An Exchange of Words: David B. Coe’s Weblog

Road weary.  Long day of driving.  

But I had a great weekend at RavenCon, catching up with old friends — Ed Schubert, Jana Oliver, Jagi Lamplighter, John Wright, Tony Ruggiero, Stephen Cobb, Dennis Danvers, Kelly Lockhart, Michael Pederson, Allen Wold, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Mike Kabongo, Jan Finder, Stuart Jaffe, Steve White — and making some new ones — Gail Martin, Jeri Smith-Ready, Bryan Prindiville, J.T. Glover, Philip McCall, James Maxey, Jean Marie Ward.

Good panels, some VERY fun Koffeeklatches (minus the Koffee, plus the alcohol….), and a few excellent room parties.

It’s nice to be home, but I’m also looking forward to ConCarolinas next month, LibertyCon in July, and WorldCon in August.

Neither cons nor hangovers nor even persistent housekeeping people shall keep today’s BOW (Buffoon Of the Week) Award from being given….

Good morning from Richmond and RavenCon.  Fun Friday night, though very busy.  I was on panels at 4:00, 7:00, 9:00, and 11:00, and moderated three out of the four.  Plus we had Opening Ceremonies at 8:00.  Today is slightly less crazy.

Without further ado…

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 Well, I’ve made it to the con hotel in Richmond — 590 miles or so.  Glad I left last night and split up the drive.  It would have been a bear to do in one day.  Of course I’ll be doing the return trip all on Sunday, so…..

Car time is great time for thinking, even if it’s thinking about nothing.  Did a lot of station surfing on the radio, listened to a lot of old music I hadn’t heard in years (Simon and Garfunkle!  Loggins and Messina!  Yikes!).

Heard the song “Mrs. Robinson” and got to thinking about great lines in rock ‘n roll lyrics.
  
“Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you;
What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away.”

The evocation of nostalgia, the brilliance of using DiMaggio’s name, which, as it turns out, is so utterly musical.  This would be in my top ten.  So would this line from Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ In the Years”:

“You’ve been telling me you’re a genius since you were seventeen;
In all the time I’ve known you I still don’t know what you mean…”

What others?  Nominations?

Another good week, abbreviated though it was.  6000 words; 25 pages.  

I leave tonight for Richmond, Virginia where I’ll be attending RavenCon.  I have a panel tomorrow at 4:00 pm and I lose an hour to a time change along the way.  So it’s either leave tomorrow morning at about 5:00 am, or I get part of the drive out of the way this evening.  I don’t like waking up that early….

Tune in to http://magicalwords.net tomorrow for a guest post by Alethea Kontis, Ingram buyer by day, New York Times bestselling author by night!

And, yes, I will be giving away a BOW Award on Saturday.

My panel at the Virginia Festival of the Book went very well. It was moderated by Chris Oakley, owner of Oakley’s Gently Used Books in Charlottesville, and she did a fine job of introducing my fellow panelists (L.E. Modesitt and Steve White) and me. Each of us spoke briefly about our work and what drew us to science fiction and fantasy, and then we threw it open to questions from the audience. We got great questions, which generated enough discussion to fill the rest of the hour and then some. After that, Chris and her husband, Jim, took the three of us plus Steve’s wife, and author Peter David to dinner.

I had been thinking about staying in Virginia for the Author’s Reception Saturday night. It’s apparently a big event with great food. But I wound up driving back home on Saturday instead. I have a lot on my plate for the coming week, and getting home late Sunday would have left me exhausted and tense. And besides, I really wasn’t up for an evening of shmoozing with people who, for the most part, I didn’t know.

I got home in time to read to my younger daughter before she went to bed, to catch up with my older daughter and hear about the end of her school week, and to watch the UNC-Louisville game with my wife. None of these things did much to further my career, but they made for a perfect Saturday night. It’s good to be home.

Not much to write about today.  I have a panel later this evening with L. E. Modesitt and Steve White at the VA. Festival of the Book.  Not sure yet what our discussion will cover, but I’m sure it will be interesting.  I’m staying with friends here in Charlottesville, enjoying their company and hospitality.  I should be working, but that will have to wait for next week.

In the meantime, I’d urge you all to go over to http://magicalwords.net and check out the discussion we’re having there under the thread titled “Today the Delete Key is My Friend.”  The thread was started by Misty Massey and it has developed into a pretty interesting discussion on writing.  Check it out.

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net/.  Hope you enjoy it!