Writing again...

...or at least revising again.

Most of my time lately has been focused on the move (and everything that went along with that), working on Ephemeris, and assorted editing projects...so my writing has suffered a bit.

But last night I pulled out the hard copy of Red Moon Rising and started working on it. There's going to be a lot of work to do on it, as I need to lengthen it dramatically, but at least I am working on it again. Right now I'm just making notes on the hard copy, but eventually I'll be back at the computer and actually working on the word count.

If you're actually interested in the process and the progress, I'll be posting more about it on my LiveJournal than I will here.

My WorldCon schedule

It's going to be a busy few hours on Thursday, and then that will be it...

1:00 What makes SF work? Characters, Society, or Technology
CCC - Room 505
Panelists talk about the primary elements of a SF story, and try to decide which are most important to our genre. What makes SF different from other stories? Does it have to include social or technical speculation to be SF?
J. Alan Erwine, Ken Scholes, Larry Niven, (m) Shanna Swendson


2:30 Signing (45 minutes)
CCC - Hall D
Adrian Bedford, J. Alan Erwine, Lee Martindale, Pamela Freeman

Not too intimidating

The pocket program for WorldCon has just been published, and I found out that the panel I'm doing will be with Larry Niven.

Yeah, that's not too intimidating...

Our first walk

Now that we've rested up some from the move, we took our first walk tonight. There's a bike path right behind our place, and it winds through a bit of nature cut off from town...so of course I took my camera along and snapped some pics...

A cascade that's in the center of our apartment complex


A creek that's just off the path, and almost right behind our place...


A lake and an unexpected neighbor.
There's a bird right by the edge of the lake, and in all my years living in Colorado, I've never seen one like him...


One of our neighbors


Some more of our neighbors


We do have cacti in Colorado


A warning about some of our other neighbors

The new place

We're now moved into the new apartment. We still have a lot of unpacking to do, but we're getting there. We really like this place even though it is a bit "cozy." We're having a lot of trouble finding where to put stuff...but we'll get it figured out.

Before we moved in, I took a few pictures, and here they are...

THE LIVING ROOM



THE DINING NOOK


THE KITCHEN


THE GIRLS' ROOM


OUR ROOM


THE VIEW
It was really hazy, so you can't tell, but those grayish lumps that you might be able to see are the mountains...
Yes, we have a mountain view.

Amazon List

As a small press author, my books don't make people's Amazon lists very often, so when they do, I always wonder why.

I've made it on to a list called Some Science Fiction for June. The list creator's name sounds familiar, but I'm not sure why.

Usually if I'm on a list it's something like Small Press SF or SF You Might Overlook...but this isn't that kind of list considering the first three books listed are "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester, "The Essential Ellison," and "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov. Not exactly titles you're going to overlook, nor are authors like Gaiman, Card, or Sawyer.

My books listed near the bottom of the list, but it's still kind of cool to be considered in the same thought with those other books...

The last day at the real job

Yesterday was my last day at my "real" job. For the most part, I'm very happy about that. I hated the job...mostly because I was incredibly burned out. I'd feel much better about leaving if I had something else lined up, but we're still having issues with daycare...so there's still some stress...

The really cool thing is that the owner showed up just as lunch was starting and then took me to lunch. I've blogged a few times about what a great guy he is, but this really shows it. We sat and talked for about an hour, and it was a nice way to say good bye.

The move will be Friday and Saturday, and then Monday I start looking for some kind of work.

For now, good bye to Subway...

Packing and such

The move is just under a week away, and I've been busy with packing and everything else that goes into a move...which is why I've been a bit absent lately.

I have most of our services and mail and such transferred, and I'm now working on the actual packing. So far, I have more than two dozen boxes...and that's just books...and it's not even all of them...this move is going to be a real back breaker.

We're having some daycare issues, which is making looking for a job difficult, because I'm not sure who will actually be taking care of the girls.........

As I've been packing, I've found some stuff that I can't keep, but I don't really want to throw away, so I've set up more Ebay auctions. You can find them at http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/jerwine_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ.

So far, my cat has found the whole packing thing to be a lot of fun. She jumps in just about every box I put down, and she tries to run just in front of my feet every time I'm trying to carry a box somewhere. I'm sure if she knew what she was in store for, she wouldn't be enjoying herself so much. She's basically my cat, and my cat alone. She's the most loving and affectionate animal I've ever known, but only towards me. She growls and hisses at everyone else. So, not only is she going to have to adjust to Rebecca and her two daughters, but there's another cat involved...so it could be an interesting time in the new place.

That's it for now. I'll update with more as I have it...and obviously I haven't been doing much writing or editing lately. Hopefully once we're settled in I can get back to it.

Wedding Stuff

We think we've found the site for the wedding. It's a place called The Wildlife Experience. It's a museum a little south of Denver that's dedicated to teaching nature conservancy...something that's very important to both of us.

It's a neat little place that has exhibits about various habitats, art galleries, a theatre, a lot of interactive stuff for kids (including a miniature golf course that teaches kids about conservation.) The way they have it designed, you feel like you've walked into nature as soon as you step on to the property, and you no longer feel like you're in the city. The only problem I noticed with it is that it's located pretty close to Centennial Airport...so we may have some small jet noise to deal with since we want to have the ceremony outdoors.

They also have a reception hall, so we can have the reception there as well...and guests will have access to the museum.

Once we get moved, and things settle down, we're going to contact them to find out what all of the costs would be, and to find out what dates might be available.

Any Dungeons & Dragons fans out there?

As I'm getting ready to move, I've been coming across stuff that I'd love to keep, but I really can't. As a result, I'm going to have to sell a lot of my old Dragon Magazines and my old Dungeon Magazines. I've put up several lots at eBay, and they're priced to move.

Have a look at http://myworld.ebay.com/jerwine.

If you yourself aren't interested, please pass the word on to some of your gaming friends.

Thanks!!!