2009 Con Book Deadlines and Halloween Postcard

I'd forgotten to post the link to the Con Book list for this year's Farscape Creation convention* in November. Some deadlines have passed, and others are approaching this weekend.

the list

* This year's convention is a joint Farscape-Stargate convention which is a cool idea since two of the actors (Ben Browder and Claudia Black) were on both series. :)

Also, I've been experimenting with some handmade postcards. Most have been completely unsuccessful. Some are unsatisfactory. Others were just a little disappointing. I did put up one in my etsy shop that came out okay, just not the way I was hoping. You go see my Trick Or Treat Witch postcard here. It's in the "Sales" section because Halloween's this weekend and because the postcard didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to. I'll probably leave it in there until the listing is expired, then remove and use. Take a peek while you can and feel free to comment here! :)

Beautiful Autumn Day

I just got back from a too short walk.

It's days like today that really make me miss my friend M.M. (now living in Austin, TX!) It's a gorgeous fall day out. The sun is shining. It's on the edge of warm and cool. The air is crisp. There are flowers everywhere and colorful leaves on the trees and crunching on the sidewalk. This is the kind of day where she would call me in the morning and ask if I wanted to go in town with her. Most days we barely had $5 between us, but we always had enough to get us into Boston and back again, and somehow we always managed to feed ourselves snacks or lunch, too. We would walk for hours, just walk, all over the place. It was always a bit of an adventure, never boring, and on days like this I really didn't want to stop walking. Walk, snack, explore, walk some more. On days like this I wish she were around so I could call her and ask if she'd like to go in town. These days no one wants to just *walk* with me anymore. Walk with no real purpose, for hours, in the beautiful weather, and randomly stop at some tiny little sub shop or cafe or street vendor to get a snack.

I've got to get over my fear of flying and get myself out to Austin to see her. Maybe I could take a train. If it weren't so far, I go outside right now and just start walking there ..

Rain, Rain

Rainy snow last Saturday. Tropical downpour last night. As they say in New England, don't like the weather? Just wait a minute.

In other news a motorist in the UK might be fined for splashing kids at a bus stop. Read the story here. L. had posted the youtube video on Facebook, but I can't seem to get the video clip to work. She thinks it's hilarious, by the way. I don't really. I used to enjoy splashing in puddles as a kid and walking in the rain, but I never enjoyed cars that would drive close to the sidewalk and speed through puddles soaking me from head to toe. Of course, that's just me. Maybe those kids really did enjoy the tower of puddle water raining down on them. My sister says I was "safety girl" when I was younger so maybe that's why I disliked it when cars did that. (Now, I more than dislike it, especially if I'm on my way to work. *g*) I'll have to check with the siblings to see if they would've loved that when they were kids. ;)

A Rainy Saturday

Thursday it was sunny and in the 70s. Yesterday, sunny but cooler (50s - 60s), and today, warmer than yesterday but rainy and gray. All I want to do is hibernate right now.

No Boston Book Festival or NaNoBoston Meet & Greet for me this weekend. There is so much to do this weekend that I really shouldn't be treating myself until I do it.

On the fun side ..
I'm plotting out my nanonovel for this year and need to work out some more "candy bar scenes". This year I'm working on a story I started over two years ago. I stalled during NaNoWriMo on this story before. Poor pre-planning, a lot of procrastination and the fact that my main characters' names were undecided were all part of the problem. I'm tackling the pre-plan/pre-plot right now and have figured out, from last year's "win," how to manage my procrastinating tendacies (for this one month anyway). Now it's the character names I need to tackle next. I've always believed naming to be important, especially in stories, and I've chosen a few names that have meaning to me and to the story for the characters, but I need now to make a decision. Sometimes there is only one possible name for a character, and other times, like in this particular case, there are many suitable choices.

In other news L. will be shooting her first music video, for a local musician, in three weeks. Very exciting although I don't think it'll meet my personal defintion of a music video so I'm glad I'm not the one doing it. The musician wants to shoot six videos at once. At first, he wanted to do one, then four, now six, and unfortunately, she didn't say NO. So now they'll be shooting six at night in some studio, and I'm afraid (as is she) that all six will look eerily similar, if not exactly the same. Basically it sounds like he wants professional recordings of his performance of certain songs. I suppose that would technically be a music video since many music videos are simply the musicians performing their songs, but when I hear "music video," I think "storytelling." The music video is a wonderful way to visually relate to your audience and tell the story of your song. Aren't songs simply sung stories? The singer is sharing a story, evoking certain emotions or moods and sometimes very particular images and associations. The video is a way to expand on that. At least, that's what I think. But hey, what do I know? Plus, L. has to keep the musician happy, and if he's happy with six videos of him performing six songs on stage and nothing more than that (except for varying camera angles and transitions), then it's all good. Maybe he wants it to play as a music video of a concert. Still ..

Regardless, I've been sending her clips of simple but effective music videos (in my opinion anyway) to give her ideas of angles, lighting and ways to make each video hopefully interesting and unique. She's been sending me some as well. In the end it'll be great experience for her and will look good on her resume.

And I'm hoping I'll actually get some reading done, in addition to writing. I can't believe I haven't read a brand new novel from beginning to end (or anything brand new from beginning to end) at all this year! Gone are the days of two to three new books every week. Geesh.

No More Teddy Rist

Well, it's official. The Philanthropist has been canceled. I knew that already, or suspected anyway, but now there's official confirmation. A DVD of all the episodes will be released so that's something to look forward to.

James Purefoy, who played the lead character Teddy Rist, is currently filming Ironclad, and according to Michael J. Bassett's blog will be on a publicity tour in Europe for the movie Solomon Kane in December. Then there's John Carter of Mars. If The Philanthropist was renewed, he would be somewhat limited in his film roles and promoting the films because he would be contractually obligated to NBC. So, the cancellation is good in this way, I suppose.

Still, I enjoyed the show while it was on.

Things I'm Thinking

* My friend C.'s house burned down the other day. I know I say that matter-of-factly, but really, it is a matter of fact. She posted yesterday about it on her FB status. She and her family are okay, but they lost most of their possessions. Someone in her neighborhood recorded part of it and posted it on * youtube. C. posted the youtube video on FB so here it is. :(
Fire on Austin Street
She's an old friend from high school and hasn't mentioned yet what she and her family need, but I there are a number of people who are ready to help out.

* "Get a life." This is what a person told me last month before trying to set me up with her mailman. I think her exact words were along the lines of "You have no life. You're always working. Would you like a life? I want you to meet my mailman. He's looking to meet someone. You should meet him and get a life." She said this to me at work, as nicely as can be. I know it was said with the best of intentions, but really, how am I supposed to respond to that? And tell me, how does one get a life after so many years of not having one? Apparently, if I get set up, I will suddenly have a life. But, there's that sticky point of "You're always working." Hm.

* On a brighter note, I might have Saturday, October 24 off so I can go to The Boston Book Festival. Yay! :) Then again, history tends to repeat itself so I'm not holding my breath yet. (See previous paragraph re: no life.) ;)

* I had such high hopes for October, but the month is almost over and .. I've yet to plot out this year's nanonovel. Among the many other things I planned to do this month. ;)

I hope The Boston Book Festival will work out. At least I will have done something this month. :)

* Oh! Another thing someone said to me just the other day. Again, at work. There are more acorns on the ground than usual & earlier than usual. She explained that this is nature's way of getting the squirrels ready for the long winter ahead. That's not exactly how she put it, but that's basically what she meant. She was implying that extra, early acorns mean a longer winter ahead. Makes sense; it sure feels like winter's starting. :) What I want to know is why can't nature set out boxes of chocolate, fluffy sweaters & hot cocoa for me in my backyard to get *me* ready for the long winter ahead? Way to play favorites, Mother Nature. ;p

* Last, but not least, Solomon Kane trailer!! Looks good. I'll now have to read the Howard books in my dad's closet. :)