Sorry I haven’t blogged lately. I spent most of the first week back just recovering and digging out from under two weeks of email. Much of the time since has been spent working on a Keynote (Apple’s answer to PowerPoint) slide show of my trip to Mars, mostly photos — I’m about three-quarters done with it and I suspect the first draft will take about two hours to present, but once I have it organized and structured I can cut it down. I also have begun outlining a science fiction story incorporating my experiences at MDRS; right now I’m trying to get the orbital mechanics to work with the plot I have in mind. (Can’t have a Mars base with two-week rotations when there’s only a launch window every 26 months!)

I sent out a bunch of emails to the local media right after I got home and they’ve begun to bear fruit. I’m giving an interview to a reporter from Willamette Week (local alternative weekly newspaper) on Tuesday, I’m scheduled to appear on AM Northwest (local TV morning show) the following Tuesday, February 16, and on March 3 I’ll be presenting a rapid-fire talk as part of Ignite Portland — 20 speakers each presenting 20 slides in 5 minutes on a topic they’re passionate about. (I described it to a friend as being like a cross between TED and speed-dating.) All of these should be available on the web after they’re done; I’ll provide links when they are available.

On March 6 I will be speaking, with slides, for about 20 minutes at the banquet of Potlatch, a science fiction convention in Seattle. I’ve also been asked to produce short text pieces for the website of the Science Fiction Writers of America and the progress report of Renovation, the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention, neither of which I’ve yet begun writing. Once I’ve written those I plan to pitch non-fiction pieces to many other markets, which is a new thing for me. I also hope to present my Mars talk at Wiscon, the Worldcon, OryCon, and other events, if the organizers will have me. (Not Radcon or Norwescon, alas.)

In writing news, my non-fiction essay “How the Future Predicts Science Fiction” will be appearing in the final issue of The Internet Review of Science Fiction and my story “horrorhouse” made the BSFA Award longlist. “horrorhouse” might also be (re)printed in a forthcoming paper version of DayBreak… I’ll keep you informed of any progress. The cover and final ToC of Retro Spec, including a reprint of my story “Nucleon,” have also been announced… it’s scheduled for publication in October 2010. And I got a nice wooden base made for my Endeavour Award.

Today is a busy day, with a manuscript-mailing party, a critique group meeting, and two square dances. I need to finish my Keynote presentation, prepare slides for Ignite Portland, and select photos and edit videos for AM Northwest. There’s several kinds of writing to do. We’re having a small party on Sunday and there’s prep to do for that. There’s laundry and dishes and taxes and all those other mundane details. And all of this has to get done before we leave for a square dance event in Washington, DC on Wednesday (assuming they’ve dug out from under their Snowpocalypse by then).

What else? Oh, yeah… must remember to breathe.