Seattle Week 1

I'm over the jet lag, but the urge to write a story is much greater than the urge to blog. So here's a quick run down of what I've been up to since leaving Perth.

Highlight of the Flight: Seeing snow-capped Mt Fuji from the plane and a minefield of volcanoes on the approach to Seattle.

Awesome People I've spoken to: Vonda N. McIntyre, William Gibson, Paul Park, Gardner Dozois, Nisi Shawl, Connie Willis, Eileen Gunn

Awesome People I've heard speak on panels: Neil Stephenson, Jack Womack, Greg Bear, Charles N Brown plus some of above

Awesome People I've heard speak at the Hall of Fame: Peter Beagle, David Hartwell, Richard Gid Powers and Family, Rod Serling's Family and some of the above.

Awesome News I've heard: The announcement of the Locus Awards for Shaun Tan (for The Arrival ) and Jonathan Strahan (for The New Space Opera ed with Garder Dozois)

Spent lots of hours exploring nearby Seattle, sometimes with a walking stick, sometimes without, depending on how my foot feels at the time.

Finally, here's a picture which I'm sure BJR will love:

Blogging Seattle

My son came home from school yesterday and told me that someone who reads my blog (Hello Elimy) is tired of reading the Steampunk entry I wrote back in April and wants to read something else. So, okay, here's something...

I'm off to Clarion West Seattle next week. Lists have been written, jobs have been finished, plans have been made. Just when I thought everything was running smoothly, I fell off a step and broke a bone in the top my foot (Navicular). Fortunately, after resting up for a few days (Ohhhh how frustrating), I can walk on it again, but only if I wear my hiking boots for ankle support. Well...I'm not going to argue with that because I love my hiking boots.

So now I'm frantically catching up again. I'd hoped to do some writing in preparation for Clarion, but I've done very little as I've been madly finishing off my proposal and writing a novel chapter so that when I get back I'll still be up to date with my uni timetable. I hear it's good to go with a clean slate, anyway. Hopefully, I'll leave all my old bad writing habits behind me, try things I haven't tried writing before, surprise myself.

My aim is to blog the Clarion Experience as much as I can without it interfering with my writing. So I'll aim for once a week, and possibly fit in a tad more.