Lauren McLaughlin will be reading at the KGB Fantastic Fiction series tomorrow evening, Wednesday the 16th at 7 p.m. Lauren’s first novel, Cycler, was released by Random House last month. As you may remember, I interviewed Lauren for Sybil’s Garage No. 5 late last year. That interview is available as a free download on the Senses Five Press website.
I’ve been feeling guilty about not posting lately. I’m making myself more busy than I should, and it doesn’t appear I’m letting myself off the hook anytime soon. I did get some time just to sit on the deck this evening, though, and caught this photo. The shadows today and the quality of the light both during the day and at sunset reminded me that fall is upon us. My favorite time of the year.
After returning from the Nationals, Kristen and I went up into the Catskills of New York to spend a few days at the Dai Bosatsu Zendo. If you want seclusion you can’t do much better than this place unless you know of somewhere that has no electricity. We spent several days in what they call Beecher House; it has some connection to Harriet Beecher Stowe, but I am not sure exactly what that connection is as of yet (I haven’t researched that hard, though). Regardless of the connection, it is a great place to write. I took a few photos of the lake, from the lake, and of the family of 7 snakes that lived under the patio, who would come out every morning and sun themselves on the grass.
During the past month I’ve been traveling like I have the money to afford it. A week in Gettysburg (that I already covered) and three days at the yearly ReaderCon writer’s conference outside of Boston (that’s been covered so thoroughly on the ‘net that I won’t waste anyone’s time by recapping here).
Last weekend I nurtured my inner model builder and went to the IPMS National show in Virginia Beach. It was my first Nationals, and I was mightily impressed. The craftsmanship was amazing, some of the best models from kits and scratch-builds that I’ve ever seen. I was stunned when the Weehawken took a silver medal in her category. I was happy just to have my work on the table and seen with the other entries, but to win something was very gratifying. I also spent a little money in the vendor room; picked up a big hunk of resin ironclad to keep Weehawken company on the shelf.
Two shots of the weather that rolled through earlier today. I shot 4 gigs of photos trying to get the elusive shot of a lightning strike. One of my life’s goals. No such luck today, but I did catch these funky boiling clouds.
This past week I returned to Gettysburg and spent four days there and at Antietam taking tours, talking to historians, guides and rangers, and doing general research. I stayed at my usual hotel on the site of General Lee’s headquarters during the battle. Its proximity to the first day’s field on the west of town is very convenient since that’s the focus of my research. To be within walking distance on a battlefield that is approximately 25 square miles is a huge bonus. This was my first real summer visit to the area, and I highly recommend it even though it was hot and humid. The various summer programs going on throughout Gettysburg will keep anyone busy. I was there four days and there were at least another four days worth of activities I wish I could have stayed around for. The tour guides and rangers were of great help while I was there, especially Joanne Lewis, who came in on her day off to give me a tour of the Gettysburg Day 1 field, Gerry Eak, who gave me a great tour of the town of Gettysburg itself, and Mannie Gentile, who gives a wonderful no-nonsense tour of the Antietam field.
Cory Doctorow posted about former Altered Fluidian Lauren McLaughlin’s upcoming novel Cycler in an excerpt here on boingboing. As part of his post he linked to my interview with Lauren on the Senses Five website.
Kristen and I took our first walk across the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday. You get a whole new appreciation for the structure walking it, much more so than seeing it from the shore or even driving over it.
The New York City Waterfalls exhibit is currently running. The most striking aspect of it, to me, is how insignificant the falls look in their setting. I do not mean that in a bad way, they are quite impressive, and when you stand on the eastern side of the Brooklyn Bridge over the falls you get a real sense of their scale. But what really struck me is that you have these four man-made, 90-100 foot tall structures cycling over 2 
million gallons of East River water every hour, and still the structures are dwarfed by their surroundings.
I read that the artist wanted the exhibit to be as much about the negative space as the structures themselves, and on that he truly succeeded. The Brooklyn Bridge fall is impressive, but completely dwarfed by the Brooklyn Bridge column that it sits adjacent to. It’s very fitting that a massive exhibit built by man to mimic nature is lost among a massive city built by man.
A year ago I posted how I was quitting my full time job to work on my writing. I did that, but as with most things in life, it didn’t turn out quite as I expected. No dramatic change to the life of a writer, starting a new life of art and such pursuits, leaving what was far behind. The truth is, honestly, over that past year I’ve spent approximately half of that time working. Working at my old place of employment, to be exact. It turns out that short term project work is something they need, and something I much prefer to a 9-5 with no end in sight. Take some time off, write, go back, earn some money, repeat as often as I can for as long as I can.
Yesterday was the first day “off” after a 3 month project. I have 8-10 weeks ahead of me to get some writing done. I’ve settled on a novel that will take place during the American Civil War, because the era and people fascinate me, and I want to test my theory that you can write any type of story in any type of setting/period and if the story is told well, the setting and genre should not matter. I hope to get a good chunk of this project done over the next 10 weeks, but since I’ve decided to keep it historically accurate (in line with David McCullough’s statement that he “always strives to tell the truth”, which I completely agree with), I might spend the bulk of this time doing research for this project and a few others. Regardless, I’m spending the summer paying myself to write – not recommended for those who like to actually earn money – and I hope to keep to my daily regime a bit better than I have in the past.
One of the great joys of New York City is the truly weird but excellent stuff you run across. Last weekend Kristen and I saw “Jollyship the Whiz-Bang” in an off Broadway theater. Excellent. Sure, I’ve seen puppets swear and have sex before (Avenue Q), but the nautical theme and an evangelist crab added just that much more to this show. I highly recommend catching it before they close next month.