Boggled

Long-time readers will remember that I grew up in a relatively small town in upstate New York where we didn’t get MTV for the first few years of the channel’s existence. I even remember asking Sarah (in one of our exchange 40-page-leters-every-two-weeks) what the hell this MTV she was babbling about was?!

In very great hindsight, I find myself wondering whether this ended up being blessing or a curse. If we’d had MTV, would I have tuned in to MuchMusic on one of the Canadian stations we were able to receive? Because if I hadn’t, I never would have seen the glory that was the “A Criminal Mind” video (complete with shots of Gowan, as he was then known, in a cage—my 17-year-old hormones didn’t have a clue what to do with that, but now we understand, oh, do we understand!). And goodness knows that was instrumental in leading me down the road that leads right smack dab to here. (When Styx announced Lawrence as their new keyboardist, I believe my response was “My Lawrence Gowan?!”)

But I digress. I’m not really here to talk about Styx (at least, not tonight). I’m here to talk about seeing Yes, with Special Guest, Asia, at the Anaheim House of Blues Sunday night.

I admit it, what I really wanted to see was Asia. I was listening to them while I was writing, I believe it was Thursday night, and some part of my brain blipped to the forefront and said, “Didn’t we hear something about them touring?” Honestly, I hadn’t followed the band’s career, didn’t know much more than the first couple of albums. But I had the power of the Internet at my fingertips, and lo! they were opening for Yes, and as the House of Blues is GA, that was the show to hit this week in the area.

I don’t have time to review the whole show here; I just want to say this: The highlight of the night—the highlight of a good chunk of my life—was when John Wetton said that these were the first hands ever seen on MTV, and Geoff Downes started playing a song from another band he’d been in.

The Buggles.

That’s right, Asia played “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

I didn’t get to see it launch MTV, but I got to see and hear it live.

(FWIW, because I’m also a band geek, my runner-up highlight was “Fanfare for a Common Man.” I am a total sucker for rock bands who do a stellar job of reinterpreting/reimaging classical music.)

In the Flesh reading

I'm going to be a featured author at July’s In the Flesh: LA in Hollywood!

Here’s the info:

When: Wednesday, July 8, 8 p.m.

Where: Hustler Hollywood, 8920 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069, 310-860-9009

What: In the Flesh: LA is the West Coast version of the acclaimed In The Flesh reading series founded by Rachel Kramer Bussel, and “features the city's best journalists, authors, scriptwriters and more offering their torrid tales for your entertainment and titillation.”

I’ve never done a reading before so I have to confess I’m getting kind of nervous… Oddly, I think I’ll be less nervous if I look out and see people I know, rather than complete strangers. I realize that it’s in the middle of the week and (for those of you in outlying areas*) it can be quite a trek to Hollywood, but if you can possibly make it, I would be eternally grateful and would love to see you.

Plus, there’s free underground parking on-site, complimentary snacks and desserts, and the chance to win a goodie bag of prizes! I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hustler Hollywood when I went to last month’s reading, so I’m delighted to say it’s a clean, bright, inviting store with a café, lots of books and t-shirts, and a fantastic, fun, positive atmosphere.

(*Yes, I know a lot of you aren’t even in southern California and that this post is really aimed at my friends who are local. However, I’m imagining all the rest of you will be there in spirit! Don’t let me down!)

If you have any questions about the reading, feel free to e-mail me at cyvarwydd@mac.com. Wish me luck!

and on and on

So much to update, so little time…

Two weekends ago was Carreg Wen Anniversary, and it has been far too long since we’ve visited that fair Shire. On the way we picked up our friend Lareej. We’ve known her forever, but she took a hiatus from the SCA and in the past year or so has been getting active again.

We’d forgotten what Lompoc was like—essentially fogged in—so we pretty much froze our patooties off, but we had a great time. The event was small, so we just hung out with friends and laughed a lot. And Ken won the rapier tournament so he’s Carreg Wen’s Rapier Champion! My Renaissance man: three motorcycle rally wins in a row and now a rapier championship. (And more on that later…)

Then Lareej came home with us and we were up drinking and carousing until 5 a.m. Yeah, I’ll sleep when I’m dead…

Ken spent last week finishing up stuff around the house, including building some new bookshelves for our joint office. (We’ll be moving the magazines to those, then shifting everything over so he has more space behind his desk for stuff.)

Then he headed off to Oregon for another rally, and I headed off to CP Prize Tourney, because I haven’t been to a Kingdom event in ages and ages and I’ve missed everybody. I carpooled with Ismay and Alia and Lareej (who crashed here the night before, and I swear we stayed up only until 1 a.m. this time, given that Ismay was due to show up at 7 a.m.), and you now how it’s like when you put four women in a car together… I had a massively fun day, reconnecting with folks I hadn’t seen in ages and winning a gorgeous bracelet in the raffle (it was the only thing that really sparked for me; I stuffed the rest of my tickets in for things that Lareej wanted, since much of her SCA stuff has disappeared over the past few years). All in all, a hugely enjoyable day, despite how hideously hot it got in the afternoon. We four grabbed dinner in Fillmore before heading home, and then lo, there was much sleeping (at least on my part).

Sunday I headed off to CB&TL to meet with another writer, and while I was there, I got the text from Ken: he’d won his fourth rally in a row! It’s an unprecedented win—as far as anybody knows, nobody has done accomplished this before. Wooh! *\o/*

In between all of that, I’ve been working working working. I was relieved to discover one of the anthologies I’m writing a story for has extended its deadline for a month; that was the one I didn’t have an idea for yet anyway. As for the rest of them, so far, so good…

Okay, it’s well into Tuesday and I have a writing-and-lunch date with Christine tomorrow morning, so I need to fall over in a wibbling heap of sleepy.

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Currently Reading: Dance of the Gods, Nora Roberts; RT Bookclub; Faerie Magazine
Lately Listened To: Then and Now, Asia
Recently Watched: Doctor Who: The Next Doctor; NCIS rerun

This is what happens...

...when I let my Fabulous Gay Hairdresser free reign with a blowdryer and hair-straigtening thingie.

The cute receptionist at my gynecologist's loved it, so I guess it can't be all bad.

But I laughed in FGH's face when he suggested I, oh, buy a hair-straightening thingie. Really, who has the time?

When it rains, it pours...of course!

Right now, I have only one official deadline. By “official” I mean a deadline imposed by an editor. Everything else I’m working on has deadlines I’m imposing on myself. Not everyone thrives in that kind of atmosphere, but I do.

So (gulp) here’s what I’ve got on my plate right now:

By July 1, I have 4 (four!) anthologies I want to submit stories to. Two are erotica, and those are pretty short. I’m tempted to say “easy” as well, but no story is ever truly easy. With one, at least, I want to push a little bit, delve into the emotions a little deeper than I normally do.

The other two anthologies are science fiction. I write more fantasy than SF, and with one of the stories (which I’ve already started), I’m dealing with a difficult subject matter. Right now I haven’t a clue what I’m writing for the other story.

So, for the record, that’s four stories due in 12 days. Which is pretty darn easy when you look at it like that, given that I’ve written any number of overnight stories at workshops. I have ideas for three of the four stories, and one is already started.

Then there’s the new Custom Erotica Source assignment that landed in my In Box yesterday. It’s another fun one, and at 3K shouldn’t take me too long. It’s due July 6, but I’d certainly like to get it in sooner than that.

On top of that, however, the client wants a 500-word synopsis of what I’m going to write. I don’t really plot ahead of time (although I’m certainly capable of writing novel proposals before I’ve written a word of the novel), so it’s a bit of a challenge, and I’m nearly finished with it. (Goal: Send it to the editor tonight.) [Edited to add: I wrote this entry Friday night, and got the synopsis out then as well.]

But what about Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess, you ask? Teresa and I are about halfway through the book right now, and the deadline in my head for that is July 9, the day I leave for Oregon.

My reasoning is this: I’m going to Lincoln City for two workshops, each over a weekend, and the five or so days between them are a writing retreat for me. During that time, I want to work on a single project, and PUM wouldn’t be a good candidate for that, because Teresa and I are tossing chapters back and forth, plotting as we go, and we frequently have to wait for one or the other to write something in order to know how the next scene should flow. If she were coming with me (and how fabby would that be? but alas, no) then we could easily finish the manuscript and maybe even hammer out a couple of stories… But she can’t be there, so whatever project I work on needs to be something I can focus on myself. And I’d rather have the draft of PUM out of my brain before then.

(I haven’t yet decided what my project there will be. In the running are two novels-in-progress—I’d shoot to finish one of them—or writing 5+ short stories—I have lots of ideas that get pushed aside in favor of an anthology theme, not to mention there are any number of upcoming anthologies I could work ahead for.)

So, to recap: Five short stories and one novel ms in about three weeks. To which I say, Whee! Let the roller coaster begin!

[Edited again: CES client liked my synopsis so much that he’s asked for the story to be doubled in size! Is it possible to say “Yay!” and “Eek!” in the same noise? ::gg:: ]

All I've got. You?

I have an entry written for today—well, for Friday, which has technically passed—but it’s downstairs on Afalwen and I have to get up at 7 a.m. to go to an SCA event, which I might’ve tried to bow out of had we not been bringing someone with us.

So this is it. This is all I’ve got.

What are you doing this weekend?

A meme I can actually get behind

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.