Wednesday, February 21, 2018

A distractible mind thinks all the things and also, Hello!

I wake up very morning and read the news. So, um, there are a gazillion things on my mind this week, and I want to talk about approximately none of them. (Am fuming about some stuff, especially the stuff that also makes me sad.)

However, the one very satisfying thing about having a distractible brain is that I can switch topics with whiplash-inducing speed. Here goes:

1.  I’m here. On this excellent and admirable blog. Writing my words alongside some truly talented folks who have kindly let me come in here and play. For a gal who grew up binge-reading SFF and later decided, hey, maybe some other readers wondered about all those kissing scenes that we knew were going on but never quite made it to the page, and who then decided to squash the SFF and the kissing into one giant moshdoodle of steamy smooching cyborgs on space stations, well… this is a dream come true. I can’t wait to meet everybody.

2. Last weekend, I met aliens. Well, I went to Marfa, Texas, and saw the legendary mystery lights in the sky there. Does that count as a close encounter? I know, I know, I read about the UT Dallas undergrads who “proved” it was all atmospherics reflecting car headlights or somesuchcrud, but I Want ToBelieve. (Yes, even now, Fox Mulder. I know you got kind of old and uninteresting, but hey, I did, too. Don’t sulk. Have a sunflower seed.) At any rate, there is magic out in the mountains and in the desert. You can feel it. Also, the lights look exactly like the running lights on an alien mothership. And they change colors, so...disco aliens?

3. I’m reading more than writing at the moment. For folks who don’t know, the first two books in my Tether science fiction romance series – Wanted and Wired and Perfect Gravity – released in 2017. I love them like paper wubbies. The third one is in “what in the world do you put on the cover a book featuring a body-hopping AI who thinks she might be a girl, and yikes we have to title this beastie too” limbo. I’ve started on a new project, but it’s so new it mewls and I probably shouldn’t say more than that. However, the judging deadline for the Romance Writers of America RITA awards is coming up way too soon, so I’m spending most of my time reading books and wondering how I ever managed to write one (or three) of these things and whether that miracle is repeatable.

Okay, there’s more. I’ve also been thinking way too much about risk-taking (in the context of Girl Scouts, corporate fail-fast culture, and Adam Rippon); girl-power rock ‘n’ roll, esp. The Runaways and The Dollyrots; what a Regency duke actually did all day, other than hanging out in his club with his mates and drinking boozy things and sometimes going to balls; and Elon Musk’s hot little interplanetary car.

I’m happy to talk about any of the above. And thanks for the warm welcome, y'all.

15 comments:

  1. "Last weekend I met aliens."

    ~pulls up a chair~ You have my complete attention.

    (And welcome to the fold!)

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    2. Thanks! Marfa was so amazing. It has recently transformed into a tiny art Mecca (thanks to Donald Judd and the Chinati art installation), which means that it has its own municipal airport with private jets flying in and out all the time and a half dozen swanky hotels "downtown." Those aliens are here to party.

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  2. There are reports that the Marfa lights were visible long before there were cars. Just saying...

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    1. That was my first thought after reading that downer-report by the UT Dallas kids, too! They insist that the pre-highway sightings were reflections of campfires, but I dunno. The lights moved and changed colors and even seemed to dance. They didn't follow paths the way you expect car headlights to do, and they didn't move at steady speeds. There's still a lot unexplained out there.

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    2. Exactly, I have yet to see a moving camp fire. lol It's a fun place to research. Still kind of hope to make it there, but since I'm in Wyoming, hope is dimming. lol

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  3. Oh, I love going out there to West Texas. Did you also get to go to McDonald Observatory as well?

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    1. We did! My kids and their scout troop were clever and reserved star-party tickets early, but I wasn't quite as forward thinking. Now they get to hold it over me forever that they got to move the third largest optical telescope in the world while I cooled my heels in the cafeteria and gift shop. (Totally going back.)

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    2. SOOOO worth it. Especially if you manage to get a clear, moonless night. It's a sight that defies description.

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  4. Welcome Vivien! Delighted to have you join the team. :-)

    Very interesting thoughts on difficulty vs. performance and how they figure into success. I just finished copy edits on a book I could never sell and am self-publishing. I've gotten so much feedback to change the story or reduce some of the elements in it. I might end up on my ass skidding on ice, but I'm going for that really difficult jump anyway :-)

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    1. The really awesome thing about risk-taking is that if you succeed, the reward is so, so much greater. Hoping you land your triple axel. :) Do you have a release date?

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    2. Thank you! It comes out March 6. It's a contemporary dark romance, so I don't have the cover up here.

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  5. Welcome!!! Great book covers by the way!

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    1. Thank you! Though, true confession, I didn't have much to do with them. The art director at Sourcebooks is supernaturally talented. :)

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