Ok, so I'm off to San Francisco for Writers with Drinks! this Saturday. Here's the press relase:

When: Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, 7:30 to 9:30 PM, doors open at 6:30, we
swear!
Who: Javier Grillo-Marxuach, S. Bear Bergman, Mary Robinette Kowal, Naomi
Quiñonez and Kat Richardson!
Where: The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd. St. between Mission and Valencia, San
Francisco
How Much: $3 to $5 sliding scale, all proceeds benefit the EL/LA Program
Para Trans-Latinas

About the readers/performers:

Javier Grillo-Marxuach created The Middleman, a comic series that became a
much-loved TV show on ABC Family. He also worked as a producer on the first
two seasons of Lost, and has also written for Charmed, Seaquest: DSV,
Medium, Jake 2.0, Boomtown and Dark Skies. He also wrote the Marvel Comics
series Annihilation: Super Skrull.

S. Bear Bergman's latest book is The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You. Bergman
also wrote Butch Is A Noun, and is co-editing the forthcoming anthology
Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, with Kate Bornstein. Bergman also wrote
the "Day Of Remembrance" spoken-word piece which is frequently read at the
Transgender Day Of Remembrance nationwide.

Mary Robinette Kowal's first novel, Shades Of Milk And Honey, comes out in
2010 from Tor, and a sequel called Glamour In Glass is also forthcoming. Her
story "Evil Robot Monkey" was a Hugo finalist, and she won the Campbell
Award for best new writer. Her story collection, Scenting The Dark And Other
Stories, comes out soon.

Naomi Quiñonez's books of poetry include The Smoking Mirror and Sueno De
Colibri: Hummingbird Dream. She also co-edited the anthology Invocation
L.A.: Urban Multicultural Poetry.

Kat Richardson's novels include the Greywalker series, and her work appears
in the anthologies Wolfsbane And Mistletoe and Mean Streets.

About Writers With Drinks:
Writers With Drinks has won "Best Literary Night" from the SF Bay Guardian
readers' poll five years in a row and was named "Best Literary Drinking" by
the SF Weekly. The spoken word "variety show" mixes genres to raise money
for local worthy causes. The award-winning show includes poetry, stand-up
comedy, science fiction, fantasy, romance, mystery, literary fiction,
erotica, memoir, zines and blogs in a freewheeling format.

Hostess Charlie Jane Anders blogs about science fiction and futurism at
io9.com. She's the author of the Lambda Award-winning Choir Boy (2005 Soft
Skull Press) and the co-editor, with Annalee Newitz, of She's Such A Geek
(Seal Press 2007). She also publishes other magazine. Follow her on Twitter
as charliejane.

After that I expect to to wrestle revisions and Thanksgiving.

Once again Thanksgiving is in the air due to the amazing AWOL Mother problem. At the moment, her cell phone is out of service to the degree the carrier can't find any record of her. I'm both worried and annoyed. Guess I'll be taking a drive to Port Orchard--which I don't want to do--to see what's up. *sigh* Mom... where are you this time?

As I was struggling with the proof of Vanished that is due back on April 16th but with which I must be done by Wednesday night so I can drop it in the mail before Norwescon eats my brain and time, Mr. Kat fell while stepping off the boat and cut open his scalp.

So, plans for a nice walk were shelved in favor of a quick trip to the ER--since you just never know with head wounds. Luckily, it's literally a flesh wound that didn't even need stitches, but it still ate 2 hours of our time and only shows that as soon as you don't have medical insurance, that's when something stupid happens.

And Mr. Kat now has a cute little beanie of hospital gauze. He looks so cute... (not so much.)

Long time ago I worked for the Gemological Institute of America as a course-writer. That is to say, I wrote course materials to train jewelers and gemologists. As I was doing that I also took a few of the basic level courses (Pearl and Bead Stringing and Diamonds) and learned more about diamonds and precious metal alloys than I really wanted to know.

So I went out today, taking a break from the revision which is nearing completion, to get my mom a late Christmas present (due to deadlines, and snowstorms, we didn't get together for any holiday celebrations during the actual horror-day season) and found myself thinking... "Hey... I could make something she'd like more..."

Now I know my mom's not currently using her computer online, so I feel safe posting this, since she won't see it before she gets the present and probably won't think to go back and read the archives in a few weeks....

The saga of the little present that could (be a disaster) is below the cut because it has lots of photos....
( Read more... )

While I struggle to write a critique for a friend--the problem is not that the book is bad, but that it's very good under a bad start, which is among the happiest circumstances of critiquing, but often hard to break down in a useful way--I have to start considering what to get my mom for her birthday. She's, umm... officially a Senior Citizen now and her birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving. Since she's currently homeless and living out of her car and occasional nights over in a friend's guest room it's a little hard to buy her much, since she has no space and I don't know what she's got or not got, what she needs or doesn't need, what she'll get back from her ex-girlfriend and what she won't.

I wanted to get her a teapot. But where would she keep it? In the glove compartment?

Sweater? I don't know what size she wears.

Winter hat? umm... yeah... no.

Maybe I should just get her a gift certificate....

Warning: this is a personal venting post--no hugging will be tolerated.

This is beyond ironic: a few months ago, my mom's girlfriend laid down an edict as from On High that if I "trashed (my) mom in a book (I'd) have to dedicate one to her."

Now, this is insulting for several reasons, chiefly because it assumes:

1. Harper is a Mary Sue
2. Harper's Mom is a vicious caricature of my own mother*
3. I can't create a character who isn't based on someone I know
4. I would not otherwise dedicate a book to my mom**
5. I'd resort to working out personal issues by spilling ink***
   

My mom and I do have some problems--most child-parent relationships are prone to these--but I hope I'm a better, more mature person than to write a book just for revenge over things that happened when we were both younger and more stupid. No, I'd blog about that.

Now here's the irony: Mom is sleeping on my bunk this minute because the same girlfriend hit her in the face a few days ago and mom fled the house (who's trashing who here?) Meanwhile I'm trying to write a series of scenes for Book 4 in which Harper is dealing with her horrendous mother. Ah the "muse" is fuckin wid my widdle head....

If I were Harper I'd have thrown my mom overboard. But, no. She's sleeping warm and dry and perfectly safe in my bunk. I wish I were the one sleeping in it, to be honest. I was up until 3 a.m. working on the ms last night and dragged my sorry ass out to take Mom's phone call at 7 a.m. Blargh... zombie writer... arraagghhhh... grrr....

No, no. I wouldn't trash my mom in a book. I'd trash her girlfriend.
--
*Oh come on! Harper's Mom is a riff on Rose Hovic; and I am not Gypsy Rose Lee.
**I haven't dedicated a book to my dad, yet, either.
***OK, I am currently spilling electrons to work out this particular issue, but damn, woman. Don't go smacking my mom!