K.C. Shaw's Blog, page 28

In for a penny, in for $155

Well, I've done it. I've bought my pass to the 2012 WorldCon, which is going to be held in Chicago that year. It takes place over the Labor Day weekend, but by god, if I can't get one damn Saturday off two years in advance, I don't need my stupid job.

Anyway, I'm going to Worldcon in two years, see if I don't.

And as soon as they open up reservations for the hotel where the con is held--the Hyatt, I think--I'm going to get my reservations in. And then I'm going to book a flight to Chicago that weekend. Yes, I'm going in style, honey. I hope to see some of y'all there!

Canopies and canapes (well, I thought it was funny)

I just ordered myself a bed canopy. Specifically, a blue mosquito-netting canopy that hangs from a ring on the ceiling. This one, in fact. I HAVE WANTED ONE SINCE I WAS SEVEN, THAT'S WHY.

If you sent an email about wanting peppers, I'll be mailing them tomorrow. If you meant to send an email about wanting peppers but forgot, go ahead and shoot me an email. I have tons of peppers.

I haven't done a lot of writing in the last couple of weeks, actually. I'm not sure why. I was writing like billy-oh on Christopher Kaplan, and then I stopped to write the Trickster Society synopsis, and that was about it. I've been writing small scenes here and there, but no real progress. I think I'm going to have to do NaNo this year after all, because I need to finish some of my partly written projects.

And that was 50!

I've now read 50 books this year, ten of them published by small presses. I may not be doing so hot on any of my other new year's resolutions, but by golly I've nailed this one.

Book #50 was a very funny one by Harry Harrison, which I reviewed over at Skunk Cat (of course), and which happened to also be published (okay, republished--but it counts) by a small press. Go me.

Skunk Cat Book Reviews is actually the main reason I've been keeping up with my reading. Since I want to keep new content up (at least one review weekly is my goal), and since I want to post reviews of a good variety of books, I have to read read read. I can't say that my to-be-read pile has shrunk (because I just buy way too many books), but at least it still fits on the new shelves I built this summer.

The Great Chili Pepper Giveaway

I was going to wait until Oct. 1 to do a pepper giveaway, doubling it up with the Oct. 1 garden update (because EVERYONE CARES). But I've got way too many peppers, and I want to start clearing out parts of the garden so I can plant the winter stuff.

So here's the deal. If you're interested in receiving some free peppers, email me at kateshaw123 [at:] gmail [dot:] com. You can also send it to my other gmail address, kcshaw123, either way. I check both. Send me your mailing address and tell me wha...

I have a sword!

My awesome and wonderful Aunt Barbara came by this afternoon and GAVE me her old fencing foil and facemask! And she gave me a very laid-back lesson (because Barbara is always laid-back) on how to stand and stuff, and made me feel A) 1,000 pounds heavy, and B) clumsy in comparison to her nimbleness. Barbara actually won fencing tournaments when she was in college. She says she used to wear old ripped-up jeans with duct tape over the rips. She's so cool.

So now I have to lose weight (trust me on...

This is how I spend my money

I got my book orders today! Ten books! This is why I have no money; I have more books than sense at this point. I would claim that I won't buy any more books for myself this year, but who am I kidding? My birthday's coming up next month. I have to buy myself a book, or two, or ten.

With one exception (Gary Blackwood), I ordered every single one of these books because I'd heard of it on a book blog. I don't browse for books the way I used to; I don't need to. I've found a number of book blogger...

Uh oh, synopsis time

I've done several editing passes on The Trickster Society over the past month or so, and I finally decided it was time to query. I tweaked my query letter Saturday and sent a bunch out to agents.

I've received a full request and a partial request already. Hot diggity! Unfortunately, the agent who requested the partial also wants a synopsis. And, um, I haven't written the synopsis yet.

This is actually an unusual book in some ways. While it does have plenty of action, the character development i...

Novella Redux Hooray!

I've sold a second novella this year! "The Price of Justice" will appear in the Distant Realms anthology. I'm not sure when it'll be released, but my guess is early 2011--I know the editor is still working on edits for the companion volume, Distant Lands, which is an anthology of SF novellas.

So I may have only made two sales so far this year, but they add up to 64,000 words sold and that's pretty darn good.

Poor toe

Sunday I stubbed my pinky toe so hard on a chair that I made up new cusswords to yell because the old ones weren't potent enough. I hopped around screaming and dripping blood from my damaged toe for about an hour--okay, maybe two minutes--before determining that my injury was not in fact life-threatening. It's been a good excuse to wear sandals to work every day, though.

Well, this evening I went by the store, and after I'd paid I picked up my bag and promptly dropped it on THAT SAME TOE, whic...

Happy for that monkey on my back

I'm 6,600 words into the untitled monkey book. I'm having a blast with it, to the point that I wonder if maybe this is actually the kind of book I should be writing. We'll see how it goes.

I'm only going to have two days off in the next 17 days, which makes me want to quit my job, sell everything I own, and take off for parts unknown with only a pack on my back and a monkey by my side. Maybe that's why this monkey book is so appealing to me right now.

I need a working title for the monkey book....