Archive for July 25th, 2008

7/25/08: Where I’ve been, where I’m going

Wow, it’s been almost a month since my last post. Apologies.

The first week of that time was spent in Cleveland, at the annual gay square dance convention. Convention was fun as always, though as I commented on Sunday night “the more friends you have, the shorter Convention gets.” We had a great time at the Cedar Point amusement park, riding roller coasters. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is an excellent museum, with clear informational signage and videos answering not only the question “what is this?” but “why is it important?” As for Cleveland itself… this city makes me realize just how good we have it in Portland. It’s a rust-belt city with crumbling infrastructure, the restaurant situation is dire, and the downtown area seemed almost completely unpopulated even in the middle of a weekday. They’re trying, Lord knows, with much new construction and investments in mass transit, but it feels desperate. I wish them luck.

The following week we put together a new issue of Bento. As usual, we went from “omigod we have nothing, what we do have sucks, this is never going to come together in time” to “hey look, it’s a zine!” with head-spinning rapidity. It’s back from the printer already, even. We’ll be handing out copies at the Worldcon and mailed copies will be sent shortly thereafter.

Planning on the bathroom remodel continues apace. We just signed the contract and will have the final walkthrough meeting (with the ceremonial handing-over of the first ginormous check) next Tuesday. Teardown starts shortly after we return from the Worldcon. We have only the one bathroom. We’ll manage somehow.

At the moment Kate is in Kennewick, helping our niece with Project Destroy Grandparents while Kate’s sister is in Sweden for some kind of martial arts thing. Yes, Sweden. Who knew it was a hotbed of kendo?

I’m batching it (should really be “baching it,” I suppose, but that doesn’t suggest its pronunciation) here in Portland for the nonce. I’ve been working on revising a short story but it’s going really slowly. I hate revisions. Too bad I have a lot of them to do right now.

Kate returns Sunday. On Wednesday we both leave for Denver, where we will disperse: me to Laramie for the Launch Pad astronomy workshop, Kate to a rustic lodge near Pikes Peak. We’ll rendezvous back in Denver the following Wednesday for the Worldcon, where my schedule is as follows:

  • Wed 11:30: Launch Pad: Astronomy for Writers
  • Wed 16:00: Reading: David Levine
  • Thur 10:00: Short Fiction: On its way out or a way to break into the market?
  • Thur 14:30: Have blogs and listservs replaced fanzines?
  • Fri 10:00: Clarion West Writers Workshop: How it Helped My Career
  • Fri 13:00: Signing (45 minutes)
  • Fri 14:30: Kaffeeklatch
  • Sat 11:30: Clarion West Student Readings, the 21st Century

And, looking a little further into the future, I’ll be giving a reading in San Francisco on September 20, part of the SF in SF reading series. This does mean skipping out on Saturday evening of the West Coast Gay Advanced and Challenge Square Dance Weekend. The perils of living in multiple fandoms.

Oh, one more thing: The signed and numbered hardcover of my collection Space Magic is now available from Wrigley-Cross Books.