Weekly Update: September 10 to 16

Word count: 5000

Feeling very good about where things are going... until I looked at the calendar this week.

OMG!  I have two back to back events coming up and lots of stuff scheduled for the next 6 weeks.

On Thursday, September 28th from 7 to 9, I'm participating in ALSO's event: Persisting Beyond Margins, reading from banned books while enjoying some wine and cheese.  It's a fundraiser for adult literacy and people will get to see me tongue-stumble while I read.  What's not to love?

Then on Sunday, October 1st from 2:30 to 4, I'll be doing the ORWA monthly workshop.  By popular demand, it will be Beyond the Furrowed Brow: How to make your characters say it all without speaking a word.  It's a look at how to use non-verbal communication in your writing.

Then there's Can-Con on October 13-15.  This is a fabulous conference and one of the best organized I've ever been to.  If you like speculative fiction, this is your stop.  From hard-core sci-fi to alternative histories to fantasy to the paranormal, they've got it all (including me!).  I'll be giving away chocolate and buttons and having a weekend draw.

Once Can-Con is done, I will be most gratefully enjoying a week on a southern beach with several RWA ladies for a writers' retreat.  With luck, when I come back, I'll be able to report that Judgment is nearly ready to go to editing.

And, oh yeah, I've got a business trip for my other job starting next week.  (Don't worry, I'm scurrying back to Ottawa for Persisting Beyond Margins.)  I'm bringing my laptop and hoping that I won't be too horribly exhausted to write at the end of the day.  (Since my bosses would probably not be impressed if I tried to quietly do it while I'm supposed to be paying attention during the day.)

And, and, AND, I need to get my kids' Halloween costumes done.  I usually sew and hand-craft them but I'm starting to think that this year will be a store-bought kind of year.  Which makes me sad, but if buying them a costume ruins their life, I probably wasn't doing so well on the whole mothering thing anyway.

I'm starting to think I should set up a Paypal betting system for when I'll collapse of general exhaustion.  Good odds on anything before November 1st!