Catherineldf

At least for me. Last day for everyone else.
To borrow a phrase, CONvergence, like space, is big. Really big. Like anywhere from 4 to 10 times bigger than any other single convention that I attend. I believe it topped 4000 attendees this year and filled up 3 or 4 hotels. The energy is just incredible.
I surprised myself by not needing my usual "Let's curl up in a corner for an hour or two until we adjust to the noise and activity" time. Double on not having a migraine today or even a cold, things that I often have after a big con weekend. Yay!:-)

The things that really worked for me:
the Broad Universe Rapidfire reading with Kathryn Sullivan, Dr. Catherine Schaff-Stump and Lyda Morehouse was pretty well-attended and quite lively. Lyda (we encouraged her to change her name to some variant of "Catherine" for the reading but she was having none of it) and Kathy read from some of their works in print and Catherine and I read from our novels in progress. Good writing, excellent audience response and a fine time all around. Looking forward to many more and reading more of everyone's work. Added bonus: running into an old acquaintance who stopped by to say hi.

The "How to Screw Up Your Writing Career" and "How to Publish and Not Perish" panels" were hopping and often funny. The latter focused a fair amount on a lively debate on whether or not just writing your best possible book was enough. Other topics covered: the role of luck, connections and professionalism (all of which we agreed on to one degree or another) and the importance of keeping your name out there via short fiction, nonfiction, etc., etc. when between books. Screwing up your career covered such essentials as not Twittering the phone number and email of a reviewer you're annoyed at and urging your fans to attack them (thank you, Alice Hoffman) and treating other professionals and fans with a reasonable degree of courtesy (sidebar here: Patrick Rothfuss, who lives off his writing, stresses a greater emphasis on playing nice 24/7 than I, who still have a day job, do. Not saying either of us is right or wrong, just that it makes a difference.). Good points brought up: bad blogging may be with you forever and publishing is interconnected and people move around so don't go out of your way to harass editors and agents. All sane and sensible things, in short.

I should say that I think Patrick Rothfuss and Kelly McCullough made excellent writer GOHs for this kind of con and I thought they both came off well (and I'm not just saying that because Kelly is a friend). CONvergence is the sort of con where being a good mix of writerly and geeky comes in very hand. Mixing the two successfully with good presentation of self and some charm goes a long, long way. Kudos for them for being so enjoyable to listen to.

Other things: yay for bringing in ASL interpreters for at least one panel I attended. I don't see this much outside WisCon and think it is a cool and fine thing. The Beta readers panel was a good one (people were encouraged to network) and useful basic ground was covered.. Kruschenko's made for a comfy place to hang out in and have intelligent and amusing conversation; I haven't laughed so hard in months. And I femmed out and hit the dealer's room with Elise - and I have the feathered, beaded hairband to prove it! I also got in some good catch-up time with friends, including the ever delightful editor and writer Pam Keesey, famed in song and story. This made for an excellent end to my con. :-D

Some comments on moderation or things that worked less well
My third panel, "On Creatures and Character" was a decent enough panel, if not as strong as the others. I also attended the SF and Disability panel, which was interesting, but I think that both panels would have been improved with a panel moderator, appointed beforehand.
I'm not sure why but CONvergence has an ongoing practice of not appointing moderators when the program is created. You can get away with people just winging it when there are only 2 or 3 of you, but it is ever so much more difficult when there are 5-6 on a panel. What generally happens is that you hear 2 or 3 voices and less or nothing from everyone else. If it goes really badly, one person does 90 to 100% of the talking. Sometimes that person is a panelist, sometimes they're an audience member. The need to be heard at length may come from a lack of social skills or from a certain confusion over the role of panels and panelists at cons (hint: they're not therapists, confessors or your big shot at publication. Really). The fact of the matter is that someone needs to play conductor to keep things running smoothly. and I hope that this practice changes at future CONvergences.

That said, huzzah for another great con! We're off to Decorah tomorrow to get our marriage licenses so more on that when we get back.

but not without reason. Worked a 10 hour day yesterday when I was nearly too sore to sit up (back, shoulders and neck - all out in ghastly ways). Spent today getting yelled for a. errors I hadn't committed or b. doing what I was told to do, which was clearly wrong. So a rejection on top of it is just a big shiny cherry on the general pile of crapitude which is my day. :-(
But at least we don't have to hear about the recount again. There. A bright spot already. Off to go pout and toil at workshop stuff.

There have been many lively doings in and amongst the job interview (Tuesday) and wacky amounts of overtime earlier in the week.
Thursday night was the redoubtable Mr. Eric Heideman's birthday soiree at Dulano's.  There was cake and enjoyable chatting about everything from the new Korean immersion school (coming soon to the Twin Cities) to property tax liens to various and sundry fannish things. Oh yeah, and our upcoming nuptials which are still relatively big news. Afterward, I helped Eric haul out a car trunk load of stuff, including cake leftovers. Another good time had by all.

Friday was an expedition with Jana, Rebecca K. and mr_bad_example to the Twin Cities Book Fair, hosted by the Midwest Antiquarian Booksellers. There I scored a 1904 edition of Famous Women: As Described by Famous Writers (because it just doesn't get more famous than that), one H.G. Wells novel and a Fritz Leiber collection I was unfamiliar with. And of course, the all important additions to the ever-expanding Edward Gorey collection. This time around, it was a copy of the Fantod Pack (reissue) and a signed copy of The Awdrey-Gore Legacy. Awdrey-Gore is a deconstructed cosy mystery that comes with character cards, implements for murder and plot devices, sort of like Clue if Gorey had designed it. It  is second only to The Unstrung Harp or Mr. Earbass Writes a Novel in the sheer awesomeness of its send up of the writing process. Am v. pleased.

Saturday morning was the finale of the installation of the fabulously expensive new concrete paths around the house in the morning. Very necessary given that the old paths turned into life-threatening ice rinks in the winter and were horribly cracked, as well as draining directly into the house. The whole $500 over original estimate was a tad painful, however. :-(

From thence, it was on to Pride where I hung about the True Colors Bookstore booth with the store owners and staff in hopes of enticing someone or other to buy signed copies of my works. It was quite odd and a tad painful, though not entirely unsuccessful. I suspect that simply signing the books and not being there would have been as effective. It's fairly difficult to sell erotica in these parts as it is and the fact that I now resemble someone's artsy grandmother or possibly a younger Auntie Mame does not seem to help all that much. Hard to say. At any rate, Lyda Morehouse and Lori Lake dropped by on various errands and I had some nice chats with customers. And didn't smack any of the more irritating ones, which is always a victory.

Rebecca K. and mr_bad_example (Jana was off teaching, in a no doubt out and proud sort of way) swung by to pick me up and we gadded about the park for awhile running into people and petting the various animals at the various rescue tents. We also did a lot of people watching and job networking (not me), as well as sundry other activities. I somehow managed to pick up less stuff than I usually do, quite possibly due to sidewalk completion sticker shock. I did have my picture taken with two lively young lads who were smitten with the notion that I was wandering about wearing a t-shirt with "LABIA" on it in big pink letters. It is a souvenir from a long ago women's music festival trip and was a plug for a now defunct Queer Nation offshoot called "Lesbian and Bi Women in Alliance." Since I date back to a period when lesbians and bi women were seldom, if ever, in voluntary alliance, I like to treasure it as an example of how far we've come. At any rate, it was appreciated and admired in several quarters so that was quite nice.
We skipped the Parade in favor of getting other stuff done this morning. Probably should have just done the parade, all things considered but still entertaining hopes for getting a bit more done today before collapsing tonight.

Currently reading: Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romances. Oh, the marvelous snark! Am checking out to see if it's worth recommending to my classes this summer. So far, am giggling a lot.

In what has become a unfortunately common story these days, author Tim Pratt is trying to cope with a spousal layoff and a child with significant medical needs while continuing to eat regularly and live indoors. He's posting a serial novella from his Marla Mason series by way of raising some needed funds - details here.

Coffeeinhell needs some help between jobs and is busy making delicious things to further that end.  Polidori Chocolates has Goth chocolates as well as nifty things like the Choconomicon (which we are eagerly awaiting) and Seven Deadly Sins truffles.

Common Language Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is in danger of closing unless they get a healthy boost in purchases and steady clientele. Check them out - we need more independent bookstores, not less.

Please pass along - thanks!

I'll be at Twin Cities Pride this Saturday (the 27th) in lovely Loring Park, signing books at the equally lovely True Colors Bookstore booth at 1PM. Please stop by and say hi. I'll even sign body parts, within reason. :-)

So here's what we've got so far:
Rings, ordered and taken care of
Officiant, all volunteered and selected
Several volunteers to form a wedding party of sorts and possibly bake a cake

General plan of attack - sometime real soon, I take the day off (or am out of work, whichever comes first) and we toddle down to Decorah with whoever's got time and wants to be a witness and get us a license. Jana goes back on biz day 4 to pick up the license.
Some period of time passes until ta-da, the weekend of September 19th rolls around. We converge somewhere in Iowa City with said officiant, some vague ideas of wedding vows, rings and a license. Plus hopefully a few of our friends. We do the thing.
Next weekend, we have a party/reception in the Minneapple. Location time/place TBD.

There are many blank spots regarding places and such. We're leaning toward City Park in Iowa City because we always liked it when we lived there, but are amenable to other inexpensive options. We'd prefer daylight options to make life easier for our friends and their schedules and would rather  the out of doors than in. Apparently, we need someone to snap a few informal photos as well.
Any suggestions on places? Volunteers? :-)

Reception/party. We have a very small house, as those of you who've been here can vouch. And a reasonably tight budget (read: my current contract ends at the end of July and I don't know how long it may take to get a new one) so we're looking to do this on the cheap. Any thoughts on good locations in the Cities for a reception for anywhere from 20-80 people? Or things you liked about your own or other people's receptions?
We want this to be fun and low stress for all concerned, including us, so relatively painless is very welcome. :-)

Though given the pouring rain and rather brisk wind, perhaps not the best time for skyclad ritualing. :-(
Happy Father's Day to those of you celebrating it as well. I grew up in a single parent household (Mom) so I tend to forget there's something else that goes on today.

Silver Moon word count:


More work on sundry other things as well.

Yesterday, we were fortunate enough to inherit some cheap tickets from a friend of a friend to The Guthrie's production of The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism, with a Key to the Scriptures, Tony Kusher's latest opus (and I suspect, only play to date that  mentions Minneapolis). I should say that if you're thinking of checking it out, there's a lot of it - 3.5 hours to be precise. What can you pack into 3.5 hours of theater? An enormous amount of family dysfunction, political debate, mostly on fairly sectarian topics within the American Left, infidelity, suicide and union organizing with sidebars on religion and sex. The sets are very well done and the staging is quite interesting. We loved most of the performances. And it held our attention throughout, something I can't say about all serious dramas that I've seen staged, regardless of playwright reputation. On the down side, there are substantial sections where all the actors talk at once. Sure, it seems more realistic, but it's mostly annoying. Word was that Kushner was and has been changing the dialogue throughout the production so there was some stumbling on delivery. And the ending seemed a bit...silly and unfinished, given the rest of what you'd just sat through. It's an interesting mess though and I'm really curious to see what remains when he finally finishes tinkering with it.

because it gives me something to look forward to and I so don't want to talk about how this week has gone (though I can almost hear out of my right ear again and that's a definite improvement):

CONvergence is a mere couple of weeks away. Register early and often; it's pretty epic. :-)

Friday, July 3
9:30 AM
Creatures and Character -  Writing the human and inhuman in a believable way is tough. Should the story be from the point of view of the Vampire or their significant other? What makes people love or hate a character or creature?
Panelist(s): Jeannie Holmes, R. Scott McCoy, Andre Guirard, Catherine Lundoff, Roy Booth, John Shea

7 PM - Tricks of the Trade: How to Publish and Not Perish
Being a good writer doesn't mean your book will ever make it. Come listen to some advice from successful writers.
Panelist(s): Patrick Rothfuss, Catherine Lundoff, Mark McLaughlin, Scott Lynch, Lyda Morehouse

Saturday, July 4
3:30 PM - Broad Universe Rapidfire Reading
Members of Broad Universe will read their short fiction. Broad Universe is an international organization with the primary goal of promoting science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women.
Panelist(s): Catherine Lundoff (mod), Kathy Sullivan, Catherine Schaff-Stump, Lyda Morehouse, Kimberly Long-Ewing

5 PM - How to Screw Up Your Writing Career
Pro writers share their stories about mistakes they've made or they've known others to make as newly published authors.
Panelist(s): Patrick Rothfuss, Catherine Lundoff, Kathy Sullivan

These are more 'biz' panels than I generally sign up for and I don't remember volunteering for a couple of them, but guessing that's just a senior moment and I did in fact do so. I'm sure they'll be filled with dynamic discussion. CONvergence panels usually are. It's a fine, fine convention.

And before I forget, I'll also be signing at the True Colors Bookstore table next weekend at Pride (time TBA).
The other high point of the week - I'll be reading at The Loft in early August. :-) More on that when there is a schedule and such.
 

Gosh, thanks, Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder. I particularly like the sections when the DOMA is necessary and constitutional in order to to prevent beastiality, incest and child rape. All of which are, you know, just like gay marriage. And no, I'm not making this up. I wish I was. Be nice to see some of that "Audacity of Hope" right around now.

Full text of the brief
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16355867/Obamas-Motion-to-Dismiss-Marriage-case

And a legal analysis of same -
http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/obama-justice-department-defends-doma.html

So I guess this means the DNC won't be needing to hit us up for money next election cycle, huh?

Just got word that my story "Just Another Girl on the Train," originally published in Dirty Girls, Rachel Kramer Bussel, ed., is going to be reprinted in Best New Erotica Vol. 9. This is my 3rd sale to this series and I'm quite pleased about it. :-D

I did a guest blog on the topic of "Setting the Scene" out at Oh, Get a Grip!
I suspected it wasn't quite what my hostess anticipated and think that I will eventually be writing a blog posting on what happens when other people like some of your earlier work better than you do now. But then, I nearly always like my newest stuff best - it feels more polished and finished to me. So perhaps a subsequent blog posting on "When Writers May or May Not be Kidding Themselves" as well.

So Fey: Queer Fairy Stories, edited by Steve Berman, has been re-released by Lethe Press. It includes stories by Melissa Scott, Holly Black, Christopher Barzak, Craig Gidney, Lynne Jamneck and me, among others. I'm linking to the ebook edition because it's the only non-Amazon page  I can find, but I believe that it is also available in print, seeing as I now have contributor copies. It is an excellent read, quite apart from my participation in it, and I recommend it heartily.

Girl Crazy: Coming Out Erotica edited by the fabulously talented Sacchi Green is out and about from Cleis Press. It includes my story "Wine-dark Kisses" as well as tales by D.L. King and Cheyenne Blue among others.  it has already been reviewed out at Erotica Revealed and Ashley Lister has said nice things (except for the hating the title part).

And that's it for the moment. I'm dusting myself off, working around the house, getting my class stuff organized for teaching next month's 2, count 'em, 2 writing workshops at The Loft and the Golden Crown Literary Society Conference, and beginning to get back to writing. I'll post my CONvergence schedule in the next week or so as well.

and its aftermath.
Since Friday morning, I've survived the following in addition to previously mentioned events:

• 2 somewhat surreal phone interviews for one job. Apparently a live one is looming, but as yet unscheduled. Still not totally clear on what the job entails, other than it's QA and it's pure chaos, which would be my norm.
• Overtime, worked directly after the impromptu kitty funeral. More useful than you might think, but not fun.
• Got hooked on True Blood or at least the first 4 episodes. Wow, this is much more interesting than I remember the Harris series being! Though in all fairness, I've only read one or two of the books. Looking forward to the rest of Season 1.
• Read Affinity, Flora's Dare and another book I've forgotten the title of. The Waters was good but dreary, the Wilce was good fun though there should be more Dainty Pirate and the preteen romance elements seem a bit sudden, but perhaps that's just me.
• Finished my guest blog posting for "Oh, Get a Grip!" I'll post when it goes live.
• Wrote a short essay that I'm not sure what to do with.
• Developed a weird fever that knocked me on my butt for 24 hours, then vanished.

I'm skipping the more emotionally fraught moments as well as the workaday ones. This is the first time we've been without at least one cat in 15 years and I'm not enjoying it all. We will fix this sometime in the nearish future but still have a lot of house stuff to address first, all of which is easier when you don't have a furry companion who roams free. Sigh.
And thanks again for all the kind words - it's helped tremendously.

We really appreciate the sympathy and support. I'm a still a bit shaky so I hope you'll forgive the lack of personalized responses.

A kitty of indomitable spirit and great zest for life, she came into her own in later life. We adopted her as a kitten from our local animal shelter and brought her home to plague and eventually bond with our older cat. She was quite shy for the first ten years of her life but got braver as she got older. For the last three years, she was battling thyroid, heart and kidney problems but remained playful, enthusiastic about meeting new people and enjoyed exploring our yard. She died in my arms today on the way to the vet's. We'll miss you, little friend.

Just found out that Haunted Hearths is a finalist for the Golden Crown Literary Awards in the sf/f/h category. :-D
The Goldies are given annually to books with lesbian protagonists in a variety of categories. I won one last year for erotica and will be going to the Awards in Orlando this year. Fingers crossed!
Current finalists (still being updated) -
http://www.gclscon.com/2009Finalists.htm


And congrats to HH contributors Sacchi Green and Lynne Jamneck who also have other books that made the list!

Anyone know of someone who does clothing alterations (and is good at it but doesn't have a gigantic wait list)?

Just spent a day and half doing a new draft of Silver Moon (my nonerotic menopausal lesbian werewolf novel in progress, for those of you just tuning in). Thus far -



It's going slowly but steadily. I've never had anything take up residence in my brain quite like this story; I go to bed at night thinking about it, then wake up the next morning still thinking about it. Mostly pleased but want it out of the brain and onto the screen faster than it's going.
Still to go this week: a couple more stories and the dreaded pulling together of the Loft workshop. This will get done around job hunting, since my contract ends in two weeks. Fun!.

real soon now so this is the rare and elusive pre-coffee posting.
First - Huge congrats to Melissa Scott, Kathleen Bradean and M. Christian - their Haunted Hearths stories were all selected for the first annual Best Lesbian Fiction anthology from Bedazzled Ink. :-D
Next up - the Vogel Awards (fan awards for best sf/f/h) are tonight in New Zealand and Lynne and Lynn are both up in short fiction for their HH stories, in what may be the first time that LGBT stories have made it to the Vogel finals. Good luck!

Werewolfy goodness in progress. I'll do  a word count update later on. Other stuff also in motion.

And on the personal front, Jana broke the news about our planned nuptials to portions of her clan (all small to medium-sized town dwelling Utah Mormons) on her birthday. So far, we're Sister +10 ("Makes sense. You two have been together a long time"), Parents -27 (mini-lecture on how this will, like the election of Barack Obama, lead to the decline and fall of Amerika as they know and love it. One can only hope). My parent is taking it in stride and trying to figure out logistics.

At the moment, I have something akin to battle fatigue. Not because of any dire event that occurred at the con, mind you, but I am just wiped out tonight. Thursday night, I did a presentation for my class at The Loft Open House. It went reasonably well; I spent some time talking to various and sundry and had a pleasant evening. It looks like the class has enough people registered for it to carry, so that was good news. I didn't find that out until after I got very keyed up and ran around until midnight though.This made for an exciting day of driving to Madison on Friday, but we enjoyed spectacular weather and a nice picnic lunch at some rest stop where I got covered in spiders. That part was less lovely but survivable.

Friday night, I moderated the ghost stories panel. We had a very tiny room and many, many people in it. But they all stuck around so I assume it was reasonably interesting. On the whole, i thought it went well but wished that given the sheer wealth of ghost stories by women authors, I could have lucked out and gotten at least one panelist who'd read stuff that I hadn't. I'm always on the lookout for interesting new books in this area. No such luck in that department, but there was a wealth of horror selections and sundry movies.

Saturday was the Farmer's Market with friends, followed by picking up Tiptree shirts (fabulous Freddie Baerness as usual), followed by my panel on women warriors on tv and movies. This one I found fairly draining, I must admit, though again, quite crowded in a small room. No reflection on the panelists and I did end up talking more than I perhaps should have, which may have accounted for my feeling the way I did. Some interesting questions and thoughts tossed around on various topics: the dearth of fantasy shows with kickass women characters, the rarity of shows/movies that can pass the Bechdel test, increasing militarization of the women depicted and women warriors without any community connections, including to each other. I think it just depressed me to realize how much ground it feels like we've lost in terms of representation in the last 10 years or so. Bleah!
After that, there was puttering and chatting and dinner, followed by the Tiptree Auction. Klages, Ryman and co. were absolutely hilarious. The Campfire Girls poem reading nearly made me fall off my chair. Definitely worthwhile. :-D

From there, we hit a few parties, then went to bed because I had a panel on Sunday at 8:30 AM. I made it up and about, marginally caffeinated. This time we were in the huge ballroom and the crowd was a respectable size, but far from  huge. The discussion veered off from promotion dos and dont's into how wonderful Twitter is (I disagreed) and why every waking moment must be spent blogging (I disagreed here, too), interspersed with a few other tidbits of info which were, hopefully, useful to someone there. In any case, I was ready for it to be over a bit before it ended, possibly because it was followed by brunch with charming company at the Orpheum Theater, which I adore. After that, Jana and I went ring shopping with Laurie Edison (see previous), hung out with friends and so forth.

I made it down to Room of One's Own in time to hear Haddayr, Will, Barth and David read. They were all very good and I'm quite eager to find out how their stories turn out. There was some great stuff going on there. Our reading, which followed, could have benefited from a bit more discussion and prep beforehand. We threw things together and there had been a number of miscommunications due to emails going astray and such, and it showed. So thanks to everyone who rode it out despite a snafu or two. From there, it was off to dinner, then eventually on to the GOH speeches. I found Ellen's speech quite moving and was glad I had made it down for it.

After this, we went off to the Acting for Writers panel which had its moments. It, too, could have benefited from more planning and a bit less grandstanding, not to mention being weighed down with a rather silly closure. The folks in the audience had some useful comments though so it certainly wasn't a complete waste of time. And it got us thinking about ways in which it could be done better so all to the good. In contrast, the 8:30 I went to on Monday morning on tech tools for writers was filled with useful info and I ended up with lots of notes that I need to go through.

On the whole, a fine and excellent WisCon, though I got less time with friends than I wanted and much less down time than I wanted (mostly my own fault). But kudos to the ConCom for a job well done. Off to go pay bills and collapse now.

just ordered our rings from the wonderful laurieopal in the dealer's room at WisCon. And last night, Minnesota poetic powerhouse John Calvin Rezmerski volunteered to officiate, once he gets his minister's license in Iowa. :-D
Still a bit of a shock, as the whole legally married thing comes as something of a surprise.
Apart from that, panels have been decent to pretty good so far, have gotten to see a bunch of friends old and new, I'm very low on sleep but not sick  and am off to go hear some folks read. Plus reading my own stuff at 4PM. More bulletins when somewhat more coherent.

The huge pile of stuff is gradually getting organized, sort of.
I noticed that the lovely and charming haddayr was kind enough to plug my Sunday reading so I figured I'd do the same. Actually the Sunday line up of readings at A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore in Madison looks terrific.
At 10AM, there's David Levine, Nnedi Okarafor, Greer Gilman, and Rosalyn Berne.
At 1PM, there's Karen Meisner, Mary Rickert, Benjamin Rosenbaum and Diana Sherman

Then check out Minneapolis locals for Shadow Over Powderhorn (a name choice I adore) at 2:30:
Haddayr Copley-Woods, William Alexander, David Schwartz and Barth Anderson

And then finally, us! Nyarlathotep's Daughters at 4PM -
S.N. Arly, Melodie Bolt, Martha Allard and me. :-D

I should also mention that I'll be reading from excerpts from either my menopausal werewolf novel in progress or from my Lovecraftian cat horror spoof, due to appear in Tales of the Unanticipated later on this year (neither of which is erotica, BTW). You, the audience, get to decide! Think of the power!

See you there!