Live on the Gryphon Rose

Do you like zombies? Do you like games? Do you like zombie games? Check outThe Zombie Game Experiment. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun—but then I’m probably a little biased. :)

Ah, the waiting game—part and parcel of every writer's life.

I hate it.

Right now I’m stuck waiting on outline approval for my second summer novel—I revised it and turned it in a few weeks ago but still haven’t heard from the editor and the licensor (except to say they got it and would take a look at it as soon as possible). The editor’s already promised me a new deadline, which is good because even at my writing speed there’s no way I can turn in the first draft by the original deadline, not even if they approve the outline today.

I’m also waiting to hear back on two different middle-grade projects, and waiting for details on a third.

So what have I been doing in the meantime? Well, I got offered a rush junior novel so I went ahead and wrote that already, even though it’s not due for another month. I’ve worked up a full outline for the YA tie-in trilogy (now approved) and a more detailed outline for the first book. I’ve been playing with a new RPG setting, which will constitute my first original RPG project since Chosen back in 2001. And I’m about to write up sample chapters for two series pitches because the editor already has and likes the proposals.

What else is going on? The talk at the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County went very well—around fifteen people attended, I think, and I spoke for three hours. jendaby and I are getting ready for ShoreLeave and the rest of our summer vacation. My daughter has new glasses (see jendaby’s post for details) and this is her last week of school. We’re now down to Harper’s Island and True Blood as our only remaining shows, which is fine since we’ve started doing Movie Nights again and we both have writing to do and books to read. We’re trying to find at least one new babysitter, but not having a lot of luck so far. Work is okay, and they’ve definitely pushed the move back but haven’t told us when, exactly.

I think that’s it. Back to waiting. Anybody got a magazine?

Hm, I haven’t made a substantive post in a while, have I? So let’s see, what’s been going on here the past few weeks or so?

We went to my youngest sister’s wedding the end of last month, which was great. The drive down and back was fine (got to drive a brand new Chevy Malibu—handled very nicely, had decent space, and I refrained from Repo Man jokes throughout), the wedding itself was gorgeous, and it was great hanging out with my dad and his SO, my younger sisters, my uncle and his SO, my cousins and their kids, my now-brother-in-law, his whole family, and a whole lot of family friends. We managed to go to the Smithsonian on Friday, so the kids got to see the Natural History Museum there and had a great time, and on Saturday seventeen of us trekked out to hit the zoo, which was crazy. I also got to meet and spend time with my middle sister’s boyfriend, who seems really nice and fit in with the family nicely. All in all it was a really nice trip.

jendaby and I are busy finalizing details for our next trip—a portion of which will be kid-free! We’re going down to ShoreLeave in the middle of next month, and from there to Miami, where we’ll meet up with my dad and his SO. Then jendaby and I will fly out to Vegas! We get five days there, just the two of us, while my dad and his SO hand our daughter off to my middle sister for a fun week in Orlando and then drive or fly back up to NY with our son. We’ll meet all of them up there, and hopefully have a few days with everyone before they have to return to their respective homes as well. It's our first vacation, just the two of us, in six years, so we're very excited.

On the day job front, things are fine. We’re supposedly moving our entire division to another building on July 1, but they haven’t given us any details yet and it’s already approaching mid-June so they may push that back a bit. We're back on summer publishing hours, which is excellent. Get in at the same time as usual in the morning, stay a little later in the evening, and get half-day Fridays as a result? I'll take it!

Writing-wise, things are good. Busy, though. I turned in the latest YA project last week, a few days ahead of schedule. Today I turned in the first tie-in novel of the summer—much thanks to slothshaman and Peter for reading it over and providing useful comments, including both catching the same plot hole! I’m waiting on outline feedback for two different upcoming projects, neither of which I can talk about yet beyond saying that one’s the second tie-in novel of the summer and the other is a YA tie-in trilogy. I’ve got pitches and sample chapters out on an original YA project and a WFH middle-grade project, plus an original fantasy pitch from a buddy and I out with an editor. I’ve also got sample chapters to write for another middle-grade pitch, and I’m waiting for details on a new children’s book project. I think that’s about it for now. :)

Otherwise—not much. I’ve got my writing schedule mapped out so I can get work done but still have time to spend with jendaby, the kids, and our friends. We’re going to be starting Movie Nights up again soon—everyone local, take note. We haven’t gamed the past two weeks because we were out the first Friday and Mook was out this last time, but hopefully we’ll be back to that this week. I need to make plans to go see G.I. Joe and Transformers 2 in the theaters—both are films I want to see on the big screen. I’ve got that speaking engagement with the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County this Saturday. The kids are good, though our son broke our daughter’s glasses this weekend so we need to get those replaced. I’m making an appointment to see my doctor, both for some recent neck pain and for some recent sleeping issues. All our TV shows are now done for the year, except for Pushing Daisies and Harper’s Island, so we’ll probably be catching up on movies this summer as usual. My daughter also has only three weeks of kindergarten left—it’s going to be a crazy summer!

Okay, I think that covers it. Hope everyone else is doing well, and that your summers are starting out nicely!

Another thing I keep forgetting to post about: next Saturday, the 13th, I will be a guest speaker of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County. I'll be talking about how I got into writing professionally, some of the projects I've worked on, some of the projects I've got going on now, etc. The event will be at the Borders Books at the Interstate Shopping Center, 235 Route 17 South, in Ramsey, New Jersey. It starts at 7pm, and I'll be speaking at 8pm. If you're in the area, stop on by!

I'm terrible about remembering to mention these things, but hey, at least this time it's still six weeks away! Anyway, I will be a guest at ShoreLeave again this year. I need to get them to update my page, which I think may be the same one from last year, but they have time. jendaby and the kids will be with me. And I'll post my schedule once I know it.

In other news, the first novel is done and ready to be turned in once I (and hopefully one or three others) have given it a quick readthrough, the second's outline is being revised, the current YA project is almost finished, I've got some minor changes to make to the previous YA book, I think the children's book is good as-is (no word on revisions yet), there's another children's book and a junior novel on the horizon, and I apparently just got copies of one of the projects I did earlier this year. Busy, busy.

We're also getting ready because we leave tomorrow morning for my sister's wedding. We're driving down--it's in D.C.--and it'll be great to see everyone, hang out together, get to meet cousins I've never seen, and of course celebrate my sister's marriage to a really great guy. I am bringing the laptop but I don't know how much writing or going online I'll manage while I'm there. Which is fine by me.

* Went to bed at 4am (was hanging out and having fun with friends last night, which was the good part)

* Woken up by the kids starting around 7am

* Found out our babysitter is sick, which means we may not be able to hang out with friends tomorrow after all (bringing the kids would be too much hassle and no fun for anyone except maybe them)

* Went downstairs and discovered the cat had peed and pooped on my brown leather chair. So much for the chair.

* Got the kids breakfast, including two of the last three oranges. Went to peel the last orange for myself--and it was rotten (theirs were fine, I checked).

Good thing it's almost noon--I'm hoping the afternoon is better!

http://www.comcav.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_4_157&products_id=11309

Or is it just too cool for words?

I don't really need it. Hell, I don't really need much of anything. And I have backpacks and briefcases and so forth. Though I could get rid of most to all of them and just have one, maybe two, which would not be a bad thing.

Hmmm.

Yes yes, I’m behind the curve on this one, but I finally had a chance to see Star Trek last night. And I can’t put my response to the movie better than Scotty did *in* the movie:

“I like this ship! It’s exciting!”

Way too much fun. The acting was uniformly good, the pacing was great, the action was excellent but there were plenty of nice character moments. I’m sure there were plot holes somewhere, but nothing jumped out at me and nothing took me out of the movie, so I really don’t care. It was a great fun movie, and an excellent reboot, and a perfect launch to a new direction of the existing franchise. I’d definitely see it again, and will probably want to own it.

Yeah, that about sums it up.

Things started out fine. jendaby requested a nice quiet Mother's Day at home, so that's what we did. The kids were reasonably well behaved, the weather was good, and we just chilled out. Nice.

Monday jendaby wasn't feeling well, but shrugged it off as allergies or a cold.

Tuesday, however, she was worse. Far, far worse. 104º fever worse. Plus pain, nausea, dizziness--she called me at work around 11 and I headed straight home. Tried calling our babysitter but she got stuck in train traffic and, after waiting an hour, I gave up. Took our son with us and took jendaby to the emergency room--the nearest one, now that the hospital we used to go to (the same one where she had her surgery last year, and where both our kids were born) has closed down.

We got there at a little before 1.

I had to take our son and leave at 2 to go get our daughter from school. Got back to my car less than a minute after the meter expired, as the meter maids were writing up the ticket. They refused to pause or even speak to me until they'd printed it out. Because, y'know, my day was going so well already I really needed a ticket on top of it.

Called jendaby at four. She was still waiting to be seen. I couldn't really bring the kids back, so I stayed at home with them.

Sometime around 5, they finally saw her. Took one look at her temp and rushed her to a bed, complete with IV and antibiotics. About bloody time!

Around 10 she called and said they'd released her. Diagnosis? Über-nasty throat infection. Treatment? Ten days of antibiotics.

Fortunately our friend Paul was a lifesaver--he lives nearby, and came over to stay with the kids (long since asleep) so I could go get her.

I stayed home yesterday to take care of her and our son, and run errands, including getting her antibiotics and some other groceries.

Our daughter's been coughing, too, but we figured that was allergies acting up. It's been getting worse, though, and this morning it was the worst yet. So we kept her home from school, and I stayed home from work again. Her doctor's office doesn't open until 3--we'll be waiting when it does.

In the meantime, in and around all this, I finished the first novel of the summer. I also finished that YA book and children's book on time last week. Now I've got minor revisions for the YA book, an outline for the next YA book, and an expanded outline for the second novel to write. Then I'll write the second YA book, which is a rush, and finally get to work on the second novel.

I'm also hoping to see Star Trek next Wednesday--Peter and I were going to go this past Wednesday but for obvious reasons that didn't happen. Anyone who wants to go, let me know.

I'll be the one asleep in the corner.

Sorry I haven’t said much in a while. I’ve been a bit busy. Busy writing, that is. I’m two-thirds of the way through a novel right now, but I had to take time out of that recently to write a 30,000 word YA book. I’ve got a children’s book to write next, then it’s back to the novel, which I need to finish soon—so I can write a second YA book. And then, once that one’s out of the way, I can get to work on the second novel of the summer. Whew!

It hasn’t been all work, though. Last night I joined trinityvixen, slothshaman, justcomeinalone, and a whole host of others to go see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was a lot of fun, and very much of a piece with the first two X-Men movies. Lots of action, lots of wry comments, lots of familiar faces for those who know the comics. About the only part I didn’t like was the after-the-credits scene, which was completely pointless. I hear there’s a different one in some theaters, though.

Not much else of note lately, however. The kids are doing well, though they’re both being difficult these days. Our son’s still having plenty of allergy issues, but we’re managing. And jendaby is doing great—see her recent posts about doing the Revlon Run-Walk!

We’re off to D.C. at the end of this month for my youngest sister’s wedding, which should be a lot of fun—the whole extended family will be there, including plenty of little cousins we haven’t met before.

In the meantime, however, it’s back to the keyboard!

Next Saturday, my wife the lovely jendaby will be participating in the Revlon Run/Walk for Women to raise money and awareness for cancer. Her sponsorship page is here. Any support is welcome and appreciated. :)

We’re back.

I-Con was . . . interesting.

As others have posted, the con was discombobulated this year because instead of its usual haunts on SUNY Stonybrook it was spread across three different venues: the Suffolk County Community College campus, the Marriott Islandia, and the Holiday Inn Ronkonkoma. Which wouldn’t have been as huge a problem if not for the fact that they were all twenty minutes or so apart. By car.

As a result, people had a hard time getting from one venue to another. And since the dealer’s room was on campus and the author panels were in the Marriott, we didn’t get as much spontaneous panel attendance—you couldn’t be in the dealer’s room and decide to go check out a panel on the fly.

Despite this, we had a good time. We were staying in the Marriott and all of my panels were there, so I only had to go elsewhere a few times. The hotel itself was very nice and the staff was friendly--also, seeing the reactions of the other guests, particularly those there for two separate weddings, to people in full costume? Priceless! I got to see a bunch of friends and met several cool new people. We had fun on the panels, even the ones that were sparsely attended. The kids had a blast (though getting them back to their usual bedtime now is proving a bit tricky). jendaby got to see several friends and got to hang out a bit. Food ranged from decent to excellent, the latter being Saturday night when we went out for dinner with infinitydog, glennhauman, puppetmaker40, and bob_greenberger. I had no online access (the hotel had apparently been struck by lightning just before and its Internet connection was fried) and got very little work done but I'd already budgeted for that possibility.

I know a lot of people have said they won’t go back if it’s spread across those three locations again, and I know the con staff are working on fixing that problem. I don’t know that I absolutely wouldn’t go back, but certainly I’d be happier if it were more consolidated again next year.

Now it’s back to the grindstone. I’ve got three projects due this summer, with a few other possibilities floating around, so I’m already moderately busy. And that’s definitely a good thing.

I keep forgetting to put this up, and obviously I should do so *before* the con, so for those wondering (and particularly those attending) here is my I-Con 2009 schedule:

( Read more... )

The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers just announced their nominees for the 2009 Scribe Awards. And Beyond the Dark Portal has been nominated for Best Adapted Novel-Gaming! Color me thrilled!

I also want to say congrats to all the other nominees, both in that category (I'm up against my buddy Matt Forbeck and also Raymond Benson, both awesome writers) and in the other areas.

. . . because I can't actually say *anything* right now.

Thursday morning I was feeling a little worn out, and had a runny nose. By Thursday afternoon I knew it was an actual cold--presumably the one the kids had last week, which they probably got at McDonald's the previous weekend during a friend's birthday party--and felt like utter crap.

Friday I was feeling solidly "eh" as we headed up to LunaCon.

Yesterday I was feeling better but could barely talk. I was on one panel and actively moderated another one anyway.

Big mistake.

Today I have no voice at all. None.

I had to bail on my last panel, which I feel bad about but it's not like I could have contributed.

Other than that, it was a nice weekend. Got to see a bunch of friends, had two good panels, etc. The kids were well-behaved and had a lot of fun, and jendaby had a blast, which always makes me happy.

Now I just need my voice back. Or a slate.

I'm pretty sure I was just referred to as "you-know-who" in a post to a list I'm on.

Sadly, this probably isn't even the first time.

Do I get a badge for this or something?

Since my last substantive post:

• We’ve all recovered from whatever colds or flus or viruses we had.

• I finished that YA book and already have revision notes on it. Not too many, either—my editor told me it’s always a joy to edit me, which is nice to hear.

• I also finished the RPG project. No revisions necessary—the editor made a few minor adjustments himself but stated that he was really happy with it.

• I did a rush job for a friend, writing several short fiction pieces for an RPG. That was a lot of fun, actually, and he said he was thrilled with them.

• I’m midway through a new junior novel.

• I just turned in an outline for another children’s book.

• I’m working on an outline for a new RPG project.

• I owe people sample chapters for a few possible projects.

• I saw Watchmen! It was excellent—I honestly think it was the best movie that could have been made of that series, and I enjoyed it a great deal. I will warn anyone who hasn’t seen it and doesn’t know the comic, however, that it is NOT a superhero story—it is a drama that features superhero characters. Yes, there is a difference.

• jendaby took our son to enroll for pre-K next year! Ack!

• I finished our taxes. Yay!

• We watched the first episode of Castle—much fun, in very much the same vein as Monk (not rigorous mystery but good characters and quite a few chuckles)—and continue to watch Dollhouse (which has literally improved with every episode thus far) and Lie to Me (fun, interesting, a little heavy-handed). And of course CSI: Vegas. Tonight will also be the first new Supernatural in ages.

• I still have not had time to work on DuckBob again! Argh! Curse these paying projects! :)

And . . . I’m done.

I keep forgetting to post this and I should, seeing as how it’s next weekend! Anyway, I got my schedule for LunaCon:

Saturday:
Middle Grade Fantasy
3:00-4:00 PM
Grand North
What's going on with the younger siblings of the Harry Potter readers? And which of their books should we all be reading?
Participants: Alma Alexander[M], Mary Aileen Buss, Lucienne Diver, Aaron Rosenberg, Josepha Sherman

Game Designers' Roundtable
4:00-5:00 PM
Poplar
Game designers of various RPGs talk about particular challenges of design and worldbuilding.
Participants: Leigh Grossman, Jess Hartley[M], Neal Levin, Aaron Rosenberg, James Daniel Ross

Sunday:
A Tribute to Gary Gygax
1:00-2:00 PM
Poplar
The biggest name in the development of roleplaying games, and one of the few recognizable names in a low-profile field, Gygax was always a lightning rod for many people's views about gaming, both from inside and outside the field. A look back at Gygax's life and influence on the field.
Participants: Neal Levin, Aaron Rosenberg[M], James Daniel Ross

I’ll be there the rest of the weekend, of course, wandering around, checking out other panels, and minding the kids so jendaby can do her own panels. If you’re attending, stop by and say hi!

The Good:
My youngest sister and her fiancée made a surprise visit up here this weekend, so Sunday my daughter and I hopped on the LIRR to Penn Station and then caught a quick 1 train uptown. We met them and his sister and her two kids at Alice’s Tea Cup for brunch, then we all went to the Natural History Museum and wandered around there for a few hours. It’s always good to see my sister and her fiancée—he’s a really nice guy and we’re very happy to be welcoming him to the family—and his sister’s very nice as well, plus her two kids get along really well with ours so my daughter had a blast.

Also, anyone visiting us over a weekend take note—the LIRR CityTicket is $3.25 one-way and only good on weekends, but it’s one stop from Penn to Woodside and takes all of ten to fourteen minutes. Oh, and kids 5-11 ride for 75 cents.

The Bad:
Colds. Or flus. Or whatever crappy viruses keep hitting us. We all cycled through something a week or two ago, but it seems we’ve picked up something new since then—it’s actually entirely possible that jendaby and I missed the first thing and were the first ones with this new cold, instead of being the last with the previous one. We’re all feeling like crap. Nothing major for most of us, just slight fevers and sore throats and stuffy noses, but it’s the whole general run-down thing that really sucks.

Our son has been hit far harder than the rest of us put together, though now we’re thinking some fried chicken we got this weekend may have contributed to that—he couldn’t go Sunday because he was feverish and his stomach hurt and he was utterly miserable. Sunday night he seemed better and yesterday he was a little cranky but otherwise okay, but this morning he’s miserable again (we had the last of the chicken for dinner last night).

The UGLY:
Because of the colds and our son being sick and me generally procrastinating, I now have to write an RPG project and a YA book. This week. As in, both are due by the start of next week. I’ve got both projects outlined, I’ve got notes, and neither is that long—but I should have started writing last week. And I meant to. It just didn’t happen. Bleargh.

I will get them done, of course—it just means I may be hiding in the office most of the weekend. But next week will be better, and I should have time then to look at DuckBob and a few other things. And to finalize plans to go see Watchmen. Woo-hoo!

Yet again I am guilty of not posting for a while. Ack.

The New York Comic Con went well. The place was jam-packed—I hear it was sold out, and I think I heard 60k being bantered around as an attendance figure, though I have no idea if that’s accurate or not. My signing went very well, I saw a bunch of friends, I renewed contact with several editors, and I met a few new editors as well. Nothing definite work-wise but several promising leads, at least. My favorite jacket got badly damaged (leak from a drink machine in the booth behind) but otherwise it was a good weekend for me.

Right now I’ve got a second YA book to write, an RPG project to work on, a novel waiting down the line, those collaborative ventures still, and a few other things lurking somewhere nearby and waiting for additional info or direction. I also have some notes on DuckBob already—I’m waiting on a few other readers and then I’ll start revising.

I’ve started building a professional website, and I’m just waiting on some details from my provider before I can finish that. I’ll post the URL once it’s up.

The kids were sick last week with a nasty virus of some sort—fevers, hacking coughs, congestion, etc. They’re mostly over it now, but of course they passed it along to jendaby and finally to me. I’ve got a pretty mild version of it, though, so this weekend I was stuffed up and achy but fine otherwise.

The day job was a bit rough last week. We got hit with layoffs out of the blue on Tuesday, and while I escaped unscathed one of my best friends there was not so lucky, nor were many others. They also informed us we’ll be moving into the main building some time this summer, which means a few months of chaos, a lot of packing, and everyone but managers probably being demoted back to cube farms. Joy.

Not too much else right now. We’ve been keeping up our Movie Nights, which is fun, and gaming most Fridays still, but I haven’t had a proper night out in ages—I did have two days at the NYComicCon but of course that was work. I’m hoping to rectify that soon and get some friends together for dinner and pool. I definitely want to see Watchmen in the theater, too, preferably with a big group. I also need to finalize plans for LunaCon and I-Con, both of which are coming up fast.