Back from RadCon, and thankful to be back in the chilly but heavily treed part of my state…
So, an interesting weekend in the desert half of Washington State, where the landscape (dramatic bare red hills, very little vegetation except…wow, tumbleweeds!) seems appropriate for a Martian convention. So cold outside in that part of WA that it literally hurt to walk outside. The best part was meeting some wonderful sci-fi writers and artists. The worst part – our room had no hot water in the mornings. Not a fun way to start the day, and all the other rooms were booked. Ah, conventions. The hotel did have a surprisingly nice little wine bar with things like duck salad on the menu (yum!) – not what you’d expect from a little no-Starbucks town. The panels were a lot of fun, and the reading went okay (although an impromptu reading at one of the artists’ panels – when they were doing collaborative sketching – was more fun.) I have to admit that, though I consider myself fairly geeky, that I was a bit afraid of, for instance, attendees in vampire teeth and/or sketchy costumes. Also, wayyy too many conversations with drunk people. And now I know more than I wanted to about “furry fan fiction.”
My intrepid companions on this surreal journey included my cover artist, Michaela Eaves, my friend from Portland Rusty, and the stalwart husband. They were great company on the three-and-a-half hour drive up and back.
Now I have to start thinking about AWP. I’ve been told it’s possible that there might be copies of my book up there that my publisher, Tom from Steel Toe Books, might be bringing. So, I’m excited about that, and meeting my blogger friends. And I haven’t been to Texas since I was about ten.
And, I’ve been trying to teach myself some Japanese, including the kanji, as I’ve been researching Japanese pop culture and fairy tales for this new manuscript I’m working on. I’ve learned the following words: older brother, older sister, younger brother, cherry blossoms, city, bamboo, and love. I can barely really call it a manuscript; it’s really only twenty finished poems and then ten more unfinished. It may not be the easiest language to teach yourself – my brother took Japanese at college for three years, and says it’s still challenging for him to read it. I’ve been checking Manga out of the library too. It’s really fascinating how connected American and Japanese pop culture are, and yet how they come from totally different traditions. Yup, I’m in some kind of fevered writing-research mode for sure. I did finish a new poem over the weekend, although not sure it’s good.
Came home to a couple of signature-less rejections. And I’m starting to freak out that although I mailed my NEA application on January 31st, certified mail, return receipt requested, and usps tracking SAYS it was delivered to “someone” on February 6th, I haven’t received any return receipt. Or the SASP. Should I resend? But the NEA guidelines say they automatically reject multiple submissions. Fret, fret.
Thanks to everyone who offered to help with the reviews! If you want to be on my list of reviewers, or have any suggestions of where to send the book for review, please drop me a line if you haven’t already 🙂