michaeldthomas: (Default)
No, I didn't quit LJ for Google +.

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. We had wonderful times at 4th Street Fantasy Conversation and CONvergence. We're only now just coming back to reality.

I would write con reports, but they would look like this:

1- We hung out with friends. Many of them are in the SF/F industry. :-)
2- We ate with friends. Mmm, food.
3- Drinking might have occurred, followed by gossiping, pontificating, and/or handstands.
4- We learned many secrets and got caught up in some small dramas (no permanent damage).
5- Lynne was magnificent. You should have seen her in that one dress.
6- Caitlin had a great time at my mom's.
7- We miss our friends. :-(

As we become more embedded in the community, there's just less and less I can talk about. It makes for a great life, but it's lousy for blogging.

Other than coming home to dead A/C (now fixed), everything else is fine. There should be a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT about my editor wife in a week or two (many of you already know what I'm talking about).

That's it for the next few weeks. Lynne is editing Chicks Dig Comics and working on the SF Squeecast. She should also be finished with The Scarlet Queen by the end of the week. Beta Readers should have it in two weeks.

We're pretty much ready for WorldCon.

Caitlin finishes Summer School this week. I'm working on a troublesome short story.

How are you?
michaeldthomas: (Default)
Hey F-List:

What are your favorite shows that never developed a huge following? I'd like to hear about the shows that mean something to you that were cancelled too soon, hidden in the backwaters of cable, or have just been forgotten over time.

Thanks!
michaeldthomas: (Default)
Some person is eBaying their story "idea" for a starting price of $3,000.00.

I love this quote from Victoria Strauss in Writer Beware:

"Ideas aren't worth anything. It's only their expression that has value. This is why ideas aren't protected by copyright: they are the basic building blocks of creative endeavor, and as such must be available for anyone to use. Give a dozen writers a single idea, and you'll wind up with a dozen different novels of a dozen different qualities, each of which might or might not find publication, depending on a wide variety of factors and variables."

Yup. It's all about the implementation.
michaeldthomas: (Cait)
How the hell is it 2011 already?!?! Seriously, it feels like we just did that whole Millennium thing. I am not a fan of this whole time-moving-quicker-as-I-get-older thing.

We had a quiet evening last night. Caitlin spent most of the morning crying every 20 minutes due to cramping and soreness. Thankfully, she felt better by the afternoon. Lynne and I "celebrated" New Year's Eve with Chinese food and awful television. At least we were together and not in a hospital. We should have friends stopping by today and tomorrow. That will be nice.

2010 was a phenomenal year for us. Like any year, it had highs and lows.

The bad:

1- My grandfather passed away.
2- Caitlin's hip surgery.
3- My big nonfiction commission was put on indefinite hiatus.
4- I didn't write anything good enough for publication.

The wonderful:

1- Caitlin stayed healthy and had a successful surgery.
2- We continued to have amazing friendships and met some new wonderful people.
3- Chicks Dig Time Lords was a major success for Lynne and Tara, leading to book signings, our first Gallifrey One convention, fanart, fanvids, interviews, convention guest invitations, and fantastic reviews. We even impressed a few famous people who worked on the show. It's been an phenomenal ride.
4- I met all of my writing goals and completed another novel.
5- Lynne and Deb finished Whedonistas.
6- The NIU SF collection grew and Lynne was even interviewed for Locus.
7- Caitlin rocked her communication device and had a smooth transition to a new school.
8- We went on an amazing Make-A-Wish trip.
9- Lynne started two SEEKRIT PROJECTS that will be big deals in the next couple of months.

2010 was a magical year for us. Let's hope 2011 continues this trend.

We couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you for your love and support last year. You made us feel like the richest people in Bedford Falls. :-)
michaeldthomas: (Argghh!)
Now that the Make-A-Wish trip and recovery are over, the calender tells [livejournal.com profile] rarelylynne and me that it's time to finish some projects.

For Lynne, her partner-in-crime Deb Stanish, and their plucky Associate Editor (me), this means polishing the manuscript of Whedonistas by the end of the week for the Mad Norwegian. That's more work than you might think. We have over thirty pieces from as many contributors that need to be placed into a single manuscript and cleaned up so that they all share the same formatting and style. Considering how many different writing styles (AP, Chicago, MLA, etc.) are out there, this takes some effort. It's also not very sexy.

The sexy part is figuring out the essay order. It reminds me a lot of my youth when I used to make mix tapes (yes, I'm in my mid-thirties). This is one of those vital components of an anthology that your reader doesn't necessarily think much about if you do it right. If you do it wrong, however, you can screw up the tone of the whole book. The sequence matters.

Once that's behind us, I need to finish the first draft of my mid-grade fantasy novel, The Scarlet Queen. I'm in the final quarter of the manuscript. My goal is to finish this draft before Caitlin's surgery in December.

Wish me luck. :-)

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August 2011

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