So, um, hey.

Basically, I spent the last weekend at Wondercon, starting every morning when the van came to collect me from my house (door-to-door service!), and ending every night when I collapsed into bed, too tired to think about anything more complicated than convincing the cats to let me have half of the pillow. I had a fabulous time—I always have a fabulous time at Wondercon—but this has left me somewhat behind on silly little things like "keeping up with my blog."

Things I did this weekend:

* Gave a copy of Feed to James Gunn (and did not pass out immediately afterward, although I did feel rather dramatically ill).
* Hung out a great deal with Kaja Foglio, and introduced her to Valencia Street.
* Took Amy Mebberson and her husband, Scott, to Borderlands Books, where they could meet Ash. Ash was incredibly affectionate (especially for her), and provided them with their first real life Sphynx encounter. Jude was charming and gracious, as always, which was especially impressive when you consider that she was also feeling under the weather and suddenly beset by people demanding access to her cat.
* Bought way too many of Amy's fun-size art cards. I have a Rapunzel/Emma Frost mash-up!
* Chatted with Carla Speed McNeil, and Layn, whom I hadn't seen in way too long.
* Donated prizes to the California Browncoats, which they gave away as part of their charity chopstick pull for Equality Now. (I also discussed the Rising, and the fact that, during the outbreak at SDCC, the Browncoats were probably one of two fannish groups that managed to survive without major casualties. May have been the losing side. It's still the one that gets you home alive.)
* Attended the Doctor Who panel, and got an awesome new shirt courtesy of BBCA!

Things I did yesterday:

* Answered lots of email.
* Bought lots of plane tickets.
* Wrote lots of words on Blackout and "Velveteen vs. the Secret Identity."
* Watched Being Human after my orgy of productivity caused me to collapse.

Things I will do today:

* Answer lots of email.
* Buy lots of plane tickets.
* Write lots of words on Blackout and "Velveteen vs. the Secret Identity."
* Prep lots of mailing.
* Start working on my taxes (shudder).

So that's what's consumed my world and time for these last four largely silent days. What's new and strange with all of you?

Title: Velveteen vs. Patrol.
Summary: What is there for a formerly retired superheroine who's managed to find herself in the state she was aiming for—good—and somehow thrust back into the public eye (bad) at the very same time? More importantly, now that she's in Oregon, what is she supposed to do?

( The list of things Velma had conveniently forgotten during her years of self-imposed isolation from the superhero community was large, and the longer she spent staring at the paperwork required to get a permanent license in the state of Oregon, the longer that list became....Collapse )

Words: 8,409.
Total words: 70,056.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter fourteen. My shoulders hurt.
Music: random shuffle, lots of loud country music. THE MUSIC OF PAIN.
Cats: Alice, on the guest room bed; Lilly, loafed up on the cat tree; Thomas, on the bed, looking fluffy.

So the manuscript for Blackout is now a) over 70,000 words long, and b) 245 pages long, which sounds very impressive when you put it like that. Given that the book is estimated as coming in between 140,000 and 150,000 words, I'm approaching the point where I can safely say that I'm halfway home. That will be nice. I'll like it when I hit that point.

This book is...interesting. It's been going more slowly than Deadline and more quickly than Feed, as I start paying off the things I've spent two books setting up, and try to make sure that my science, fringe as it is, doesn't have any massive gaping holes that could have somehow been avoided. It's weird to know that this is the last time I'm going to be spending with these people. I mean, I'll have months and months of writing and editing and page proofs and everything, but...this is the last brand-new book. This is where it all ends.

This is where we have to Rise.