Stuff! Going! On!

/ 8 Comments / Natter, Pimping / By

Hokay! Belatedly realized I’ve been quieter than usual here, aside from occasional long philosophical screeds about SFF politics and global domination stuff. That’s because I’ve been phenomenally busy, and frankly when I’m busy it’s much easier to Tweet about stuff than take the time to do a blog post. But since it’s been so long since I’ve talked about Just Stuff here, I figured it was time to do an update. First, I’ve finished the UMSP! My writing group, editor, and agent are now chewing on it, and I’m in Deep Thoughts mode, letting the heat of writing the first

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The Ten Percent

/ 12 Comments / Controversies, The Industry, Thinkythoughts, WTF World? / By

Note: Since I had 10 weeks to think about SFWA’s potential decision re Mr. Beale, I wrote two reaction posts. The one I posted last week is, thankfully, the “if he’s expelled” version, and I followed it up by renewing my SFWA membership. Below is what I would’ve posted if he had not been expelled, and I would’ve preceded it with a membership cancellation. As you can see, both posts use some of the same elements and arguments, though I think there’s an emotional difference that makes posting this one worthwhile. I also think it’s worthwhile to continue the larger

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Time to pick a side.

/ 2 Comments / Controversies, The Industry, WTF World? / By

I’ve written two different posts about this issue. Circumstances decided that this one got posted first; good. I might post the other. Depends on how I feel over the next few days. So, I’ve had a few weeks to think about the fallout from my Guest of Honor speech at Continuum. I’ve also had a few weeks in which to observe the SFWA controversy that was brewing before my speech, in response to the Malzberg & Resnick articles in the Bulletin. Lots of other things have happened during that time, on both the micro and macro scale: yet another incidence

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So, that happened

/ 22 Comments / Causes, Thinkythoughts, WTF World? / By

Not going to spend a lot of time on yesterday’s shenanigans. I’m still in Deadline Hell on the UMSP, still in recovery mode from cross-planet/season-hopping jetlag, and still on vacation when all is said and done; I’ve got better things to do. And anyway, I’m too much of a counselor to forget that the most virulent-sounding hatred is always the result of fear. There can be nothing more pitiful — dangerous, certainly, but still, pitiful — than a person whose self-worth depends solely on their perceived ability to diminish others. That is a person who truly has nothing of his

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Continuum GoH Speech

/ 119 Comments / Appearances, Controversies, Conventions and Workshops / By

Apologies for not posting this sooner, folks; my schedule as a GoH is packed almost solid, and I just got a free moment to upload. I ad-libbed a bit, but this is the text of my speech from earlier today at Continuum. Might miss some emphases and other formatting; no time to check it right now. Warning for profanity. My father was afraid for me to come to Australia. He mostly made jokes about it — “Good, you’ve got dredlocks, maybe they won’t think you’re Chinese”, stuff like that. But I know my father, and I know when the jokes

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Off to the other side of the planet

/ 7 Comments / Appearances, Conventions and Workshops / By

Australia, that is, where I’ll be guesting at this year’s Continuum in Melbourne. It’s my first trip Down Under, and I’m kinda giddy about it — though not so much giddy about the 20+ hours of air travel I’ll need to get there. But that’s why I’m heading there a bit early, so that I can recover, play the tourist a little and become vertical again, and say something more than “Blergh” to the people I meet there. If you’re Melbourne-abouts, drop in and say hi! If you’re closer to my usual side of the planet, though, don’t feel bad

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You CAN win the Kobayashi Maru.

/ 27 Comments / On Writing, SFF on Screen, Thinkythoughts / By

Gonna keep this brief, ’cause it’s 1:30 am as I’m writing this, and ’cause tomorrow I’m taking a 6-hour flight to Cali to attend the Nebulas and hopefully either win, or cheer while someone I really like wins. It’s a win-win, so no need to wish me luck; if anything, wish me safe and stress-free travels. Anyway. Just saw Star Trek: Into Darkness, and I have some thoughts. Those thoughts will require spoilers, so beware, anyone reading past this point. Also, spoilers for a brief mention of Iron Man 3.

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Recent Developments

/ 3 Comments / Appearances, Guestblogs / By

Hi, all. Still neck-deep in Deadline Hell, though beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. (And please don’t take my mashup of three metaphors in one sentence as a measure of the quality of my writing right now.) But all novel, all the time does not a sane girl make, so here’s a little of what else I’ve been up to lately: Let’s All Go to the Science Fiction Disco: Here is how this project was described to me initially: Would you like to write an essay about Janelle Monae? To which I replied “[expletive] YEAH WHAT

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Catchup Time!

/ 13 Comments / Natter / By

I am in crunch mode right now. The first book of the UMSP is due in May, and I’m going to have to grind like a grindy thing to meet that deadline. My writing goal right now has been upped from 3000 words/weekend (my weekends are my only solid writing time, and my normal production rate is about 1500 words/day) to 5000 with 250 words/night on as many weeknights as I can manage. Can’t always manage the latter; I work long days, in a job that’s sometimes psychologically exhausting. But I’m gonna try, so wish me luck. As a result,

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