Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...

I have spent the past few days locked in the windowless Inner Circle of Hell that is the Javits Center, helping man the SFWA booth for Book Expo America.

And yes the reading horde (comprising of bloggers, librarians, publishers, various and sundry publishing-related folk, and General Readers) were unleashed upon us, and lo we did our best to feed the horde with free books, samplers, bookmarks, signings, and stickers. And they did, on the appointed hour, allow us to escape, wherein several of us headed for the traditional (or at least habitual) post-BEA Scotch.

And now I am dead.

I love you all but I don't want to talk to anyone for at least 24 hours and I'm not going to smile or at least 48 more.

Meanwhile, work continues. I spent half an hour, last session, fixing two paragraphs. They're incredibly important paragraphs, and I'm still not sure they're sharp and layered enough, but for now it will do.

My favorite line from that section: "The wind whistles me up and down, and it tells me of the crackling of bones.”

Some days, this book fills me with despair, that it will never match my intentions. And then some days it glows darkly on the page, and I think I might just get it...

Originally posted at Writer. Editor. Tired Person.

It rains.  And is chilly.  I am not feeling the urge to haul down to the farmer's market this morning.  In fact, my only urge is to sit on the sofa, nom toast-and-coffee, and work on the Hard-Deadline Client Project. I suppose that's not a bad goal, actually.

Meanwhile, I have this odd feeling that I'm actually ready for BEA next week. This is, of course, utter self-delusion.  And yet... Jaym has the SFWA signing schedule worked out.  We have the SFWA booth coverage schedule worked out (more or less) to avoid the unfortunate Incident last year when two of us basically rode herd on it the entire time, and wasn't THAT fun (no, not really).  All of my meetings are set (sort of) and there's a growing pile of Stuff in the BEA-prep area of my apartment.  I've even gotten the water and extra power cords wrassled already.

Which means of course that whatever nails us will come out of the blue, and if you can't predict it, why worry about it, right?  We Have a Corporate Card, We Can Fix It.

(some of you may remember the Great Load-In Disaster of last year.  Throwing money at a problem sometimes really is the only solution, especially when dealing with the electricians' union.)

I am tempted oh so tempted to set up a video camera and record each day at the booth, the good the bad and the ridiculous. If only because by the time BEA winds down, Jaym and I usually can't remember what the fuck just happened, much less what happened three days before....

If you're going to be there, stop by!  The SFWA table will have various authors signing books and giving away Stuff! (the actual schedule will go live on the SFWA website on Monday, I'm told).  And if you're around Thursday at 4pm, and happen to be wearing a blogger or librarian badge, I might have Stuff especially for you...

This week is BEA (BookExpo America). Goodbye, work-week. I'll see you next Monday.


Things to Do This Week, alphabet edition


- BEA set-up (for the SFWA booth) (Monday)
- networking with librarian-types for BVC at BEA
- managing the cats at the SFWA booth
- my signing at the SFWA booth (1pm Tuesday)
- various BEA gatherings and get-togethers
- networking with digital media types for BVC
- networking to drum up business for d.y.m.k. productions
- do not lose my s.h.i.t.
- BEA break-down (Thursday)
- puppy-sitting (Thursday-Saturday)


If I happen to get some writing done, or production work, or...well, anything other than BEA, then that will be a beautiful plus. But this week? I'm not expecting it.

If everything works out as planned, you may refer to the SFWA booth team as Goddamned Superheros. Or Pepper fucking Potts.

Survived a full day at BEA. Today - dealing with all the stuff that didn't get dealt with yesterday, plus a few Added!Exciting! New Things that've come up this week, and then off to dinner with Madame Editrix and onward to the Harlequin BEA party.

Thanks to all who've snagged books in this week's sale - I hope to get to the post awful this week. I thank you. Pandora...well, considering the indignity she's about to undergo, she may not thank you. But she would if she understood.

And I will be choosing a winner for the Anna Leonard threepack at some point this week, too.

Man, I have a lot to do this week and it's already Wednesday...


*zoomz*

A quick look at the not-final, not-polished cover for WEIGHT OF STONE [and just in time to encourage me through the copyedit of said book):



I was dubious about using that particular scene for cover art, but I do like the way it's come out...*


And now, after a full day of networking and signing and drinking and networking, I am back into Day #3 of BEA, and then tomorrow down to Baltimore (the cats are going "oh, the sitter? Again? Let me pee into your shoe, there...") and god knows what kind of shape I'll be by Tuesday, considering the shape I'm in now...


Dead-by-Tuesday Deadline Count:

1 novella -- almost done
1 short story revision: in progress
1 copyedit: pending
1 novel-being-written: talk to me on Tuesday


*disclaimer: artist's interpretation of the actual ships in no way under my control. So don't send me the cranky notes about inaccuracies, mmmkay?

Achy, tired, dehydrated life, but life nonetheless. O Universe, thank you for only making me attend one day of BEA...

(the Javits Center is large, visually interesting from the outside, spacious enough to hold an entire village, idiot included*, and has the worlds hardest concrete floors that even the double-layer of carpet padding the larger booths pay to put down can't make comfortable. 10 out of 10 podiatrists and chiropractors disapprove. It is also at the far end of Manhattan in what we un-affectionately refer to as the ungentrifable wastelands)

It was a quieter than usual BEA; while all the usual vendors were there (except Amazon, unless I missed them?), there were far fewer books bags and whatnot being given away, and by mid-afternoon the crowds were noticeably thinned out. Which was good, since a) my signing was in the morning and b) that meant after my 1:30 interview I could get through the booths to talk to the people I needed to see, wearing my freelancer hat. It also meant that I came home with far fewer books than usual, which is probably a good thing. Also: two special-for-heavy-chewer dog toys for Mei Chan, from one of the pet guide publishers.

Oh, and I saw the "Espresso" book-creating machine. It's larger than I thought it would be, and at least one of the samples I saw came out mis-bound, but for small press trades I can see where it might totally change the game. It's not going to replace a well-made hardcover [or even a quality mass market] yet, though.

The signing? Oh, the signing went quite well. I knew, signing as "Anna" that my crowd would be smaller, but they still kept me busy for the length of the signing and a little bit after, and many people who came up said "oh, you're also her!" in tones of delight, and lamented they hadn't brought any of the Retriever books to sign as well (proof that people don't read bios, yay!). Also, although I didn't get to the S&S booth in time to get pictures of the galleys being given out *sads* two people did come by with them to be signed, so I do know they're out in circulation now. Eeeeep.

I also had a meeting with a d.y.m.k. client that went extremely well, and I have hopes of it becoming an ongoing project.

This morning, my back hurts, my eyes are dry, and it has finally stopped being glum and rainy and looks to be a beautiful day. I may amend plans and go sit in the local park and read for a while, Just Because.




*plus livestock and vehicles and farming instruments. Srsly. It is HUGE.

There is too much, I cannot even sum up. But I will try.

Thursday night, as already recounted, we went off to the Olde Stomping grounds to see Springsteen. The very next morning at Oh Fkcu Early, vincam and I made our way to the Amtrak station, and thence to Baltimore(Jules) and DC (moi). I was in DC to take part in the BookView Cafe presentation via the Library of Congress lunchtime gatherings. We had a smaller than usual crowd, due to the holiday weekend, but it was still a lively and interested crowd, and I think we got across the joys traumas and expectations of being an author-driven e-publishing co-op. Plus, our multimedia worked like a charm, including all the video files. Yay!

www.bookviewcafe.com if you want to check us out yourself.

From there, Sue Lange and I braved the traffic and drove up to Baltimore, for Balticon, where in addition to two more Bookview Cafe presentations, I was on some damned good panels (the "Good and Evil" one had an amazing turnout for Monday at 10am!) and saw old friends from the area and elsewhere, and met new friends, and put faces to known phosphors, and generally it was A Convention. I also taped an interview with FastForward that will appear at some point in the future, and even managed to get some work done, although not as much as I'd hoped. Oh, and I gave blood, due to perfect timing of not being sick, having had a good meal, and an hour to spare when the Heinlein Society-sponsored bloodmobile arrived. I missed my last usual donation because I was sick, so it was good to catch up. Does anyone know if there will be a blood drive at Anticipation or not?

Then home, via a very crowded not-my-train (ours was canceled due to mechanical problems) and I've been trying to play catch-up ever since then, aware that this Friday is the start of BEA, and I'm scheduled from 11-2 with Author stuff, and then again at 3-4 with editor stuff, and social obligations in the evening, and I've extracted myself from social things on Saturday because the work, it still waits and not patiently at all, damn it...

if I owe you e-mail, I apologize. I'll get there eventually. After the laundry.


And I leave you with the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4GniJYzGa8

(safe for work, but may cause you to lose all ability to speak for a few minutes)


And under the heading of "taking things out of context," I give you this gem from this morning's word war chat:

"jut, knot, and harden sound like a pair of Scandy triplets in an erotica."

Woke this morning to e-mail from a friend in the UK, informing me that BURNING BRIDGES was #12 on the bookscan fantasy trade list, first week on-sale. What does this mean? Basically, that a lot of you bought the book the moment it became available.

I'd smooch you all if I didn't know where some of your mouths have been. *adjusts halo*


Meanwhile, I have been to BEA and BEA has been at me. My feet *hurt*. The signing went very well -- at no point did I misspell anyone's name or forget how to spell my own (it happens, after a dozen or so books signed rapid-fire), I saw many people both skiffy, LJ-ish, and Previous Career, picked up a reasonable number of freebie books (most of which are for other people -- Terri, Vampry, I have gifties for you!), got taken out for a fabulous lunch wherein I learned that a NYT bestselling romance author I'm a fan of is a fan of mine (!!), was interviewed for a podcast, had dinner and drinks with dianora2, and decided to treat myself to a lovely foot massage which, trust me, even one day at BEA makes a medical requirement, not a luxury.

Oh, and it was around 90+ degrees in Manhattan today. *wilts*

Tomorrow, more of the same.

For now, I fall over go thud.

First, the PSA: before you use a cool-sounding word? Make sure that you know exactly what it means, and that it does the job you are using it to do (cue The Princess Bride quote here). Keeping a dictionary on your desk while you work is a good habit to get into.

When in doubt? Simplicity trumps complexity.


And now the dithering. I have to pack for this weekend. Two signings, one formal and high visibility, and one a drive-by. Lunch with madame editrix. Drink dates with various sundries (check in, various sundries, so we can actually schedule said drinks!). Formal cocktail party. Brunch on Sunday. One, count 'em ONE small suitcase.

I can do this. I just have to figure out what Look I'm going for. Professional Writer-being? Flirty chic-lit fantasy writer? Basic black New Yorker?

Professionally flirty basic black New Yorker?

I'm gonna need new shoes.