Monday marches on

broken walnut branchIt’s a bit stormy through the Mid-Atlantic right now. Last night, as I was going to bed, I heard something fall. Worried about it, wondered about it — but nothing came crashing through the roof, so I went to sleep. This morning, I found this branch off the walnut tree in our backyard. I’ve been meaning to call someone to deal with it for a while now. Anyway, I now have a to-do on my list for March (better weather, I hope) to call someone to take it down — with the phone number, so I don’t have any excuse.

Today is, without a doubt, the best writing day I’ve had in a long time. I hit that “the end is sight” point (though really it’s still thousands of words away), and everything just started flowing. Very pleased about this.

Words written today: 5,051
Words written 2017: 33,786
Average words/day 2017: 1,469
Books completed 2017: none yet (getting close!)
Pages read: 1 chapter so far
Books read 2017: 1
Exercise reps: 0

I didn’t exercise today mostly because I was so busy sitting at the computer typing. Tomorrow, I’ll get different exercise — lifting many boxes of Girl Scout cookies for transport — so I’ll be counting that, regardless of whether I do formal reps of any sort.

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SnowpocalypseCon 2015

This weekend, I headed up to Boston to attend Boskone, the annual convention put on by NESFA. I had an incredible time — learned new things from panels, met some online friends face-to-face for the first time, caught up with other friends, laughed like mad at the SF improv, had some excellent seafood, and do not appear to have contracted con crud.

I’m grateful to Elaine Isaak, who accepted me and my son as roommates, which meant we had somewhere to stay.

I’m grateful to Erin Underwood (programming) and all of NESFA for an excellent con.

I’m grateful to the panelists and others who gave so willingly of their time.

I’m grateful to Westin, which was very accommodating at extending reservations at the con rate for an extra night because of the storm.

I’m grateful to all the plow drivers and other highway workers who cleared the roads and highways so the rest of us can get where we need to go.

I’m grateful to the toll workers who have to be exposed to the cold all day — and the gas station attendants in New Jersey who stand out there and pump gas, which means I didn’t have to get out in the cold.

And I’m really grateful for being home safe and sound after a fantastic weekend.

What are you grateful for today?

Another Boskone!

It’s February. More specifically, it’s President’s Day weekend (I’ll save the rant about remembering when we got two separate days, Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s birthday), and that means another trip to Boston for Boskone. As this goes live, I’m actually driving home, having attended a wonderful convention:

  • John Scalzi as Guest of Honor (*insert fangirl mode*)
  • Daniel Dos Santos as Official Artist
  • Toni Weisskopf as Special Guest
  • Tricky Pixie (whom I first saw last year at Renovation) as Featured Filker
  • Jerry Pournelle as NESFA Press Guest
  • Bruce Schneier as Hal Clement Science Speaker

As with last year’s Boskone, I took my son with me.

I’ll post later in the week with details about some of the panels I attended, snippets of what I learned, and maybe even a photo or two. Right now, though, I’m just grateful that such conventions exist, that I get to go and learn and see friends and make new friends, that my son is interested in going too and spending time with me, and that I’m on my way home now to see my husband & daughter.

What are you grateful for this week?

Boskone 48 in Review

This is the more detailed report of what I got up to in Boston last weekend. If you’re not interested, come back next week. I’m sure to talk about something else. This discussion is chronological. Events that I don’t remember times for (such as visiting the Art Gallery, which had some amazing stuff) are not included.
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Home again, home again

Just some quick notes today.

I didn’t post from Boskone itself because Wi-Fi at the hotel was $13/day, and I couldn’t get my iPod Touch to log on correctly in the lobby, where access apparently was free.

My son had a terrific time, got his picture taken with Bruce Coville, went to a kaffeeklatsch with both Bruce Coville and Jane Yolen, played games with other kids, learned how to armor a knight, and attended several panel discussions (including the one where he vehemently disagreed with the audience member who said that our education system traumatized kids for math and science, which is why they also won’t look at science fiction; those are his favorite subjects).

I also had a good time, and this year I attended a wider variety of events than my usual, including the play on Saturday night (“The Giant’s Tooth,” based on a story by Bruce Coville).

Between the busy weekend and the long drive home, I’m still feeling a little tired, but I should be up to posting some notes later this week.

Bound to Boston

Tomorrow is time for my annual pilgrimage to Boston to attend
Boskone, to see other writers face-to-face, to get all tongue-tied
around editors (Oh, no, wait — I’m actually planning to try to talk
to them this year, even ask a few questions for a Vision article!),
and to overload my muse with new ideas to write about.

I’m taking my iPod Touch, so I won’t be out of contact — at the very
least, I’ll try to hit Twitter and Facebook a couple of times over
the weekend. I’m also testing my ability to post to my blog by
e-mail, as well as the new plug-in that should cross-post entries to
LJ. I’m not live-blogging by any stretch of the imagination, but I
should be in touch.

Every year, I have trouble deciding which panels to attend. Since I
write across the board, everything is interesting. This year is going
to be slightly different — yes, I will still attend panels and
sometimes have trouble choosing between a couple of different
options. However, there is the aforementioned attempt to be more
sociable and talk to editors, and this year, I’m taking my son with
me.

He’s done the children’s counterpart to NaNoWriMo, the Young Writers’
Program, a couple of times, and he even printed out copies of one of
his books a couple years ago and distributed copies to his classmates
— which means he’s actually planning to go to a panel discussion or
two himself. He’s also really excited at the chance to meet and talk
to Bruce Coville (even planning on staying up late Friday to go to
Bruce Coville’s 10 p.m. reading) and to see the swordplay
demonstrations. So sometimes my choices will be determined by what he
wants to do.

It’s going to be a lot of fun, that much is certain. Boskone always
is, no matter who I see or what I listen to!