I just posted to the Broad Universe community page about what's been keeping me busy. Rather than post it here and bore my Broad friends, I'll just post the link:

http://community.livejournal.com/broaduniverse/20769.html

For the last ten or more years, the last weekend in July has been a camping weekend for me. A bunch of like-minded friends have gathered in the woods, gazed at the stars, burned marshmallows, and generally got back to nature.

This year, for a number of reasons, it didn't happen, and it probably won't happen again. Some have moved away, but many are no longer able to sleep on the ground or sit in the damp.

Because I spend a lot of time on the computer, both for the day job and for writing, it's usually not until this weekend that I actually get out in the sun and feel the night cool after sunset. Yes, on the weekend closest to an ancient festival that celebrated the first fruits of summer, I was just getting around to noticing that summer had come.

I was seriously bummed to miss camping this weekend, but there was an unexpected boon. Dear Hubby (DH) had decided to go to Water Fire (www.waterfire.org) in Providence (Rhode Island).

It's hard to explain what Water FIre is. In a nutshell, volunteers light braziers of wood on fire on the three rivers that flow through Providence. And that explains nothing at all.

At dusk, people gather at the river basin at Waterplace Park, and wait in earnest as dark descends. From the river (or rivers:  the Woonasquatucket, Moshassuck, and Providence rivers all contribute to this saga), gondolas and small craft silently enter the basin. In the meantime, a procession of torch bearers have reached the edge of the water and stand in wait. As the river craft pass, they hold aloft a torch, which is lit from one of the torches held by the torch bearers. The craft take position on the basin until all have entered. Then they each light a brazier nearby and a roar goes up from the crowd (does it really? Or do I just imagine it that way) and the event begins.

Behind me a couple discussed the event. "It's supposed to be like a pagan [thing]." I think to myself, "Like? Just like? Ye gods, it IS, not is LIKE." The crowd is mesmerized as they wait. Even my agnostic husband seems spellbound.

After a few minutes, the crowd starts to walk along the river walk, some chatting, some lost in thought and silent.

I grew up only about an hour or so north of Providence. Waterfire didn't start until 1994. I didn't hear about it until about 2005 or 2006. What is more amazing is that until I heard about it, I had no idea that a river, any river, never mind THREE rivers, flowed through Providence. Okay, so maybe I was a little unworldly, but it's not entirely my fault; at one point, Providence paved over the river! No wonder I didn't know it was there.

The smell of pine wafted from the unlit wood, reminding me of split wood ready for the camp fire. The lit wood reminded me of camping even more; as I write this, I can smell wood smoke in my hair.

I didn't go camping this weekend, and I am bummed. But I went to WaterFire, and that was my salvation; I do not feel, as I thought I would, that summer, in all its glory, has passed unnoticed, has passed uncelebrated.

I am reborn.

Remember that old labor ballad? I think it was Joan Baez who brought it into common consciousness in the 60s.  I found an interesting Paul Robeson version on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=n8Kxq9uFDes&feature=related

So what brought that old tune to mind?

I saw Joe Hill last night.

I was not, however, dreaming. Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box and, most recently, Horns, was the secret guest author at Necon, an intimate gathering of horror writers held annually in Rhode Island. Hill is extremely personable and down-to-earth. On panels, his knowledge of his craft is obvious, as is his wit and good nature.

I'm looking forward to reading Horns, in which a man wakes up after a night of heavy drinking (and desecrating a grave, I hear) to discover that he has horns growing out of his head. From what I hear, it's both scary and funny as hell -- pun partially intended.

I should have posted earlier, but I wasted part of the day sleeping until almost noon. I had no idea, mind you, that I was. Tonight I'll have to set the alarm on my cell phone,

The fact that Necon is so small (200 people) is what makes it so great. You see the same people all the time and at night hanging out in the quad (we're on a college campus), you could find yourself talking to just about anyone or overhearing a conversation with just about anyone.

I'm going to be late for the Game Show. Bye for now.

Got to Readercon just after 6:30. Traffic was much, much lighter than I expected.

My first stop was at the Broad Universe table in the Book Store (Dealer's Room), where I checked in with Phoebe Wray, author of Jemma 7729. I made sure she had copies of my books (she does) and signed up to volunteer my time watching the store (Saturday at 1 pm and then as needed to give people a chance to take a quick break).

Next, it was time to find a quick bite because I was starving. Fitzwilliams Irish Pub was packed, loud, and all of the people I knew had full tables. Not wanting to impose on them, I asked someone sitting alone if I could sit there. She was completely agreeable -- after all, that's what she had just done. I really enjoyed my conversation with her and we spoke of everything from writing to Iceland and back again. She recommended an Icelandic Saga I should read in preparation for my visit there. Will have to catch up with her at Necon for the name again. It was very loud in the restaurant and I couldn't hear it well enough.

Of course, after I imposed myself on poor K A Laity, at least six people I knew walked by the table and greeted me! 

Yikes. Look a the time. I've got to get to bed because I have to be at Readercon early tomorrow.

If you're at Readercon, stop by the Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading, starting at 10 in the MA/NH conference area.  There's a group reading by members of Broad Universe, an international organization with the primary goal of promoting science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women.

I'll be reading, along with the following readers and others:
Julie Andrews, Gwynne Garfinkle, Justine Graykin, Elaine Isaak, Victoria Janssen, Kate Kaynack, Rey Otis, Jennifer Pelland, 

Should be a lot of fun.

Oh, and if, while at Readercon, some strange blonde with shoulder-length hair walks up to you like she knows you and hugs you, look at her name tag. Most likely it's me, forgetting that not everyone has seen me as a blonde  :-)

Today I tried an experiment.

My hand's been hurting a lot because of the typing and mousing that I've been doing at work. I'm working from home today, so I duly dragged out my headset and launched Dragon NaturallySpeaking. As I did this, I wondered what it would be like to dictate part of my novel.  I thought about something I heard in a lecture on designing user interfaces. The instructor said to use paper and a sketch things out. The reason this is preferable, he explained is because when you type things into the computer and save them in a file, you think you know the this is a draft and therefore malleable, but your subconscious sees them as more cast in concrete. Hand drawn sketches seem more fluid. He also pointed out that it's a lot quicker to draw a rough box on a piece of paper than it is to even launch a program that can do it for you.

I wondered how vocalizing my thoughts instead of writing them down would affect my creativity. Would I feel less constrained and more freely creative? Could I speak out scenes that were in my head as they were happening?

So today I tried it.

The first problem I discovered was with dialogue. Of course you can tell Dragon to insert a quote before you start the dialogue, and at the end of the dialogue, but  I didn't think of it. I didn't notice they were missing because I was dictating with my eyes closed, trying to make the words on the screen even more fluid in my mind. So, next time I'll remember to tell Dragon to quote.

The second problem was that Dragon doesn't seem to be understanding me as well as it used to. Gee, I wonder if the two fans running full speed have anything to do with that? ;-)

It's going to take a little getting used to dictating again, but maybe once have a little more practice, it might help me free up more when writing, but I've been doing a lot of writing at my desk at lunch these days and it's going to be impossible for me to dictate at my desk. I could always go outside and speaking to in a  voice recorder.

Oh well, my lunch break is over. I dictated all of this posting with Dragon just to get used to it again. It's doing pretty well with this text. I'm speaking a little louder. Maybe that's overcoming the fan noise.

Next experiment: dictating into my voice recorder while outside.

Well, obviously, it's not been posting...

I hate how there just isn't enough time in the day. If I concentrate on writing, then suddenly there aren't any clean clothes, my muscles are seizing up from sitting at the computer so long, and the cat's got knots in his fur.

And if I manage to take care of those items, then I'm behind on projects I'm doing as a board member, I discover that I really, really have to update that web site I created because the software is no longer supported, and my own site is so stale that I might as well just bite the bullet and learn WordPress.

And that would be fine if it wasn't such a fine spring day, right? I've given myself a firm dictum that I will NOT spend hours with Google trying to find out why one of the groundhogs outside is grey and brown, but the other is almost blonde!  Oh, and speaking of blonde, argh, why did I agree to a hairstyle and color that would require maintenance? (rolls eyes)

I'm feeling particularly good about this podcast being out, not just because it was the second half of an interview and a lot of fun to do, but because I've finally recovered from some physical exertion two days ago. Woo hoo! I can think again!

The podcast is at www.vampireswitchesandgeeks.com

The first half is episode 23, the episode before this one. It's an interview with Dorothy Morrison, author of over a dozen non-fiction books on paganism and witchcraft and a novel LUCINDA'S WEB. It was a lot of fun talking to her and I laughed through all the post-production work.

Oh, and another reason to be happy -- the spring peepers started peeping last night (or was it Tuesday?).  It's spring! 

They're acting a little strange tonight, though. They start up and then stop. I just played the sample of them on the Wikipedia page and it sounds exactly like them!  Maybe I'll use it to fill in the silence ;-)


lizziebelle , got any pictures of them? They're not very easy to encounter because they're nocturnal and so tiny. Every time I find one in the woods, I go crazy and try to get pictures, but they just won't stay still!  :-)

Just found out about this from the TrueBlood net:

http://truebloodnet.com/special-offer-charlaine-harris-biography/

"If you are a big fan of Charlaine Harris, who brought us the Sookie Stakehouse series which was later turned into HBO’s hit show True Blood, then you will have a limited chance to receive Bluewater Productions‘ Female Force comic book biography of Charlaine Harris. As we previously mentioned here the book will trace  Charlaine’s career from the publication of the lighthearted Aurora Teargarden mysteries to the phenomenon of her vampire-infused Sookie Stackhouse stories."

This came to me this afternoon...

I think I'll go in the woods today
and watch the springtime come this way:
The melting snow, the moss on trunks,
the tiny shoots of cabbage du skunk*

:-)

Copyright 2010 Morven Westfield

* See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Skunk_Cabbage