Martha Wells's Blog, page 191
February 21, 2011
Back From ConDFW
We had a great time at ConDFW. Both panels I was on went really well.
In the panel on writing workshops, Tim Powers talked about how he sometimes thinks it would be more helpful if the person whose story is being critiqued was not present, that the focus could be on critiquers learning how to critique, seeing mistakes they make in their own writing, and so on. I think that's an important part of workshops, but I also think it helps people to learn how to take criticism (which they're going to get a lot of if they intend to try to be professional writers) and how to be more objective about their work, and to have a thicker skin and a less tender ego. It's always very frustrating to me when someone in a workshop who has one of the best stories freaks out at minor criticism.
The steampunk panel discussed it as both an art movement and a literature, talked about how aspects of it can appear in just about any genre, gave a lot of examples of recent steampunk-ish works (I recommended Kate Elliot's Cold Magic) and ended with the point that it doesn't have to be euro-centric. I think making it only euro-centric is a failure of imagination. And we talked about what airships invented by ancient Egyptians would look like. (Airships invented in ancient China or India would also be pretty darn cool. Airships invented in pretty much any ancient civilization would be pretty darn cool.) Mark Finn told us about Zeppelin Stories, June 1926, featuring a story called "The Gorilla of the Gasbags" which is almost too awesomely strange to believe actually existed, but you know, there it is.
All the copies of The Cloud Roads in the dealers room sold out, which made me very happy. Troyce also bought me a present from the art show, a really neat leather bracelet with metal wings, made by Beverly Hale. We went out for a couple of very good dinners, including one to Benihana, where our friend Paul had the largest beer in all the land.
And I bought this very cool Stargate: Atlantis t-shirt! My parents went to (Atlantis gate address) and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. They had a couple of other Stargate designs too, but that was the one I liked best.
And Patrice Sarath took a picture of me at my reading.
In the panel on writing workshops, Tim Powers talked about how he sometimes thinks it would be more helpful if the person whose story is being critiqued was not present, that the focus could be on critiquers learning how to critique, seeing mistakes they make in their own writing, and so on. I think that's an important part of workshops, but I also think it helps people to learn how to take criticism (which they're going to get a lot of if they intend to try to be professional writers) and how to be more objective about their work, and to have a thicker skin and a less tender ego. It's always very frustrating to me when someone in a workshop who has one of the best stories freaks out at minor criticism.
The steampunk panel discussed it as both an art movement and a literature, talked about how aspects of it can appear in just about any genre, gave a lot of examples of recent steampunk-ish works (I recommended Kate Elliot's Cold Magic) and ended with the point that it doesn't have to be euro-centric. I think making it only euro-centric is a failure of imagination. And we talked about what airships invented by ancient Egyptians would look like. (Airships invented in ancient China or India would also be pretty darn cool. Airships invented in pretty much any ancient civilization would be pretty darn cool.) Mark Finn told us about Zeppelin Stories, June 1926, featuring a story called "The Gorilla of the Gasbags" which is almost too awesomely strange to believe actually existed, but you know, there it is.
All the copies of The Cloud Roads in the dealers room sold out, which made me very happy. Troyce also bought me a present from the art show, a really neat leather bracelet with metal wings, made by Beverly Hale. We went out for a couple of very good dinners, including one to Benihana, where our friend Paul had the largest beer in all the land.
And I bought this very cool Stargate: Atlantis t-shirt! My parents went to (Atlantis gate address) and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. They had a couple of other Stargate designs too, but that was the one I liked best.
And Patrice Sarath took a picture of me at my reading.
February 19, 2011
At ConDFW, where I woke up at 5:00 am for no reason. I h...
At ConDFW, where I woke up at 5:00 am for no reason. I have two panels and a reading this morning so I should be pretty busy for a while. Started with ten copies of The Cloud Roads in the dealers room and it was down to five when they closed last night, so that was very nice to see.
Before I left home, I got Bella's test results for everything except her thyroid, which they're still waiting on. Everything else is fine, but she's going to have to go back to the vet next week to get something done about her distended fang. She's not going to like that, and she will look less rakish with her vampire tooth, but it may be why she's not eating as well as she used to.
Oh, and I wanted to post this link: List of Independent Alternatives to Closed Borders Stores
Before I left home, I got Bella's test results for everything except her thyroid, which they're still waiting on. Everything else is fine, but she's going to have to go back to the vet next week to get something done about her distended fang. She's not going to like that, and she will look less rakish with her vampire tooth, but it may be why she's not eating as well as she used to.
Oh, and I wanted to post this link: List of Independent Alternatives to Closed Borders Stores
February 17, 2011
Dropped Bella off to the vet for her wellness testing, am...
Dropped Bella off to the vet for her wellness testing, amid many laments and recriminations. When she gives up the urine, she can come home.
The Prius has a feature where the key does not need to be in physical contact with the car to start or drive it, it just needs to be inside the car somewhere. Occasionally when I'm just getting out to drop something off, I stick the keys in my pocket and then end up driving around with them still in there. Which leads to getting home and standing by the car, wondering where the keys are.
I'm getting ready to head off to ConDFW tomorrow.
***
A review of Nnedi Okorafor's new YA fantasy Akata Witch
Borders' 30 Largest Unsecured Creditors They aren't even paying the coffee company. I really hope none of the smaller companies go out of business because of that debt.
Joshua Bilmes -- The List Bilmes has posted before that Borders' problems came from being too slow to restock new and backlist books. There's still no recognition that the company needs to use the strengthened cash position it could have coming out of this filing to strengthen its supply chain, speed replenishment, and update reordering and inventory systems to match B&N. The bankruptcy filing still lists things like "strengthen Borders Rewards Plus" and "start selling related non-book items" as the major focus areas of the turnaround plan. These things aren't going to cut it, if they don't deal with the supply chain.
The Prius has a feature where the key does not need to be in physical contact with the car to start or drive it, it just needs to be inside the car somewhere. Occasionally when I'm just getting out to drop something off, I stick the keys in my pocket and then end up driving around with them still in there. Which leads to getting home and standing by the car, wondering where the keys are.
I'm getting ready to head off to ConDFW tomorrow.
***
A review of Nnedi Okorafor's new YA fantasy Akata Witch
Borders' 30 Largest Unsecured Creditors They aren't even paying the coffee company. I really hope none of the smaller companies go out of business because of that debt.
Joshua Bilmes -- The List Bilmes has posted before that Borders' problems came from being too slow to restock new and backlist books. There's still no recognition that the company needs to use the strengthened cash position it could have coming out of this filing to strengthen its supply chain, speed replenishment, and update reordering and inventory systems to match B&N. The bankruptcy filing still lists things like "strengthen Borders Rewards Plus" and "start selling related non-book items" as the major focus areas of the turnaround plan. These things aren't going to cut it, if they don't deal with the supply chain.
February 16, 2011
Yesterday I pretty much just worked, then took Bella to h...
Yesterday I pretty much just worked, then took Bella to her vet appointment for her shots and check-up. She's fourteen now, so needs to go in for her senior wellness testing tomorrow morning.
Links:
First the bad news: Borders Files Bankruptcy After Years of Market Losses At least 200 stores will close.
Texas Library Association Take Action Site Take Action NOW!! This link is set up to send an email to your legislators. You can customize your message to describe the negative impact of budget
cuts. Pass this link along to... everyone and anyone to have them send an email to help restore library funding.
Something to be wary of: The odd tale of Alphascript Publishing and Betascript Publishing These fake books are still available on Amazon and B&N today, despite complaints of people who were tricked into buying them.
The weird news: A Handyman's Special With Hot and Cold Running Rumors
"It just blows you away what you hear from these people," he said. "Like it is owned by the Devil. I am a man of the Lord. There ain't no Devil here. I salted this house and also had my Indian friends come over and burn sage."
The sexy news: Rachel Randall's site for her erotic novels.
My good news: Mysterious Galaxy has The Cloud Roads in stock in their store. Also, it looks like Amazon moved up their shipping date to the 19th.
Something pretty to look at: Floating Dream Worlds: Utopian and Haunting Beautiful art, with lots of things flying for no reason.
Links:
First the bad news: Borders Files Bankruptcy After Years of Market Losses At least 200 stores will close.
Texas Library Association Take Action Site Take Action NOW!! This link is set up to send an email to your legislators. You can customize your message to describe the negative impact of budget
cuts. Pass this link along to... everyone and anyone to have them send an email to help restore library funding.
Something to be wary of: The odd tale of Alphascript Publishing and Betascript Publishing These fake books are still available on Amazon and B&N today, despite complaints of people who were tricked into buying them.
The weird news: A Handyman's Special With Hot and Cold Running Rumors
"It just blows you away what you hear from these people," he said. "Like it is owned by the Devil. I am a man of the Lord. There ain't no Devil here. I salted this house and also had my Indian friends come over and burn sage."
The sexy news: Rachel Randall's site for her erotic novels.
My good news: Mysterious Galaxy has The Cloud Roads in stock in their store. Also, it looks like Amazon moved up their shipping date to the 19th.
Something pretty to look at: Floating Dream Worlds: Utopian and Haunting Beautiful art, with lots of things flying for no reason.
February 15, 2011
ConDFW Schedule and Stuff
Me and my husband went out to eat last night and realized we would be very bad food bloggers. The restaurant had a special fancy Valentines dessert involving a little pyramid made of piped hard sugar, paired with a little pyramid of chocolate mousse with a hard chocolate shell. We ate it all before we even thought of taking a picture. (The hard sugar pyramid was acting as a cage for two small truffles. When I lifted it off, Troyce said, "You've let them escape!")
Oh, and it looks like copies of The Cloud Roads preordered from Barnes and Noble online should be shipping now.
Here's my schedule for ConDFW:
Saturday:
Panel Room 3 – Canterbury
11am – Writing Workshops: Pros and Cons to watch for
Panelists: Teresa Patterson (M), Tim Powers, Martha Wells, Nina Romberg, Bill Fawcett
Attending Writing Workshops can be very rewarding, but also very confusing. Our panelists give some tips for aspiring authors to watch for as they seek to broaden their minds.
Reading Room – Surrey (2nd Floor)
1:30 Martha Wells
Panel Room 3 – Canterbury
2pm – Travelling the World by Wood, Brass and Steam: The Science of Steampunk
Panelists: Beverly Hale (M), Mark Finn, Martha Wells, Julie Barrett, O. M. Grey, Tracy S. Morris
Steampunk is becoming more and more popular in novels and comics. But how would you write in this genre? What, exactly, is involved in the mechanisms that make Steampunk what it is? Our Gadgeteer panelists attempt to help explain this phenomenon, and perhaps educate you on how to join in the fun.
Sunday
Autographing in front of Dealers Room
1pm – Kevin Hosey, Martha Wells, Julie Barrett
Oh, and it looks like copies of The Cloud Roads preordered from Barnes and Noble online should be shipping now.
Here's my schedule for ConDFW:
Saturday:
Panel Room 3 – Canterbury
11am – Writing Workshops: Pros and Cons to watch for
Panelists: Teresa Patterson (M), Tim Powers, Martha Wells, Nina Romberg, Bill Fawcett
Attending Writing Workshops can be very rewarding, but also very confusing. Our panelists give some tips for aspiring authors to watch for as they seek to broaden their minds.
Reading Room – Surrey (2nd Floor)
1:30 Martha Wells
Panel Room 3 – Canterbury
2pm – Travelling the World by Wood, Brass and Steam: The Science of Steampunk
Panelists: Beverly Hale (M), Mark Finn, Martha Wells, Julie Barrett, O. M. Grey, Tracy S. Morris
Steampunk is becoming more and more popular in novels and comics. But how would you write in this genre? What, exactly, is involved in the mechanisms that make Steampunk what it is? Our Gadgeteer panelists attempt to help explain this phenomenon, and perhaps educate you on how to join in the fun.
Sunday
Autographing in front of Dealers Room
1pm – Kevin Hosey, Martha Wells, Julie Barrett
February 14, 2011
Very misty morning here: Talked to friends on Saturday w...
Very misty morning here:
Talked to friends on Saturday who also loved True Blood and remembered how much I'm looking forward to the next season. I miss Lafayette. I'm also looking forward to more Eureka and Psych. About the only thing I'm watching now is Top Chef.
If you missed it Sunday, I did a guest post on the Night Bazaar: Stealing Time about wedging time for writing into your life any way you can, and how people will occasionally try to prevent you from doing that.
Link from SF Signal: Ten misperceptions about public libraries
Talked to friends on Saturday who also loved True Blood and remembered how much I'm looking forward to the next season. I miss Lafayette. I'm also looking forward to more Eureka and Psych. About the only thing I'm watching now is Top Chef.
If you missed it Sunday, I did a guest post on the Night Bazaar: Stealing Time about wedging time for writing into your life any way you can, and how people will occasionally try to prevent you from doing that.
Link from SF Signal: Ten misperceptions about public libraries
February 13, 2011
Guest Post on the Night Bazaar
I have a guest post on the Night Bazaar: Stealing Time about wedging time for writing into your life any way you can, and how people will occasionally try to prevent you from doing that.
links:
Omnivoracious: Kameron Hurley on Fearing the Woman in the Dark Alley
If you ran into a svelte woman in a dark alley wearing leather pants and a halter top, would your first instinct be to fear for your life? Run away? Prepare to defend yourself?
Web Urbanist: Awesome Street Art in Mexico
links:
Omnivoracious: Kameron Hurley on Fearing the Woman in the Dark Alley
If you ran into a svelte woman in a dark alley wearing leather pants and a halter top, would your first instinct be to fear for your life? Run away? Prepare to defend yourself?
Web Urbanist: Awesome Street Art in Mexico
February 12, 2011
I had some wine last night and it was really good. That's...
I had some wine last night and it was really good. That's about all I have to report.
The good news: We've had the first sighting of The Cloud Roads in the wild.![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380442897i/1319734.gif)
etain_antrim
found it at The Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver, Colorado last night. Yay!
The very bad news: Borders gets ready to file for bankruptcy.
links:
WebEcoist: Eco Resorts: 13 Rustic Retreats for True Nature Lovers Some of these are very, very neat.
Inhabitat: Patrick Dougherty's Mind-Blowing Nest Houses Made of Living Trees
And City of Bones is now also available as a Barnes and Noble NookBook
The good news: We've had the first sighting of The Cloud Roads in the wild.
etain_antrim
found it at The Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver, Colorado last night. Yay!The very bad news: Borders gets ready to file for bankruptcy.
links:
WebEcoist: Eco Resorts: 13 Rustic Retreats for True Nature Lovers Some of these are very, very neat.
Inhabitat: Patrick Dougherty's Mind-Blowing Nest Houses Made of Living Trees
And City of Bones is now also available as a Barnes and Noble NookBook
February 11, 2011
Writing Question
cschells
asked I just started doing some fiction writing for the first time in a long, long while--the last thing I wrote before that was my dissertation! So I'm curious, when you come to the end of writing a book, how much prose would you say you've deleted? I would guess that in the course of writing my dissertation I probably got rid of 10 times what I actually kept. I kind of thought that writing fiction would be more streamline (why, I don't know!), but 13 pages in I already have scenes that I know didn't happen that way...I think it varies a lot, just depending on how you write. Sometimes I keep most of what I do except for minor revision, sometimes I have to go back and throw out whole chapters or sections, if I realize I've gone off in the wrong direction. Some people will write an entire first draft, throw the whole thing out, and start over from the beginning. Some people have to kind of wander around in the story, writing a lot of extraneous scenes before they figure out where it's going. Whatever works for you is whatever works, but don't hesitate to throw out bits or rewrite if you feel you want to.
***
Still taking writing questions here. On writing and/or publishing in general, or on my writing.
I hope we're near the end of our cold weather for the yea...
I hope we're near the end of our cold weather for the year. My achy knees and my achy sinuses would be very grateful.
Next weekend (Feb 18-20) I'll be at ConDFW in Dallas, doing a couple of panels plus hopefully a reading and a signing. I will bring several copies of The Cloud Roads (in case no dealers have it yet), and hopefully I can find a friendly dealer to sell them in the dealers room, so they'll be available there.
So that will be my first con in a long long time with a new book out. !!!!!! (Not that I'm excited about that or anything.)
***
Book View Cafe: News Flash: We Still Haven't Come a Long Way, Baby by Nancy Jane Moore
This just in: Books by men get reviewed much more often than books by women. Why? Well, one research project suggests that it's because women read books by both men and women, while men mostly read books by men. And an admittedly less-than-scientific analysis says it could be because publishers put out more books by men than women.
The![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380442969i/1326421.gif)
con_or_bust
fundraising auction is going to start on February 21. Welcome to [info]con_or_bust, which helps fans of color to attend SFF conventions, principally WisCon. And you can still offer items or services for auction.
Next weekend (Feb 18-20) I'll be at ConDFW in Dallas, doing a couple of panels plus hopefully a reading and a signing. I will bring several copies of The Cloud Roads (in case no dealers have it yet), and hopefully I can find a friendly dealer to sell them in the dealers room, so they'll be available there.
So that will be my first con in a long long time with a new book out. !!!!!! (Not that I'm excited about that or anything.)
***
Book View Cafe: News Flash: We Still Haven't Come a Long Way, Baby by Nancy Jane Moore
This just in: Books by men get reviewed much more often than books by women. Why? Well, one research project suggests that it's because women read books by both men and women, while men mostly read books by men. And an admittedly less-than-scientific analysis says it could be because publishers put out more books by men than women.
The
con_or_bust
fundraising auction is going to start on February 21. Welcome to [info]con_or_bust, which helps fans of color to attend SFF conventions, principally WisCon. And you can still offer items or services for auction.
