Stuff I'm Up To

First of all, Happy St. Patrick's day for those of you who celebrate it!

I thought I'd drop a quick note to remind all y'all of the various places you can catch me doing my publicity thing.

This weekend, Saturday, March 19 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm, I'll be teaching my "Mars Needs Writers" workshop at the Bloomington Art Fair's "Writer's Workshop."

On Tuedsay, March 22, in my guise as Lyda Morehouse, I will be the featured "Big Idea" author at John Scalzi's Whatever Blog.

Saturday, March 26 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm, again as Lyda, I'll be signing the newly released Resurrection Code at Uncle Hugo's. Uncle's is located at 2864 Chicago Avenue South in Minneapolis, but, even if you're not local, it's not too late to put in a mail order with Don for a personalized, signed copy from me! Check out details about Uncles at: http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/!

Then in a bit of multiple personality shuffling, I will be both Lyda and Tate during an interview on KFAI's "Write On Radio" show on Tuesday, April 5 from 7:00 - 8:00 pm CDT. KFAI broadcasts at 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM in St. Paul. If you want to listen in even though you are in another time zone, you can check out http://www.kfai.org/ for live, streaming options and/or their archives which are usually updated the very next day.

In case you can't make ANY of those other dates, I as Tate will also have a signing at Uncles on Saturday, May 7 from 1:00-2:00 pm.

Free Words Tuesday!

Mouse fiction over at my alternate personality's LJ: Mouse 6

Mouse Tuesday

I'm committing fiction over on my LJ.

As I'm one of those people who takes great comfort in working during stressful periods, I actually wrote this little section while waiting for the cardiologist to tell us what was going on with my partner's "failed" stress test.*

I was thinking about this as I wrote it, because mood affects writing. I suspect this scene would have be a lot scarier, if I wasn't already overloaded on that particular emotion. I don't buy into the myth that you have to be in the right "mood" to write, but I *do* think that where you are emotionally creeps into what you write.

See if you agree.

* Everything seems to be okay. We probably got a false positive reading, though we're scheduled to go back and take a "stress echo" today sometime just to make sure.

Kids and Writing (the Plus Side)

Just want to note that, while there are a lot of panels out there in the SF/F community about the struggle of writing with kids, there are some bonuses too. Mason is sitting across from me at the Coffee Grounds reading the advance review copy of ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN giggling. This is his third time through (and he tells me, it's not his favorite. He still likes ALMOST TO DIE FOR better.)

Also, last night as I was trying to write while watching TV (a bad idea, btw,) he poked his head in a couple of times to read over my shoulder. He kept asking me, excitedly, what was happening and what would be coming next.

I know that it's a little like having your mom like your writing, but it's still cool. And some days, it's enormously satisfying to live with one of my greatest fans.

Tuesday Fiction

My alter ego is posting new science fiction over at her LJ, as part of the continuing effort to get people excited about RESURRECTION CODE, which will be coming out from Mad Norwegian Press on March 15, 2011.

Signing Update!

Breaking News: I will now be sharing my March 26th signing at Uncle Hugo's with Neve Maslakovic. I already want to love her book REGARDING DUCKS AND UNIVERSES, for this line in the product description: "On a foggy Monday in 1986, the universe suddenly, without warning, bifurcated."

Lookie-lookie!

It's Tuesday...

...which means my alter ego has some free pre-prequel fiction on offer over on her LJ.

In case you missed the previous installments you can read them in order:

Mouse 1

Mouse 2

Enjoy! In case you are tuning in for the first time, let me explain. I write science fiction under another name. I had four books published in what I called the AngeLINK series. The books take place in a relatively near future where, thanks to a devastating world war, science has fallen out of favor and religions of all stripes have become even more dominant in politics than they are today. My books start in America, but span the entire globe. One of the characters that a lot of people really enjoyed was an Egyptian Sunni Muslim computer hacker named Mouse. The prequel follows his story. But there are also angels, devils, ghosts and mutants called Gorgons in it.

Why Science Fiction is Cool

Ten years ago, my alter ego published a book in which I imagined something not unlike this. Fellow Wyrdsmith, Naomi Kritzer, saw this article and forwarded it to me with the subject line "Egyptians invent mouse.net." Of course, that didn't EXACTLY happen, and certainly no one has a LINK receiver in their head, BUT I love that most of the technology being offered is actually a low-tech solution to a high-tech problem. That's totally the sort of thing I wrote about, and, as Naomi said, "If Mouse had been born yet and, of course, weren't fictional, he's be all over this."

I totally agree.

Go Egypt!

Signing Event(s)

I got a call last night from Don Byly at Uncle Hugo's in Minneapolis and we've arranged not on, but TWO signings for me (and my alter ego) in the upcoming months. Mark your calendars because here they are:

Saturday, March 26, 2011 from 1 - 2 pm at Uncle Hugo's, my alter-ego will be signing RESURRECTION CODE, the long-awaited prequel/sequel to her AngeLINK series.

Saturday, May 7, 2011 from 1 - 2 pm I'll be back again, this time as me, signing ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN, the second book in the vampire princess of St. Paul book.

You can find Uncle's at 2864 Chicago Avenue South, Minneapolis MN 55407. If you would like directions or any other information about the signing or the store, you can call (612) 824-6347. Also, if you are out of town or otherwise can not make the events and would like to still get a PERSONALIZED, signed copy, Uncles will fill mail orders. For information contact Don Byly at UncleHugo@aol.com.

You can also check out Uncle Hugo's website for more info at: http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/

Got that? Good! I expect you there!

Free Words from Alternate Me

Today is Tuesday, which means that I'm posting the continuing saga of Mouse in a series of pre-prequel vingettes over on Lyda's LJ.

Boosting the Signal

Because I'm that person who talks to everyone, I had an interesting conversation with a virtual stranger today at the coffee shop. It came up that I'm a writer and she asked me a question very few people ask. She said, "Is that a good job? Do you like it?"

I told her the truth. My job is the best damn job EVER.

One of the perks that never occurred to me when I was first starting out was the free books. Two good friends of mine have asked if I'd be willing to blurb their babies, and I'm always happy to say yes, even though I'm always baffled that *my* name could actually contribute to any book's success (given what little help it's given my OWN work.) At any rate, I got to read a novel/la by my friend Keith Hartman. It's being published by Pyramid Press and it's called MURDER BENEATH THE BURIED SKY. Here's the Kindle edition. Narf it up. It's cheap (3.99!), and it's AWESOME. I don't want to give too much away, but I found it to be very a engaging science fiction murder mystery. Did you like that section in the HUNGER GAMES series when Gale and Katniss are at District 13, underground? Well, this is like that, only better.

Go read it. I swear you won't be disappointed. Plus, it's going to take you like two hours to read the whole thing. It's that kind of book that pulls you in and you wake up when it's all over and think, "dang, that was great."

Anyway, speaking of writing. I must go do my own. Alas!

Alter Ego Promo

My alter ego has a new book out in March from Mad Norwegian Press, and as part of that she is posting some pre-prequel promo fiction vingettes on her LJ. If you're curious about what I write when I'm not writing Garnet or Ana, check it out. It is not entirely safe for work (there is one instance of the f-word under the LJ cut.) However, it is my intention that you do not need to have read any of the previous books in the AngeLINK series to understand and enjoy these free stories or RESURRECTION CODE when it comes out.

5 Things

K.M. Walton has this to say about 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Queried. Not sure all of it applies to genre writing, but I like what s/he has to say about the power of a good critique group.

Erotica... Sadly, No.

I haven't done much of anything this morning other than sneeze. I don't quite know what happened, but I didn't just have an allergy attack... it was some kind of ambush!!

But my eyes and nose are starting to recover, I think. And, I did manage to get two other things done.

1) The dishes. This was a rather monumental feat, as we had a full-on Sunday dinner yesterday, including a roasted chicken, gravy, fried potatoes, beans, and a salad. I think I pretty much used all the dishes in the house, especially since I'd made scones earlier for breakfast. While I was doing said dishes I got a call from the folks at Mad Norwegian. They had just one more thing for me to look at...

So, I downloaded the file and 2) I went over the final proof of the short story included in RESURRECTION CODE, "Ishtartu." After having re-read that I have to say that there is absolutely NO HOPE of me having a lucrative side-career as an erotica writer. It's actually not a bad short story (which, again, is not one of my stronger suits), but there's not a lot of sizzle. There's sex, and, you know, I spell some of it out, but it's actually quite *sweet.* You could actually read it out loud at a late-night reading, because, while *I* might blush at some of the words, there's actually not that much that even happens on stage. Much of it is left to the imagination.

It's kind of sad, really.

If only because I have this weird notion in my head that some day I'm just going give up on this hard stuff and write fun, "trashy" erotica. Yet, you'd think I'd remember that every time I sit down to write something I think will be fun and "easy," it's still writing, and writing is always hard. And, sadly, writing something good enough to be published still means I need to have character development, plot, etc., which is all that stuff I find "hard" about writing in the first place. And, frankly, writing graphic sex scenes really difficult for me. Oh, I can imagine them, no problem. Write them down? That's a bit harder. I'm easily embarrassed by committing the erotic things I imagine to print, and also, like any description, writing a good, graphic sex scene takes practice that I just don't really have yet... you need to know when to brush stroke and when to stroke stroke, you know? Gah! I just embarrassed myself!

You see the problem.

Anyway, I need to get writing on Ana. My cat, Ms. All Ball, has just curled herself, like a baby, against my chest, so I guess that means I'm stuck at the computer anyway. I might as well be constructive.

NSFW, but...

Kind of rude (NSFW), but kind of funny... at least from this side of the washed out bridge: "No, seriously, I'm not f*cking around, you really don't want to be a writer."

Updatery

It's Thursday, which is my busy day. I just finished the dishes, and pretty soon I'll have to tackle the fish tanks. Then, it will be off to Mason's school to volunteer. After that, if I have any energy, I hope to go work out, as I've had to miss kuk sool wan one night this week. Ah, the glamorous life of a writer, eh?

Speaking of writing work, I finished going through the page proofs for RESURRECTION CODE over the weekend, and I should probably look through ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN before the deadline. Sometimes I have a really hard time looking at my own writing, especially after it's all typeset for printing. There's something so permanent that makes it sort of scary, you know? There's really not a lot you can do at the page proof stage either. There are plenty of opportunities for major change prior to that, but by the time you see page proofs, the publisher really only wants to you to scan for typos.

So, I've been dragging my heels a bit on the last one. RESURRECTION CODE was more fun, actually. There are some scenes in that book that I'm actually quite proud of and are fun to re-read. Even though enjoying my own work also makes me feel weird, but in a completely different way.

Contest Info

***** Permission to Forward Granted and Encouraged ******

Horizontal tango.

Roll in the hay.

Gild the lily.

Hanky panky.

Hippity dippity.

Knock boots.

Mattress mambo.

Nookie.

Whatever you call it, we’ll judge it.

Enter the Greater Detroit RWA’s 2011 Between the Sheets contest to see if your 10-page love scene explodes like a rocket or leaves the judges unsatisfied.

Rules, forms and final round judges are at www.gdrwa.org/contests.html. Entry fee is $25Deadline is February 14, 2011.

New Generation of Fan

A couple of nights ago, and I don't quite remember how it started, I ended up telling Mason about an incredibly charming character that my friend and fellow writer Eleanor Arnason created for her Lydia Duluth short story series named "Three Hoots." Alas, the story "Three Hoots" appears in hasn't been published yet, but Mason has been at the coffee shop with Eleanor when she was struggling with the plot of that exact story. Anyway, it's been marvelous to hear Mason running around the house shouting, "Fierce! Fierce! Many bodies in the shadows, ready to defend!" (which is a paraphrase, but close to some of the dialogue in the story.) At any rate, I knew I had some Lydia stories arounds, so he read all of "Tomb of the Fathers" and pronounced it, "nearly as cool as Harry Potter." So, I spend a few minutes this morning searching my house of the rest of the series. I found Asimov issues that contained "Cloud Man," "Lifeline" and "Moby Quilt," but couldn't locate my copy of "Stellar Harvest" to save my soul! Hopefully, Eleanor will have an extra copy she can loan us. Mason is quite determined to read the Lydia ouevre. I'm sure he could read the other stories out of order, but he's kind of stuck on reading "Stellar Harvest" first. I couldn't find a non-pirated version of "Stellar Harvest" on-line. Am I an idiot? If you know where one is, please send me the link.

Can I say, too, how amazing it is that I can share stories with Mason that, if he has some question about, he can just ask the author? It's super-cool amazing. I don't know if he realizes *just* how super-cool amazing that is. I mean, he's growing up in a house where his ima is a published writer, so I'm sure he kind of expects that anyone can be.

But it is one of those things I always remind my students. If someone as dorky as me can get published, there's a pretty good chance you can too. Not that it's an easy road, mind. Just that it's possible.

No, Don't Pull Your Punches, Really...

I don't really feel like writing today, especially since I read one of the WORST (as in harshest) reviews of ALMOST TO DIE FOR this morning on Red House Books. Check it out. I'm not saying it's unfair, it's just kind of brutal. It's never good, for instance, when the one thing the reviewer liked about the book is its cover. The one thing, in point of fact, I have zero control over.

Yowch!

I suppose it's better than saying they only liked the font... but wow. I think, too, one of the reasons that this review hit home for me is that, most of the time, I *know* when I've written a book that isn't my best. It's not something you're ever allowed to say out loud, and, you always kind of hope that no one else will notice. In fact, with ALMOST I've been quite taken aback by the fact that Publisher's Weekly liked this book enough to give it a starred review, when I personally believe EVERYTHING the reviewer at Red House had to say (before she said it.) I worked hard on the book, but I thought it was fairly deeply flawed from the beginning. And, you know, try as you might, not every book you write is going to be your best.

The Emperor, in case you wondered, has no clothes.

But, reading that first thing this morning kind of sucked the life out of my already fairly weak desire to work today. Alas.

Now don't feel compelled to tell me how awesome I am or run out and post "you're so wrong" over at Red House Books. Well, okay, you can tell me I'm awesome, but you know... don't harrass the reviewer. She's just expressing her honest opinion, which I actually respect. I post critical reviews of books by colleagues all the time. I think it's part of the deal I signed up for when I took on this writing gig.

It's all part of the life of a published writer. You get to take the good times (like finding out yesterday that ALMOST will be published in Chinese!) and you take the kicks in the teeth, too. I don't get mad when people honestly express their opinion of my work. It's sometimes demoralizing to read, but what can you do? If I could write a book that pleased everybody all of the time I'd be a best seller.