Aelle's Labyrinth

I've finally come to write about FenCon. The Jay Lake writer's workshop provided the ground work for the rest of the con. Jay is unconventional, long-haired, outspoken and brilliant. He gave us a lot of insight into giving critiques, publishing and anthologies from his bottomless pit of knowledge. And he's funny!

All the panels were thought provoking. Some were silly while others took on topics head-on. There was a good mix of information and just plain fun. The folks of FenCon held it all together very well. It seemed to be very well planned and executed. Three cheers for the FenCon Staff! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

I did a reading and had 5 people in the audience. I felt that was pretty good at lunchtime. I read "The Potion Maker". I felt that I contributed to the panels I was on. In fact, Caroline Spector commented on my moderating one panels saying "You were well-prepared and you did your homework. Good job!" Woot!

I have to admit that I was more than a bit nervous, but it all worked out fine. I met Pat Elrod and found that she is a real hoot! I missed Bev Hale, though, which I'm truly sorry about. She's so kind and funny that I make an effort to run into her at the cons.

Anyway, if you didn't make it to FenCon V, you should really go next year. It was memorable this year and only gets better.

Aelle

Hi All,

I'm a guest author at FenCon this year! Woot! If you are there,
please stop by my reading at 12:00 noon Saturday in the Pecan Room. I
also have a panel about critiquing at 2:00 p.m. Saturday and another at
10:00 a.m. Sunday. Please stop by and say 'hello'.

Hope to see you there.

Aelle Ables

I had a great time at Conestoga, although I'm still tired from the drive. Had dinner with Bev Hale and group. Met another writer from my home town. Got to see Pixies Gone Wild dance like the moon was full. Missed lunch with Gordan Van Gelder and my writer's group, but lived through my first reading. All in all, a great Con.

Aelle

Well, I'm off to Conestoga for the week-end. Hope this trip is as productive as SoonerCon. I feel like I made some headway there and hope to do the same this week-end. But most of all, I'm gonna have fun.

Aelle Ables

I'm going to miss ApolloCon this week-end! I hate that. I'm one of the victims of the tomato problem in Texas. Salmonella is very, very bad. I got sick last Saturday and still feel shaky and weak. Not sure I could make the drive down from Dallas to Houston even if I tried. So I'm going to stay home and work on my book. I was really looking forward to hearing Martha Wells speak again. I'm looking for a good writer's workshop if anyone knows one. I need a little inspiration and I find being around other creative people helps. I tried to get into Patricia Burrows novel writing class this summer, but it was canceled. Guess I'll take it this Fall. So Conestoga 12 is my next venture into Writerdom. Cya there.

Aelle

I sent out a story to RoF yesterday. Seemed strange to go to the post office since I've been sending things out, including MZB Swords and Sorceress #23, through email. I've got stamps, so all I really need is a scale to be able to figure out how much the postage cost will be myself without going to the post office. I'm not a fan. The line is always long, the people kinda vanilla. I've got another story that I need to send out, but haven't decided where yet. It's a true story about a snake and the golf course. So I've got to find a market.

I graduated from my Long Ridge Writer's Group course. Finished at last! It was pretty good, giving you all the basics for magazine writing, but it was slow going. Glad it's done. I really don't like writing to a certain length or on a specific subject. I like to just "go with the flow".

Aelle

I met quite a few people at SoonerCon, more than I really expected. Bev Hale is outspoken and funny and full of joy. Martha Wells is friendly and knowledegable and in possession of a crafty wit. I met Yard Dog Press people everywhere and they all seem to be about as crazy as Selina Rosen herself. Had dinner with a bunch of peeps at Kona Ranch - the company was better than the steaks (which were excellent). I enjoyed the panels, they were informative and to the point, for the most part, although one about alpha males/females turned into a discussion of John Ringo's gay cat. So many people attended the parties and I think I talked to them all. Leonard Bishop celebrated 20 years working the cons with a bash featuring some very smooth old bourbon. FenCon had a good party. Can't wait til October to see all those peeps again. Loved the con, loved the people!

Aelle

I had a great time at ConDFW yesterday. The panels were informative and fun. The Yard Dog Roadshow was a real hoot. I met the editor of Flashing Swords and was introduced to a bunch of authors: Rie Sheridan, Beverly Hale, Sue Sinor, Selina Rosen, Glen Sixbury, Julia Mandala, and Linda Donahue. In addition, I hung out with my writer's group, some of whom you may have heard like Melanie Fletcher, Gloria Oliver, Jerry Davis and William (Bill) Ledbetter. Oh, I forgot Martha Wells. They were all so nice and funny. My people knew their people so we all gabbed in the halls and at the parties. Can't wait for today!

Aelle

Headed to ConDFW today. Several people in my new writing groups will be on the panels. I'm a member of Future Classics which is a Spec Fiction Group in North Texas. They were nice enough to invite me after they read my work. I found another group called NTSFW, too. That's North Texas Spec Fiction Writers. Lots of good people there. The problem is that NTSFW is part of DFW Writer's Workshop. They are holding their convention this week-end, too. So I had to choose - DFWWW Con or ConDFW. Since ConDFW is closer and cheaper and I know more people, I chose that one. Wish I could go to both. They will be on different week-ends next year so I'll get to.

Aelle

I sent out a story called "Hijacked" to Chizine today with high hopes. First thing I've sent out this year. I've got a story that's been at AlienQ since April 2007. When I asked about it in November, he said he'd get to it. LOL. Anyway, I'm working on Uther's Sorrow and my book. I'm still on Chapter 13 with too many places to go with it. I'd rather be working on the short story right now, but don't know why. I did FastDraft but only made it 5 days. That's 100 pages, though. I have trouble writing that way. I like to think about a chapter, write it, then think about the next chapter. Trying to force my brain to produce 20 pages a day is like trying to make me wax the car. It and I just won't do it. It made writing, for the first time, seem like work. Oh, I know, the editing and rewriting are hard, but they are rewarding in their own way. Forcing myself to write when I have no real place to go is just too much for me. I'm glad Candace Havens has the ability to do it, but I guess she's used to deadlines. I'm not, at least not for a long time. I'll just go at my own pace and get it done this year sometime.

I've finally gotten everything situated in the new house. I can even park my car in the garage! So I've signed up for Candace Haven's Fast Draft. You write 20 pages a day for 2 weeks and you have a book, well the first draft of a book. She has another class called Revisions from Hell. Guess she'll do that next for all us Fast Drafters. I'm up to chapter 8 now, having done 20 pages the past 2 days. I really need to keep it up, but it's so hard to come up with brilliant new ideas on a daily basis. My muse has been kind so far. Hope she'll stick with me through this and all my other endeavors. I've got a new story I'm working on, too. It feels so good to get back to writing every day. I missed it. Hope your muse keeps looking over your shoulder.

Good Writing!
Aelle

I haven't written a thing in so very long. I hate that, but I don't seem to be able to do anything about it, just like getting back in shape. Gotta start walking, now that it's no longer 105 degrees every day. But I haven't. I'm the master of excuses. Oh, I'll lift weights for a week or two, then something will come up and I'll quit. But writing, I seem to have lost the will for now. I have no grand ideas, no motivation. Maybe after I get my new house set up and the fence up and the hot tub ready and all the boxes still in the garage unpacked. Now I'm tired, just thinking about all the work. Better go get started. Another day in paradise (Texas).

I've moved back to Texas. The boxes inside the house are all unpacked, but the garages are still full. Haven't written a word since August, well maybe just a few. The whole move was a bit unnerving for me. I left behind my writing groups and friends to start all over again. I went to FenCon4 on Sunday only, but I only saw three people I knew and I didn't get a chance to talk to them. Missed the writer's workshop. It filled up too quickly. I did meet Candice Havens. She recommended that I look into the DFW Writer's Workshop. They had a free writer's conference October 13th. Nice people, informative seminar, but Euless is about 30 miles away. They meet every Wednesday about 34 miles away. Wish I could find something closer. It costs $100 to join which is a little steeper than I'm used to. They're having their 30th Anniversary this week. In that time, 260 books have been published by their members. Not bad. There's another group that meets once a month in Frisco at the Barnes and Noble. And still another in Plano that I'm thinking about sending some of my work for their consideration. Maybe they'll invite me, maybe not. The only Spec Fiction is over by Fort Worth which is really far away. Anyway, I need to get my house all set up just the way I want to so I can concentrate on writing craft. Candice Havens has a writing program where you writer your first draft in two weeks - 280 pages of it. They she has another one called "Revisions from Hell" where she talks about, well, revisions. You can go to her website for the info and a chat with others who are working on it. Take a look.

Yesterday I started a new Urban Fantasy novel. I worked up the hook, got 3 pages into it and the electricity went off. ACK - It's Gone! So I tried to rewrite it. Should be easy, I just wrote it. But the new one doesn't sound quite the way the other did. Not spooky enough. It's Friday the 13th, so I may just let it sit for today and go see Harry Potter.

I'm outlining my new book for the next three days. Its Urban Fantasy set in Deep Ellum in Dallas. Don't have a title yet.

I attended the Heartland Author's Workshop in Tulsa last Saturday. It went over all the things I think I know, but can't seem to do when I'm writing. Hope it helps since it was rather expensive for a one day thing.

July is a very busy month for me. Lots of meetings and conferences and workshops. Got to write, though. Hope to have my book finished in five months. We'll see.

Aelle

I'm back from my Vegas vacation much poorer than when I left. It was 115 degrees there Friday! Won $60 on a slot machine and lost more than that shooting craps. Oh, well.

I'm trying to write a scary opening for my new book, but I'm having a bit of trouble. Brain won't engage properly this morning. Probably too many flashing lights over the week-end.

I have three stories out (IGMC, AlienQ, Ab Dreams)and two that I need to polish and send out. Just sounds impossible today. Maybe I'll slide today and really hit it tomorrow. Sounds like a plan! Later.

Hmm. Which seven things would people like to know? Here we go:

1. I now live in OKC, but I've lived all over the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In fact, my daughter was born in Fort Worth.
2. I was in management at American Airlines, AT&T, Fina Oil and Hertz Rent-A-Car before I quit to write full time. I was a Data Base Administrator, project leader and manager. Love those computers!
3. I lived in Vancouver, B.C. and Washington for a couple of years. I'd move there again if I could. It's breathtaking. I also lived in Phoenix for awhile. I'm a gypsy at heart. I've been to Europe six times. Love London, not so much Paris.
4. I used to show standard poodles and dalmatians in the AKC shows. I also showed my poodles in the AKC obedience trials. They're very intelligent. Now I have two black dogs I rescued from certain death, along with 5 cats (four of them are black). I never go out to get cats, but I always have a few. They just wander up and move in.
5. I've para-sailed, surfed, and skinny dipped in several oceans.
6. I used to show horses years ago in dressage and show jumping. I did a little barrel-racing, too. My horses were named Shalimar's Sham (Shelly) and Doogan's Bright Boy (Shane).
7. My husband is younger than I am. And he's cute, too. We got married in Las Vegas five years ago this month.

Walked around the yard this morning with my coffee. Grilled steak for lunch, mmm mmm. What a beautiful day. Life gets busy in May. Probably too busy for leisurely walks around the yard. Convention, workshops, meetings--I'll rest in June. I'm reading Kim Harrison's 'Dead Witch Walking' now. Good so far. Jenks is, indeed, quite a character. I'm not a napper, but I may have to take one this afternoon. I think I'll read a bit before I snooze. Its back to the book tomorrow, although I thought of a great short story I'd like to write and send out. I have another story to write for my class, although I've kind of lost interest in it. I had to write the first scene and a synopsis for my last lesson and I write the story for this one. I don't think my mentor would appreciate it if I switched stories on her. Oh well, I can write two stories and work on my book and go to all this stuff I've got scheduled. I need a nap. Keep writing!

Aelle

Well, I was a bit disappointed in the OKC Arts Festival. It took all of an hour and a half to look at all the art, eat a gyro, amble around the rest of the place, have a strawberry napoleon and leave. The art was a bit out there this year. Didn't see anything but a bit of pottery that I wanted. At least the weather turned sunny while I was there, but the wind kicked up a bit. Glad I took a jacket. Working on my outline for my book today. Got two stories on the back burner for next week. Gotta go! Have a happy writing day. (I think it's going to rain! Yeah.)

Aelle

I had a great writing day. Revised and sent out two stories, wrote up notes for my new book, worked on stuff for my writer's group. All in all, a very productive day. But I'm tired. The Arts Festival is going on in OKC. You can always tell because it rains almost every day since its outside and downtown. I'm going tomorrow. They've been saying all week that it would be sunny on Thursday, but now they're backing off to cloudy. I'll give it two hours or until my feet start hurting, whichever comes first. Lots of food and art and performances, so I'll be amused. Glad I got a lot of writing done today cause I probably won't do much tomorrow. Anyway, I'm to bed. Keep writing.

Aelle