Vylar Kaftan

I believe it’ll be up soonish. I don’t generally announce sales until I sign contracts. I learned about this market from my colleagues at Codex.

• WisCon, as always, was incredible. A superbly-run con, with great people and great events. Definitely a con I’ll go back to every year.
• My favorite panel was the one on writer’s block, led by Rosanne Bane. She had terrific suggestions for how to get through persistent blocks. One takeaway for me was that blocks are often for good reasons, even if you can’t consciously identify those reasons. Another was the Flail Technique. If you’re writing a first draft and you get stuck, just type [FLAIL] and then ramble on for a few sentences saying whatever you like. You can cut it later. And eventually you’ll wander back to the point. The point is to keep yourself typing. I’m going to try that one.
• WisCon did a lot of great things to help people have access to the con, like large-print signs and wheelchair zones in the programming areas. I’d love to see more cons aware of these issues.
• The Glorifying Terrorism reading went fabulously well. Great turnout, great discussion–and it lasted until almost 1 AM. James Trimarco and Rachel Swirsky did a superb job acting out scenes from my story “Civilization” (paper hats with ribbons! chocolate for the audience! badger badger mushroom!) Maureen Kincaid Speller gave a great description of the GT law and its implications for the UK.
• Like Nick Mamatas, I was disappointed at the lack of eggs in the Governor’s Club. Next year I’ll bring plastic Easter eggs and hide them under the bar. But the free drinks were nice, especially on Monday night when I just wanted to unwind.
• I’ve got to get my butt on LiveJournal.
• Shannon saved the day with a well-timed tofu dog which he forced upon me. Slash writers, interpret as you will.

Back from WisCon.  Highlights later.  But until then… I came home to find that three clocks in my apartment were showing different times.  Three different ones, none correct.  I guess they missed me.  I had no idea my clocks were so needy and high-maintenance.

Visiting Shannon’s family in Iowa, my family in Wisconsin, and then heading to WisCon. Not sure if I’ll blog anything from the con or not.  I’ll probably be too busy fluttering around, seeing everything and everyone.

Nudist trampolining. Work-safe. The fig leaf moves in a disturbing manner.

You know what peeves me? Dialogue between two characters where they address each other by name.  Especially if it happens more than once.  I mean things like this:

“But Betty, you can’t be serious about that!”

“I am, Charles.  Very serious.”

I don’t know about you guys, but when I’m alone in a room with someone, I know perfectly well who I’m talking to and I don’t need to tell the reader their name.  Even if I’m in a room with multiple people, I don’t need to use someone’s name unless (maybe) I’m trying to get their attention.  If we’re already in conversation, we know each other’s names.

Extra peeve points to writers who do this solely to tell the reader what the first-person narrator’s name is. While it can work (as above, if someone’s trying to get their attention), often it’s done clumsily.

Overusing names is most common among therapists, salesmen, and politicians, and should be stamped out in fiction unless a character belongs to one of those professions.

Calculate pi by throwing frozen hot dogs.

And here it is. “Galatea” is up at Heliotrope. I’m really pleased with the artwork.

“Keybones” has been named a Notable Story for 2006 by StorySouth’s Million Writers Award. Finalists will be announced on May 23, at which point everyone can vote for their favorite stories.

I really like the concept of this award. Anyone can nominate a story, but in exchange you’re supposed to help publicize the winners. So when this award catches on, it’s because people like the idea — not because it’s been promoted by a particular organization. Very appealing to my sense of semi-anarchy.

Sometime very soon, “Galatea” will appear in Heliotrope.  The artwork for the magazine looks great.