these rivers of suggestion

[greygirlbeast]

Nothing was written yesterday. Nothing that counts.

It has become necessary to bow out of this year's Alabama Bound. I've held off until the last possible moment before announcing this, hoping that the situation might change. It hasn't. To those who were planning to see me there, I apologise. Next year, perhaps. I am beginning to think it would be wiser to simply abandon the idea of any future public appearances altogether. For the record, I am officially not officially appearing at Dragon*Con this year. At the very least, this saves me the trouble of having to cancel farther along.

I have this email, entitled "suffering fools," from Matthew Williams:

Unfortunately, when you started Sirenia Digest, you switched Muses. Some of your work fell into Erato's domain, whereas before you were under the patronage of Melpomene (tragedy) and Polyhymnia (sacred song). And Erato's contract quite clearly has a "suffering fools" rider.

While I find this an interesting observation, the truth is that I have always listened and been accountable only to Madam Calliope. I don't do subcontractors.

And then there's this one from Christopher Wayne, which I thought was rather sweet:

I came across your work late. I started with Alabaster, followed by Threshold, Silk and Daughter of Hounds.

Your writing is wonderful. I read your journal and your characters are true. Some of your characters I can feel a kinship with, or maybe a kinship with me 20 years ago. Especially Silk and Daughter of Hounds. I felt bad for all of them. They try to do their best, but they are human (mostly). Your characters are not just true, but interesting. This is going to sound funny but almost all of them I would love to have coffee with. Except Dancy.

Trouble seems to follow her just a little too close...

Thank you for your writing, and you take care.

p.s. Ok, I was mean. I would have coffee with Dancy too, just at a coffeehouse that I would not mind losing....

Poor Dancy. Sometimes I think that I should sit down and write an alternate universe wherein Dancy was never stricken with the charge of fighting monsters and almost getting eaten in Savannah and being harassed by angels and all, where she lives a quiet and peaceful and uneventful life. Maybe one day I shall. Thank you, Christopher.

Yesterday...well, there was a nice walk down Sinclair Ave. and back. The weather was much better, though there was still a nip in the air. I frelled around with my MySpace page some more. I exchanged email with my agent and with my editor at Roc. Last night, Spooky made spaghetti. We watched Ace of Cakes and then watched Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, because having just finished the first three books, we both wanted to see it again. Spooky remembered that she had a MySpace page that she'd never done anything with, and we messed about with that a little. I think I went to bed at 2:30 a.m. And that was yesterday, kiddos.

Now, I'm gonna kick the platypus 'till hesheit bleeds daylight...

Postscript: Does anyone out there know anything about MySpace Books? I can't for the life of me figure it out and help would be appreciated.

Oh, and today is Samuel Beckett's 101th birthday, and Ron Perlman's 57th.

Comments

[mb2u]

Ace of Cakes has become a guilty pleasure. I know everyone loves Duff, but Mary Alice and Geof are really who make the show work. Watching her do a cleansing in the bakery on last night's episode was both funny and touching. Geof makes things happen, and he's so laid-back. The kind of person you need in when things are going crazy...

One of my other guilty pleasures is Amerian Chopper, though I watch it nowdays more to watch as OCC's fame and "selling out" has turned the Teufels into more of a characature than anything.

Oh, did you see Monday's episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations? You can take the boy out of Jersey, but you can't take Jersey out of the boy. And who knew Mario Batali was that funny?

Speaking of public appearances...

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

How important do you think cons have been for you as a writer over the years? Have they helped your writing, either on the business side or the creative side? Some writers talk about making this deal or selling that book, whereas others just seem to go mainly in order to drink and party. Some writers, or editors, or agents seem to feel they're indispensable, whereas others go completely without.

Re: Speaking of public appearances...

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

How important do you think cons have been for you as a writer over the years? Have they helped your writing, either on the business side or the creative side?

I think they were very important in the beginning (say 1994-1999), but seemed to become increasingly less so. By the mid-nineties, I was selling everything I wrote as fast as i could write it, so going to make deals seemed to cease to be important.

Some writers talk about making this deal or selling that book, whereas others just seem to go mainly in order to drink and party. Some writers, or editors, or agents seem to feel they're indispensable, whereas others go completely without.

I have mixed feelings. I always loved doing Dragon*Con, except for the stupid panels. I'm not much for cons, in general. Or partying. These days, I sort of feel like, I'm a writer not a celebrity, and it's my job to stay home and write, not go to cons and talk about writing. Also, I seem to have little in common with the other writers I meet and have no particular desire to hang out with other writers. Also, cons are expensive and rarely cost-effective. If I spend $500 to $1000 to be at a con, I expect to do that much in business while I'm there to pay for the trip, and that hardly ever happens.

Re: Speaking of public appearances...

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

Huh, all of the above = interesting. I've definitely learned my lesson about cost-effective conventioneering connected with my day job, as I'm still carrying around $1,000 of debt from a conference two years ago. Great conference, but not worth the debt.

If I can ask further, what did you find useful/important about them in the beginning? Sense of camaraderie with other writers, fans of fantastic fiction, etc.? Meeting editors and Big Name Authors?

Re: Speaking of public appearances...

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

If I can ask further, what did you find useful/important about them in the beginning? Sense of camaraderie with other writers, fans of fantastic fiction, etc.? Meeting editors and Big Name Authors?


Meeting other writers, making connections, the chance to travel, being seen, being asked to do panels, etc. It was all very exciting from about '94 (my first con was World Fantasy in New Orleans that year) up to about, I don't know, maybe 1998.

Re: Speaking of public appearances...

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's nice hear about why it's exciting and when/why it stops feeling that way.

Missed

[mackatlaw.livejournal.com]

I went down to the Birmingham Public Library, not having checked the livejournal first (no Internet at home), and found to my unhappy surprise a distinct lack of your presence at the events. I'm sorry you couldn't come; I was really hoping to get you to sign the new novel and a copy of "Threshold."

I was looking forward to hearing you read. Unforeseen events?