Ramblefest Sunday

I don't have any fully completed or organized thoughts in my head at the moment, so this post is going to be a bit of a ramble-fest.

I was gardening the other day (planting some stuff) and it suddenly occurred to me, I don't like doing this. I enjoy having a decent-looking garden, so I like the end result of gardening. But I don't actually like the act of gardening. I find no particular joy in spreading mulch or picking slugs off my squash leaves. I just like having a yard that doesn't look like a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But I don't really like the process, it's kind of a pain.

Same with cooking. I like food. I definitely like food. But cooking is also kind of a pain. I'm not one of those people who scours the city for ethnic groceries to get unusual ingredients. I don't mix it up or substitute stuff or experiment and I rarely hit up farmers' markets. I just like to eat, but cooking is not exciting.

What is exciting? What do I do for the pleasure of the work itself, for it's own sake?

Writing. I love every step of the writing process: thinking, developing, writing, even revision. If no one ever read another story of mine again, I would still write. Because I truly do love every single minute of it.

The other thing I love for its own sake is vacuuming. It's instant gratification. For Christmas a few years back I asked for a Dyson. Seriously. My in-laws and parents pooled their cash money together and bought me one, too.

Moving on, I have some upcoming appearances (ha!). There's Fandomfest 2013 on July 27th (we'll only be there for one day). Last year we went and I had a blast at the writing panels, and this year's list looks pretty neat too.  My problem with a lot of convention writing panels is that every single one is aimed at beginning writers, and they rarely vary from year to year. The Fandomfest panels seem to assume that you already kind of know your shit, which is nice.

There is also Gencon 2013 in August.  Due to some scheduling issues (both grandmas work in schools, and school starts that week...so no babysitting for us until the weekend), we won't be getting there until Friday evening, but plan to close the place down on Sunday.

Currently working on both a prequel and a sequel to my novella Hour of the Lotus. The prequel focuses on a character who is mentioned in the novella, but doesn't have a large part (well, she does, but indirectly) and the sequel will continue the story of the two main characters. I am also working on a weird Western involving a Chinese railroad worker/former Shaolin monk and vampires. It's getting pretty gonzo. I plan to begin revising my second novel in the couple weeks but I want at least one of these other pieces completed first (in roughdraft form, anyway) before then. Probably the weird Western.

And finally, this is funny is you watch A Game of Thrones or read A Song of Ice and Fire. My favorite character is 'Thug" (not an inaccurate description) and I do think Khal Drogo's official title should be 'King of the Guys'.