Random posts for a random day

Today is a day for boring household tasks. Caitlin is still on break. Next week she starts summer school. This is a week with only therapy for her. She’s quite happy with that. My life today will consist of laundry, dusting, and mopping. I also need to do some edits on a sekrit fanzine essay.

For her graduation from Early Childhood, Caitlin received The Muppet Show Season 3 boxset. She has been very pleased. rarelylynne and I are extremely happy that we infected her with our love of the Muppets.

Yesterday the rain was on hiatus, so Caitlin and I walked down to the DeKalb Public Library. It’s nice to saunter through our modest neighborhood. Once we got to library, Caitlin got all crazy and picked out some audio books. Since she prefers chapter books, this is a good thing for my voice. Over the next few weeks we will be listening to Nancy Drew: The Mystery at Lilac Inn read by Laura Linney and Wild Magic written and read by tammypierce. It should be fun.

While we were at the library, we bumped into Caitlin’s boyfriend and his mother. He and Caitlin were very excited to see each other. His mom had a lot of trouble getting him to leave.

This weekend, Lynne and I are off to Duckon. I don’t know much about this con, and the website doesn’t do much to enlighten me. I’m sure that we’ll have fun anyway, though it will be odd for me to be at a con without doing any panels.

Just finished reading: Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link (it blew me away)
Currently reading: Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

A writer's voice

Elizabeth Bear says some smart things about finding your voice as a writer.

I had this discussion with my friend David recently, strangely enough using the garage band example. There were a couple of bands that we saw play at The House recently. The headliners were technically polished, but dull as shit. One of the opening acts was just unbelievably brilliant. They had an energy and freshness that just blew us all away even though they looked like they were 13 and were raw as hell. They had found their voice. They had “it.”

There does seem to be this thing that separates the competent from the true artist in any art form. It can’t be taught. It can be coaxed out and shaped, but in the end it’s either there or it isn’t. This is why computers will never be able to write a novel or compose a song by themselves.

Hopefully, I’m developing my own voice. I guess time will tell. :)

Chicago TARDIS is officially awesome

There are some new guest announcements for Chicago TARDIS. Here is the current guest list:

Colin Baker-- The Sixth Doctor
Elisabeth Sladen-- Sarah Jane Smith
Paul Cornell-- New series writer, novelist
Gary Russell-- Torchwood script editor, novelist
Nicholas Briggs-- Dalek/Cyberman voices, Big Finish producer
Jason Haigh-Ellery-- Big Finish producer.


That is not a shabby guest list. It's been a long time since Lis Sladen was in Chicago.

Please spread this to your Doctor Who f-lists. The better the con does, the longer it will keep going.

Hmmm...

The Good News: The Cubs still have the best record in baseball, and they’re cruising tonight with a 7-0 lead in the 4th.

The Bad News: Alfonso Soriano was hit in the left hand by a pitch. He’s currently at the hospital getting checked out. We can survive losing him again, but not for too long. He can carry a team when he’s hot. Of course, he can also go for a week flailing at every pitch that’s up at his eyes.

ETA: Cubs win 7-2. Ryan Dempster tosses his first complete game since my daughter was born. Unfortunately, Alfonso Soriano has a "minimally displaced fracture of the left fourth metacarpal" and will be out for 6 weeks.

Just finished reading: Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
Currently reading: Code of Conduct by Kristine Smith