I have here in my inbox...

The preliminary Boskone schedule arrived on the overnight; reproduced below for your listening pleasure:

Sat 12:00 noon
The Business Side of Writing
Our experienced panel is all business as they discuss topics such as
how to get, grok, and get along with agents and publishers; why
keeping good records prevents bad karma; whether you can deduct
Boskone from your taxes; and what to do after submitting your latest
story. (Hint: start your next one.)
Jeffrey A. Carver
Gay Haldeman
(M) Sharon Lee
Darlene Marshall


Sat 2:00pm 0.5 hours
Reading
Sharon Lee
Steve Miller


Sun 11:00am
Making Writing More Vivid and Memorable
How can a writer make the story particularly vivid or more memorable?
Omit needless words? Show, don't tell? (And never say "very"?) Does
the use of specific place names or particular word choices help? How
else do writers bring those marks on the pages to life? Why do some
passages or details stay with us after the book is done, but others
are gone a month later. Perfectly prepared panelists may even bring
favorite passages.
Tobias Buckell
Greer Gilman
(M) Sharon Lee


Sun 2:00pm
The Devil Is in the Details
Sometimes, a writer can get some details wrong and a story can still
be a great one. At other times, getting the details wrong is a killer.
What details does a writer have to focus on? Where can you get away
with missing something? How does this vary, depending upon your
audience? What kinds of things will an audience ignore, even if they
know that they are wrong?

Michael F. Flynn
Rosemary Kirstein
(M) Sharon Lee


In other news, it has snowed/is snowing and the day's outlook is for More of the Same. Currently a balmy 27F(-3C).

Mozart wants his wake-up cookies, and I want a cup of coffee...

She made it!

I have successfully completed a week of Regular Employment. Nothing blew up and nobody died.

Let there be dancing and disportment!

...or anyway, pizza and wine.

We drove past the local Big Box Evangelical Church on the way home -- the one that used to be a four-screen movie theater, the purchase of which gained the church not only Huge Amounts of Room for the congregation and the school and whatever else they do, but also the old movie marquee showing two faces to the busiest road in the area, right across from the single most popular supermarket in the Waterville-Oakland Megalopolis.

The pastor makes good use of his billboard, changing the witty religious slogan every week; sometimes twice. Mostly, they're pretty bad -- the congregation really ought to buy the pastor a subscription to the high-end quote service -- but today's was...infuriating.

The message?

If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans

Yanno, I don't think I care to honor a deity that despises me and my petty little mudperson life. Of course, I made that choice years ago, so for me it's nothing more than a couple minute's irritation. I do, however, wonder at the people who think that message is OK. Who needs a god who is nothing more or less than a schoolyard bully? Worse, why encourage him/her/it/they?

Anybody here besides kinzel seen The Time Bandits? The scene where they're in Valhalla and the Gods are disporting and make life miserable for the servants? (that was Time Bandits, wasn't it? Where the gods are all squabbling six year olds -- who happen to be able to blast you out of existence if you piss them off?)

Sigh...

In more pleasant news, Fledgling is now funded through Chapter 16, which will be posted on May 14. You guys are really keeping the pressure on!

Remember: Monday at noon EST? The first chapter of Fledgling will be posted! I'm excited, and hoping you're the same. If you're planning to read along, why not check out theo_waitley and fledgling_tease?

This weekend will be a Working Weekend, for sure.

In the meantime: More pizza!