged the whole planet with this meme. Here's the rules, and I wish my last name was longer:

From the biggest bookcase you have, pick out one book whose author’s last name starts with each letter of your last name. If you have no books by an author whose last name starts with a particular letter, go to the next letter. If you have two of the same letter in your last name, get two separate authors, not two books by the same author. Bonus: If you can, pick the first book you haven’t read off your shelf, unless you’re one of those people who’s read all the books you own.

- Post the first sentence of each book, along with the author and title. Feel free to skip prefaces and such, especially if they’re by a different writer.

S is for Lisa Shearin, and I'm a total fangirl. From Magic Lost, Trouble Found: "Sorcerers weren't normal, sorcery wasn't natural, and Quentin Rand didn't like either one."

H is for Barry Hughart. From Bridge of Birds: "I shall clasp my hands together and bow to the corners of the world."

A is for Richard Adams, and I don't even have to look at the book because I have the first line and most of the first paragraphs memorized. From Watership Down: "The primroses were over."

W is for Patricia C. Wrede. From Dealing with Dragons: "Linderwall was a large kingdom, just east of the Mountains of Morning, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable."

That was fun! Now it's your turn!

embarrassing lines

I'm writing again. Thank goodness! The in-desperate-need-of-a-title adventure fantasy is taking shape. I added just a little under 3,000 words today (part of them written Saturday, but not typed up) and plot bunnies are running everywhere! It's nice to be working again, particularly after the last two weeks. Angel's illness and subsequent death knocked me sideways, so that for two weeks now I've done pretty much nothing except read other people's books, mostly rereads--four books in five days last week. Now I can concentrate on things again.

And it's the end of August! I made one sale and Jack of All Trades was released in August, which is pretty good. Oh, and I got the contract back, so I'll announce it officially: Double Dragon will be publishing Weaver's Shroud next year!

I had my notebook out at work today, and I really ought to be more careful what I've written and left lying around. Here's the half-sentence that was staring up at any interested parties this morning from the top of the page: "butt, and even got a tantalizing glimpse of what he carried in front." Yes, gentle reader, that means precisely what it sounds like. But here's another top-of-the-page sentence that I'm pretty sure actually got read by a student a few weeks ago--I saw her poking around in my stuff, and couldn't get the notebook moved in time: "Captivated by the taste, she swallowed and swallowed and swallowed." That doesn't mean anything bad, but it sure sounds naughty.

Roadtrip music

On Friday I'm leaving for Atlanta and a long weekend of DragonCon, woot! It's a four-hour drive if I don't speed (and of course I would never, ever speed--not on Labor Day weekend when all the cops are out looking for speeders especially). Obviously, I need a couple of CDs worth of music to keep me entertained while I drive.

So hit me with some suggestions for road songs! I've got eclectic tastes in music--I like bluegrass and hip-hop, opera and metal, 80s pop and scratchy old 30s blues--and I want these CDs to be fun, fresh, and interesting to listen to.

Here are some songs I'm definitely burning on CD, to give you an idea:

"Where There's a Road" by Blue Moon Rising
"You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" by The Offspring
"Disturbia" by Rihanna
"Shut Up and Drive" by Rihanna
"Into the Night" by Santana
"I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas
"Wichita Skyline" by Shawn Colvin
"Nothin' on Me" by Shawn Colvin
"Another White Dash" by Butterfly Boucher
"Me and the Boys" by Slade
"Long Way Home" by Norah Jones
"Orinoco Flow" by Enya

So what other music should I take with me?