Meet Me at World Con

The schedule is short and sweet. Seems like they had no use for me on actual panels or as a moderator. The good part of that is I have NO prep work to do and won't run myself ragged like I did at Anticipation. And I'm not covering the event for any venues this year (IROSF and The Fix are long  gone).

I will be sharing the stage with some great writers and hope you can stop by and join us.


Friday August 31:

12-1:30

Kaffeklatsche with alumni of Taos Toolbox 2011 (AKA the Diesel Bears).  This will be a reunion of sorts  but if you'd like to learn more about the workshop and if it's right for you, please stop by. We are a diverse group, writing steampunk/weird western, alternate history, urban, young adult, and traditional fantasy, and science fiction.

Saturday September 1:
10:30-12

Book signing    

I will have copies of all my books for sale, and gladly sign books purchased elsewhere. I also have book card for ebook customers, some nice swag, and chocolate.

2-2:30

Reading

Ann Dulhanty, a fellow member of the Anticipation Workshops is confirmed and there are rumors that other Taos Toolbox alums will stop in and wow you with some of their published stories or works in progress.

We'll have a rapid fire reading and stick around afterwards to answer questions about the Anticipation Workshops and how to apply for membership. All those submitting manuscripts to the Chi-Con professional workshop should be sure to come by.

Ann Dulhanty (moderator of Anticipation Workshop Group 2) is a scientist, business person and believer in magic. She writes scifi and urban fantasy and sometimes both. Her style is jaunty and explores the foibles of human nature. Her life's goal is to use 'errr' properly in a sentence. She has published short stories in an anthology series called Twisted Tails ( volumes 2 to 6), edited by J. Richard Jacobs and published by Double Dragon publishing Inc.

Anticipation Workshop is a group of pro and semi pro writers organized into four groups (loosely organized by genre and form) who critique each other's work on a fixed schedule.

Ann Dulhanty

                                 

My Super Cool, Cool, and Not So Cool Experiences of 2011

Life is a journey, so they say. But this year has been an *&^(ing roller coaster ride, with more chills, thrills, and spills than the Brooklyn Cyclone experience of 2009.

Super Cool

Attending Taos Toolbox for two utterly idyllic, fantastic weeks from July 10-23, 2011.  

There I met very fine writers who I am privileged to be able to call on (and I have) to help out with emergency revisions and to keep me up do date on the all the best brands of beer and whiskey (in the greatest Western saloon tradition).

In addition, I can boast that I had several early morning chats with Nancy Kress over English muffins and coffee, and a discussion on my career goals with Walter Jon Williams in the hot tub.

Thanks to the advice I got and connections I made there, I recently published an article in Lightspeed about smart houses, robots and artificial intelligence and no longer have tachycardia when I see a message from John Joseph Adams. And Boulevard of Bad Spells of Broken Dreams is done and a partial submission is now being considered by a major West Coast agent.

Nope, doesn't get much better than that.

Cool (in no particular order):

One son graduated from high school and went away to college.

The other son is doing well in his music studies and I got to hear one of his "new music" compositions at a end of the year performance.

Published a "playbill" type article for the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association's 360 project entitled Making the Music Dance: Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Suite. 

I'm still dancing despite the arm injury (details in the not so cool list).


I was cast as Hannah Townsend Lawrence, a Victorian socialite, for the Bayside Historical Society's annual "ghost tour" of the Lawrence Cemetery. After my reading, upon touching Hannah's gravestone, the Paranormal States EMF meter recorded exceptionally high levels  of activity.  I perceived no restless spirits, so I guess she was pleased by my performance.

Just published "Breakwater Beach," a short story set in the same time and place as my Cape Cod paranormal romance series. I would LOVE some feedback from readers if they would like to read more about Mike and Liz (and Edward and Elisabeth) so I can let the agents know there is a ready-made audience.

Check Out Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, edited by Rayne Hall.

I completed Astrology for Writers I and II with Mary O'Gara and can now read and interpret charts (at least for fictional characters). This spring I'll be starting Tarot for Writers. 

I've long been interested in natural healing, herbal, and homeopathic remedies. As a way to make lemonade out of lemons, I've consulted both a santera and two Chinese medicine specialists.

Santeria is a fascinating, mysterious practice that appears to have somewhat alleviated the root causes of my arm pain: stress and overwork. I've also experienced two acupuncture an energy healing/meditation sessions and am looking forward to more. 

Not So Cool

My Dad died in June after a long illness. I miss him so much.

College tuition payments, which require me to do tons of overtime, leading to aforementioned stress and overwork.

Two teenagers, who tax my brain, my heart, my soul, my pocketbook, and my patience to the breaking point.

Being a health care professional in the United States--and the triple whammy of being woman, in a women's profession, taking care of women.

Hurricanes, tornados, assorted floods and other manmade and natural disasters.   

The  combination of all of the above, which resulted in calcified tendonitis of my right shoulder which has morphed into fibromyalgia and chronic pain. Typing doesn't help, but voice recognition software doesn't like my pitch or Bronx accent.




Yes, life is a journey. But I will keep Going On Pointe for as long as I can.

Happy 2012.

Taos Toolbox Days 7, 8, 9-Read, Critique, Write, Repeat

Read, critique, write, repeat. With a lot of comfort food, good cheer, some sleep, and an occasional excursion to the real world in between. Punctuated by a violent thunderstorm and blackout, which made it hard to read, critique and write, but the comfort food, good cheer, and sleep went on and on.

Minstrel Jeff continues to entertain us nightly, joined by A cappella Alan and Fiona, and whatever other tone deaf participants care to join in. Jeff played by the light of the laptop-running on battery power-until his elbow gave out and the lights came back on.

Here are photos, courtesy of Christie.  Nancy Kress is posting a daily list of memorable quotes from the critique sessions, which have been inspirational, instructional, and fun.


One of the more surreal moments was discussing my second submission (Unfinished Business) with Walter Jon Williams in the hot tub.

 In order to keep perspective I did the rest of the sightseeing on my docket. After class, Fiona, Sean and I went to Taos Pueblo. Dusty, depressing, hot—reminiscent of  Pompeii except people still live there. Lit a candle to St. Jerome, since I missed doing it in the Cathedral of St. Francis in Santa Fe (wedding in progress).

Visiting Kit Carson's house was a real kick, except I remembered I couldn't tell my Dad all about it and got all teary eyed. We used to watch all the classic Westerns together. Then I realized I could tell him about it, and I did.

Taos itself is beautiful, with some real old buildings mixed in with the new. The desert landscape is stark and beautiful, Taos Gorge is quite impressive, and the bridge very bouncy, even though the drought has distilled the Rio Grande to a trickle. 


The rock formations in the mountains are awesome, and I'm hoping the recent rainstorms will enable them to re-open the Kit Carson National Forest to hikers before I leave on Friday night.

Taos Toolbox Days 5 and 6: Who Am I and What Am I Doing Here?

Day 5  began early and ended late. Somewhere around midnight, I finished some work on another chapter of Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams. That's two for this week, much less than I expected to write and they're sketchy since I don't have my reference books and Google isn't giving me the detail I want. I looked in the mirror while brushing my teeth and had one of those out of body experiences wondering who the hell was looking back brushing her teeth. She didn't look anything like Kira, a Newyorican witch whose already been attacked by a gang of werewolves and nearly seduced by a vampire. And she's been in The Bronx for less than a month

Right then I decided I needed to first, get some sleep, and second, get back to the real world. I've been in several magical worlds, and in outer space, and in a steampunk town in the old West, and just finished reading a creepy horror/urban fantasy.

Day 6 began as usual, with the 6 am wake up call from my daughter at home. She's waiting to go to camp, lonesome, and we can chat while I make coffee, make the bed, make the plan for the day. Then I remembered that it was MY TURN for critiques!  

Sleep had restored some measure of reality left. Just like knew that I really wasn’t Kira and that my story wasn't that bad, I did know I needed to get out in the real world. I really wasn't nervous, but did have a moment of paranoia when I walked into the common room that the silence was because my story was so bad no one wanted to talk to me until the critique round began.

The critique session went fine, as they all have, and I came away with some great ideas and suggestions. I have to blow up the opening and start again, but I knew that anyway.

My classmates and I had a delightful night seeing Taos Plaza, buying some souvenirs for the family, and exploring one of the most cool antique shops/museums that has, among other things, a huge collection of medical equipment from the 1700s to early 1900s including a set of glass diseased eyeballs, autopsy and amputation kits, surgical sets that look like something out of a horror movie, and a male chastity belt. Use your imagination.

The New Mexican food is delicious (tasted my first posole-a type of soft corn kernel) and we arrived back to a gathering in the common room enlivened by wine, whiskey, and beer in the best Western saloon tradition, though we were at one point discussing existentialism. I didn't drink since I was already obtunded enough, but it was again, surreal, near midnight, to be sitting in a room with Nancy Kress, Walter Jon Williams, Jack Skillingshead, a bunch of up and coming writers, most of whom are already published, and some of whom I think will be winning awards in the near future. The names were dropping (in routine conversation) like marbles: Harlan Ellison, Kelly Link, George RR Martin…. I felt like a Bloosmbury—and no I wasn't drunk but as high as the moon.

When Christie handed me her phone to show me a picture, a text message from John Joseph Adams popped into her inbox. Almost dropped the phone. Who am I and what the hell am I doing here?  Time for bed.

Tomorrow, I'm taking the day "off" to see the local sights, relax, regain some perspective.

Here are some photos, courtesy of Christie.

Report from Taos Toolbox, Day 4

So far, other than a daily nosebleed and some breathlessness the altitude isn't bothering me. Of course I'm not doing anything but eating, sleeping, reading, and writing. The air may be rarefied up here, with both Walter Jon Williams and Nancy Kress as instructors, but they have both feet on the ground and are totally involved and committed to helping all of us work the kinks out of our writing. 

Something like this is every writer's dream: two weeks to do nothing but write, and I know that the other twelve great authors with here with me are as thrilled to be here as I am.

I stay up late critting and still have tweaks to do in the morning. I've gotten no writing on Boulevard done and will do it NOW, before breakfast (I have a big cup of coffee in hand), now that I've cleaned out my email inbox and confirmed that I did, indeed, get paid.

Things seem to be going okay at home. Maya is whiny, but I talk to her twice a day. Her brothers are fussing over her so that helps. Rumor has it even the boys miss me. John is trying to be brave but I know how difficult it is to do everything and be everything and am feeling a bit guilty and disconnected. He assures me all the prep work ensured adequate food to keep the teenagers happy, as well as be sure all the bills were taken care of and the house was organized (yes, really) is much appreciated. The woman who cleans my house is coming today, which should help keep things under some semblance of control until I get back home.

There is a lot of necessary solitary time here or else we won't get our work done. But all my classmates are trying to find time to chat and bond and network, which is so important in a setting like this. Hopefully, we'll get more social time this weekend when there are no crits and no big assignments, other than our own writing.

The mountains are peaceful and the view from the window of my room breathtaking, as long as I don't focus on those big boulders perched up there. In winter, it's avalanche concerns but there is a terrible drought here (hiking trails are closed, damn) and though we've had some rain and a huge thunderstorm (followed by a rainbow so close it felt like I could touch it), too much might cause a landslide.

I will try to get some pictures posted and check in this weekend.

Moving Along and Getting Back in Business

I have months of blog entries written, but haven't had the time or energy to post any of them. I'm numb and in a fog after being up, up, up for so long. I lapse into these moments where I see or remember some moment with Daddy and either burst into tears (very unlike me) or stare into space for an hour lost in thought. Here is one reminiscence, if you're interested. Going back to work helped me focus on something and my co-workers fed me tea, cookies, and strategically distributed hugs. OMG, Madeleines are just what you need for sinful, buttery comfort. While I've been silent, I have been working on keeping promises I made as well as getting ready for Taos Toolbox, which begins on July 10. Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams is half way there. Thanks to the writing odyssey on the DSDB group I've got 50K words so far, and my early readers have been very encouraging. I am thrilled with the way it's turning out. Two agents I pitched at Fiction Fest have already asked to see it, but I will wait until the pros at TT weigh in. Today was day three of the Romance Writers of America National Convention in New York City. I have already met up with several friends for the luncheons and am looking forward to some drinks with Deborah Blake and other members of Creativity Cauldron tomorrow. I pitched Someday I'm Going to Write a Book: Diary of an Urban Missionary (I know its a romance writers convention but the agent with whom I was scheduled represents nonfiction and my paranormal romances are already under consideration with three agents from Connecticut Fiction Fest). Today's agent was very enthusiastic about it and I'll be sending out the proposal and first two chapters to her before I disappear into the mountains of New Mexico. Best of luck to OWW buddy Amy Raby who is a Golden Heart Finalist. I've read the opening of Assassin's Gambit, and it's wonderful. I'll be at the awards ceremony, Amy Check out my latest reviews: For Tangent Online: Tales From the Ur-Bar, edited by Benjamin Tate and Patricia Bray, which contains two stories on my Tangent Reviewer Recommended List (by Tregellis and Kessler). For The Portal: Strange Horizons, April and May, 2011, which is, as always, chock full of the odd and experimental tempered with a reprint by the incomparable, unclassifiable Carol Emshwiller. I promise to check in when I can.

Luna Con and Taos Toolbox

I am alive. The submission deadline for the DelRay Contest is 3/18.  I've been working nonstop on revisions of The Widow's Walk  I'm now more than half way through final edits and formatting. Big kisses to all those who've critiqued any of my chapters on OWW, and to Brent and Andrew, my RFDR's on critters.org, who have read the whole thing in record time.


It will be done, so help me God. But I haven't been doing anything else, except recovering from some nasty virus which knocked me out a couple weeks ago, then made a back handed swipe this week. I'm still coughing.

For those who don't follow my Facebook or LiveJournal (please do), I've been accepted to Taos Toolbox this summer. Am I excited at a chance to work with Walter Jon Williams, Nancy Kress, and Jack Skillingshead? You bet? My project will be my new urban fantasy: Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams. Stay tuned for chapters on OWW and critters, as soon as I get The Widow's Walk launched

Time to celebrate, and relax. I hope to see some of you next weekend at LunaCon. Please let me know if you're going so we can meet up. Am I missing something? I can't find a program anywhere. My emails to volunteer went unanswered, and the program committed has yet to respond. Makes it a little hard to plan. Not that I've had any time for that.