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Hang our Hats!

Catriona writes: Since Laura joined Hank and me on Tuesdays here at Fatal Acres, we've become a well-oiled machine: the first week is Hank, the second is me, the third is Laura, the fourth is a conversation amongst the three of us. If there's a fifth . . . we throw our aprons over our heads and rush about, scaring the chickens.

Thinking about the three of us, I realised that we're strung out across the country like beads on a (pretty frugal) necklace, in Boston, Colorado and California. And yet Hank has an R in CAR, I'm sure I've heard Laura say Y'ALL, and my Valley Girl twang leaves something to be desired . . .

So where did you come from (my lovelies) and how did you get where you are?

Catriona: I was born in Queensferry, a village just outside (now swallowed by ) Edinburgh, in Scotland. So was my dad. My mum’s an incomer, who’s only been there since 1956. They’re watching her with a beady eye.

the view from the house where I was born

Laura: Valdosta, Georgia. My "y'all" can't really be from there, though, since we moved to Texas (my father was an Air Force fighter pilot) when I was four. Hm, what's the diff between a Texas "y'all" and a Georgia "y'all?" You're a linguist, Catriona--you can probably tell me! 

Catriona: Hmm, not sure, but give me a map of the USA and I could still draw you the hey-hi-howdy line.

Hank: I was born in Chicago! My father was the music critic for the old Chicago Daily News, and my mother was in art school. After 33 years in Bostson, I can say “seeya latah” and “awesome” pretty perfectly, though.

And what brought you to where you are today?  

Laura: A long and winding road brought me from Georgia to Colorado. It involved many moves with my family, to places as diverse as the Philippines and Oklahoma; college in San Antonio; and then my own Air Force career which took me from Texas to Colorado to Washington D.C. (twice), to Pennsylvania, to Thailand, to Korea, to Alabama (twice), to England, and back to Colorado. Whew!

Hank: Oh gosh, long and winding road is right!  Shortest possible version? I was a radio reporter in Indiana (where I lived most of my pre-adult life), then a legislative aide in Washington DC, then a editorial assistant at Rolling Stone magazine, then TV reporter and anchor in Indianapolis, then anchor and reporter in Atlanta, and a 1983, I was offered a TV reporting  job here in Boston. I am fascinated by this question, because at any moment, along the way, we each could've made a different turn!

Catriona: I lived quite happily for forty years on various bumps of that wee grey rock where I was born, latterly in Galloway – away over in the west – where I took up full-time writing. But the other bit of that plan was that I could write wherever and so if my husband found a job he loved, I’d go with him. Anywhere within reason. Such as California. AWAY over in the west! 

Best and worst things about where you live?

Hank trying to get home!

Hank: Boston is beautiful, vibrant, historic, and, being a Midwest girl, I still gasp every time I see the Atlantic Ocean. And Boston is full of incredible mystery- writing colleagues, as well as other world-class authors.  Worst? Ha ha Ha… A couple of years ago we had 100 inches of snow. One hundred inches of snow! And beware of driving here… everyone drives like a banshee.

Catriona: The best thing about Northern California . . . the people are incredibly friendly. Insanely friendly. I’ve told this story before but: I went into the supermarket one day and a young woman came bounding up and said “Hey! How are you? Good to see you!” I looked hard at her and said: “I’m terribly sorry, but I’ve forgotten where we met.” Of course, we’d never met. She’s that pleased to see everyone. The worst thing about the Sacramento valley is the summer heat. Once I left my metal rubbish bin outside and had to put oven gloves on to bring it back in. And I ate a tomato off the vine and burned my mouth. But there’s no humidity and it cools down in the evening when the Bay breeze gets sooked up the valley.

Laura: We love Colorado Springs. From a writing perspective, perhaps the best thing is my view of Pikes Peak from my office window. It never fails to inspire. There's also a robust writing community in town, and people value the arts in general. On other fronts, I love that I can be hiking up the side of a mountain with only a twenty minute drive, that the weather is generally on the dry side so we're not fighting mildew and confronting still-damp towels in the morning, that traffic is not an unholy snarl (despite the fact this is the 40th largest city in the country), that we've got a great symphony--we saw YoYo Ma on Friday night!--and several theater companies. I guess another minor downside is that airfares are higher than they would be in Denver, say, or Dallas, but we've got a nice, convenient airport with short(ish) TSA lines, so that makes up for it.

Pikes Peak sunset

And finally, if you could live anywhere (with teleportation to hand, if necessary) where would it be?

Laura: If we're fantasizing, I'd love to have a house on water--a lake or the ocean--but I don't want mosquitoes. I'd like to be a bit further from the congestion of town, but I still want to be close enough in to run to a grocery store when I forget an ingredient for dinner. I want to be surrounded by nature, but I want a major airport nearby. Yup, all mutually exclusive. I love Colorado and can't really imagine living anywhere else now, unless we have to move for Tom's job (which is a possibility). Colorado would be the perfect state if it had an ocean! 

Catriona: I’d live on the coast. (America: You do live on the coast!). No but it’s 90mins to Bodega Bay from here and even though you can see where The Birds was filmed when you get there, that hurts. I’ve never lived more than about a 20min drive from the sea. So, in my dreams, I live in mid-Cornwall, with Scottish butchers, and California produce.

Hank:  I laughed at this, because of the old Steven Wright joke: he saw a sign that said "breakfast anytime and so he ordered scrambled eggs during the French Revolution.

And you know me, over analytical, it would depend on a lot of things, like how much money I had and what I was doing there. Paris certainly tempts. But Boston is not bad. Even with the terrible drivers.

How about everyone else: Best and worst? Dream home? Comment below and let us know.

As many of you may already know (since I’ve been complaining about it forever), we’ve had to be out of our house for a month while water damage to our floors was repaired.

Now we’re back in our lair, and boy, does it feel good. Our own bed, our own shower, our own kitchen . . . our own everything. Once the remediation team finishes unpacking our stuff, we’ll be back to normal, more or less. Looking for a few things I couldn’t track down, I cleaned a garbage bag full of debris from my desk drawers. This was progress in an unexpected direction.

I’ve turned in the FINAL FINAL version of “Sleep Like a Baby,” the next Aurora Teagarden. I got negative feedback from my beta readers on one passage, and if I changed that one I had to change another one . . . and on and on and on.
By the time I’d corrected the manuscript, I had rewritten a third of the book.

I’ve never done revision this extensive before. I hope it’s a better novel now. I don’t know if I could rewrite any more, and I certainly hope that’s not called for.

Now I’m at the scary and exciting point where I get to start a new book. Nothing is more thrilling. And nothing is more frightening.

While I’m in full reading mode, let me share some good books I read while we were in exile on Lambert Street: "Ride the Storm" by Karen Chance, "Just One Damned Thing After Another" by Jodi Taylor, "A Darkness Absolute" by Kelley Armstrong, "The Hanging Tree" by Ben Aaronovitch, and" This is (Not) Your Song" by Laura Nowlin.

While Laura Nowlin’s book is definitely YA, and Karen Chance’s book is urban fantasy, the rest of the books – while in fantastic settings – are mysteries. And they’re all parts of series. If you like one, you have a whole lot of good reading ahead of you.

Charlaine Harris

Mugging It Up

by Laura DiSilverio

I recently participated in an interview on Hollywood in Toto.com in which I apparently said that "writing doesn't happen without caffeine." Raise your hand if virtually nothing in your life happens without caffeine. My buzz-delivery product of choice is tea. I prefer Irish Breakfast, but will drink other types as long as they don't have frou-frou flavorings in them. (Pet peeve: servers at restaurants who don't understand that Earl Grey is NOT unflavored black tea.) But I digress.

Not only am I picky about my tea, but I am also picky about the vessel I drink it from. Don't get me wrong--I will slurp tea from a Styrofoam cup or discarded soup can if it is the only receptacle around. However, I prefer a mug. We have enough mugs in this house to stock a coffee shop, but among them I have clear favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Perfect Mug

The perfect mug has to have a certain heft to it--not too heavy, not unbalanced. It has to have a pleasing shape, fit comfortably in my hand, and hold a lot of tea because I don't like to interrupt the writing process for refills more than once a morning. (I don't mind if my tea gets cold.) Here is a picture of my three faves.

I got the yellow one at a garage sale--the color cheers me. My daughter gave me the white one for Christmas, decorated with drawings of trees and birds which washed off almost immediately, despite manufacturer promises that they would remain forever once baked on. It doesn't matter--I find the clean lines and the shape very appealing. The blue one was a gift from a dear friend. I will wash one of these mugs to brew my morning cuppa, even though we might have twenty other clean mugs.

Sentimental Keepers

I also have mugs that I rarely drink from, but which I keep because they were gifts from people I love, or because I find them pretty in their own right, even though I don't want to drink from them. Here's a couple of those.

Slogan Mugs

Finally, I suspect most of us own mugs because they have some sort of catchy slogan or image on them, whether it's something about grandmas, a workplace logo, an inspiring quotation, or a humorous joke. Hubby and I have several from our time in the military and I've posted a photo of them, along with a couple of others . It's not everyone, after all, that has a mug with Kim Jong Un riding a nuke.

 

 

 

So, tell me . . . Am I the only one who is choosy about mugs? How many mugs do you own? What's your favorite? If you send me a photo of your favorite and a sentence about why you love it (ldisilverio at gmail dot com), I will try to post them here, on a date to be determined.

Revision

by Donna Andrews of the Femmes Fatales.

I have a draft. It has more or less the right number of words; it has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. I'd have done something by way of a celebration a few days ago had my body not decided, when I typed "THE END," that it was time to give way to the cold I hadn't even realized I was fighting off. 

Bah, humbug.

So I slept as much as possible for a couple of days, and now I'm about to sit down and start revising.

I love revising.

I hate revising.

My love for the draft phase of writing a book is fairly straightforward and unadulterated. You know where you are with a draft, because the only thing that really matters is making quota. The words could be crap, but as long as there are enough of them, it's okay.  They don't have to be good--not yet. They just have to be there.

The words I've got probably aren't total crap, because one of the things I do to get myself in the zone for turning out each day's quota is to reread parts of what I've already written. And if there's a writer out there who can reread part of a draft without revising and polishing . . . well, they're not me.

Another thing that's really comfortable about draft phase is that when I'm in it, I'm usually working with an outline.  A synopsis.  A plan.  I know who done it, and how, and I know who the red herrings are, and I usually know exactly how Meg is going to crack the case and, more often than not, where and how her final confrontation with the villain will take place. If something in the outline doesn't work, or if I think of something better than what I had in the outline, I can adjust. I have my writing GPS aimed at the finale, and if I find I need to veer off course, I can hear the little voice saying, "recalculating route" as I forge ahead.

Yeah.  I like drafting. But revising is tough.

It's tough because now is the time to take a cold, hard look at what's there. Figure out what needs fixing and fix it. And that's very hard.  Because--it's a book!  It's a whole book! And I wrote it!

I think I'm reasonably good at revising.  I actually teach a class in it from time to time. People tell me they find my class really useful. I find that reassuring. Because the class is mainly a collection of tricks and techniques I've accumulated over the years for turning "it's a whole book!" into "Well, yes, but it still needs work."

But the downside of revising is that you never really know how much you need to do and when to call it quits.  Although come to think of it, one of those is off the table for me. I know how exactly when I will call it quits--the day I have to turn it over to my editor. But do I have a minor tidying ahead of me, or major literary surgery?

At least I have the tools I need.  All the tricks and techniques I recommend to others.  Time to trot out that list and start using them.

And there's also the fact that I've done this before, more than two dozen times. That doesn't necessarily make the work easier, nor does it make the uncertainty easier to bear in the moment. But it does give me a certain bedrock of confidence. Yeah, I can do this.

I'd go on, but . . . I have a book to revise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love and a Cough . . .

. . . cannot be hid. Or so says Dorothy L Sayers in Gaudy Night. I was all set to write about the blessed Dorothy today on account of just having received a set of re-issued Wimsey books from Hodder and Stoughton in London. (This is most of them; four are reprinting.)

Then I noticed the date and thought I'd probably better blog about lerrrrrve. But then - two birds, one stone - I happen to think DLS is the most romantic crimewriter and Harriet and Peter are the most romantic crime solving duo.

They meet In Strong Poison in a scene with one of the most English proposals ever:

Peter: Oh well - I thought you'd be rather an attractive person to marry. That's all. I mean, I sort of took a fancy to you. I can't tell you why. There's no rule about it, you know.

Harriet: I see. Well, it's very nice of you.

She turns him down. Then they meet again in Have His Carcase, for another soaring proposal scene:

Harriet: Where did you come from?

Peter: From London. Like a bird that hears the call of its mate.

Harriet: I didn't-

Peter: I meant the corpse. But still, talking of mates, will you marry me?

Harriet: Certainly not.

Peter: I thought not . . .

In Gaudy Night, they've got the format down to the absolute basics:

Peter: I take it, Harriet, that you have no new answer to give me?

Harriet: No, Peter. I'm sorry, but I can't say anything else.

Peter: All right. Don't worry. I'll try not to be a nuisance.

So far you'd be forgiven for wondering if I know what the word "romantic" actually means. But! Then comes the scene in the punt. Peter is reading case notes and Harriet finds herself studying his face:

It was by this time tolerably familiar to her, but now she saw the details, magnified as it were by some glass in her own mind. The flat setting and fine scroll-work of the ear, and the height of the skull above it. The glitter of close-cropped hair where the neck muscles lifted to meet the head. A minute sickle-shaped scar on the left temple. The faint laughter-lines at the corner of the eye and the droop of the lid at its outer end. The gleam of golden down on the cheek-bone. The wide spring of the nostril. And almost imperceptible beading of sweat of the upper lip and a tiny muscle that twitched the sensitive corner of the mouth. The slight sun-reddening of the fair skin and its sudden whiteness below the base of the throat. The little hollow above the points of the collar-bone.

He looked up; and she was instantly scarlet, as though she had been dipped in boiling water. Through the confusion of her darkened eyes and drumming ears some enormous bulk seemed to stoop over her. Then the mist cleared. His eyes were riveted upon the manuscript again, but he breathed as though he had been running.

So, thought Harriet, it has happened.

If you don't find that swoon-some, maybe check your pulse. 

Busman's Honeymoon is technically a detective novel, but there's more romance in it than in some romances. They marry - claiming one another in splendid triumph - they spend an entirely satisfactory wedding night together - behind the lightest of gauze curtains - they spar, they canoodle, they murmur sweet nothings (mostly literary quotations) and generally act like the smuggest smug-marrieds you've ever rolled your eyes about at a dinner party. But there are quiet moments of true communion that would melt the stoniest heart and still the rolliest eyes.

Peter: ... I've always been alone.

Harriet: Yes, of course. I'm like that too. I like to crawl away and hide in a corner. 

Peter: Well, you're my corner and I've come to hide.

 

I've loved all the Wimsey books for a long time, as my original collection shows:

I love the early ones pre-Harriet as well as these four. The plots are ingenious, the settings rock-solid and there are laughs a-plenty. (I like the bit in Have His Carcase when Peter asks if Harriet isn't perhaps displaying  what he calls "a certain coarsening of the fibres" in inviting press attention instead of fleeing from it as she used to. "Obviously,' said Harriet. "My fibres at this moment resemble coconut matting." Makes me giggle every time.) But what I adore most of all is this awkward, stumbling, complicated, emerging relationship between equals. 

That's why, when I was asked to join the chorus giving voice to our love of Dorothy and write an introduction for one of the volumes, I knew which one I wanted. Not my overall favourite - The Nine Tailors - or the one set where I used to live  - The Five Red Herrings - or the masterpiece - Gaudy Night. Nope, I wanted to write the introduction to the last and shortest collection of Wimsey stories, published after Dorothy's death as Striding Folly. 

And that's because in the final story of all, "Talboys", we get to see Harriet and Peter awkward no more, stumble-free, uncomplicated, and loving every minute of their life. I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with my choice of most romantic crime-solvers? Or who do you reckon should get the prize? Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

5 Things You Need to Give Up If You Want to be Loved

 By Joanna Campbell Slan

1. Being right. People who are always right, forfeit their humanity. First off, it shows you’re emphasizing the wrong thing—your perfection. Here’s the simple truth: Humans make mistakes. If you don’t, then we can safely assume you aren’t human. Guess what? Being human makes you lovable. It’s the peephole in door that lets us see who’s standing on our threshold.
2. Being first. If your needs are paramount, no one can ever be real around you, because being real means (occasionally) being needy. When you have to be first all the time, you are denying other people the chance to ask for—and get—what they need.
3. Being a victim. Okay, bad stuff happens to all of us. Like they say, some days you’re the bug and some days you’re the windshield. Getting mired down in the drama of victimhood is a guaranteed way to spend the rest of your life alone. No one wants to take the chance of hurting you…again. And again. And again. Because it will happen. Most people move on. You need to, too.
4. Being too strong to ask for help. If you don’t need anyone, you’ve set yourself up for life alone. We all long to be needed. We love that which we care for. The act of nurturing another human being reaffirms that the giver is worthwhile. Don’t cheat others of the chance to give to you.
5. Being chronically unhappy. Those who can’t enjoy life are a real trial to those of us who do. Negative Nellies travel around with their own weather systems, rain-rain-and-more-rain. Eventually people move to another locale in search of a little sunshine.

This Valentine’s Day, instead of giving, you might want to give up…these 5 things.

 

 

Boskone Bound

by Leigh Perry / Toni L.P. Kelner

Though all of the Femmes are known as mystery writers, several of us dabble in other genres, which means we might show up at conventions other that venerable mystery gatherings like Malice Domestic and Bouchercon. The weekend after next, Femmes Dana and I will both be attending Boskone, one of the longest running science fiction and fantasy conventions. Femme-in-law Stephen Kelner--meaning my husband Steve--will be there, too. And we're all going to be participating in panels, readings, discussions, interviews, kaffeeklatsches, and signings. And shenanigans.

There's still time to register if you're interested, and just to lure you in, here's what the three of us will be up to at the con. Boston in February--could you ask for better weather? I mean, we've only been snowed into the convention once that I know of. For an extra bonus, the Friday afternoon panels from 2 to 6 PM are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! That includes panels from all three of us, and my reading.

Speaking of my reading... For the first time ever, I'm going to be reading from the first part of the forthcoming Family Skeleton book, The Skeleton Paints a Picture.

So here's where and when we'll be all weekend! Except the shenanigans won't be scheduled. They tend to be spontaneous.

FRIDAY

4 PM - FREE TO PUBLIC
Temperament and the Writer - Leigh
How can a writer cope with the ups and downs of the writing biz? We thought about using the following title and description, but not all writers are miserable depressives! [NOTE: Presented as a public service by Boskone. Listen to us, we beg you! Writing is long lonely hours of cruel labor and dismal self-doubt, plus humiliation (publishers) and indifference (the public). Our experts will share their most horrifying stories of the degradation and despair of every writer’s life. If you’re smart you won’t even show up. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.]
Panelists: Leigh Perry, Esther Friesner, Richard Shealy, Ian Randal Strock, Steve Davidson

 

4 PM - FREE TO PUBLIC
Panel: Using History in SF and Fantasy - Dana
From alternate history to vaguely familiar settings in a unique story world, history is a great resource for inspiration. What are some of the most creative uses of history in fiction? How much research is needed before writing and fleshing out the story? Panelists discuss examples of how history has enriched some of our favorite novels. But can sticking to history hobble your creative instincts? When should we deviate from historical truths and strike out into the creative unknown?
Panelists: Bradford Verter, Jo Walton, Mark L. Olson, Dana Cameron, Ada Palmer

 

5 PM - FREE TO PUBLIC
Panel: Star Trek: “The City on the Edge of Forever” - Steve
“The City on the Edge of Forever” is considered by many the best episode of the first Star Trek series. Does it deserve that reputation? Harlan Ellison’s original script was altered before production because the producers found it too expensive, too difficult to fit into their shooting schedule, and, though a “lovely story, ” just not a Star Trek tale. Its airing was followed by decades of public arguments between Ellison and showrunner Gene Roddenberry. Who was right?
Panelists: David G. Grubbs, Jeanne Beckwith, Alan F. Beck, Stephen P. Kelner Jr., Kenneth Schneyer

 

5 PM - FREE TO PUBLIC
Reading - Leigh
Leigh Perry reads from the forthcoming Family Skeleton mystery The Skeleton Paints a Picture.

 

8 PM
Panel: How to Design a Game - Steve
Have you ever thought, “That would make a great game”? Our panel discusses what goes into making a game (video, mmorp, board, table, RPG, card … ) interesting, playable, fair, and fun. Possibly they’ll offer a lightning example of (the first steps in) game design.
Panelists: Carlos Hernandez, Stephen P. Kelner Jr., Brianna Spacekat Wu, Erin M. Hartshorn, James Moore

 

SATURDAY

11 AM
Special Guest Interview: Maryelizabeth Yturralde - Dana
Boskone’s Special Guest, Maryelizabeth Yturralde, joins us from a Mysterious Galaxy far, far away. From running a bookstore to helping to plan programming for Comic-Con International, M’e (as her friends call her) has been a part of the various forms of fandom for … well, let’s just say for a significant amount of time. Join author Dana Cameron and M’e for a lively discussion between old friends.

 

1 PM
Panel: Bioethical Issues Raised by SF … and Real Life - Steve
Ongoing advances in biotechnology and biomedical research have delivered some important benefits, and promise more. But they’ve also brought ethical concerns, calls for moratoria, fresh regulation — and new moral dilemmas. There may or may not be something wrong with playing God: but are we playing blind? What might we unleash with stem cell research, modified viruses, bioengineered cures, self-replicating nanobots, cloning, and regrowth of organs or limbs?
Panelists: Stephen P. Kelner Jr., Priscilla Olson, Ken Altabef, Kristin Janz, JeffWarner

 

1 PM
Panel: Remembering Buffy the Vampire Slayer 20 Years Later - Dana
“Becoming” Parts 1 and 2, “The Body,” “Once More With Feeling,” “Hush,” and “Graduation Day” are among the best-loved episodes of the series. Our panelists discuss the episodes they love the most, and why the show itself continues to be so memorable and rewatchable — 25 years after the movie, and 20 years after the TV show debuted.
Panelists: Christopher Golden, Maryelizabeth Yturralde, Dana Cameron, Erin Underwood, Deirdre Crimmins

 

2 PM
Panel: Skullduggery and Dastardly Deeds in Pulp Fiction - Leigh
Let’s talk about the unsavory side of fiction, and how writers deal with characters and conflicts that focus on underhand, unscrupulous, or dishonest behavior or activities — while 1) making the story feel realistic, 2) keeping the characters likable (when desired), and 3) walking the lines between genres without leaving a chosen genre behind. Why write the rogue?
Panelists: Brendan DuBois, Leigh Perry, Scott Lynch, Hillary Monahan, Melinda Snodgrass

 

2 PM
Panel: Arrival and the Morality of Time - Steve
Arriving in late 2016, Arrival was instantly acclaimed as that rare Hollywood phenomenon, a thinking fan’s movie. Let’s discuss the issues that it presents — concerning language, determinism, and the moral dimension of the fourth dimension of time — as well as their (deeper?) treatment in the film’s source, Ted Chiang’s prizewinning 1998 novella “Story of Your Life.”
Panelists: Kenneth Schneyer, Daniel M. Kimmel, Stephen P. Kelner Jr., Rob Greene, Jeffrey A. Carver

 

5 PM
Panel: Worldbuilding in Urban Fantasy - Leigh
An inconsistent or poorly described worldscape can furnish a confusing story, or challenge a reader’s ability to suspend disbelief, even when you’re dealing with a world that is “just like ours.” Is creating an urban fantasy world as simple as adding magic to a place like Chicago or New York City? Or is there more to it? Hear from writers who have created fully realized urban fantasy worlds that their readers can almost see, touch, and smell.
Panelists: Juliana Spink Mills, Leigh Perry, Margaret Ronald, Adam Stemple, Robert B. Finegold M.D.

 

5 PM
Noir (Not) at the Bar Special Boskone Edition - Dana
Noir at the Bar comes to Boskone for a special afternoon of reading and fun with our noir, crime, mystery, and horror writers.
Participants: Chris Irvin, Errick Nunnally, Dana Cameron, Vincent O’Neil, James Moore, Melinda Snodgrass, Jack M. Haringa

 

 

SUNDAY

9:30 AM
Event: Flash Fiction Slam - Leigh & Dana
Boskone’s Flash Fiction Slam returns! Be one of 11 writers to compete for the title of The Flash, reading your own original fiction — which must tell a complete tale within a 3-minute period. Our expert panel of judges will score your work, and you automatically lose 10 percent for going over your 3-minute time. You may only read your own work. The reader with the top score wins! Sign up before the con for one of 8 reading slots on a first-come, first-served basis by signing up online before the convention. Or sign up onsite at Program Ops in the Galleria for one of 3 at-con openings. A waiting list will also be available.
Panel Judges: Rob Greene, James Patrick Kelly, Bruce Coville, Leigh Perry, Dana Cameron


12 Noon
Autographing - Leigh & Dana

 

12 Noon
Panel: Faith in Space - Steve
Humanity used to look to the skies and see God (or the gods, depending). Now, we look to the skies and see the future. As we find more Earth-like planets in habitable zones and space travel becomes not only possible but probable, what role will religion play? How might our Earth-based religions change as we launch ourselves into the heavens? What might it mean to colonize other planets? Can SF literature point us toward what the future might hold for spirituality and faith?
Panelists: Janice Gelb, Vikki Ciaffone, Stephen P. Kelner Jr., JeffWarner

 

2 PM
Kaffeeklatsch - Leigh
This is an informal discussion, but if nobody shows, I'm going to Steve's presentation, described below. In fact, I think we should all go to Steve's presentation.

 

2 PM
Solo Talk: Internal Character Conflict: Motives Versus Values - Steve
Well-written characters often struggle with internal conflicts that can drive the story as much as — or more than — external ones. Motivational psychologist, researcher, and writer Dr. Steve Kelner will lay out the different levels and types of motivation identified by research, provide examples from fiction and real life of how they can collide, and show how to use them to create powerful conflicts within a character.

As I said, there's still time to register. And if our wonderful panels aren't enough to convince you, I should mention the fabulous Boskone Honorees!
Guest of Honor: Brandon Sanderson
Official Artist: Dave Seeley
Special Guest: Maryelizabeth Yturralde
Featured Filkers: The Fabulous Lorraine & Lojo Russo
Hal Clement Science Speaker: Milton Davis
NESFA Press Guest: Ken MacLeod

If you're in the Boston area--or close enough to get here--how can you possibly pass this up?

 

My Lessons from Tom Brady

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: How was YOUR weekend? Huh. Mine had its ups and downs…and in the end, I learned something from Tom Brady.

Let’s start on Friday. Ordinary fun Friday, out to dinner with pals. Jonathan and I were hustling down Moody Street in Waltham, me talking intently about something, and wham. I mean: WHAM. I tripped on a brick of some kind in the sidewalk, and tumbled--knee, wrist, shoulder, face--on the pavement.

(And no, I wasn’t wearing heels—I had on flat boots! And thing is—if I’d been wearing heels, I’d have been walking more carefully.)

Anyway, as my husband said so descriptively, “Honey, you went down like a sack if potatoes.”

Lovely.

So there I was on the cold hard pavement, checking my teeth, checking my nose, checking my hair, feeling blood on my fingers. Two passers-by stop to help. Was I okay? I…was. But wow, everything hurt.

Someone called 911. The police came. The ambulance came. The firefighters came. The furniture store proprietor brought me inside and I sat down, and took stock. Jonathan ran to get ice from a restaurant. I was terrified, and unnerved, but fine. The EMTs assessment: “Wow, ma’am. You are going to have some shiner!

Lovely. But I was absolutely lucky. It could have been so much worse!

So I spent this weekend using ice packs, massaging in arnica, and taking arnica pills and Advil. I slept sitting up so it didn’t get more swollen. May I just say? It looked terrible. Grotesque. Horror movie city. Red, purple and blue. Really really swollen.

But there’s the thing. My revisions are due. And I only have three weeks. And it is a big job. (Revisions when you’re healthy are difficult enough, right?) Holding a package of iced peas to my face, I tried to sit at the computer, read my manuscript, assess and revise and rewrite. It was a bit hard to think, since I was still...rattled. I could not give up. I HAD to work.

I was not being successful, I knew it. But if I took a nap, as I longed to do, all that time would be lost. I kept at it. I made progress, but not as much as I might have if I hadn’t been on the injured list.

Sunday evening, I watched the Super Bowl. We live in Boston, so it was must-see. And early on, it looked like the Patriots were toast. Here's how Tom looked at one point.

Here’s how I looked watching. Under a blanket. I could not stand it.

 

You and me, Tom Brady, I thought. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. (I was yes, equating my book with the Super Bowl, but we all have out goals.)

And then, after three quarters, it became clear Tom was not going to give up. He steeled himself, and his team. He went for it even harder.

At that moment, somehow I got a boost of Brady optimism and determination. I could DO these revisions. It would work. Nothing important or valuable is easy.

I’m playing injured, but it won’t be for long. If Tom can do it, I can do it.

(He wears shoulder pads and a face mask, though.)

When I finish, and I will, I won’t get the Lombardi trophy. But I will be just as happy as the team.

How was your weekend?

 

Quota

by Donna Andrews with the Femmes Fatales.

I made quota today. That means it's a good day.

I could think of a lot of reasons for anger, depression, anxiety and stress, in the greater world and in my own life.  But I'm not thinking about them right now.  Because today I made quota.

It's always a very satisfying moment when I'm finished with the first phase of writing--the planning.  Outlining. Synopsizing. Whatever you want to call it. Notice that I don't say "I outline before I write." Outlining is a part of the writing; the first and possibly the most important part. Sometimes I'm tempted to linger in the planning phase. But inevitably, there comes a day when I start the draft.

Sometimes I start the draft  because I have a really detailed outline that I'm completely satisfied with, an outline that may already have spawned big chunks of prose that can be spliced right into the draft. And sometimes--more often, actually--I start the draft because I have a deadline looming and I need to get moving if I'm going to have a prayer in hell of meeting it, and I hope that whatever outline I have will see me through. Either way, I start.  I make a spreadsheet showing the days I have available till I want to have the draft finished, and I figure out how much I need to write on each of those days and maybe I panic a little if the deadline's too close and the daily word counts are scary big.

But then I sit down and do it.

From the outside, my life looks a little boring right now.  I wake up, sit down at the keyboard, and I write until I hit my word count.  Most days I finish my word count in time to take care of a few other things.  Paying bills. Doing laundry.  Keeping balls in the air for the various organizations I volunteer with. I might even read a little nonfiction at the end of the day.  Nonfiction, because I don't want to get sucked into someone else's fictional world. Right now, I need to be wholly immersed in my own world.

My desk, and my office, are messy. They might get a little tidier if I get stuck on figuring out how Meg can possibly unearth a particular clue and decide to tidy while I think. But tidy won't get my draft done.

The laundry piles up, and I get dressed out of the dryer a lot, because fingers that are folding clothes aren't flying over the keyboard. Hey, what do you want? The clothes are clean, aren't they. (I long ago learned the wisdom of owning enough socks and undies to last if I get into a roll on a book and don't want to break for laundry.)

My friends, especially the ones I text throughout the day, have learned to celebrate with me when I announce "I made quota!" and to make encouraging noises when I moan "I've only done a page and a half so far today."

Sometimes I test out the motivational power of posting, daily, on Facebook, when I meet quota. But I worry--will people assume I fell down on quota if I fail to say that? What if I don't meet quota for some very good and logical reason--do I explain or--

And then I tell myself to shut up.  Just do your quota.

Sometimes I bribe myself.  Another page and you can get a snack.  Finish by five and you can order kung pao chicken for dinner.  Tonight I'm going out for a burger, because I nailed it early.

And then tomorrow, I get to do it all over again.

It's not the exciting part of writing. But it's the core of what we do.  Just get the words down.  Polish them later. Keep the story moving.

Yeah, I get kind of quiet.  It happens.  I'll see you when my draft is finished.

 

 

 

 

 

Purging

by Kris Neri at the Femmes Fatales

I have a confession to make — I’ve started purging. No, I’m not confessing to forced barfing. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve
begun shedding stuff. I’m building up bags and boxes of things to donate to charities that we don’t really need.

We seem to have become a nation of hoarders. No, maybe we don’t all have aisles between stacks of newspapers in our homes, but we are still crammed with possessions. Consider all the self-storage centers that have cropped up across the country. Aren’t those places largely the reason we aren't all trapped in newspaper stack-aisles? According to the statistics I found online, the self-storage facilities we have in this country provide 2,300,000,000 square feet of storage. It’s a $22,000,000,000 industry — that’s twenty-two billions! That’s a staggering payment. We’re paying to keep what we don’t entirely want, but which we also can’t give away.

By comparison, I actually feel pretty good about my situation. I don’t even have a storage unit. And most homes here in Arizona don’t have basements, so that seriously cuts into how much I can store in my home. But before I congratulate myself too much, I should admit I can’t remember the last time we were able to get a car into our garage. And while our home came with exceptional storage spaces and large walk-in closets, they are all filled to bursting.

How did that happen? I really don’t know. We’ve actually purged things at various intervals. When we moved from California twelve years ago, I carried in eight big bags of clothing into thrift stores, along with lots of boxes. And we’ve had two yard sales since.

Besides, we’re not really big shoppers. I honestly can’t remember buying all our excess. But unless we have secret sleep-shopping habits, it has to come back to us.

The most embarrassing admission has to be how much I long to hold onto totally useless items. How I stand before the “keep” and “purge” piles, unable to toss some items either way. I’ve seen that in other people, too. I’ve gone to a few sales held at self-storage yards, when the owners of the facilities sell off the items of those who stop paying rent on their units. I’ve always thought I’d be embarrassed to pay to keep those ratty

items. And yet, while I’m not paying to store them, I am holding onto things I should be able to let go of. Am I really ever going to fit into the minuscule sizes of out-of-style clothing I’m holding on to? How many old coffeemakers does anyone need?

Seems like it should be an easy choice. The trouble is that I remember too many purging mistakes. Items I felt sure I’d never use again that I now wish I had. Or worse, things I felt sure I’d never use again, and have now bought again. What was I thinking when I purged those items?

On the other hand, it’s winter here, and it’s been a cold winter. I’m tired of scraping the frost off my windshield before I can drive. I want to house my car in a garage.

Maybe it’s not too late to reconsider the storage unit approaching. I’ll just have to hope that years from now, I don’t kick myself for paying a monthly fee to keep items that it turned out I never needed at all. Decision, decisions…

So, how does it work for you? Are you a purger, or a hoarder?