Querying GR and My Writing Space

I began querying Graviton Rift in earnest recently. It's going well. Which is another way of saying it's way too early in the process to know how it's really going.

I've sent off emails and filled out forms. I have a handful of confirmation emails, a few early rejections (fastest so far is 47 minutes) and that's about it. No requests for additional pages -- yet. But I have had good feedback on the query letter and great feedback on the story, so my optimism is high.

I've noticed two interesting side effects of the querying process. First, I have been rather jumpy whenever the email notification chimes on my phone. It's a little like being sixteen again and waiting to hear back from a prospective date. Except I didn't have email when I was sixteen. And I never ever had a dozen different prospective dates all at once. But whatever.

The second thing I've noticed is that most agents want me to include my website URL, which has reminded me of this poor, neglected blog. It's been a busy year, with all kinds of great things I could blog about, and no time to blog. I've been trying to think of what to write about.

So today on the ANWA Conference Facebook page, when we were asked to share a picture of our writing space, I figured this would be a good thing to post on the blog as well -- especially since I've recently done some work updating my writing space,

I write in my home office, which I have tucked into a corner of my unfinished basement. I have boots and fingerless gloves and a thick fluffy robe to use when I work and write. This might also explain why some of my Graviton Rift characters live on an ice planet.

This is where the magic happens.

I've always wanted a wall full of world-time clocks

Progress Update - Graviton Rift

Last September, I set a goal to write a book - start to finish - within one year.

This is significant for me, since I've only finished three books in the fifteen years I've been writing. (That's an average of five years per book, for those who prefer not to do the math.)

Admittedly, a large part of my early writing years was devoted to developing skills and finding an acceptable Author Voice. It was a time for practice, rather than performance.

But at this point in my writing career, I feel an overwhelming urge to shift into a performance phase. Hence the goal to write a book in a year.

I have made several conscious decisions that I hope will allow me to hit this goal. Foremost is the decision to write a middle-grade novel.

I've wanted to write middle-grade for some time. The Space Corps General started out as middle-grade before ballooning out of control. I love the idea of visiting schools and doing presentations. I believe middle-grade is the right genre for me.

Fortunately, middle-grade books are, by definition, shorter than adult and YA books (50,000 words vs 80-100,000 words). Shorter means (hopefully) faster to write.

The second decision I made was to pick a high-concept story, and stick close to established tropes. The beauty of a high-concept idea is that it can be easily communicated, and provides some very powerful focus. The concept for Graviton Rift is: "The Parent Trap re-imagined as an interplanetary adventure."

I made this decision after trying to pitch The Space Corps General, and having a tough time describing what the book really was all about. There are a lot of great elements in that story, but like I mentioned earlier, it ballooned out of control. By focusing on a high-concept idea and the associated tropes, I believe I am creating a much better story, and spending less time wandering through literary wastelands in the process.

The third decision I made was to participate in NaNoWriMo. If I could write the first draft of the novel in a month, then I would be well on my way towards a final draft in a year.

It actually took me 45 days to get a completed rough draft, but I was able to put down the required 50,000 words during the month of November. I won! (With a little help from HeiHei)

But the real work begins after the NaNo win. The fourth decision I made was to spend a minimum of five hours per week editing and revising. (I really want ten hours per week, but for now that remains a bit of a pipe dream.)

For the most part, I've been able to hit that goal, and I have seen slow but steady progress in this revision. As a result, I am about 60% of the way through my second draft. It's not where I want to be, and success is anything but certain. I still need to give this story to beta readers and then do at least one more draft.

But if I stick to my current pace, and maybe somehow manage to eke out a little bit more, I just might hit this goal. More importantly, I have proven to myself that it is possible.

I love this story. I love the characters. I'm thrilled at the prospect of finishing a book, idea to final draft, within a year. I can't wait to share the final product with you.

Writer Friends

As is human nature, I constantly second-guess my decision to become a writer. This is especially true at tax time, when I see how even my tiny operating costs as an author have overwhelmed my tinier author revenue. 

But despite having been in "startup" mode for over a decade, there are two things that constantly remind me that writing is the right avocation for me. 

The first is that I truly enjoy writing, and believe that I am reasonably capable. I know I have much to learn, but the learning is enjoyable. I have progressed steadily since I first started writing fifteen years ago, and I have faith that I will be able to build the writing career that I want.

The second "proof" that writing is right for me is my collection of writing friends. To use a comfortably-worn cliche, these people are my tribe. They "get" me, and I "get" them. And nearly every writer I've talked to feels the same way about their fellow writers.

This past week I had the opportunity to see some of my writer friends that I usually only see once a year. Aften Brook Szymanski had a signing for her new book, Cheat Code, and it just happened to coincide with my quarterly visit to the Onyx home office.

Not only did I get to come support Afton and the launch of her debut novel, but I got to see some other writing friends: Melissa Meibos, Rachael Larsen, and Crystal Liechty

I love these little author reunions. 

For me, this was like the little teaser trailer in preparation for the big Storymakers conference in three weeks.

 

Carey Forward

My sisters and are working on a new project. We're calling it Carey Forward. Because we're clever like that.

The seed for this project was planted several years ago, when our youngest sister, Noreen, was taken from us suddenly in a tragic accident. The four remaining Carey siblings locked ourselves in a room for hours, and through many tears and much laughter, we worked up a life sketch of Noreen to share at her funeral. We took turns sharing stories and examples that gave our unique perspective as Noreen's siblings, and showed everyone just how amazing our sister was.

From this experience, we were reminded just how important it is to face life with faith, determination, and a healthy dose of humor. And just as important, we were reminded of the value of family, and how much stronger we can be if we lean on each other for support.


Carey Forward is our way of sharing that support, not just with each other, but anyone and everyone who could use a little boost.

Follow us on Facebook @CareyForward and Instagram @carey_forward. Great things are coming.

Living La Vida Lulu

This girl. She's the one they wrote the poem about. 

You know, the one about how when she's good, she's very very good; but when she's bad...

Hoo, boy.

Her life is hard. As a consequence, my life is hard.

I love my Alyssa. She is the child that forces me to stretch; forces me to grow. I could write a book about they many ways she challenges me.

If I survive this current phase, I will write a book about it.

I'll call it, Living La Vida Lulu.

She hates it when I call her Lulu.

Fun With Kidney Stones

In an earlier post, I mentioned how I'm using the Agile Framework to bring some structure and accountability to my writing time. It's been working well so far, though I still have a long way to go before becoming an expert at planning and managing my life in a predictable manner.

I had hoped to make this past two-week sprint an example of efficiency and productivity so I could blog-brag about how great I am becoming.

Unfortunately, my body had different plans.

Monday night as I was getting ready for bed, I raised my left foot to pull on my pajama pants. Suddenly it felt as though someone were stabbing me in the back. I said some words that were probably not appropriate for a family-friendly blog, and crumpled to the floor of the closet.

Alyssa was on my bed; she asked if I was okay. I said I was, believing the pain was from a muscle cramp that would soon diminish.

It didn't. Every time I tried to move, more pain shot through me. And I probably said more bad words. So I lay on the cold tile closet floor, pajama pants around my knees.

The third time Alyssa asked if I was okay, I finally had to admit that I wasn't. I asked her to go and get Kara, since my phone was on the opposite side of the room.

Alyssa failed to convey the seriousness of the situation, and the sight of me lying immobile on the floor came as quite a shock to Kara.

With much wincing, moaning, teeth-gritting, and word-saying, she helped me get my pants up all the way, stand, and hobble to the bed.

Heating pads and pain pills allowed me to sleep through the night, though with every movement the pain continued as intensely as ever.

The next morning I consulted with my sisters, and they agreed with my diagnosis: I was having a kidney stone attack. They've all had stones of their own, and felt it was about time I took my turn. Sisters.

Our dear friend Danyelle came and helped get Alyssa to FOCUS, and Kara took me to the Urgent Care place. They agreed with the kidney stone diagnosis until they analyzed my samples, and noted that there was no blood in my urine. Without blood, they couldn't make a positive diagnosis.

So they sent me to the ER for a CT scan. This scan showed a small stone, though not really in a place that normally caused pain. I was prescribed a very small quantity of pain meds and sent home.

Interestingly, once the meds they gave me in the ER wore off, the pain did not return. I'm grateful, of course, but also a little concerned. I've been drinking like a fish, watching for any further sign of the stone, but haven't seen anything. Hopefully it has dissolved and this little misadventure is now behind me. But not knowing for sure what happened to the stone has me more than a little nervous that another attack could be imminent.

I'll be honest; that little episode rattled me pretty hard. One second I was pushing through the normal aches and pains of midlife, and the next I was crumpled on the floor, unable to move. I repeatedly tried pushing through the pain, wanting to believe that I was strong enough to block it out and make my body do as commanded.

But I couldn't. I felt weak and helpless. And I hated it.

I suppose part of the reason was knowing that I didn't really need to push through the pain. Help was available, and though embarrassing, the situation was not dire. Had I been completely alone, or been in danger, or a loved one threatened, I like to think I would have the strength of will to ignore the pain and do whatever needed to be done. I like to think that's the kind of person I am.

Hopefully I will never have the need to find out for sure.

FOMO and The True Meaning of Delusion

I want to do All The Things. The internet generation as a name for this: FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out.

My FOMO is bad. Really bad.

Now that I've hit fifty, I've had to finally accept that I will never have it all. I will never do it all. Even if there were a hundred of me, each with access to a fortune, I would never be able to do everything I want.

Opportunity in our modern life is an embarrassment of riches, apparently.

Yet there are still things I want to do. Lots of them.  I'm not deluded enough to think that I can do everything. I have limitations. I've even accepted a few of them.

But I refuse to accept all of my apparent limitations. I refuse to let go of all my hopes and dreams and crazy ideas.

Instead, I choose to believe that, with careful planning, determination, and a bit of luck, I can do the things I need to do, and still have the bandwidth for some of the things I want to do.

Stop laughing. I know it's deluded. I'm going to do it, anyway.

Part of this plan involves applying the Agile framework - a set of powerful management tools - to my personal and professional life. (You can learn a little more about my efforts in this post here.)

I have divided my efforts into a bunch of different projects, and given these projects exciting names like Project Sisyphus and La Vida Lulu. Over the next few posts, I'll introduce some of these projects to you, and then share my progress.

It might be an inspirational journey to productivity and bliss. It might be a total train wreck.

Most likely, it will be something in between. Without a doubt, it's going to be an adventure.

The Big Five-Oh

 I have a lot to say about the philosophical implications of turning fifty, but that discussion would take far more than fifteen minutes. For now I'll content myself with simply sharing a little bit about the big day itself.

Looking back, the first thing I notice is a major failure in the picture taking department. It was a big, busy day and I have almost no photographic evidence. Sad.

The first, best part of the day was going to the airport and collecting Anna! She's home from the University of New Mexico for spring break. And my birthday, of course. :-)

My grand dreams of celebrating this birthday with a Caribbean cruise were abandoned years ago. So were most lesser celebration dreams. But with the whole family together, even doing the weekly shopping trips and SportClips run counted as a celebration of sorts.

And of course, no Don birthday would be complete without pizza. Minsky's Pizza is a local pizza chain that has both gluten- and dairy-free options, so we were able to order pizzas that everyone in the family could eat.

Sure, we could have fed the family a steak dinner for what we paid, but it wouldn't have been pizza, so what's the point of that?

Sadly, again there were no pictures. But trust me, it was delicious.

I think it's going to take a while for me to decide how I feel about being fifty. But my family did a great job at making sure that turning fifty was an experience to be cherished. 

Writing Update: Prime Regent and Graviton Rift

Today I will tie up a couple of loose ends on the writing front, starting with The Prime Regent, which I pitched last September to Lisa Rodgers at the ANWA conference. 

The verdict: she passed. This was not entirely unexpected. While there is much to love about this book, I describe it as a bit of a "hot mess." So much potential, but so many problems. I've put it on the shelf, knowing that I will need some time and distance in order to make the hard decisions that will make this story great.

Having to set aside a story that I have been intermittently working on for the past 8 years helped me set the course for my next project. I determined that whatever I did next absolutely had to be something that I could complete within a year. I've wanted to do middle-grade Science Fiction, and since MG tends to be shorter, a project in this genre would be a good fit.

Also, one of the things I struggled with on Space Corps General/The Prime Regent was describing the story. I didn't have any kind of high-level concept overview. I think I was trying to be too original, at least with my current skill set.

For my new project, I determined to come up with a concept up front, and stick with it. That concept is "The Parent Trap re-imagined as an interplanetary spy mystery."

With that concept in hand, I prepared for my first ever NaNoWriMo. I spent the whole of October analyzing The Parent Trap, developing worlds, characters, and technologies, and creating a whole series of outlines.

I won NaNoWriMo by writing 50,000 words in November, and finished the first draft in mid-December.

The thing about NaNo is that, at least for me, I spent more time writing about the story than I did actually writing the story. There were a lot of, "And something really cool happened." Now I'm revising, and I actually have to come up with those cool things.

I had hoped to have my first revision done by now, but alas I'm still going. I like what I have, though, and I'm still on track to pitch this story at the LDStorymakers conference this May.

Even if nobody picks this story up for publication, I will have proven to myself that I can finish a novel in a year. Given the 5+ years for each of my previous novels, and everything else that is going on in my life, I'll call that a win.

Midlife and the Return of Fifteen Minutes

My forties are drawing to a close; I can count the remaining days on one hand. I always thought I'd celebrate this milestone birthday with something large and loud. Maybe a big party, or a cruise. A trip somewhere fun and exotic and exciting. Hong Kong or London of Dubai.

I'd have settled for The Mall of America.

But the current of life has a way of taking us far from the course we have set in our minds. That has certainly been the case with me. Reality means there is neither time nor money for a grand celebration. I'll admit I'm pouting a little. I've threatened to boycott this birthday altogether as a result. Fortunately, my family is refusing to let me ignore it the way I want to.

I understand it's common to reach this stage of life and have a serious reckoning. We compare who we are and what we've accomplished with the dreams we had decades before, and often find ourselves lacking.

I know I sure do.

From my lofty post on this hill I'm about to pass over, I understand as never before how this midlife reckoning could devolve into a full-blown midlife crisis. I'd like to claim I am somehow immune, but I doubt that would be the case.

That's why I have a plan.

I have a lot of plans, actually. Family, work, writing, travel, home, and self. I have been working on projects in each of these areas, and while I am nowhere near where I want to be, I think I am headed (mostly) in the right direction. I need these plans to give me focus, and enough delusion to believe I might actually achieve them.

A little over a decade ago, I started a blog called Fifteen Minutes of Delusion. The idea was to spend fifteen minutes every day, writing a little something about my life, and what was happening. Blogging was a thing back then, and in the years that blog was active, I made some wonderful connections, in addition to meeting friends who are dear to me to this day.

As part of my Midlife Transformation, I'm bringing back regular blogging. I'm going to try daily; I commit to weekly. I need this blog to keep me accountable. I need a platform where I can brag so I can be motivated to do brag-worthy things. Don't judge.

There is so much going on right now, and adding time to blog will be a real sacrifice. Midlife transformations require a lot of time. But I need to make this connection. I need to share my efforts, failures, and occasional successes. And I haven't found anyplace to do that as effective as a blog.

It's good to be back.

Prime Regent Pitch Follow-up

It's been over a week since I pitched The Prime Regent to an agent during the ANWA conference. The response wasn't quite what I had hoped for, but the agent asked me to send a few pages. So while she didn't fling the door wide open, she didn't slam it shut, either.

There are some serious problems with this book that my beta readers all pointed to, but those start around page 70. Fortunately, I think the first ten pages are in great shape. So maybe it's a good thing she only asked for the first 10. That gives me time to fix the issues, in case she loves my writing and requests the full manuscript.

And even if  she doesn't ask for a full, there's another agent who did, although it's been nearly 18 months and I probably missed that train. 

In any case, fixing these issues will help me grow as a writer, and hopefully avoid these problems in the future. 

In the meantime, the pages and pitch and synopsis have been sent, and I have the next month's writing work cut out for me. 

Stay tuned.

Delusion and The Pitch

Ten years ago, I started a blog called Fifteen Minutes of Delusion. During that time, our lives had been turned upside down and inside out, and I was desperate to provide my two daughters with some regularity in their lives.

Forget delusions of grandeur; I had delusions of normality. And I knew it.

Yet during this time, I discovered that recognizing, accepting and embracing this delusion gave me the strength and courage to press forward in a seemingly hopeless situation.

Fast forward to the here and now, and my attempt to build a writing career while maintaining a full-time job and high-maintenance family. This effort also seems hopeless. And believing I have a chance at success feels entirely delusional.

So once again, I'm recognizing, accepting, and embracing the delusion. And that delusion is giving me the courage and the strength to pitch my latest book to a literary agent tomorrow.

I'll let you know how it goes.

The Great American Eclipse - My Take

I was excited for Great American Eclipse of 2017, especially since the path of totality went very near my house.

Unfortunately, I didn't buy my eclipse glasses when I had the chance, and by the time I got serious about finding a pair, they were gone.

I figured I could probably find a pair at one of the many eclipse viewing events, but I didn't want to take that chance. So I poked a hole in a piece of foil and made an eclipse viewing box.

The morning of the eclipse dawned gray and foreboding. It was not a promising start.

Undeterred, I climbed in the car and drove to the Amelia Earhart airport in Atchison, Kansas. I figured even if I couldn't see the eclipse, I could see some airplanes.

I also found some friends, and one of them had an extra pair of eclipse glasses. Sweet! Now I just needed the sky to clear.

It didn't.

Fortunately, my eclipse viewing box was big enough to keep me dry.

The weather radar implied that the rain might stop in time for the eclipse, so I took refuge in my car and tried to do some work while I waited.

Oh, the irony.

I also had some fun with Heihei, my pocket chicken writing muse.

It was hot and steamy waiting out the rain, alone in the back seat of the car. And more than a bit disappointing. 

But then a couple of minutes before totality, the rain stopped, the sky lightened, and I ventured out of the car.

Through a high, thin cloud cover, I was able to see a sliver of the sun! The crowd parked around me cheered as the moon slowly, eased its way in front of the sun. The sky darkened once again, but this time it wasn't rain. It was a total eclipse! I could even see the sun's corona through the haze.

I was so excited, I didn't take any pictures. (Bad blogger!) So I stole one from the internet and digitally altered it to show what it looked like. 

Then totality passed, and the traffic jam began. But for that brief moment, I was able to see something that is truly rare and amazing, and I'm excited for the chance to watch another eclipse in just seven short years.

Beta Draft built and released with Agile/Scrum

My experiment with applying Agile/Scrum methodologies to my writing has been a huge success. I credit the planning and organization this framework provides with moving a stalled draft to a releasable beta in just 10 weeks.

Both the story and the methodology are still works-in-progress, but I am confident I'll have a submission-worthy draft when I pitch next month at the ANWA conference.

While the draft is out with beta readers, my sprints have focused on creating synopses for the 2nd and 3rd book in the series. I realize this is probably over-optimistic, but I'm using this as an opportunity to explore different plotting methods. And I have more than enough delusion to allow myself a little optimism.

First Sprint Results - I nailed it!

I finished my first sprint as an Agile Writer yesterday. I completed 39 points, and I'm pretty sure it took more than 15 hours. As with any process, there will be constant refinement with regards to how much I can do in a sprint, and how to assign points to the various tasks. 

But one thing I know for certain: I worked a lot harder on my writing this sprint than I have in a while, and I felt like that work was either more productive or less futile (depending on my state of mind. 

Here is a screen shot of the results:

And here is a screen shot of my coming sprint. there are a lot more tasks, plus some reading and research work thrown in as well. This sprint will be good for 46 points, which means it will be a nice stretch.

Becoming an Agile Writer

If this blog were your sole window into my life, you would think that nothing is going on. But this couldn't be further from the truth. Life has been incredibly busy.

The challenge I face -- the challenge I have always faced and will likely face until the very end --  is that I have so much going on it's nearly impossible to keep up with everything.

I have tried simplifying my life, but I'm not sure I can cut back any further without causing real harm to important responsibilities. (That's another blog post for another day.)

My life outside of work - what I have begun referring to as "Discretionary Time" (because time is never free...) - is a bit of a jumbled mess. I feel as though many of the activities I spend my time on aren't really moving me towards my long-term goal. (I've named that goal Project Sisyphus - another post for another day.)

In my job as a software engineer, we have adopted a management framework known as Agile Development. It has made a huge difference in the way our development team works. From my perspective, those differences have been overwhelmingly positive.

I've decided to experiment with applying some of the agile development methodologies to my writing life -- namely Scrum. I chose Scrum for two reasons. First, I'm familiar with it. Second, it excels at dealing with projects that have stalled out.

Scrum isn't a perfect fit; for one thing, the methodology is designed for small teams rather than individuals. But the principles of defining an Epic, dividing the Epic into Stories, and breaking the Stories into Tasks, is very similar to the way I write already. Combine that with the concept of a Sprint (a two-week effort with a pre-defined list of tasks to be completed) and I think this is a great tool to help me focus on my most important writing tasks.

As an added bonus, Scrum prescribes that stories are assigned point values. Points! Which means that, at least in part, scrum is a way to make a game out of work.

I will be finishing my very first sprint tomorrow. How am I doing? I'll post a Sprint Review on Sunday, but I can tell you that during the sprint I have completed rewriting one very difficult scene, and am about 600 words away from finishing the other. I have a solid new backstory for a major world building element.

And I have a blog post.

That's right - I wrote this blog post because it was on my schedule for this Sprint, and I don't want to end the sprint without finishing the work I promised myself I would do. Proof positive that this Agile Writing thing is already making a difference.

You're welcome.

The Struggle

I hesitated to write this post. I like to think of my blog as inspirational and everything. Unfortunately when things are not going so well, I use that as an excuse not to post. And then I get out of the habit, and there are no posts for months.

I realize I have to be willing to share my challenges along with the wins. I can't always be inspirational. Sometimes I just have to be genuine.

Last May at the LDStorymakers conference I made a small blunder; one that just keeps growing. 

I pitched a book that wasn't finished.

To be fair to myself, it was supposed to be finished by the time of the conference. Once we decided to move, I knew that would throw the writing schedule way off. But I figured the book would be done soon after the conference and so I went ahead and kept the pitch session.

The agent loved the idea. She wanted to see the whole manuscript. The manuscript that I didn't have.

Ten months later (!) I still don't have a manuscript to send to her. But it's not for lack of trying. I have made some pretty hefty sacrifices to try and squeeze one or two hours of writing time out of my day. It's exhausting, especially given the slow progress.  

Part of the problem is that I made some significant mistakes in the original outline that required not one but two rewrites. Massive rewrites that have taken far too long. But necessary rewrites, and I believe the story is much better for them. 

Last week I finally sent out a beta draft of Cybernetic Mermaids (working title, formerly known as The Space Corps General). The feedback has been trickling in, and while it has been positive it also confirms what I already know: This book still needs a lot of work before I can send it to an agent.

I really wanted to have an agent in time for this next LDStorymakers in May. Or at least a rejection from an agent. Something that shows I've made some progress from last year.

But now I'll be doing good just to have the draft submitted by the time the conference rolls around. And a full year after it was requested? Terrible form. But it is what it is. 

With my book in the hands of beta readers, I took this past week off from writing. I was surprised how much I absolutely missed it. I only have a little bit of feedback so far, but it's enough to start the revisions bright and early tomorrow.

I feel like I need to end on a positive note, so here is a bit of feedback from one of my unbiased beta readers:

"There were quite a few jokes that had me laughing, too, or at least smiling. Overall, good job, Daddy. I'm excited to keep reading."

MidAmeriCon II: My First Worldcon

Over the past four days I attended my first Worldcon Science Fiction conference. This year's Worldcon went by the name of MidAmeriCon II and was held at the Kansas City Convention Center, which is about 30 minutes from my house. Since I am an aspiring Science Fiction author and prodigal SF fan, I decided it would be entirely irresponsible for me NOT to attend this year.

I made sure to find out which of my writer friends were coming in from out of town, took the days off of work and headed up as early as I could Wednesday afternoon, the first day of the conference. But apparently I was a little TOO early (even though I spent the morning seating the toilet in the master bath - but more on that later). Nothing but registration was open, and none of my friends had arrived yet.

But once the conference began, I found it chock-full of amazing and unexpected wonders.

And it got more amazing once my friends started showing up and, better yet, introduced me to THEIR friends.

Although it looks like I'm just sitting around taking a selfie, I actually have my laptop out to write. One of my goals was to capture the inspiration of the convention by making the time to write. And I did! (Just don't ask me how many words I wrote, because I didn't actually keep track.)

I attended a lot of panels, and they were all extremely informative. And decidedly nerdy, even for a Science Fiction conference. For example, this panel is talking about economics vs technology as drivers of the future. Cool stuff for anyone trying to write a realistic society.

By far, however, the most educational panel for me was the one on the Future of Work. This is a topic I have been studying for my worldbuilding in Space Corp General. So when the moderator announced that the original panelists were unable to attend and asked if anyone felt comfortable enough with the subject to fill an ad-hoc panel, I jumped at the chance.

Yes, that means I was a guest on a panel at Worldcon. Feedback from others - and my own gut reaction - says I nailed it. 

One thing I pointed out on the panel is that work is not going away, because even though technology might make some things and services faster, easier, and cheaper, we are still a social species and we crave personal interaction. This is why thousands of people come together at conventions even though all of the information is most likely available online somewhere.

And why I will always value the time I spend with friends old and new above everything else I gain from attending a conference.

I can truly say, without any hesitation, that I had a wonderful time attending this year's Worldcon.

The Big Move

Sometime life gets in the way. This year, life involved a moving truck.

Several moving trucks.

Lots and lots of moving trucks, actually.

Okay, not that many moving trucks. But close.

It also involved renting heavy equipment.

Hiring specialists with their own heavy equipment.

There was paint involved. A lot of it.

Enough to mess with  my sanity, apparently.

But after a lot of hard, hard work, we sold our house in Texas and moved the whole family to the Kansas City area.

We started out in an apartment complex; one that had an occasional balloon flyover.

Now we are in a house. It doesn't need a ton of work, but there are more than enough projects to keep us busy for a long time to come.

Oh, yeah -- and we brought our cat Diesel.

But that's a different blog story for a different blogging day.