Scarlet Letters

We just changed formats here, and I didn't realize I had to actually click to approve comments. The comments for the last few days have been approved. I never claimed to be all that bright. Once again: abusive and wildly off-topic comments will not be approved. Feel free to vent in your own space; this is my living room, and I expect people to behave as if they were actually sitting in my home. If you have criticisms, I'll approve them - as long as they're polite. Anonymous comments will be allowed again if everyone plays nice. I love to hear from my readers. But there's only so much nonsense I'm going to take in my own space. Say what you will elsewhere, but here, let's remember the kindergarten rules: speak to others as you would wish to be spoken to.

God-damn. I could use more days like this. It's a cautious joy, writing something I love and knowing it's what I really wanted to do. Joyful because I love this story, love these characters and I think I'm making it better. Cautious because as much as I love this book, it's never right, and there's no one to buy it. I wish I had the security of established contracts. I hate writing on spec. And yet most of my work is on spec. Is that because I'm small press? Is it because I have yet to land with one solid publisher - poly-published? Is it because I suck like a Hoover and nobody loves me? Ah, the reasons writers drink. :) Still, I'm having so much fun I don't want to stop even though my fingers are numb, my wrist is sore and it's midnight with work in nine hours. It's been a long time since I felt this way. And I didn't even kill anyone today.

My preliminary schedule for DragonCon is as follows: FRIDAY 4 p.m. - autograph session (books will be available for sale) 10 p.m. - Little Deaths: The strange relationship between eroticism and horror (a.k.a. the Ubiquitous Late-Night Sex Panel) SATURDAY 2:30 p.m. - reading (I'll be doing THE COLD ONES - be there!) 5:30 p.m. - Vampires vs. Zombies (hey, I can be a double agent!) 8:30 p.m. - Undead in Dixie (southern vampires, y'all) SUNDAY 11:30 a.m. - The Sacred & The Profane (religion in dark fantasy; I bet I'm the token Christian) MONDAY 10 a.m. - Challenges for Today's Writers (the oh-shit-we're-all-gonna-die panel) I'll be in the exhibitor's hall hawking books any time I'm not doing this stuff, or perhaps wandering about mugging people in the hallways. Buy books!

ME: Woof, when you get a moment, can I bother you? WOOF: Yes dear? ME: Magazine or clip? WOOF: What do you want to do with it? ME: Shoot people. WOOF: Who are you? ME: Military. WOOF: Magazine. ME: When is it appropriate to use "clip"? WOOF: When you're a civilian. ME: Noted. This is why a writer must always have friends. :)