I’m looking for alternate plans to get to Readercon. Anyone interested in a carpool? Shannon and I are looking to leave the Boston airport on Thursday morning or afternoon, and return to the airport early Monday morning. We’re happy to offer gas money. Please let me know if you can help. Thanks!

I’m participating in the Clarion West Write-a-thon this year. Clarion West is a wonderful science fiction and fantasy writing workshop, and a great program to support.

Here’s my project page. I need a kick in the butt–so any sponsors are
greatly appreciated! You can support me in in a few ways:

1) Pledge a donation to Clarion West if I meet my goal. Any amount is helpful.
2) Offer friendly support if I want to talk through ideas or bitch about
something.
3) Or both, of course.

Here’s the page that talks about my writing project. I’m building a wiki about my fictional world. Think Middle Earth meets 18th century Turkey. One of my sponsors will get the chance to explore the wiki and see what I’ve done.

And here’s the main Write-a-Thon page if you want more info.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you, on behalf of Clarion West! And on my own behalf, since sponsorships and official deadlines are excellent motivators for me.

I’m catching up on things. Hawaii was awesome. Pictures soon.

I’ll be offline. Don’t talk about anything interesting while I’m gone.

–stick my nose into a volcano
–make a bed of fresh pineapple and eat myself to sleep
–survey my underwater empire via snorkel
–build a fort out of umbrella drinks
–SLEEP

How often do people ask you for directions?

Some of my friends report it happens frequently. Others never get asked. Presumably it has a lot to do with snap judgments: how approachable do you look? Do you seem like someone who knows where they’re going? Do you look like someone willing to talk to a stranger? And so on.

The number of people asking me for help lately has increased sharply. Something has changed. Here’s the two major changes I’ve made in the last year.

1) I cut off 30 inches off hair. I went from a sort-of Berkeley college student look to… whatever I am now. Arguably more professional looking, though I still wear simple cotton t-shirts/pants and sweatshirts almost everywhere.
2) I wear pink. I never used to do this, even though I like pink, because I didn’t want to look too “girly.” Now that my haircut makes me look like a boy from the back, I’m a lot happier about wearing the color–usually in medium and softer shades.

I think (though I’m not sure) that it’s the second one. Intuitively, it feels like when I wear pink, more strangers start talking to me. I could see the logic that “someone wearing pink will be more friendly than someone wearing black.” (Maybe I need a pink spiky collar.)

Also, at the age when I was thinnest, I had more people asking me for directions. Presumably that was about our societal obsession with thin = attractive. (It could be about looking young, but I don’t think so because the questions stopped when I gained some weight.)

I’m sure there’s a race analysis for all this, but I don’t feel qualified to describe it. Go ahead, if you want.

So what’s your experience? Do lots of people ask you for directions on the street? Or never? How about your spouse, or a best friend you spend lots of time with? Who gets asked?

I got a lot done. I didn’t do half the things I promised to. I have a to-do list that’s at least twice as long as the things I actually did.

This seemed like a reasonable workload when I set it up. Apparently I’ve gotten too ambitious again. I suppose that’s better than the alternative.

I leave for Hawaii in just over a week. First real vacation in three years. I need it. Of course, I’m taking work along with me…

Five animals that outwitted humans.

My favorite is the bear who trashed the security cameras. Now I want a pet bear.

Which fantasy writer are you?

The scale is 45 to -45. Here’s my scores.

9 High-Brow, -15 Violent, 15 Experimental and 5 Cynical!

Note that a -15 Violent actually means Peaceful.

And that means…

Philip Pullman

Congratulations! You are High-Brow, Peaceful, Experimental and Cynical! These concepts are defined below.

Philip Pullman was already a prominent author of children’s books when he published his most praised work to date, the trilogy known as His Dark Materials (1995-2000). In this work, set both in parallel worlds and our own, Pullman made a courageous attempt to write a book for young readers which incorporated a whole vision of the universe, as well as a discussion of ethical issues. He managed to combine this with a burst of thought-provoking and entertaining imagination, bringing to life a Europe where the church is still in control, “souls” that have been externalised as animal presences, intelligent, sentient polar bears and much more. The series have been described as a sort of “anti-Narnia”, as Pullman’s attempt to write an updated variant of the kind of books C S Lewis, whom Pullman has criticized for having racist, misogynic and preaching tendencies, wanted to write. His Dark Materials has also spawned some controversy among Christians, who see the the work as an attack against Christianity, Pullman being one of Britain’s most outspoken atheists. Other Christians have, however, claimed to have found spirituality in the books.

Either way, Pullman’s combination of renewal and expansion of the genre, his profound messages on the value of life and his refusal to under-estimate his young readers’ ability to see life as it is makes Pullman one of the most interesting and important writers of modern fantasy.

I am delighted. 🙂

Surprised that I came out so peaceful, though. I think it’s because I am a strong believer in peace, which is why I write such violent stuff sometimes. So my work is often violent, but it’s in order to show the horror of violence.

By the way, my choice on the final question about “what should fantasy be, at its best” was: A label for stories that push the boundaries of what it’s possible to write about.

From netmouse.

“The problem with Livejournal is that we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other. Hence, I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don’t know about you.”

So… ask. Something you think you should know, but don’t.