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Ugh, a lot has happened in the past few days. But first, if you find yourself at loose ends tonight and are local, feel free to stop by my signing tonight. The details are below:
On Tuesday, July 8, 2008 from 5:00 - 7:00 pm I'll be signing at the Waldenbooks in Northtown Mall with Lois Grieman and Michele Hauf. Waldenbooks is located at: 212 Northtown Drive Blaine, MN 55434. For more information call (763) 780-1264.*
Okay, let's see. This weekend was an embarassment in social riches. I ended up having to turn down and/or miss several cool events because we ended up being booked solid. First of all, we got invited to a potluck at our friend Rosanne Bane's house for the 4th. We had every intention of going, but Shawn, who is out of town this week in Washington, D.C. on business, got her traditional ack-I'm-leaving-I'm-sick upset stomach, and we had to spend much of the weekend close to the bathroom. But, she took a lot of immodium and we cooked the traditional hamburgers on the grill. A few years ago I learned a clever trick. You can put cast iron skillets on the grill. This has made for really yummy grilled onions and mushrooms. (Shawn loves the onions, and I love both). So that was really quite tasty, and thanks to the poor economy and the Chinese fireworks shortage our neighborhood only very briefly sounded like the warzone. Most people were done blowing things up around 11:00 pm, which is actually pretty sane for the 4th.
I realize I'm fairly unpatroitic to suggest this, but I've never understood what explosions have to do with the birth of our nation. I spent a lot of this 4th wondering how freaked out returning soldiers from Bagdad and elsewhere must feel everytime they heard that whistling overhead. I mean, to my untrained ears they sound a lot like incoming mortar bombs. Which made me wonder if the 4th is a particularly bad time to have post-traumatic stress syndrome, you know?
Then on Saturday, I met up with Lars Pearson and his wife from Mad Norwegian Press, as well as Lynne and Michael Thomas (I should look up their LJ handles, but I'm really lazy and sleepy today). That was a great deal of fun. Turns out we had a bunch of fandoms in common -- comicbooks! -- so I had a blast chatting with everyone. So I only grazed the edges of CONvergence, though it sounds like it was a good con. I'm sure to go next year when Wyrdsmith's own Kelly McCullough will be one of the literary GoHs.
Speaking of the prequel, I've figured a few things out and I think that project is finally getting some wind in its sails.
Sunday we hung out with our friends Dave and Rachel Hoffman-Dachelet. Dave just finished his epic fantasy novel SEA OATH and was looking for a reader, and I would have done it without the lunch, but Rachel's spreads are always worth it. Though it was a bit hot, we ate outside in their gianormous and incredibly lovely garden/backyard. They have the kind of backyard that Shawn and I strive for, but haven't quite achieved. I do want to take a picture of the johnny jump-ups that have self-seeded in our herb garden, because they are Legion... but otherwise, a lot of our gardening is on hold until Mason can really help out.
Yesterday, Shawn took off for D.C. and Mason and I spent our after school time overdosing on our newest obsession: Bookworm Adventures. Have you ever played this game? It's awesome and totally addictive for anyone who likes Scrabble and other word games. We were in the middle of defeating the big boss from the first adventure (each adventure takes place in a book, and the first one is a cross between the Illiad and the Oddessy) when Sean M. Murphy stopped by to chat. We took a break from the game long enough to chat a bit, but then we sucked him into playing a few rounds in the Arabian Nights adventure. Much fun.
Today, I'm going to drive over to Dreamhaven with another load of AngeLINK books, which I'm surprised they want since they're moving house... but it must be e/mail orders that they're filling. I was checking my records and I must deliver an armload of books once a month. My sales since going out-of-print are small, but steady.
I should be going to work out now, or at the very least getting my hair cut (which is starting to get beyond shaggy), but there's air-conditioning in the coffeeshop and did I mention the lazy I have going on?
-----------------------
*Note: if you've always wanted to meet Mason, this is the event to attend. Since my usual booksigning babysitter flew off to D.C. yesterday afternoon, I'm bringing him with me. I know this sounds crazy, but if I buy him a Garfield book he'll be so deep in it he won't be able to bother anyone until he's finished reading it. Love that kid!
On Tuesday, July 8, 2008 from 5:00 - 7:00 pm I'll be signing at the Waldenbooks in Northtown Mall with Lois Grieman and Michele Hauf. Waldenbooks is located at: 212 Northtown Drive Blaine, MN 55434. For more information call (763) 780-1264.*
Okay, let's see. This weekend was an embarassment in social riches. I ended up having to turn down and/or miss several cool events because we ended up being booked solid. First of all, we got invited to a potluck at our friend Rosanne Bane's house for the 4th. We had every intention of going, but Shawn, who is out of town this week in Washington, D.C. on business, got her traditional ack-I'm-leaving-I'm-sick upset stomach, and we had to spend much of the weekend close to the bathroom. But, she took a lot of immodium and we cooked the traditional hamburgers on the grill. A few years ago I learned a clever trick. You can put cast iron skillets on the grill. This has made for really yummy grilled onions and mushrooms. (Shawn loves the onions, and I love both). So that was really quite tasty, and thanks to the poor economy and the Chinese fireworks shortage our neighborhood only very briefly sounded like the warzone. Most people were done blowing things up around 11:00 pm, which is actually pretty sane for the 4th.
I realize I'm fairly unpatroitic to suggest this, but I've never understood what explosions have to do with the birth of our nation. I spent a lot of this 4th wondering how freaked out returning soldiers from Bagdad and elsewhere must feel everytime they heard that whistling overhead. I mean, to my untrained ears they sound a lot like incoming mortar bombs. Which made me wonder if the 4th is a particularly bad time to have post-traumatic stress syndrome, you know?
Then on Saturday, I met up with Lars Pearson and his wife from Mad Norwegian Press, as well as Lynne and Michael Thomas (I should look up their LJ handles, but I'm really lazy and sleepy today). That was a great deal of fun. Turns out we had a bunch of fandoms in common -- comicbooks! -- so I had a blast chatting with everyone. So I only grazed the edges of CONvergence, though it sounds like it was a good con. I'm sure to go next year when Wyrdsmith's own Kelly McCullough will be one of the literary GoHs.
Speaking of the prequel, I've figured a few things out and I think that project is finally getting some wind in its sails.
Sunday we hung out with our friends Dave and Rachel Hoffman-Dachelet. Dave just finished his epic fantasy novel SEA OATH and was looking for a reader, and I would have done it without the lunch, but Rachel's spreads are always worth it. Though it was a bit hot, we ate outside in their gianormous and incredibly lovely garden/backyard. They have the kind of backyard that Shawn and I strive for, but haven't quite achieved. I do want to take a picture of the johnny jump-ups that have self-seeded in our herb garden, because they are Legion... but otherwise, a lot of our gardening is on hold until Mason can really help out.
Yesterday, Shawn took off for D.C. and Mason and I spent our after school time overdosing on our newest obsession: Bookworm Adventures. Have you ever played this game? It's awesome and totally addictive for anyone who likes Scrabble and other word games. We were in the middle of defeating the big boss from the first adventure (each adventure takes place in a book, and the first one is a cross between the Illiad and the Oddessy) when Sean M. Murphy stopped by to chat. We took a break from the game long enough to chat a bit, but then we sucked him into playing a few rounds in the Arabian Nights adventure. Much fun.
Today, I'm going to drive over to Dreamhaven with another load of AngeLINK books, which I'm surprised they want since they're moving house... but it must be e/mail orders that they're filling. I was checking my records and I must deliver an armload of books once a month. My sales since going out-of-print are small, but steady.
I should be going to work out now, or at the very least getting my hair cut (which is starting to get beyond shaggy), but there's air-conditioning in the coffeeshop and did I mention the lazy I have going on?
-----------------------
*Note: if you've always wanted to meet Mason, this is the event to attend. Since my usual booksigning babysitter flew off to D.C. yesterday afternoon, I'm bringing him with me. I know this sounds crazy, but if I buy him a Garfield book he'll be so deep in it he won't be able to bother anyone until he's finished reading it. Love that kid!
