My Weekend: Let me tell you of it
May. 27th, 2008 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwendolyngraceHai.
Yeah, I was so busy over the weekend that...well, I forgot yesterday was Monday. I mean, with the coming home and all. And even though I was home last night...I was really whipped. So no Monday Meta for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
wee_chesters, no update from the weekend.
I suck.
Well.
Saturday went okay. I knew Mom would not really want to explore on her own, so I was glad when Dennis and Diana suggested that she go with me, but then call them about half an hour before she expected to want to leave, and they'd pick her up. She was there for about 3 hours, most of which she spent sitting next to the book table, except for when we got lunch. It didn't work well for me - I felt like I had to make sure she was okay and entertained, which made me feel guilty that I wasn't doing enough to help the book sales. Mom left at 3:00 and I stuck around the table mostly, except for a little SHOPPING, until my panel at 5, after which I left *immediately* to get back to D&D's house to spend a little time with D3 and the girls. The girls are 9 and 4 1/2 and they are a riot. K is apparently a HUGE fantasy buff and at 9 has already read all 7 HP books. O is a little powerhouse with quite the stubborn streak. We played frisbee, which devolved into "keep away" / "tug of war" with K and O fighting over the frisbee, which then turned into an elaborate game of "fetch" with first K, then O pretending to be dogs, and finally culminated in a game of "helping Dad" clean the wet sand out of the sandbox in the backyard, even though Dad had simply opened it up, scooped out the worst of the water, and left it to dry.
I, however, am an aunt, not a parent, so I enabled the girls to scoop out wet sand for a bit, until O dumped sand right on her own foot, and I stopped the game so we could go inside and wash up.
Then dinner and a tiny bit of TV time (unfortunately, they are way into horrible, terrible Disney crap such as "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" and "Fern and Erb", etc.), but K also placed the Marauders on the back of my sweatshirt and we chatted a little about books. Then they went home for bed. So YAY, that I got to clap eyes on their growing selves.
In a year or two, K will be able to hang out at cons and not get too bored. ;^D
Sunday I went back on my own, much better plan than trying to split attention between Mom and Con.
Unfortunately, the morning did not get off to a good start because I got pulled over less than 3 miles from D&D's house.
It was just a warning. But it was a BULLSHIT reason to pull me over and it pissed me off. He claimed that I "failed to stay right of center" - but the place where the paperwork said I did this was as I was making my left turn from the side street onto the main road...where there was no traffic, and where 20 yards later it turns into a center turn lane. Plus, he followed me for about 2 miles before deciding I wasn't going to speed (because I saw him) and finally flipped his lights on.
So he quite clearly and obviously needed to fill some kind of quota. What a pain in the butt. To top it off, my mother's registration wasn't in the car. But her insurance card was, which was enough, thankfully. (She doesn't know and neither do D&D, because hello? She was already *INCREDIBLY* fretful about my driving on Saturday, utterly CONVINCED I was going to get a speeding ticket.)
Grr. But anyway. I shook it off, got to my 10:00 AM panel, which was a lot of fun. My noontime panel was nervewracking - really the only time I felt completely out of my depth all weekend. It was on "getting published" and it focused primarily on the major publishing houses. None of which are within my experience. I realize I probably should have spoken up more to offer the "small press" perspective - and I did, toward the end when there was something to say about it. But the panel focused really quickly on things like query letters and engaging a literary agent, and stuff that I'm just not interested in doing. So, not a lot to contribute on that.
I was going to grab lunch on the way back because the little grill in the hotel made OMG good pizza (I'd had a bite of Danielle's earlier), but left my wallet at the dealer's table, so I headed back...and got sucked in to the Regency ball.
LOTS of fun. OMG, a whole new form of historical dance, YAY. And Ms. Novik was there, totally there, I was even in a dance set with her, but we never got a chance to chat at all. Boo.
(Speaking of which, have you joined OTW? You should.)
Anyway. So I danced for a bit, then left around 2, went back to the table, and was asked to sign about 2 boxes of books. Brian, one of the contributing authors, also came out and signed (and said he'd form my fan club!) and then he and I went to lunch. He was trying. Really, really hard. He bought me lunch (yay, free food) and we had a very pleasant chat, but I was honestly a little uncomfortable with being flirted with so openly. I guess I'm not used to it anymore. And besides my being sick and hacking and all, he's married. From the sound of it, it's more of a "What my wife doesn't know" deal. So not going there.
Anyway.
Back to the table. The Dealers' room closed at 5, so we set up an assembly line with about 6 of us and all signed 3-4 more boxes.
And I discovered that somehow between the first proof and the final, a random (incorrect) section break made its way into my story. WTF? Too late now! It doesn't *ruin* the flow, but it's in the middle of dialogue and *doesn't make a whole lot of sense.* OH, WELL.
I tried to go to the gallery but it had already been broken down. Sad. No art viewing for me. Got worked over by a very cute but really hard-sales artist, who totally wanted to "sketch" me in naughty ways. Yes, Joel, I did think about getting you a birthday present, but alas, I had already spent my SHOPPING budget for the weekend. Never fear, I have his information. And I know he's drawn things for Danielle in the past, too.
So, the 6:00 panel was "Bad Advice" which meant an hour of lots of fun picking on the wrong way to do things. It also included two of the panelists from 10:00, both cool folks, as well as Connie Willis (their GOH) and another very witty author whose name I sadly cannot remember and who was not listed on the pocket program (I fail). But it was fun, apart from one moment where they put me on the spot about fanfic, and I spurted some funnyish stuff about how "No matter what you do, just remember that your fellow fans will be totally supportive" - which got a huge laugh. Then Connie Willis jumped in with "And when you get that Cease and Desist letter from your favorite author, you can just tear it up and ignore it." Remember that this was supposed to be BAD advice, not GOOD advice. I looked at her and said, "Actually, you frame it."
And then the release party. Wherein I didn't get anything to eat apart from a handful of cheese and crackers, a piece of baklava, and a piece of cake. But that's okay.
We still didn't sell as many books as we'd have liked. We didn't do readings this time, either, For all that it was larger, it wasn't as "organized" as last year's - that is, there wasn't a place where the authors could line up and sign, there wasn't a specific spot for reading, it was more of a "party" and less of a "launch."
Danielle's also very LOUD. Louder than me. Certainly louder than me when I'm losing my voice and coughing all the time.
But it's more than that. Her LOUD is LOUD, but it's also not courteous. It's demanding and more like a diva (or a very large six-year-old) than a general with troops, or even a stage manager. I hadn't noticed it last year. I think because this year got even bigger, she felt more pressure, or something. But as FABULOUS as she is with other marketing efforts, I don't think it endears one to one's audience to scream at them, even when it's things like, "I want a piece of sub!" or "Everyone in a costume, go there for pictures."
Now, that's not to say that it has any correlation to selling books - I don't think it has as much to do with it as the economy. But still. It hit me at that moment that the SCA, for all that people can get keyed up, usually doesn't result in feeling upbraided in the course of listening to an otherwise innocuous announcement.
Anyway.
Launch party over, we cleaned up, the last folks signed books, and Brian helped me carry my stuff to the car. Then we came back and he and his writing partner Chris bought me a drink in the bar (and yes, Chris was trying really hard, too. Still not going there). We chatted for about an hour and I left right before 11. I called![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
grouchyoldcoot and he talked with me all the way home so I didn't get drowsy.
Monday I got up, packed, and D&D and Mom drove me to the airport (BTW, they have a new RAV4 and love it, so that's a notch in its belt on the car decision). I calledetakyma, who is the bestest non-spouse ever and she picked me up at Logan and then hung out with me yesterday until time to go to her rehearsal.
Then I watched Timeline, which wasn't nearly as bad as I'd been led to believe (but it was bad enough!), and then the first half of the new Andromeda Strain. Yes, it was a Michael Crichton night for me.
Andre Braugher is really looking old. Just sayin'.
BigBang - I have read through each parallel story on its own and made some modifications. I merged it back together and now I need to re-read it again. It went up 1,000 words, not down. But that's okay. One thing that's reassuring is that the "Modern" sections are only 5 pages shorter in total than the "Flashbacks" - so it's fairly even at least in terms of overall story length. I'm a little concerned that it's still light on casework, but this isn't so much about the file as the people. I'm also concerned with my John, but I think I can shut him down a tiny bit more and he'll be okay.
And the other thing? Yeah. Totally didn't do a Monday Meta. Sigh. And I had a topic, too! Now I can't remember it. Naturally.
Well. Today I started training our new Admin Coordinator! and called my doctor and convinced him to call in a Z-pack without making me come in and be seen. No, really. I can diagnose a sinus infection, doc. Just gimme the drugs.
So I'll pick that up on the way home, and I need to hit the grocery store or I won't have food.
Oh, and I got some pretty good news yesterday of a Supernatural nature, but I'm not able to talk about it yet. :^D
As far as all of you? Well, I hate to tell you, gang, but I'm probably at about skip=800. No lie. So, I'm terribly sorry, I'm declaring a moratorium on trying to catch up. I'll read LJ tonight with posts from the last day or so, but all the way back? Sorry. No. So if I missed anything major in the last 100 hours or so, I'm really sorry. Clue me. Except for Morgen and Erin's dad, because I know about that. :^(
Yeah, I was so busy over the weekend that...well, I forgot yesterday was Monday. I mean, with the coming home and all. And even though I was home last night...I was really whipped. So no Monday Meta for
wee_chesters, no update from the weekend. I suck.
Well.
Saturday went okay. I knew Mom would not really want to explore on her own, so I was glad when Dennis and Diana suggested that she go with me, but then call them about half an hour before she expected to want to leave, and they'd pick her up. She was there for about 3 hours, most of which she spent sitting next to the book table, except for when we got lunch. It didn't work well for me - I felt like I had to make sure she was okay and entertained, which made me feel guilty that I wasn't doing enough to help the book sales. Mom left at 3:00 and I stuck around the table mostly, except for a little SHOPPING, until my panel at 5, after which I left *immediately* to get back to D&D's house to spend a little time with D3 and the girls. The girls are 9 and 4 1/2 and they are a riot. K is apparently a HUGE fantasy buff and at 9 has already read all 7 HP books. O is a little powerhouse with quite the stubborn streak. We played frisbee, which devolved into "keep away" / "tug of war" with K and O fighting over the frisbee, which then turned into an elaborate game of "fetch" with first K, then O pretending to be dogs, and finally culminated in a game of "helping Dad" clean the wet sand out of the sandbox in the backyard, even though Dad had simply opened it up, scooped out the worst of the water, and left it to dry.
I, however, am an aunt, not a parent, so I enabled the girls to scoop out wet sand for a bit, until O dumped sand right on her own foot, and I stopped the game so we could go inside and wash up.
Then dinner and a tiny bit of TV time (unfortunately, they are way into horrible, terrible Disney crap such as "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" and "Fern and Erb", etc.), but K also placed the Marauders on the back of my sweatshirt and we chatted a little about books. Then they went home for bed. So YAY, that I got to clap eyes on their growing selves.
In a year or two, K will be able to hang out at cons and not get too bored. ;^D
Sunday I went back on my own, much better plan than trying to split attention between Mom and Con.
Unfortunately, the morning did not get off to a good start because I got pulled over less than 3 miles from D&D's house.
It was just a warning. But it was a BULLSHIT reason to pull me over and it pissed me off. He claimed that I "failed to stay right of center" - but the place where the paperwork said I did this was as I was making my left turn from the side street onto the main road...where there was no traffic, and where 20 yards later it turns into a center turn lane. Plus, he followed me for about 2 miles before deciding I wasn't going to speed (because I saw him) and finally flipped his lights on.
So he quite clearly and obviously needed to fill some kind of quota. What a pain in the butt. To top it off, my mother's registration wasn't in the car. But her insurance card was, which was enough, thankfully. (She doesn't know and neither do D&D, because hello? She was already *INCREDIBLY* fretful about my driving on Saturday, utterly CONVINCED I was going to get a speeding ticket.)
Grr. But anyway. I shook it off, got to my 10:00 AM panel, which was a lot of fun. My noontime panel was nervewracking - really the only time I felt completely out of my depth all weekend. It was on "getting published" and it focused primarily on the major publishing houses. None of which are within my experience. I realize I probably should have spoken up more to offer the "small press" perspective - and I did, toward the end when there was something to say about it. But the panel focused really quickly on things like query letters and engaging a literary agent, and stuff that I'm just not interested in doing. So, not a lot to contribute on that.
I was going to grab lunch on the way back because the little grill in the hotel made OMG good pizza (I'd had a bite of Danielle's earlier), but left my wallet at the dealer's table, so I headed back...and got sucked in to the Regency ball.
LOTS of fun. OMG, a whole new form of historical dance, YAY. And Ms. Novik was there, totally there, I was even in a dance set with her, but we never got a chance to chat at all. Boo.
(Speaking of which, have you joined OTW? You should.)
Anyway. So I danced for a bit, then left around 2, went back to the table, and was asked to sign about 2 boxes of books. Brian, one of the contributing authors, also came out and signed (and said he'd form my fan club!) and then he and I went to lunch. He was trying. Really, really hard. He bought me lunch (yay, free food) and we had a very pleasant chat, but I was honestly a little uncomfortable with being flirted with so openly. I guess I'm not used to it anymore. And besides my being sick and hacking and all, he's married. From the sound of it, it's more of a "What my wife doesn't know" deal. So not going there.
Anyway.
Back to the table. The Dealers' room closed at 5, so we set up an assembly line with about 6 of us and all signed 3-4 more boxes.
And I discovered that somehow between the first proof and the final, a random (incorrect) section break made its way into my story. WTF? Too late now! It doesn't *ruin* the flow, but it's in the middle of dialogue and *doesn't make a whole lot of sense.* OH, WELL.
I tried to go to the gallery but it had already been broken down. Sad. No art viewing for me. Got worked over by a very cute but really hard-sales artist, who totally wanted to "sketch" me in naughty ways. Yes, Joel, I did think about getting you a birthday present, but alas, I had already spent my SHOPPING budget for the weekend. Never fear, I have his information. And I know he's drawn things for Danielle in the past, too.
So, the 6:00 panel was "Bad Advice" which meant an hour of lots of fun picking on the wrong way to do things. It also included two of the panelists from 10:00, both cool folks, as well as Connie Willis (their GOH) and another very witty author whose name I sadly cannot remember and who was not listed on the pocket program (I fail). But it was fun, apart from one moment where they put me on the spot about fanfic, and I spurted some funnyish stuff about how "No matter what you do, just remember that your fellow fans will be totally supportive" - which got a huge laugh. Then Connie Willis jumped in with "And when you get that Cease and Desist letter from your favorite author, you can just tear it up and ignore it." Remember that this was supposed to be BAD advice, not GOOD advice. I looked at her and said, "Actually, you frame it."
And then the release party. Wherein I didn't get anything to eat apart from a handful of cheese and crackers, a piece of baklava, and a piece of cake. But that's okay.
We still didn't sell as many books as we'd have liked. We didn't do readings this time, either, For all that it was larger, it wasn't as "organized" as last year's - that is, there wasn't a place where the authors could line up and sign, there wasn't a specific spot for reading, it was more of a "party" and less of a "launch."
Danielle's also very LOUD. Louder than me. Certainly louder than me when I'm losing my voice and coughing all the time.
But it's more than that. Her LOUD is LOUD, but it's also not courteous. It's demanding and more like a diva (or a very large six-year-old) than a general with troops, or even a stage manager. I hadn't noticed it last year. I think because this year got even bigger, she felt more pressure, or something. But as FABULOUS as she is with other marketing efforts, I don't think it endears one to one's audience to scream at them, even when it's things like, "I want a piece of sub!" or "Everyone in a costume, go there for pictures."
Now, that's not to say that it has any correlation to selling books - I don't think it has as much to do with it as the economy. But still. It hit me at that moment that the SCA, for all that people can get keyed up, usually doesn't result in feeling upbraided in the course of listening to an otherwise innocuous announcement.
Anyway.
Launch party over, we cleaned up, the last folks signed books, and Brian helped me carry my stuff to the car. Then we came back and he and his writing partner Chris bought me a drink in the bar (and yes, Chris was trying really hard, too. Still not going there). We chatted for about an hour and I left right before 11. I called
grouchyoldcoot and he talked with me all the way home so I didn't get drowsy.Monday I got up, packed, and D&D and Mom drove me to the airport (BTW, they have a new RAV4 and love it, so that's a notch in its belt on the car decision). I called
etakyma, who is the bestest non-spouse ever and she picked me up at Logan and then hung out with me yesterday until time to go to her rehearsal.Then I watched Timeline, which wasn't nearly as bad as I'd been led to believe (but it was bad enough!), and then the first half of the new Andromeda Strain. Yes, it was a Michael Crichton night for me.
Andre Braugher is really looking old. Just sayin'.
BigBang - I have read through each parallel story on its own and made some modifications. I merged it back together and now I need to re-read it again. It went up 1,000 words, not down. But that's okay. One thing that's reassuring is that the "Modern" sections are only 5 pages shorter in total than the "Flashbacks" - so it's fairly even at least in terms of overall story length. I'm a little concerned that it's still light on casework, but this isn't so much about the file as the people. I'm also concerned with my John, but I think I can shut him down a tiny bit more and he'll be okay.
And the other thing? Yeah. Totally didn't do a Monday Meta. Sigh. And I had a topic, too! Now I can't remember it. Naturally.
Well. Today I started training our new Admin Coordinator! and called my doctor and convinced him to call in a Z-pack without making me come in and be seen. No, really. I can diagnose a sinus infection, doc. Just gimme the drugs.
So I'll pick that up on the way home, and I need to hit the grocery store or I won't have food.
Oh, and I got some pretty good news yesterday of a Supernatural nature, but I'm not able to talk about it yet. :^D
As far as all of you? Well, I hate to tell you, gang, but I'm probably at about skip=800. No lie. So, I'm terribly sorry, I'm declaring a moratorium on trying to catch up. I'll read LJ tonight with posts from the last day or so, but all the way back? Sorry. No. So if I missed anything major in the last 100 hours or so, I'm really sorry. Clue me. Except for Morgen and Erin's dad, because I know about that. :^(
