Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 219

Character Dimensions: Finances

I recently attended the World Science Fiction Convention, and one of the panels I was on was about Faith in Fiction -- how something that's been pretty essential to human culture tends to be left out of both world building and character development unless they're central to the plot. That got me started thinking about some other fundamental issues that tend to be neglected unless they play a role in the plot. If you think about these issues, it can add a layer of dimension to your character and your world.

One big thing is the issue of money. An economy is crucial for worldbuilding, but it's also an important part of life for individuals. Money is a major motive for crime, a motivation for many of life's decisions, a major factor in marital and family discord, and yet a character's attitude toward money seldom comes up unless it's important to the story that the person is greedy (like killing for money). Think about how many times a day you have to make financial decisions, spend money, think about spending money, think about not spending money, etc., then think about how often you see fictional characters dealing with this. Not that you want to fill a book with this, but when your character has to deal with money, what's in character?

When you're developing a character, here are some questions to consider:

What kind of financial background does this person have? Did she grow up rich, poor or middle class? How aware was she of her family's finances? Did her parents fight about money? Did she know they had to scrimp and save or did she just get Daddy's credit card?

What is her financial situation now? About what salary would someone with her education and experience make in her field in her city? What are living expenses in that city? How does she adapt to any disparity between living expenses and income? Does she stick to a budget or run up credit card bills?

If a character's financial situation now is different from his past, how does that affect him? Does he still try to live the old way, or does he adapt to his new circumstances?

How does the character feel about debt, credit and savings? Is he a cash or credit card person? How does he pay his bills -- online, in person, by check?

If she sees something she wants that she can't afford right now, what would she do and how would she feel?

What are the character's financial goals?

These are just some things to think about, and there are no "right" or "wrong" answers, only what's right or wrong for the character. For instance, some people who grow up poor but later have money may still be reluctant to spend money, while others become super generous. Their motives may also be individual. One person who's reluctant to spend money may be a miser while another might be afraid of being poor again. The thing is that if you know these things about your character, when the issue of money comes up in the course of your book, you'll know how your character will react, and that can even shape your plot.

This had a lot to do with how the first book in my series, Enchanted, Inc., kicked off. I'd already decided that my heroine was struggling to make it in New York, where her salary wasn't quite enough to cover living in the city, so she lived with two roommates and she tried to make the most of every dollar. She even walked to work as often as possible rather than spending a couple of bucks for a subway ride, since that added up, and it was only because she was running late one fateful morning and decided to splurge on the subway that she discovered the magical world. Her financial situation also helped lead her to being open to considering a mysterious new job. Those plot events might have happened anyway, but knowing how she felt about money helped add a layer of development to her character during those events and, I think, helped ground this fantasy world in reality.

Book Report: Airplane Reading

One more bit of Enchanted, Inc. series news I forgot to mention yesterday: The Japanese edition of No Quest for the Wicked will be released this Friday, so there's less of a gap between the Japanese and US releases for this book.

I'm still working my way through that biography that was the basis for the movie The Duchess. In case you find it intriguing, the title is Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman, and I keep finding more cool stuff that wasn't in the movie. Seriously, this would make for an AWESOME miniseries because there's too much to put in one movie. The movie did include the fact that she got pregnant by her lover and her husband made her give the baby to the father's parents to raise (never mind that he was bringing up his children by his mistresses in his household with his wife and their kids). What it neglected to mention was that he sent her away to France to have the baby in secret -- during the Revolution. Even after she had the baby, he didn't want her to come home because not only was he upset about the baby, he was also upset about her astronomical gambling debts. But around this time, France started to get really dangerous, so she fled to Savoy (a separate kingdom at the time), having to go on horseback because being in a carriage would have made her a target. Then she worked her way through Switzerland into Italy, stopping for a while at various places. At one point, she was staying with friends who were avid amateur scientists, and she decided to replace gambling with science. She started studying, reading, going to lectures and talking with scientists and got interested in mineralogy and chemistry. Her husband finally decided she could come home when war broke out on the continent, and she had to make her way across the war-torn continent to catch a boat, but since everyone else was fleeing, that was a challenge, so she had to use her infamous persuasive skills to get her retinue a spot on a private ship and be one of the last to get out. Back home, she put together a mineral collection that's apparently still being studied and set up a chemistry lab in her house and started hanging out with and patronizing scientists the way she used to do actors. You can't make this kind of thing up, and I can't believe the movie totally skipped it all.

Other recent reading:
My airplane book for the WorldCon trip was The Spirit War by Rachel Aaron, the most recent Eli Monpress book, and I'm now glad I delayed reading it until this trip because it makes the wait for the next one (November 20) shorter. This is a really fun romp of a series about a wizard who's able to charm the spirits that embody all things and get them to do things for him. He uses this power to become the best thief ever, but he tends to get into a lot of scrapes where he's forced to play the hero. I finished this volume in the middle of the night when I couldn't really sleep but was still sort of having to prop my eyelids open, and I couldn't stop until it was done. We learn a lot about our main characters in this one and we also see a number of confrontations we've been waiting for. I thought the ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, but the book includes a preview of the next book, and that that makes the cliffhanger even bigger because it shows why what happened was such a big deal. It also changes the way you see everything else that's happened in the series. When I'm through reading about the Duchess of Devonshire, I may go re-read the previous books in the series.

But because I finished my book the night before the last day of the convention, I needed to find a new airplane book for the trip home. After wandering through the dealers room, I ended up chatting with one of the booksellers, and he recommended the Eddie LaCrosse series by Alex Bledsoe. I picked up the earliest in the series he had, Dark Jenny, and it was a good call. This is a hardboiled PI series set in a fantasy sword-and-sorcery kind of world. It has all the tone of a Raymond Chandler-style detective novel, but there are knights, swords, etc. It can sometimes be a little jarring and a touch anachronistic (would people in the Arthurian era talk about having a "girlfriend"?), but since it's a fantasy world I guess I can't compare it to our own history. In this particular book, our hero has to investigate a murder in the middle of what's essentially the King Arthur story. One of Queen Jennifer's knights has been murdered, and it looks like she's being framed for it, but since Eddie's a stranger in court, he makes a really good scapegoat. To save his own neck and save the Queen (and possibly the kingdom), he has to find the real killer. There are some fun twists and turns, and I read it in close to one sitting and had finished it before I caught the bus home from the airport. I'll be looking for more in the series because it really is the perfect blend of two of my favorite genres. It works as mystery and it kind of works as fantasy (it's published as fantasy, but to some extent I think the "fantasy" part is the weakest part of the book).

Pre-Order Links and Costume Drama

First, a bit of business stuff. I've been remiss in not posting the pre-order links that are available for book 6, No Quest for the Wicked. It can currently be pre-ordered at Amazon and at the Apple iTunes store. It will be available at other venues on the sale date. These are just the ones that offer pre-orders. It looks like Amazon is listing it for on sale September 27. We'd been aiming for October 1, so it might be worth it to check some of the other venues on Sept. 27. We're also closing in on having the print version of book 5 ready. There was an Amazon oopsie on the first print proof that my eagle-eyed agent caught, and it looks like they've fixed it, so that may be ready for sale this week. We've already got the print version of book 6 in the works, so it's possible that could be ready much closer to the on-sale date.

And, since I've been getting e-mails, I'll repeat that I know this particular publishing method is not ideal, and I know a lot of people would rather go into their neighborhood Barnes & Noble and buy a paper copy, but I am not "choosing" to exclude people who don't buy e-books or don't buy things online. The only choice I had was to publish these books in the ways I had available or not publish them at all. If you want to read them, you can find a way -- and, no, your identity won't be automatically stolen if you make an online purchase from Amazon. You're a lot more at risk when you hand your credit card to a server in a restaurant or when you drop your credit card payment in a mailbox than you are using your credit card at Amazon, and you can always buy Amazon gift cards in stores (my grocery store carries them) and use that to make purchases without putting your credit card information online.

On another note, although I spent the weekend lying on the sofa and coughing, I didn't actually watch a lot of movies. I mostly re-watched a lot of TV shows. One I did catch was The Duchess, and since my library has the DVD, I think I need to rewatch it. For one thing, I realized that I have the non-fiction biography it's based on, and now that I'm reading it, it gives me a different perspective on the movie. For another, it was on Oxygen, so there's no telling what was cut, and there's this huge cultural whiplash when watching a costume drama on Oxygen because all the commercials seem to be in the "Wooo! Girlfriend, let's party! And go shopping!" vein.

Taken on its own, the movie isn't bad. It's about a rather fascinating historical figure, the Georgian-era duchess who was the leader of the fashionable set, had a surprising amount of political power for someone who couldn't vote or hold office, and yet who was stuck in a bad marriage. If some of that sounds eerily familiar, the woman in question was actually the many-greats aunt of Princess Diana (not an ancestor, as a lot of the reviews say. Diana was descended from this woman's brother), and the parallels are pretty stunning, as she was married young to a man who wasn't overly keen on it because he was already in a relationship with someone he wasn't able to marry, and then she eclipsed him because of her youth, beauty and vivacity, becoming a true celebrity who was both fawned over and vilified by the press. She was known to have the "common touch" and mingled easily with people of all classes, did a lot of charity work, and cultivated friendships with actors, writers and musicians. That's what the movie was pretty much about, and it was fine. But now that I've read about half the book, I have to say they totally missed the boat because they left out the good stuff.

For instance, they did show her being a leader of fashion, but they left out the bit where she's the one who set the style for those towering, elaborate hairdos with all sorts of stuff stuck in them, like a three-foot pile of hair with a model of a sailing ship in it. They showed her making a political speech, but they left out the part where she canvassed an entire area by going in and speaking to each shopkeeper and was considered her party's secret weapon. The press on her party's side praised her while the press on the other side accused her of trading sexual favors for votes. They also left out her being close friends with Marie Antoinette and being best friends with the Prince of Wales. When Parliament needed the prince to do or not do something, she was the one they got to try to talk sense into him. She was a compulsive gambler who nearly bankrupted her wealthy husband with her gambling debts. She created the first women's military auxiliary unit during the American Revolution after France declared war on Britain and the regiments started gearing up when she got bored watching her husband's regiment drill, so she designed female uniforms, recruited some other ladies and started drilling them (and she was still a teenager at that time). The part I really can't believe they left out of a movie is that she was in Paris during all the stirring that led up to the French Revolution. She entertained parties on both sides of the issue (though not at the same time), hung out with the King and Queen at Versailles and then left Paris just days before the storming of the Bastille. The movie just focused on her marriages, friendships and love affairs, but her real life was a lot more colorful.

The costumes and scenery were lovely, though. The clothing of that era is rather hideously gorgeous, or maybe gorgeously hideous. It's stuff that's fun to look at that I'd never want to wear, and I don't find the look of any of the men in that era to be at all attractive because even the men looked way too feminine. However, the clothes themselves are works of art.

Fall TV Preview: Revolution

I think I'm on the mend, as the fever has dropped and the aches have stopped. The aches were the worst part. I still have a bit of a cough and not much of a voice, but then I don't really need to talk for the next couple of days. I'm supposed to lead the singing in preschool Sunday school on Sunday, but I think I'm going to see if someone can switch with me, just in case I'm still not up to it by then. I spent last night lying on the sofa, marathoning the season to-date of Grimm and eating ice pops.

I also found the pilot for Revolution OnDemand, and I have to say that I'm leaning toward "don't bother." I won't even get into the iffy science of having electricity just "stop working" in a way that they can't even generate power anymore or the iffy sociology of having society fall apart that badly, to the point that the buildings are gone, in just 15 years. The visual of Wrigley Field in the wilderness was cool, but that's a pretty dense urban area. I'd think the houses would survive longer than the stadium because people would want to maintain their homes but might plunder the huge building that nobody's living in to get supplies. And wouldn't the El tracks still be around? Not to mention the clean, well-fitting, mass-produced clothing worn by the main characters. The female lead is wearing a snug-fitting, midriff-baring tank top with obvious Spandex, and everything Spandex I own gets either stretched-out or crispy after a while, and I'd think it would be worse without any climate control. Expose that stuff to extremes of heat, cold and humidity, and your Spandex is toast. It might not decompose, but it's not going to fit anymore.

But the real issue for me was the characters. Namely, what I tend to call "plot teenagers." It's Wesley Crusher syndrome, where the teen characters exist to both create and solve the problems. Just about every major event that happened in the pilot involved someone (usually one of the teen/very young adult characters) making a too-stupid-to-live decision, and most of that came from making these kids act like our teenagers today. The problem was, these kids had grown up in this environment, so they'd have a totally different mentality. When you have to defend your suburb against roving bands of bandits and militia and when you've already lost one parent to all the danger and destruction, you're probably not going to be doing the typical, "But Dad, you never let me do anything fun, like going out exploring in the no-man's-land wilderness," whining. I could see more of the typical modern semi-rebellious teen act if we were getting the immediate aftermath of the electricity no longer working (though most teens I know would probably sit there in a catatonic state with their thumbs twitching after their iPhones quit working), but kids who barely remember any other kind of life would probably behave very differently, and when you're living a subsistence agrarian life, an able-bodied teenager isn't going to have time to run off exploring. And then there's the falling asleep while in the middle of nowhere in a place with roving gangs of militias and bandits without leaving anyone standing guard. I can't imagine these people survived even fifteen years.

So, teen or very early 20s characters who act like teens front and center, making "plot teenager" decisions, combined with really weak worldbuilding may amount to, at most, hate-watching just to make fun of it.

The West Nile Dalek Tea Crisis

I may not be quite as old and decrepit as I feared from my lingering aches. Last night when I got home from choir, I was feeling weird, took my temperature and discovered that I was running what is for me a pretty high fever. This kind of feels like a really mild flu. I've got the fever, aches and a bit of a cough, but I'm still more or less functional, if miserable, and with the flu I'm generally not functional at all. I'd suspect West Nile virus, since that's supposed to be mild flu-like symptoms in healthy people, but I haven't had a mosquito bite in months -- and the way I react to mosquito bites, I'd know if I'd been bitten. Now I feel kind of bad that I went to children's choir and was around the kids -- and this time I can't blame them. I am glad that I went home after children's choir instead of staying for choir rehearsal. Choir rehearsal was starting later, so there was an hour and a half gap after the end of children's choir. I picked up some groceries on the way home, and then I just didn't feel up to going back again.

The kids were very happy to see me and were thrilled that I'm still their teacher. Working with small children is a good way to get an ego boost. However, I found that the other teacher is considering me to be in charge. She's there for crowd control and I'll be doing the lesson plans. They give us a pretty extensive curriculum. Some of it is pretty cheesy and apparently written by someone who's never seen an actual child, so I may need to come up with a few activities on my own. Time to start searching the Internet for music-related activities for small children. Last night was just the meet-and-greet, so we played a few songs that have activities that go with them. For this session, the parents and any younger siblings with them stayed in the room, and it was so adorable that a couple of the kids have infant siblings, and the babies were bouncing around with the music like they were part of the group. I'm now glad I didn't go near the babies, though I think maybe I should have known I was sick when I didn't feel motivated to go hold and cuddle babies. Even with my kids, I just got the hug around the legs and then had to admire the new school shoes and clothes. One kid brought the box label from his new Dalek toy to show me. I didn't have to feign enthusiasm for that one. I think I need a Dalek toy.

But I don't really have time to be sick now. I've got to get book 6 ready for publication (we're going over review copy requests today), I'm still writing book 7, and I've got PR stuff to do for FenCon, which is just in a few weeks. I think I'll put on a burst of speed this morning to get as much busy work out of the way as possible, and then collapse this afternoon. I'm not sure how good anything I wrote right now would be.

Oh, and I'm out of tea! Well, not entirely, since I have a whole cabinet full of tea. I just don't have any of my usual daily consumption tea. I'll have to resort to (gasp!) tea bags until I feel up to a hike over to the Indian market to restock. And then, of course, there all all the flavored teas. Fortunately, I did pick up a couple of cans of soup last night because I had a feeling I'd need them.

There's No Place Like Home

I have now safely and successfully returned from my travels, and it may take me a few days to recover, mostly because I kind of overdid it on my last day in Chicago and because Chicago doesn't seem to believe in signs. I slacked off on my last couple of days worth of posts because I hit the critical conjunction of busy and tired.

Saturday was my busy panel day, and things were standing-room only, with people turned away. That seemed to be a problem in every panel I attended after my first one on Thursday afternoon. I don't know if they didn't have enough programming items per hour or if they somehow had rooms too small for the panels I happened to choose or be programmed for, but after that first day when people hadn't arrived yet and that had a cavernous space, I didn't see a panel where everyone who wanted to attend managed to. The TV panels were in rooms about the size of my living room, and we went far beyond the fire marshal's limit posted on the wall, and yet people were still turned away.

But that kind of crowd does mean a lot of energy, so the panels were fun. I may do some posts of the "what I thought about saying later" variety because the ultimate panel comment usually comes at about three in the morning the day after the panel.

Saturday night, FenCon hosted our first WorldCon party, and since there weren't that many of us present, it meant I kept busy the whole night working the door and later serving beer, and then I didn't get to bed until 3:30 in the morning. I somehow zombied my way through my Sunday panel, but the late night completely messed up my sleep schedule, so that I missed the Hugo Awards ceremony because I fell asleep (and apparently that was standing-room only, too), and then I woke in the middle of the night and had to read a while to get back to sleep, which then meant I had to go in search of an airplane book in the dealers room on Monday.

After the con ended on Monday, I turned tourist and headed over to Navy Pier to see a stained glass exhibit Connie Willis had told me about. It was definitely worth seeing, but I may have overwalked myself. It would help if I'd let myself slow down and not act like I'm on a mission. I came back via the river and stopped for dinner at a little cafe in a garden on the edge of the water, where I waved back to the kids on the tour bouts who waved at people on the shore. That was a nice ending for my trip.

But I think the real reason my knees and hips currently hate me is the weird Chicago signage. For one thing, the street signs seem directed only to drivers, not pedestrians, so if you're walking the wrong direction on a one-way street, you have to stop at each intersection and turn around to find out what the cross street is. Then there was the subway station. The El stations are obvious, but the station I needed was underground, and it turned out to be in the basement of an office building. There was a sign on the sidewalk giving the name of the station, but no indication of where, exactly, the station was, with no obvious sign on the building itself letting you know to go in that door. In New York, when there's a station in a building, there's a sign over the door to the building. I walked all the way around the block trying to find the station. Then I found the secondary entrance, which required a fare card but didn't sell fare cards, and the sign there said the main entrance was a block and a half east. By that time, I wasn't sure which way was which, and it still didn't say where that entrance was. It would have helped if it had said something like "on the lower level of the XYZ building at XYZ Whatever Street." So I got a brisk half-half hour tour of downtown Chicago while hauling luggage. And now my knees and hips are suffering.

For more fun, children's choir starts tonight. I have kindergarten this year, which means the same kids I had last year, and I have a new partner. She used to do music for the church preschool, so I think she'll be the one doing the heavy lifting and I won't be totally in charge. I don't know because I haven't discussed this with her yet, but I've worked with her on other things before and I think we'll make a good team. I just may need to hit the hot tub today so I can actually move by tonight. I skipped dance last night and will try taking the beginner class tomorrow night.

And now to continue my catching up from my week-long absence.

WorldCon Day 3

The "three-hour tour" last night turned out to be divine. I've done the river/lake cruise in Chicago before, on my first trip, but that was in daylight. This was after dark, and it was gorgeous seeing the city that way (with themes from science fiction movies playing on the sound system). Plus there was wine, food and good company. I did have the initial moment of social awkwardness when I didn't really recognize anyone in the dim light, and the people I did recognize didn't seem to recognize me. I had my hair up because I had a feeling wind would be an issue on the boat, and I've found that people who've met me once when I had my hair down don't recognize me when they see me again with my hair up, probably because my hair is the thing people notice, and then they don't recognize me when I'm no longer "the one with all the masses of ringlets." Like, I think it was driving Robert J. Sawyer crazy all night. He kept giving me funny "I know her from somewhere" looks.

So, as I was standing there feeling awkward, a man who'd also been standing around awkwardly came over to me and commented on how hard it was to recognize people in that light, then stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Alan Foster." I introduced myself and mentioned that we'd met before, and then he remembered who I was. So, not only did Alan Dean Foster get me into science fiction when I was a kid, but he rescued me from a massive wallflower attack because soon other people joined our cluster, and then the clusters broke off, and I made a new friend or two. I ended up spending a lot of the evening with Nancy Fulda, who has a short story nominated for the Hugo (it was about a dancer, so there was a bond) and with Connie Willis's husband. Then Connie joined us, and soon we had George R.R. Martin in our group, and it turns out that I wasn't the only one thinking Gilligan's Island about this event. We started figuring out who was whom. George was the Skipper because he had the hat, and Connie's husband was the Professor because he is one, and George said Connie was Mrs. Powell and I was Mary Ann. And then we got started talking about conspiracies because George thought it was fishy that the Professor could make a radio out of coconuts, but he couldn't fix the boat. I said he had a reason he wanted to stay on that island, so we were brainstorming reasons. It was also fishy that some of the passengers had brought multiple changes of clothing and lots of supplies for a three-hour sightseeing tour, so they must have known in advance that something would happen.

So, yes, I got into a conversation with George R.R. Martin, and what do I talk about? Gilligan's Island conspiracy theories. Welcome to my life. I don't plan this sort of thing. It just seems to happen. I'm also a little nervous that he saw me as Mary Ann, even though I was about as Gingered-up as I can get, because bad things seem to happen to "Mary Ann" type people in his books.

It was funny when the crew of the boat realized who was on board and they all then wanted their pictures taken with him. I didn't take any pictures because it was dark and the boat was moving, and I wasn't really in the mood for playing fangirl and getting my picture taken with the famous authors. I was having silly conversations with them instead.

I had my reading this morning, and there were actually people there! In fact, that may have been the biggest crowd I've had so far at a reading. My voice is fading, but I made it through that. Now I have two panels today, then a dinner and then a party, so it's a busy day. I'm taking some time to relax before I head into the really crazy time.

WorldCon Day 2

I think it's day two of the convention. I've got my days all mixed up, so I have to keep double-checking what day it is.

My first panel yesterday seemed to have gone reasonably well. When people have recognized me later from being on the panel, they haven't pelted me with rocks or rotten vegetables, and I take that to be a good sign. The opening reception was at the planetarium last night, and they had telescopes set up. I got to see Saturn, with the rings visible. That was really cool. Then I got to look at the moon through the big telescope in the observatory. I also had a nice chat with someone I met at last year's convention. I made a brief pass through the party suites, but the parties here are taxing my ability to be around crowds and noise.

Today's been my "easy" day, business-wise. I lounged around most of the morning, then met a couple of local friends for lunch, upping my Chicago pizza count (I may turn into a pizza by the time I'm done, but that's fine, since pizza is one of nature's perfect foods). I attended one panel and found myself drifting off a bit (though not as badly as the guy behind me, who snored so loudly that the panelists noticed). The panel was on steampunk, and I found it interesting that the steampunk book I currently have on submission contained all the elements that the panelists said they wanted to see in a steampunk novel, including some that they were saying they wished more authors would do because they haven't seen it. So, basically, my book is the book the steampunk fans seem to have special-ordered. Hear that, editors?

Now I think I'm going to take a nap before tonight's publisher party, the infamous Three-Hour Tour. My emergency plan for this cruise is that if it looks like the boat's going to sink and we're all going to die, I'm going to find George R.R. Martin and make him tell me how A Song of Ice and Fire ends before we all die.

If I survive, then I have to do a reading in the morning and two panels in the afternoon, and then I'm part of a group hosting a party, so I guess I have to deal with the party crowds. I'll be the one hiding under a table.

Live from Chicago

The convention hasn't really started yet, but I've already run into friends, had some Chicago-style pizza and gone to a party. The programming starts this afternoon, and then I'll start being busy. This morning I'm taking it sort of easy. I did a lot of walking yesterday and my legs are tired, but I think I may take a leisurely stroll this morning to keep my muscles from getting too stiff. My hotel is right on the river and very near a park, so there are lots of places to walk.

I do find that Chicago baffles my usually quite good sense of direction, and it doesn't help that taking the train from the airport means arriving downtown on a subway, which also messes with my sense of direction. As a result, I came out of the subway station and headed in the opposite direction from the hotel, then realized the mistake when I was running into streets I knew I wasn't supposed to hit. I was checking the map below an El station when a guy from the Salvation Army (in uniform, with ID, which he made sure to show me) took pity on me and got me turned in the right direction. That meant I did a lot more walking than I planned, and then I took a long walk along the river after dinner because I had to work off some of that pizza. I suspect there will be a lot of pizza this week. I am not complaining.

On today's agenda: I'm moderating a panel this afternoon, and then there's an opening reception at the planetarium. Tomorrow I'm meeting some Chicago friends for lunch, and then that evening is the publisher's party. Saturday's my busy day, with a reading, two panels and then dinner with my agent's associate and some other clients from the agency. I don't know how often I'll manage to update because getting Internet access means going down to the convention area. I don't think I'd use it enough in my room to make it worthwhile to pay for it, and I'm hoping to trick myself into getting some writing done, which might not happen if I could get online and goof around. Though the Weather Channel is kind of addictive at the moment.

Oh, and I've been recognized already by someone who reads my books, so I've had my moment of fame.

Preparation Day

I made a good dent in the daunting to-do list yesterday, hitting all the stuff I had designated as Monday chores. I did cross off a couple of items, one because I got an e-mail saying it wasn't necessary and one because I made an executive decision that it was better suited for after the trip. The most time-consuming stuff on my list today involves getting the house clean enough that it will be pleasant to come home to. That shouldn't be too epic, even though I sort of slacked off on my routines. I really can't seem to write and keep my house clean at the same time.

I'm mostly packed. There were some things I washed yesterday that needed to dry before I put them in the suitcase, but otherwise, other than things I need between now and the time I leave, it's all together, and it will fit in the tiny suitcase. I remember a time when for a trip this long I'd take a full-sized suitcase and a hanging garment bag. It helps that I'm mostly wearing skirts, which take less room in the suitcase. Any rumors that this is also a strategy to show off my legs are totally unfounded.

This WorldCon is going to be a bit different because it's in my home time zone, so I won't be waking up at weird times. However, it's also starting earlier in the mornings, with programming at 9 a.m. When I was two hours off and fighting to stay asleep until 6 in the morning, the convention started at 10, so I could have leisurely mornings. When I'm in my usual time zone and am not having my summer morning person phase, it starts at 9, so I'll likely be a bit rushed. Since I'm not a morning person and need breakfast before I can really face people, I'm making plans for breakfast in my room. I got some Tang and put enough in a baggie to allow me to make juice without refrigeration (and get some extra vitamin C), and there I encountered a product packaging failure. I don't remember the last time I've had Tang. We mostly used it for camping trips, but it was an ingredient in the spiced "tea" that was a popular homemade gift item in the 80s. I remember it being in a jar with a regular lid. Now, though, it comes in this weird plastic canister whose lid is like a measuring cup, and the label is shrink-wrapped around the canister. But to open the canister, you have to cut off part of the label -- the part with the directions for how much powder to combine with how much water to make a certain quantity. Did no one do any testing of this packaging before releasing the product this way? I guess I'll have to tape the relevant part of the label onto the canister. But anyway, I also have my travel teakettle and some tea, and there's a nearby bakery where I can get some bagels or rolls. And then I can have a semi-leisurely morning with breakfast in my room before I have to face people.

I don't know how often I'll be posting this week because the hotel doesn't offer free in-room Internet, which is something else that brings out my stubborn Scottishness. If the EconoLodge can offer free in-room Internet in a $40/night room, then I expect it to be free in a $100+ a night room. There's Wi-Fi in the convention center area, and then there are the Starbucks and McDonald's access points, so depending on my schedule and when I feel like hauling a laptop around, I may be able to get online, but it will be sporadic. There may be more Facebook updates via the phone. I'm taking the laptop because I suspect that being in the room with no Internet may allow me to get some writing done.

I do hope I'll be able to keep up with the Doctor Who prequel series. Here's the latest installment, in which we learn what it's like to have a Time Lord as your best friend (don't count on getting a lot of sleep). And then Steven Moffat has a guide to this Saturday's season premiere.

Now, off to pack, clean and get my life in order so I can catch the bus early in the morning and get to the airport on time. I had a few nightmares about that last night, so I'm giving myself extra time and catching an earlier bus than I need to, just in case.