Hello from the Carolinas!

Greetings from the road!  I’m currently at the home of my good friend and fellow Magical Words blogger, Faith Hunter.  She and her husband, Rod, have been wonderful hosts.  Last night we had a signing with another fellow MW blogger, Misty Massey, and also author Gail Z Martin.  It was not the best attended signing I’ve ever had, but it might well have been the most fun.  Italian dinner afterwards, also great fun.  All in all, a good start to the trip.  Today we’ll be heading up to Charlotte, NC for ConCarolinas.  Hope to see some of you there.

Today at Magical Words, we have a special guest blogger.  Author Mindy Klasky has posted a piece on her career path and is now answering questions and responding to comments.  Stop by the site and say hello!

On My Way Out the Door

On the road again….

Leaving this morning for the Carolinas — a signing tonight at the Barnes and Noble in Pineville, NC with Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, and Gail Martin.  Then on to Charlotte for ConCarolinas tomorrow.  More from the road as travel and events allow.  Hope to see some of you soon!

(For details on the events see the posts below or my website http://www.DavidBCoe.com.  Both have links to the bookstore and the convention.

Another Post About Self-Promotion, and Also Some Self-Promotion

Today’s post, “More on Shameless Self-Promotion,” can be found at http://magicalwords.net.  And while we’re on the subject, I will be signing books at the Carolina Place Barnes and Noble in Pineville, NC on Thursday at 7:00 pm.  I’ll be signing with my fellow MagicalWords bloggers Faith Hunter and Misty Massey (C.E. Murphy couldn’t cross the Big Pond to join us), as well as author Gail Martin.  All of us will also be appearing this coming weekend at ConCarolinas in Charlotte.  Hope to see you there!

A Good Trip, But….

Well, we’re back from Savannah, and I have to say that it is truly a marvelous city.  For those of you who don’t know, the city is laid out as a grid, with each section of the grid built around a square of green space.  Most of the squares have a statue or a fountain or a monument at their center, and all of them are filled with magnificent Live Oak trees, their branches covered with Spanish Moss.  Stately old homes and churches surround the squares; some of the homes have been converted to museums; others remain privately owned (I can’t even begin to imagine what one of them might sell for).  Most of them date from the early 19th century; all of them are beautifully maintained.   We walked all over the city, stopping in to view some of the museums, shopping in antique shops, and eating lots of great food.  During the three days we were in the city, we didn’t once use our car — we were able to walk everywhere, and the girls didn’t even complain.  Of course, we kept them well plied with ice cream and salt-water taffy, which helped a lot….

My one complaint:  Any of you know what no-see-ums are?  They’re also referred to as biting midges.  Look in your dictionary at the letter “l” in any entry — that’s how big they are.  Don’t let their size fool you, though.  They’re vicious.  You can’t see them until you feel the sting of a bite, which, in and of itself, isn’t too painful.  But then the fun begins.  A small welt rises where the little bugger bit you.  It itches like mad, so you scratch it a bit.  A moment or two later the welt is the size of a penny and the itch is driving you nuts.  But you’re having trouble focusing on that one because you’ve just felt that same like sting in about eighteen other places:  your forearm, your scalp, your leg, in between two knuckles, on your wrist, on your neck . . .  You get the idea.

Worst of all, the bites are as persistent as flea bites.  I’m still covered with welts several days after the worst of the no-see-um swarms, and all of them still itch.

So, yeah, I had a great time in Savannah.  But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the bugs made this trip a bit harder to enjoy.  I need to remember that the Southeast coast in mid-March, while lovely in terms of the weather, is also prime no-see-um country.  I had this problem at Cumberland Island two years ago and at Hilton Head six years ago, but I thought that being in a city would make this trip different.  I was wrong.  And I have the welts to prove it.

Checking in From the Road

Just checking in.  We’re in Savannah right now, enjoying the sights, eating some very, very good food, and doing a lot of walking around in what has to be one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen.

Hope all of you are well.

New Year’s Eve

Back home after two days of long drives. We have a party to go to tonight. We’ll be welcoming back into town some friends who have been living in New Mexico for the past year and a half. It’ll be great to see them and to ring in the New Year (and ring out this old one) with good friends.

Wishing all of you a wonderful 2009.

Best,

David

A Post About Writing Over the Holidays

Today’s post, “Holiday Writing,” can be found at http://magicalwords.net.  Visit the site, enjoy the post, and have a wonderful holiday season.

A Post About WorldCon

Hi!  Been a while.  Vacation, family time, and then WorldCon.  I’d tell you more, especially about WorldCon, but I’ve already written it elsewhere.  So go visit http://magicalwords.net and read all about it.

This Week So Far

Crazy week so far, which is why I never got around to posting yesterday.  We’re going on an extended trip out West early next week:  New Mexico to see some friends, Canyonlands National Park in Utah to camp, and Idaho to see Nancy’s family.  I’ll then go on to Denver for WorldCon while Nancy and the girls head home.  Three weeks of travel for me.  The day after I get back, my younger daughter starts school again.  So we’re trying to get ready for the trip, trying to get ready for school, trying to get in last minute work so that we can relax while traveling.  Pretty typical pre-vacation stuff.

I’m excited for the time with friends and Nancy’s family, and I’m looking forward to WorldCon.  I’m totally jazzed about Canyonlands.  Can’t wait to look at birds and play with my camera and get some hiking in.  The girls are less psyched.  They don’t particularly like the desert, which I suppose I can understand.  I’m not sure I would have liked the desert when I was their age, that is, if it had ever even occurred to my parents to take us there….

Anyway, that’s where I am right now.  I’ve gotten some writing done this week and should reach 90k words on the WIP tomorrow.  There’s a new podcast up at Stephen Euin Cobb’s “The Future and You” site of a panel I did at LibertyCon with Harry Turtledove and Toni Weisskopf.  Visit the site and give it a listen.

Picking Up the Pace

Spent a bit of time looking at a calendar the other day and realized that I’m going to be away for a big chunk of time at the end of July and beginning of August.  It’ll be fun:  visiting friends in New Mexico, camping in Canyonlands National Park in Utah, visiting Nancy’s folks in Idaho, and then going to WorldCon in Denver.  But that’ll have me away from home from July 21 to August 10 or so.  That’s a long time, and it threatens to put me behind schedule on the work in progress.

So for the past two days I’ve kicked it up a notch.  I’ve written 2,000 words instead of 1,500; eight pages instead of six.  I intend to keep this up for the rest of June and the first three weeks of July.   That will have me back on track to finish the book in September, which is my current goal.  I’m not sure I could have done this a few years ago.  I was a slower writer then and was much more prone to ups and downs; on some days I’d get six pages, but on other days I’d only get three.  I’ve gotten more consistent, which is kind of cool.

Anyway, I’m more tired than I usually am at the end of a writing day, and I wonder if I’m going to burn myself out this way.  I’ll guess we’ll see.

Today’s music:  Jim Hall (Concierto)