I have much to be thankful for, and I think about this not just around Thanksgiving and the holidays, but quite a bit throughout the year.  I have so much, and so many good things happen to me that I feel blessed, and I truly believe I get way more than I deserve.

I’ll only mention briefly that as a country, the United States is very blessed, and compared with most nations our ‘poverty’ is no where near what other countries deal with regularly.  In what other country do ‘poor’ people all have a car, a TV, a cell phone?  Not only do most people in this country have those things, but they often have more than one!  Now, can these people really afford those items? Probably not, but I blame them for having piss poor money management skills and a sense of entitlement.  Lord knows I don’t need most of the things I have, but you know what?  I learned my lessons with money a long time ago and when I buy something now you can be sure I can afford it.  I also blame relaxed credit lending and a too easy bankruptcy system.  They also skimp on necessities to buy sh*t they don’t need.  How many times do you see a home falling apart and an uncared for lawn in favor of a great (and more than likely leased) car in the driveway and multiple satellite dishes on the roof? Then you see them all talking on their brand new iPhones or Droids.  To hell with groceries and paying the bills, I need a gadget or a nice car because the jackasses living across the street have great stuff, but what I don’t know is that those seemingly in control people are also over extended and spending money on crap they don’t need.  Anyway, people need to learn their lessons, but back to the point, or points that I seem to be making…

Yes, this country has some very impoverished people, but taken as a whole there is no better country to be living in.

Now, back to me–I have much to be thankful for:  I have a wonderful wife, two sweet cats, a wonderful home and a great job–a job I might add that I’ll never lose unless I’m a complete moron.  There are days I would love to quit my job, but you know what? If I did that I wouldn’t even have enough time to do what I really love doing–writing.   My day job allows me the luxury of chasing after the dream of being a full time writer someday.  When will that someday be?  Well, it’ll either be once I start making Stephen King money (like that will happen) or it will be when I’m eligible to retire in another 10.5 years or so.  How old will I be in 10 years?  Well, I’ll be 52, not bad huh?  And you know what I’ll be doing?  Writing and collecting a nice pension with hopefully a rather large 401K since I contribute the maximum and also save quite a bit on the side.

I’m doing all this now so I can kick back later.  I think I can handle 10 more years of the day job, not to mention it gives me 10 more years to get the writing career kick started.  I’m thankful each and every day that I have a life that allows me to pursue my dreams, and that I’ve been able to realize nearly every dream I’ve tried for.  It’s been a lot of hard work, and I’ve put in a lot of time to get where I’m at in life, but I’m not so foolish to believe I did it all on my own.

I was raised to work hard and achieve.  My parents wanted nothing more for me than to chase my dreams.  They were there for me whether I failed or succeeded.  They were tough on me when I needed it and gave me excellent guidance.  I also had the privilege of knowing 3 out of 4 grandparents as well as two great grandmothers.  I learned so much from them and was pretty close with all of them.  I’m very lucky to have known them, and that they all lived to see me reach adulthood.

I’m also not so foolish to think that everything I have couldn’t be taken away from me in an instant.  I don’t like to think about that, but things can happen.  One day you’re on top of the world, and the next you’re at rock bottom.  I think we’ve all been to rock bottom before, but it’s what you do when you’re there that counts.  I know that if I hit bad times I’d climb out.  Maybe it’d take time, but you know what? I’d climb out, and I’d succeed at whatever it was I put my mind to.

I’m also thankful for the many people that I’ve come to know over the years.  There are simply too many to name, but each time I move, each job I have, I make friends that will be there for me until the end.  Do I stay in close touch with most of them? No, I don’t, but they know if they pick up the phone, or email that I’ll be there for them, and I know the same of them.

I’m also thankful to my parents for introducing me to God, and thankful to God for allowing me to live such a blessed life.

Every once in a while I think I know where a post is going, but I derail myself and end up spouting out quite a potpourri.  Anyway, I’m thankful.

So, I’ve known for some time now that I have a problem.  I’m beginning to believe it goes way beyond a problem and borders on addiction.  No, not the standard list of addictions or anything that’s going to send me to rehab or therapy. My addiction is my therapy.

There are two things in my life that, if I am unable to perform or take part in them on a daily basis, I become increasingly (one or more of the following things):  dick-ish, depressed, anxious, short, sarcastic, and probably a few other choice words. I know, if anyone who actually knows me reads this, they’ll say, so how is it different than how you are on a daily basis? Ha. Ha.

What are these activities?

1) Writing.  This I have to perform each day or I really become a jerk. Yes, I think about writing–plotting, characters, scenes, dialogue, etc. almost all the time.  And ideas?  Shoot, they are a constant flood.  What needs to get done each day is new words of fiction.  Word count? At least 500 words.  My most recent example of this was when we had family over and for three days straight did zero writing. I became detached and a little depressed. Finally, I had to back out of a trip they made to town so I could get in some quality writing time. While they were gone I managed to crank out 2,000 words–not bad, and I felt a lot better!

2)  Working out/exercise.  This doesn’t have to be every day, but if I allow it to go beyond one day off I start feeling gross and out of shape.  People at the day job always laugh when I tell them I got fat at one point in my life, but it’s true. I’m very comfortable between the weights of 145 – 155, but during my year of being overweight I bulked up to over 185 pounds.  I didn’t have a huge belly, but when I saw a photo of myself I realized right then I had a problem.  I’d always been slender, but in my mid to late twenties I let myself go a bit once my Navy stint was over and I wasn’t exercising and I ate really bad stuff.  Once I saw the problem, I fixed it and haven’t looked back.  I dropped all the weight and then some to become the (somewhat) average looking person I am today.

I hesitate to call writing and exercising addictions, since I feel that would be somewhat disrespectful to those who actually are addicts.  I kind of liken it to people who claim an allergy or some malady, but don’t truly have anything wrong with them.  Oh, I’m ADD, or I can’t have gluten (whatever the crap that is), etc., etc.  I could go on and on about this particular topic, but that has to be for another post I suppose.  Anyway…

Writing and exercise relieve stress and are very therapeutic.  Boy, I’ve written a few pieces that will never see the light of day because they disturb me, but did those pieces help get a few things out of my system? Yes. Did lifting weights and running for miles help drain stress? Yes.  I’ve also noticed that running is a great time for me to work out writing problems and roadblocks. I mentioned that in a much earlier post.

So, if I am to be addicted, in the every day sense, not the clinical sense, I could choose worse things than writing and working out.  In fact, I’ll probably get quite a bit of both done today being that it’s a day off from the day job, and it’s Thanksgiving!  I know that if I don’t work out that I will feel like a bloated out of shape monster later.  So P90X it is!

Anyway, have a great Thanksgiving!

This post is now nearly two weeks after the fact, but I’ve had time to reflect on World Fantasy 2011, and have a few thoughts.  After attending World Con in Reno (Renovation), this was a welcome respite from the chaos of that convention.  World Fantasy is a much smaller con, but in my opinion, offers a much greater opportunity for networking and relationship building if you’re really trying to get published in science fiction, fantasy, or horror.

Last year I attended World Fantasy for the first time–and I went alone.  For many people I’m sure that would be intimidating, what with not knowing anyone in the industry and so forth.  Luckily, I tend to not have any issues meeting people, or striking up a conversation.  I’m also somewhat immune to fanboy moments, but I’m sure I could succumb under the right circumstances. That first World Fantasy for me was excellent, as I was able to make new friends that carried forward to World Con this past August, and then into World Fantasy 2011 in San Diego.

I went to far fewer panels at this con than I did at the other ones I attended. Why? Well, it’s because I was too busy talking to other writers, editors, publishers, and literary agents.  Once you become friends with a  few people, amazing things begin to happen. Such as what?

For one, many professional writers in the scifi/fantasy genre are helpful and want to help others succeed.  I received invaluable advice from, and developed friendships with many, many people in the publishing industry.  I’d name names, but honestly, there are so many!  If you can make it to one convention, I’d say go for World Fantasy.  I met YA writers, sic-fi writers, etc., etc.  Not only do you meet writers, but professional artists, editors, publishers, copy editors, agents, it’s unbelievable.

An example of what can happen at the con:  I was invited to a fairly exclusive Subterranean Press breakfast by Bill Schafer. Why? Because my friend Griffin and I for some reason entertain him.  Who was at this breakfast? It’s quite a list:  well, Bill Schafer and some of his staff from Sub Press, and:  Robert Silverberg, James Blaylock, Brent Weeks, Steven Erikson, Ian Esslemont, Gordon van Gelder, Peter V. Brett, and then you had me and my friend Griffin Barber.  But what a fantastic opportunity that was to meet these guys and have all sorts of cool conversations.

Another example of con goodness:  I’m standing in a walkway outside of one of the parties (I believe it was the SFWA party) and probably the only literary agent I’d want to have represent me (Joshua Bilmes) walks up and starts a conversation with me.  We chit-chat for a few minutes and for some reason I mention a client of his that I’m friends with (Tim Akers) and he suddenly offers me a Sun Drop.  I have no idea why or even what that is, but I say yes, thinking it’s some sort of drink. Joshua says, ‘ok, I’ll go get some cups’, disappears and comes back and pours us both a bit of Sun Drop (it’s a soft drink).  The reason he offered me this is because Tim Akers has told him about it and Joshua wanted to try it.  We continue chatting and he asks what I do and so forth and then offers me his business card and later tells me to query him when I have something ready. Now that is pretty awesome.  Joshua doesn’t read things sent over the transom these days, he solicits people specifically.  So, just by being laid back and cool and treating him like a normal human being, he obviously thought I’d be someone he could work with someday.  So, now I’m finishing up some edits on one of the novels I’ve completed and I’ll query Joshua.

I could go on and on, but I’ll mention a few more items:  I met writers who are local to Denver and I may be invited into an invitation only writers group that has some published authors in its ranks.  I again ran into Rae Carson who encouraged me to re-join the online writers workshop and promised she’d point me in the right direction regarding critiques.

A very important note about the convention:  almost all of the above great things happened at the after hours parties.

World Fantasy was outstanding because I got to hang out and have a great time with the friends I’ve made over the past year in the writing community.  And one final note:  Mark Van Name is one of the most helpful and friendly writers I’ve ever met at a convention.  He has provided advice and has offered to help me in ways most professionals wouldn’t have the time for.

I find social networking tiring.  Now, most people when they first meet me think I’m quiet and mild mannered.  Ask people who’ve known me for a while and they’ll tell you that is not true.

Okay, so when I first meet people I tend to hang back and take things in, and learn my audience.  I have always thought this to be a wise approach, but when I start laying in the zingers and quick one-liners, people are always amazed.  It seems that I also take this approach to social networking online.  I’m not the type of person who spews forth everything I’m doing all the time.  If I don’t have anything to say, or I don’t think I have anything to add that is worthwhile, I don’t.  Some people post non-stop about what they’re doing, where they are, who they’re doing it with, etc.  I’m simply not like that.

If I post an update it’s usually in reaction to something I saw or read, something that has moved or touched me, or it’ll be some long overdue update on my life.  Once in a while I’ll even try to post something humorous.

As this is a life and writing blog, I shy away from politics, economy, and folderol of that nature.  I don’t think it serves me well to spout off my opinions on those topics.  If people are reading this they probably don’t care to read my opinions, or if they already know me well, then, I guess they already know my views on politics, etc.

I have stopped following blogs I really enjoyed because of the political bullshit they sling around.  I originally followed those blogs because I was interested in their lives and their writing. Go push your agenda somewhere else, or here is something:  go do something about it rather than just bitch online.

So, back to social networking (strange interlude complete).  I need a process, much as I have with writing.  Social networking for me is an afterthought.  My first thought is to write new words of fiction each day.  I mean, do people really care what I think or do on a daily basis? Probably not.  I often wonder how people who claim to be writers get any actual writing done other than blogging, tweeting, emailing, etc.

I work a full time job that consists of basically 12 hour days (commute time is included, 1 hour each way), 5 days a week. I get home, work out for an hour, clean up, eat, spend time with my wife, and then write the rest of the evening.  How many hours are there in a day?  Now, many other “writers” work full time jobs, but they also are quite prolific on the social networking front.  How do they do it?  Even if they were speedy writers, I find it hard to believe they write new fiction each day. What, 250 words maybe?  That is one page. Not bad, but not prolific. I keep veering off topic a bit, but my point remains, when it comes to social networking, I simply run out of steam for it.  The fact that I’m wasting so many words on this makes me wonder if my fiction writing today will suffer.

Now, if I were to tweet, Facebook, Google+, blog, email, update my website, etc. how much time would that consume? It would have to be two hours or so, and I simply don’t have that kind of time each day. Perhaps one day once I retire from the day job (about 10 years out) I’ll be able to tackle all this stuff, but for now sitting in the chair writing new words of fiction each day suits me just fine.  I’ll simply social network here and there, but probably more than I’ve done in the past.

Now it’s time to get some real writing done.

So, while I’m waiting on my bags here in San Diego I thought I’d post about snow. About two weeks ago I enjoyed time in my outside office, golden leafed aspens overlooking my writing-which I mentioned in a previous post. Well, yesterday we got hit with this:

Guess I won’t be writing outside any time soon, however, the view from inside my house is pretty inspiring.

At DIA waiting to board-it’s going to be a crowded flight, but at least it will be a short flight.

Me at the gate, looking for trouble.

Looking forward to seeing friends at WFC!

Right now I’m sitting outside on my deck surrounded by various pines and beautiful aspens, their leaves now a vibrant gold. Even at our altitude (about 8000 feet) we had a glorious seventy degree day. The sun has dipped behind the Rockies and the air has cooled somewhat, but still, I’m enjoying a beer and a cigar. I figure this may be one of the last days I’ll be able to utilize my outside office.

Aspens in their fall glory--my outside office is awesome.

Blogging is one of those activities I enjoy, but I happen to enjoy writing fiction much more, and as a result I don’t post often. In fact, when I looked at my last entry, it was just after World Fantasy 2010–that’s pretty sad, but I’ve gone through many changes over the past year so I don’t feel too bad about skipping the blog.

In January we moved to Colorado, specifically, Evergreen–a small town up in the Rocky Mountains. Our home is at around 8000 feet, and needless to say, it took a while to get acclimated. P90X at this altitude was pretty crazy, but I’ve since conquered that. The move to Colorado was day job related, but I have to say, my writing environment has never been better.

Speaking of writing, I’ve written more short stories in the past nine months than in the 2.5 years I spent in the D.C. area. Some of that is the lovely environment I’m in now, and some is the work situation–I was miserable at my last assignment, and now I’m happy at the day job.

Speaking of the day job, well, I’ve already traveled more for work in the past nine months than in the 2.5 years I spent in the D.C. area. I’ve been to some really cool places such as Alaska and Seattle, and of course I had to go back to D.C. (which I’d normally enjoy, but was under some major time constraints and couldn’t visit all the people on my list).

I’ve also traveled a little for my second job: writing. In June, I spent ten days on the Oregon Coast attending a Short Story Workshop taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch with special appearances by Dean Wesley Smith. I highly recommend attending that workshop. Kris pushed me so hard that week, but I’ve never had more fun writing. The other writers I met at the workshop were incredible and I’m honored to have met them.

In August, I attended the World Science Fiction Convention held in Reno, NV. I met many wonderful people there as well as running into people I became acquainted with at World Fantasy last year, and I’m now able to name them friends. The relationship building at the conventions is the big draw for me, but many of the panels were informative. I roomed with Griffin Barber during the convention and had a blast–he’s a great wingman and always entertaining (he’s also a darn good writer, check out his blog it’s great and he updates it quite often). I also had the great privilege of having multiple meals with Griffin and Mark L. Van Name (author of multiple novels and all-around great guy), as well as catch a movie (the Fright Night remake which was pretty decent really).

Also at World Con I had a short story critiqued by Jay Lake and Eytan Kollin. The critique went well and Jay said he could see that particular story published in Realms of Fantasy if I tightened it up a bit–very awesome. And speaking of Jay Lake, I attended the Hugo Awards (with Mark Van Name) which Jay emceed with Ken Scholes – the ceremony was very entertaining.

Griffin and I also met with author Chuck Gannon at what they call a kaffeeklatsch. We discussed what Chuck was currently working on as well as Eric Flint’s 1632 universe. Chuck was able to provide some guidance regarding stories Griffin and I are working on independently for the Grantville Gazette.

And one last note regarding World Con:  I may have stumbled upon a writing opportunity there that I’ll be discussing at World Fantasy this year in San Diego–very exciting.

I’ll probably attend MileHiCon this year now that I work in Denver and live close enough to Denver to make it worthwhile.

Well, that’s quite a bit for one post–hopefully I make posting to the blog more a regular thing!

So I’ve been working on a query letter and synopsis the past couple of days and I think I’ve made some progress. Hooray!

So I decided to show the query letter to Juniper, one of my cats:

Apparently my query put her to sleep.

You think agents and editors fall asleep like that on queries? Probably.

So to recap the first post, World Fantasy 2010: The Aftermath , WFC is awesome. But there is more…

Sure you get to meet and rub elbows with legends of the fantasy and science fiction field, but the friends and contacts you make at WFC are priceless–especially the friends.

The hotel bar was where most of this happened, but also in the dealers room, the panels, and the various publisher parties that took place on the “party floor” of the hotel. I made new friends in every corner of the convention and some just by luck.

The best times I had at WFC were hanging out with a group of guys and dolls and going from the hotel bar to “the party floor” and back down to the hotel bar. We cracked jokes, engaged in what I’m sure was brilliant conversation, drank, and laughed. A few others drifted in and out of the group all night long and some kept coming back for more punishment, or out of morbid curiosity as to what would happen or be said next. I won’t name any names here, but I think everyone involved knows who they are and the good times we had at World Fantasy Convention.

I had always heard that the WFC crowd could party, but they certainly proved it to me. But you know what? It was never obnoxious, or to the point where it disgusted you. For a group of people who had been drinking–a lot, we were pretty well behaved.

Sunday morning at WFC felt rushed for me, but that was because I had to leave early before the banquet and before the awards ceremony. Next year I hope to stay the entire time.

The last part of WFC remained with me through today, and that is the inevitable convention crud. Oh, and lack of sleep and trying to catch back up on that. Anyway, a great convention that I highly recommend for writers, fans, or anyone with an interest in writing, publishing, fantasy or science fiction. The price of admission is cheap compared to what you will bring away from it. The biggest piece of advice I can give regarding WFC is to not be shy, try to mingle and get outside your comfort zone just a little.