Stepping on the Toes of Giants
June 23
So, the weekend: Friday night, Heather and I did all sorts of fun things -- laundry and grocery shopping, whoo! Friday night is a lovely time to go to the laundromat, because the place is utterly deserted. We used an entire wall of dryers to dry our clothes (but it wasn't appreciably faster than usual, which was odd). Then we went grocery shopping. For the first time ever, we had enough money to buy pretty much whatever we wanted, and we went a bit crazy, spending something like a week's pay on vast amounts of food (including some beer and a couple of bottles of wine). We shouldn't have to eat out for quite a while (which is good, since now we can't afford to!). It's soothing, having all this food in the house, though we had to actually clean out the freezer in order to make things fit, and the fridge is rather crammed. By the time we got done with all that, it was midnight... long evening, and not much fun, really...
Saturday, I did a bit of writing in the morning, and we went with Susan into the city, to Borderlands Books, to see Ellen Datlow speak about her new anthology The Green Man, along with authors Michael Cadnum and Katherine Vaz. It was pretty interesting, and attended by the usual suspects -- Sam Ling, Sean Klein, Cory Doctorow, Avi Bar-Zeev, &etc. Naturally, "that guy" was there, the boring and clueless rambling audience member who speaks at length about numbingly uninteresting things. I'm always amazed at the way panelists and speakers handle such people so gracefully... Ellen was fascinating, and very nice, and gave me some real insight into the way anthologies work, from concept to completion. (And Borderlands is such a nice store, as I believe I've said before) They had a used copy of Imajica, so I bought that, since I gave my old copy away (actually, I loaned it to Adrienne, but for all intents and purposes, that means I gave it away, since she never returns anything).
Then, because of the pure dumb luck of having the job I have, Heather and I got to go to a big cool dinner party for my boss's birthday, which included various luminaries and idols of mine as guests. Most pleasantly, I sat beside Michaela Roessner, who was a Clarion instructor of mine, and got to chat with her at length. Eileen Gunn and John Berry were at my table, too, and were also lovely; John advised me that I can, indeed, develop a taste for good wine on a severely limited budget, and now I have a slightly better idea of what to look for. The food was good, the wine and champagne flowed freely, and all was well.
Today I got up at 9:30 a.m. (so responsible of me!) and wrote a good scene in Rangergirl before even showering or having breakfast. While sitting on the couch later, I wrote 300 words that may begin a new story. Around 11:45 a.m. Heather and I left for my boss's house (i.e., the place where I work) for his actual big-birthday-party. Lots of incredibly yummy food and beer, and plenty of guests, including cool writerly people I'd met before (Pat Murphy, Lisa Goldstein, Lori Ann White, Karen Fowler, and so forth), people I was delighted to meet (Kim Stanley Robinson! We talked about alternate history! Sean Stewart! Heather talked to him, and I didn't really, but I listened!), and cool people I saw but didn't actually have the opportunity to speak to (Stephen Jones! Frank M. Robinson!). Like being at a con, but without nametags, and more relaxed, and less jet-lagged, and with birthday cake, so altogether better, really. I looked at Heather at one point and said "So, a year ago, did you think you'd ever be sitting on a hearth beside Ellen Datlow and Stan Robinson?" And, indeed, she had not thought so.
I don't think I embarrassed myself in front of anyone that I idolize, though I certainly didn't talk much to people I didn't know beforehand. I'm simply not talkative. So it goes. I still had lots of fun, and basked in ambient glory, and so forth.
Words written since February 1, 2002: 94,780
Words written since last entry: 3700
Cheese logs. That's what I'm lacking in my life.
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