Some days you just need to punish innocent steel plates and sheets of paper. And as a writer, it is good to remind yourself of the sounds, smells, and feel of firearms. You think, “I really ought to go back and revise that scene, get in at least a mention of the noise.”
Christmas is rushing towards us like an out of control sleigh, with a fat man in a red suit slumped in the driver’s seat, reins fallen from pudgy, cookie-stained hands, his eggnog soaked beard smelling strongly of rum. Have you finished your shopping yet? You obviously can’t rely on that jolly fellow; he’s a menace.
Just when you think you have Karl Thorson cornered, he’ll come at you from an unexpected angle. I mean, I didn’t think Karl Thorson and the Jade Dagger would see publication until November 15. And yet, here it is late October and the book is already out. That’s our Carlos for you; if you don’t keep your head on a swivel, he’ll ambush you.
The countdown to a book release is for me what the countdown to Christmas is for a kid. I want the day to hurry up and get here. My present is offering something I created to you. I’m so damn noble, ain’t I?
I suspect it is an industry standard: the 250, 150, and 50 word synopsis. It may be that some authors, occupying celestial strata I can only dream of, have a publisher’s marketing department write these. I don’t know, I have to do it myself.
Some might consider that I wasted a three-day pass to Rose City Comic Con by only attending Friday night. But downtown Portland is a bit of a trek from my house, and I only needed to be there Friday for my panel. I took a few trips through the maze of the convention floor, seeing the merchandise and the artist and writer tables. Friday is the evening for it, if, like me, you don’t care much for crowds.
It is self-evident, of course, that if no one hears of your work, no one will purchase it. I understand that, I acknowledge and accept it. That doesn’t mean I have to like the necessary corollary: publicity.
I finished my last panel for MALCon 2019. Here it is noon, Mountain Time, and I have ten hours until my flight home. So, I suppose I’ll sit here in the lobby, write up this week’s web log, and watch the usual colorful con suspects go by.
Only a brief note this web log, I’m afraid. MBW, the HA, and I were in Washington State this weekend, visiting a couple places we’ve not been to before. A late arrival home, added to necessary chores, squeezed out the time required to scribble my usual nonsense.
Despite my turtlelike preferences, I do appear in public from time-to-time, in the hopes of shilling my wares. This year, it seems, I’ll be poking my head out at three conventions.