Tips from Tesla #1: Don’t Get Kicked in the Face

My son (called Tesla here in order to give him some plausible deniability in public) has an interesting way of looking at the world. I could explain, but instead I think I’ll just make a blog category and let the rest of you experience it for yourselves. I received some unpleasant news this week, and responded by throwing myself wholeheartedly into a completely different endeavor. I’d been putting off Endeavor #2 for some time, and this seemed like the best way to distract myself from the other issues at hand. Two days later, Tesla said, “You know, I’ve learned something

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Amazing Things Happen When You Put Your Mind To It

(And also when you haven’t got a choice…) Meet the humble coco worm (aka “fan worm,” aka “tube worm”). I have seven. Three have names – Fluffy: Ed: and Shai-Hulud (Named for the fact that his tube is four times the length of the others. If you don’t get the reference, I can add another name to the list of people less geeky than me. If you do…welcome to the Sci-Fi Geek Club. Always room for one more.) The worms themselves are hidden in the long curving “tubes” – which the worms make to hide and protect themselves. The tubes

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Gearing up for Colorado Gold

I spent this morning finalizing my lecture notes for the master’s class I’m teaching in September at the 2011 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference. (Can’t wait for another visit with the tribe.) If you’re looking for a conference, I recommend RMFW highly – and did so long before I was scheduled to present. Denver is great in September and the RMFW organizers and attendees are absolutely fantastic. I’ve seldom encountered a more supportive crew. My experience last year (check the archives under “Conference Challenge”) left me both impressed and hoping to contribute something to the 2011 event. Turns

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Keep Your Friends Close and Your Inspiration Closer

Writing is a lonely road littered with distracting scenery. I’ll admit I’m easily – ooo…cupcakes! Two enduring lessons from last weekend’s Historical Novel Society conference have remained in my thoughts all week – the importance of finding your tribe and the vital importance of maintaining a level of inspiration that enables the writer to write. After a week’s reflection, I’ve realized the two are not as unconnected as I believed. It works like this. A writer goes to a conference and spends a fantastic weekend immersed in “all things book.” The writer makes friends with others who share a passion

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Happy 16th to Tesla

Sixteen years ago this morning I was preparing to leave the hospital after recovering from a scary bout of pre-term labor. An hour before they checked me out, the labor started up again and the doctor decided to let the baby come. Six and a half weeks early. At 5:14 pm on June 22, 1995, little Tesla came into the world. At 6lbs, 5.5 ounces, he was the biggest baby in the NICU – and also one of the weakest. He could not breathe without a ventilator. He could not really cry. The doctors could not tell me if he

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The Destination and the Doorstep*

We can’t always see our destination from the doorstep. It’s not much of a journey from the front porch to the street. It’s  scary, and sometimes dangerous, to set off on a chosen road, but rewards are often greater for the risk. Last December I started my first marine aquarium (“salt water tank” for the TL;DR crowd). I knew plenty about freshwater, but little to nothing of salt. The first night, I had a box of water with rocks and sand – and silt so thick I couldn’t see the back side of the glass. Not a coral in sight.

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HNS 2011 Highlights and Wrapup

Now that the Historical Novel Society’s 2011 Conference is over, I’d like to share some highlights and reflections, and to encourage everyone writing historical fiction to attend either next year’s conference in London or the 2013 event here in the states (in Florida, if rumors prove true). The highlights, in no particular order: The agents, editors and publishers’ representatives seemed more active and accessible during this conference than at any other I’ve attended. (That could be a function of the attendees rather than the conference, but it’s a fact regardless of cause.) Ditto the authors. Harry Turtledove, Michelle Moran and

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HNS 2011 Conference – Evening 1 – Revenge of the Tweeps

The first evening of the Historical Novel Society Conference ended on a high note. Harry Turtledove gave a fantastic keynote address, which I enjoyed in the company of the clan of HNS Tweeps (twitter friends, for the less-than-TwitterLiterate among you) that I met at the cocktail hour before dinner. The table chirped (yeah, I went there) with great conversation and many laughs. No tweets were issued, primarily due to dead batteries and/or technology left in various hotel rooms, but trust me – it was a fantastic time. One of the best aspects of writing conferences is the ability to meet

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HNS 2011, Morning 1 – Potatoes Have No Carbs

Yesterday morning I arrived in San Diego for the 2011 Historical Novel Society Conference (HNS for short). The Holiday Inn On the Bay is fantastic, and I took a long walk on the waterfront to compensate for the fact that I probably won’t see the outside of the hotel again until Sunday afternoon. I’ll be live-tweeting the conference on Twitter for those inclined to follow-the-tweets. I’ll also post updates here when I can. I’ll apologize now to my non-writing readers – the next three days will be largely for bibliophiles and scribblers – with exceptions to point out the strange

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Not Always What They Seem

I’m not telling you anything new when I mention that things are not always what they seem. Most of us know this, and most of us often ignore it. Life moves too quickly to stop and look a little closer. We have too much to do to pause and consider in depth. Aquariums have a way of changing that pattern – at least, mine has for me. Case in point – the sun coral. During the day, sun corals look like this: But if you turn out the lights (or offer food when the lights are on) and wait a

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