Thought Patterns

I've been reading a lot lately and enjoying most of the books.

One of Lorna's co-workers, Patti, loaned us Stephanie Meyer's books
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse

She also just loaned us the last book, Breaking Dawn. I've not read it yet, but Lorna did. I'm not so sure I like them but I did want to see how each book ended. They are really drawn out monster books, basically. Far too much angst (a lot of it unnecessary) for my tastes. And some of the science is wrong, which bothers me the most, I think. (spoiler alert: The werewolf says he has a regular body temp of 108F. Impossible. He may be a werewolf but he still has a human body and it can't live at that high a temp. It was silly of her to make it that high.)

The Lesbian Fiction Forum had a challenge where we read a book in a genre we either don't like or rarely read. The next two challenges we all read the same book.

Away From the Dawn by Kate Sweeney (horror/erotica)
The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson (a science fiction-slash-fantasy)
Hotel Liaison by JLee Meyer (romance) - this is the current one
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith - up next

I've also read:
Something to Be Thankful For by Carrie Carr (romance)
Merker's Outpost by I. Christie (SF)
Broken Wings (funny as heck with serious undertones) by L-J Baker (Fantasy)
Lady Knight by L-J Baker (um, fantasy/romance?)
Earth by David Brin (SF)
The Fated Sky by Henrietta Branford (young adult)

On the plane home from Phoenix, I read Sue Slate, Private Eye by THE Lee Lynch. It was a fun read but too short!

Earlier today I finished Daughters of a Coral Dawn by THE Katherine V. Forrest. It is the first of a series of books she wrote way back in the early 80s. Science Fiction, by the way. I had the pleasure of meeting Katherine in Phoenix. I even had lunch with her, Lee, and Lee's Sweetie. It was relaxing!

That's a lot of books but I feel like I am missing one somewhere.

I've got a bunch lined up. A bunch by Lee Lynch that I've read before but loaned out my copies, never to be seen again. She gave me signed copies of The Swashbuckler and That Old Studebaker for my birthday. She'd also brought extra copies of other books so I bought them at the Star Crossed Production's table. And, of course, I ran her down (not over) and had her sign these, too.
Dusty's Queen of Hearts Diner
Morton River Valley
Cactus Love (collection of short stories)
Rafferty Street

I'd read Dusty's book before but no clue where the book is. The others I'd not ever read so this will be fun.

In the auction, I won the bid for a bunch of Catherine Friend's books.
The Perfect Nest (a children's book)
Hit By a Farm (a kind of memoir)
The Compassionate Carnivore (non-fiction)
The Spanish Pearl
Crown of Valencia

The last two won Goldies this year in Phoenix.

I've got a lot of reading to do! And I've got a lot of writing to do, too! It's a tough life.

Still. And loving every second of it.

Let's see. Getting to Phoenix wasn't that bad. I had two great flights with an talkative man in the seat next to me. That makes time fly by. However, while outside waiting for the Super Shuttle, I got something in my eye which then led to a lot of problems. Luckily, one of the other volunteers is also an EMT and worked with me to get it fixed. We tried 3 different eye drops until we got the right one. After a night of not blinking and rubbing it, it was much better. Patty was afraid I'd cut it and we'd need to go get it taken care of. It got all gummy that day but the eye drops worked wonders.

This con was so relaxed and calming. The hotel was HUGE in terms of horizontal space but was only 5 stories tall at the highest. I made it to a lot of workshops but I also skipped a lot and hung out with people instead. I got to meet a lot of new folk and get reacquainted with a bunch more.

I went to almost all of the Coffee Chat things. They were excellent!

Saturday morning they auctioned off some cutie pie authors (which means I was NOT one of them). Nell Stark, Georgia Beers, Karin Kallmaker, Lynn Ames, KG McGregor. I think that was all of them. The auction was for the first dance after the awards ceremony. Nell went first and went for "only" $110 but her willingness to act up set the tone for the rest. I can't remember all the amounts, but Lynn Ames went for $300 and Karin Kallmaker went for $600!

Now, here's where I get all soft and mushy. The night before, a bunch of us went out to dinner and CL said she was going to bid on Lynn Ames. But Lynn said CL would have to get permission first (wimp). CL got out the cell phone and after some texting back and forth, she got her permission. Then Saturday morning, I see the CL is bidding on Lynn but as the price goes up, people keep handing her money so she can be the top bid. Finally, CL wins and I lean over (I'm across the room) and grin at her. She then says "Happy Birthday".

Yes, Saturday was my birthday. And yes, friends paid $300 for me to dance with Lynn Ames. I about had a heart attack. One, to think that people like me enough to spend that much money as a group. And two, a dance with LYNN AMES. She and I later discussed it and we decided she'd ride on my lap in the chair. Lynn is a sweetheart and was thrilled to be gifted to me for one dance. It was fun. It was embarrassing. And I'd do it again.

Then at the awards, I was getting nervous. CL made me write up a speech so that I'd not make a fool of myself if I actually won. So I did and stuffed it in my shirt pocket. Regal Crest racked up the awards! Six of 'em, not including the Director's Award to Nann Dunn. K E Lane won three awards for her book, And Playing the Role of Herself (Romance category, Debut Author, and Popular Choice). Jane Vollbrecht (my editor for BGCFA) won an award for In Broad Daylight in the Dramatic General Fiction category. Brenda Adcock won in the Mystery category for her Redress of Grievances. And then there was mine in the Debut Author category.

In each category, three people announced the finalists (split between them) then each one announced one winner each. In the Debut Author category, that was Katherine V Forrest, Karin Kallmaker, and….crap, someone else. You know, I haven't a clue who won the third Debut Author award nor who announced it! Isn't that awful?! Shit.

Anyway, Katherine V Forrest goes first and announces K E Lane. Katherine is K E's idol so that was just wonderful for her. Karin Kallmaker announced the second one. She steps up, puts the award on the podium, and opens the envelope. Then she picks the award back up, kisses it, and announces the winner. When she picked it up, I knew it was me.

The rest is a blur. They tell me I raced up the ramp so fast they thought I was going to go airborne. I am soooo glad CL made me write it down, else I'd not known what to say. Later I'll put my words here to share with everyone.

Thought I'd share the highlights. More on the various individual workshops tomorrow.

And having a blast!

I've been busy, too. I have volunteered to help with several things ranging from stuffing the registration packets to folding programs for Saturday's events to working the registration table to…. well, several things. I've also signed several books, much to my embarrassment. And, of course, I've been to several workshops which were interesting, but not as interesting as I'd hoped they would be. Could be I was not in the right frame of mind, ya know?

I had lunch with THE Lee Lynch and her Sweetie. And THE Katherine Forrest joined us, which was cool. After Katherine left (she had to prepare for her workshop), Lee and Sweetie presented me with gifts. A copy of The Swashbuckler and The Old Studebaker. Both signed, of course. And then a Waterman pen. Lee felt that every author should have a Waterman pen. I felt honored. I still feel honored.

Later, I attended the Coffee Chat with THE Lee Lynch and Jess Wells. I'd never heard of her, but that's not a rare thing. We've been out the lesfic loop for too long. But that's another story. Jess Wells seems like a cool person and I will be getting her book, Mandrake Broom, soon. I had already reached my spending quota for books.

At any rate, I'll do linkages later. It is after 10pm here, 1am at home, and my brain and body has begun to slow down for the day.

More later!

The Butch Cook Book is out!

I can't remember if I told y'all it had finally come out or not.

It is a fun cookbook, chock full o' notes and tidbits about cooking, relationships, butches, books, and the contributors. (I'm one of them!)

Ta-da!

The award ceremony will be on Saturday, August 2nd, in Phoenix. Hot hot hot in more ways than one. Beautiful women/womyn, all readers, will gather for several days of learning, sharing, laughing, and just hanging out with like-minded intelligent folk. The awards ceremony is a serious thing with a banquet prior and a dance after.

I'm a finalist but not necessarily a winner. However, GCLS treats all the finalists as if they were the winners already decided, which makes me feel good and, yes, gives me a case o' the big head.

My schedule thus far is:

Wednesday, July 30th

arrive (time?)
Meet n' Greet 6:30-9pm

Thursday

Breakfast (provided) 7:30am (ugh)
Workshop: Page-Turning Plots: Outlining & Organizing Your Novel Part I - 8:30-10:15am
Break (provided)
Workshop: Page-Turning Plots: Outlining & Organizing Your Novel Part II - 10:45-11:45am
Lunch (on my own. any one want to join me?)
Workshop: It's Not All About You: Creating Story People with Depth Part I - 1:30-2:45pm
Break (provided)
Workshop: It's Not All About You: Creating Story People with Depth Part II - 3:15-4:30pm (although the Coffee Chat with Joan Opyr and Jane Fletcher sounds like it might be interesting)
Free Evening (there's an informal "come and meet the board" thing going on)

Friday

Breakfast (provided) 7:30am (ugh)
Workshop: Coffee Chat w/ Catherine Lundoff & Lynn Ames - 8:30-10:15am (although, many would say I need to go to the author website one)
Break (provided)
Workshop: not sure. might not go to any and instead hang out somewhere
Lunch - I may have lunch with THE Lee Lynch and her Sweetie!
Workshop: Location, Location, Location: Setting, Sense of Place & World-Building - 1:30-2:45pm
Break
Workshop: Two Hearts Beating As One: Traditional Romances and Happy Endings - 3:00-3:45pm (maybe)
Break (provided)
Workshop: Coffee Chat w/ Jess Wells and Lee Lynch - 4:15-5:30pm (how could I miss this one?)
Free Evening - might hitch a ride on the shuttle and go check out the casino or Rawhide Western Town

Saturday

Breakfast (provided) 8:15am (not as ugh)
General Session: Announcements and stuff before the keynote - 9-9:45am
Keynote Address: Katherine V. Forrest - 10-11:15am
Lunch - (on my own again, sigh)
Workshop: I'm stuck between "When the Past is Present: How to Write Historical Fiction" OR "The Me You Never See" - 1:30-2:30pm
Break
Workshop: Nuts & Bolts: Research, Finding Materials, Respecting Copyright (I'm the Moderator!) - 2:45-4pm (maybe)
Break 4-7pm (I may hitch another ride and go check out the mall)
Reception - 7-7:45
Award Ceremony - 8-9:30pm
Dance - 9:30-12midnight

Sunday

Breakfast (provided) 8am (not as ugh)
Autograph Session - 9:30-10:30am
Membership Meeting - 11-1pm

Monday

Come home!

GCLS website
GCLS Con website
GCLS Schedule
Finalist list

There be power in 'em.

Was cruising folkses blogs today and visited Irysangel (aka Jill Myles). She has a post up titled "LiveJournal Hivemind, help!" With a title like that, I just had to see what she wanted (although I am not part of the LiveJournal Hivemind, fer shur)

As folks helped her out, they gave links to various sites and I am just droolin' like mad!

Synonyms24.com - whoa, dudes. "Welcome to synonyms24.com. This is a collection of more than 100 000 english synonyms. You can search for english synonyms by typing in a word above or by browsing through the synonyms." How cool is that? I had fun there, looking up various words, following thoughts and concepts along the way. Awesome.

The Phrontistery, Compendium of Lost Words - "Welcome to the Compendium of Lost Words, a component of The Phrontistery. The Compendium lists over 400 of the rarest modern English words - in fact, ones that have been entirely absent from the Internet, including all online dictionaries, until now. By revealing the existence of these words online, I do not necessarily promote their revival, but I do encourage an appreciation of the flexibility of English vocabulary. In theory, the Compendium will be the only web page on which each of these words occurs in its proper English context." You must check out this site. The words are just amazing. And you can use a few and people think you actually know something! Seriously, though, some of these will be perfect for this one character I have. Be sure to check out the links in the sidebar.

I always use WordWeb to get the meaning of a word and possible synonyms. Now, though, if I am not quite happy with the results, I can hop over to the Synonyms24 site.

From WritersWeekly.com:

May 21, 2008

BookLocker Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Amazon.com By Angela Hoy

BookLocker.com has filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon.com in response to Amazon's recent attempts to force all publishers using Print on Demand (POD) technology to pay Amazon to print their books.

(…)

OUR STORY
After hearing rumors of Amazon's alleged activities, we spoke to an Amazon/Booksurge representative by phone on March 26th. You can read what transpired that day HERE.

After reviewing all the materials presented to us, and after talking on and off the record with publishers, authors and industry representatives at all levels of this controversy, it is our opinion that Amazon may be positioning itself to directly print and control every book it sells. By forcing publishers to sign their extraordinarly oppressive contract, Amazon gains the power to charge publishers whatever printing and distribution costs it desires, as well as controlling the retail, discount and wholesale prices of the books it prints, and, through this contract, automatically positions itself to control the market.

We cannot say for certain if what Amazon is doing is legal or not at this point; that is for the Federal courts to decide. However, in our opinion, the seemingly covert manner in which Amazon has conducted itself in this matter seems to make their actions highly suspicious.

link to full article

More available from the Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit site