Sunday, October 23, 2011

World Fantasy Convention, Here I Come!

Hi, blog friends! Life continues to be a whirlwind of craziness. I keep telling myself that after my trip to WFC in San Diego, everything will settle down. But, that's a total fabrication to keep me from screaming... though I am totally excited the holidays are coming up. I've decided to forgo my usual Monday Meme to share a random list of things I've been doing lately:

1) I saw Three Musketeers on Saturday and Real Steel today. They were both pretty awesome. Three Musketeers had a pretty rad airship battle. Yep, I said airship. You know you wanna see it.

2) My son's fourth grade play is on Thursday. He's going to be a pirate. For Halloween, he's going to be a knight. So, there's been a lot of discussions of the wardrobes of both pirates and knights. And weapons, naturally.

3) I posted the first page of Countless in the Miss Snark's First Victim October Secret Agent contest. It pretty much got eviscerated. When I participate in public critiques, I like to give honest feedback, but always make sure to find something positive about someone's excerpt. Not all people have that same philosophy. The especially annoying thing is that everyone was saying I had too much of the antagonist's backstory on the first page, when the whole reason I added any backstory at all to the first page was because an agent I met at a conference critiqued it and told me I needed some backstory. So, this kind of makes me feel like poking my eyes out. Okay, venting done. Backbone thicker. Moving on.

4) My colt got castrated earlier in the week. Yeah. So, that was interesting.

5) Planning for my big trip. Weather forecast - check. Reserve shuttle from airport - check. Edit and print up pages of Countless and new novel (tentatively called Noir) - check. Buy a couple new outfits just for the heck of it - check. Bring books for Charlaine Harris and Neil Gaiman to autograph - check.

I'm going to be in California in three days! Holy cow! I'm freaking out a little. Mostly in a good way. A heads up - next Monday I will skip my meme as well since I will have just flown back from Cali late Sunday night and have a big meeting at work on Monday, plus taking my son trick-or-treating Monday night. I'll probably post links to my November issue of Raven Moon on Tuesday. I've got a cool author interview and a book review in addition to the usual fun stuff.

So, wish me luck. Did I mention I'm going to be flying all the way across the country all alone? And I won't know anyone when I get there? Okay, I'm babbling now. Talk to you guys next week!

16 comments:

  1. Where in California? Happy flying, keep hydrated, and bring food.

    You are so busy--don't know how you do it!

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  2. Have a fabulous time, Alexia! Can't wait to hear all about it.

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  3. Hope you have an awesome time, Alexia! You've had a hell of a busy week! I can't wait to see Musketeers; big red airship is my kind of movie :)

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  4. Wishing you lots of fun in your three day adventure.

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  5. Yikes, hope the castration went well... :)

    You sound busy. I'm tired now after reading this post!

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  6. Have an awesome time and be safe. :hugs:

    So sorry you got bad comments over at MSFV. I stopped reading the crits over there a while back. Sometimes people just don't know how to give helpful advice in a nice way.

    Oh, and tell your colt I'm sorry he lost his package. That's gotta hurt. And he can't even put ice on it.

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  7. Sounds like you have been busy. Have a wonderful time at WFC!

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  8. Alexia, having read the first page of COUNTLESS, I'd say from a reader's and an editor's perspective (even though I edit nonfiction), it's outstanding. If the crits you received felt accusatory instead of constructive, I'd think more than twice before I put any stock in them.

    Did I ever mention I live in Northern California? Nice to have you in PST next week. :) I can't wait to hear how the convention goes. And who knows what good things are in store for COUNTLESS as a result ... BTW, can you think of a better Monday meme than going to this event? :)

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  9. Good luck and don't poke out your eyes!

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  10. Hey, I'll be at WFC with my husband all four days. We'll have to meet up! See, now you know someone who is going and won't be all alone. :)

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  11. So many things...you've been busy. You'll do fine at WFC. Have a great time! :)

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  12. Oh, the 3 Musketeers!! I do wanna see it, I do!! Wow, your experience with your query...hmm, maybe somewhere in the middle with the background? Queries are so tricky.

    ENJOY the Convention!!

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  13. You have a busy schedule, Alexia. As for the back story part, I remember you had posted about it after an agent asked you to add back story. My advice would be go with your instinct, after all its your story and characters and you know best.

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  14. How in the F was I not following your blog or your Twitter? At least I've fixed it now. It was so awesome to meet you!

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  15. Please stop by my blog to pick up your blogger awards. Have a great day!

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  16. Hey Alexia! Was great to meet you at WFC. I'm now following your blog/twitter. Hope to stay in touch!

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I love talking with friends new and old! What's on your mind?