Half dozen off

Today was a day from the real job, and before I launch into new projects I decided to take some time and get some stories back into circulation. Went pretty good, sent off a half dozen by mail, email and submission forms. That means I have 14 stories in various slush piles now.

Still mending

I'm getting better after last week's physical problems, but not felt ambitious enough to get back to writing. Things do seem on the upswing, though, I;m feeling pretty good.

Recovering

I've been off the net for a few days. Monday morning I woke up to find that I pinched a nerve in my elbow while I slept, and my entire lower left arm was numb for a few hours. What was worse is that I have carpal tunnel, and the combination of the pinched nerve in the arm and the carpal tunnel in my wrist completely deadened my left forefinger, to the degree that it curled up and I couldn't straighten it. This is a real problem if you only type with two fingers, like I do.

I got through the day at work, but I was miserable. I started taking anti-inflammatory medicine Monday night, and things began to improve. Tuesday I was almost back to normal, but the whole incident had aggravated my carpal tunnel. I spent last night watching TV with cold compresses on my left wrist.

Today I seem to have recovered. Just one thing after another.

Kind of in a slump since Armadillocon

I've had to deal with a backlog of chores after taking the time off, but I'm getting caught up, and I'm also organizing my notes for the next outburst of short fiction. There are times when I come off a writing hiatus and write three or four stories at a quick pace, maybe in a month.

This is the time of the year when my allergies are the worst. Two years ago, due to exhaustion and inattention, they exploded into an inner-ear infection that sent me to the emergency room while attending NASFIC. Last year, I kept better control pf things, but the fluid on the ear got to the point where a boil developed externally.

This year has been less severe, although by Monday there was so much pressure on my ears they felt like they were bleeding. There have been times in the past when I have so much drainage down my Eustachian Tube at night while I sleep that my wife can hear the dripping. This year hasn't been that bad; but I have to keep constantly after it, with Claritin, nose spray, and - for immediate relief - cough drops.

We've also had an especially wet summer, so that probably also helped keep the schmutz down.

Oh, when my ears get congested my hearing suffers, but I can still hear. Thankfully I never develop tinnitus. I'm hardly alone in having these allergies and effects in East Texas; in fact, the speaker at a luncheon meeting of a senior citizens' group here in Mount Pleasant talked about the subject a few months ago.

I didn't realize that some senior citizens who move to East Texas from other parts of the countries don't realize they get fluid on the ear from the allergens, and they assume they are just getting geriatric deafness.

A Penny for Your Thoughts

People who know me may also know that I’m a coin collector, and I’ve developed a habit as a result of buying lots and rolls (and having excess coins) of offering “A Penny for Your Thoughts” when someone is especially helpful or insightful to me. In these cases, I always hand out Indian Head Cents. (Very rarely, when someone has been a real jackass, I’ll give them “My Two Cents’ Worth” and mail them a pair of old Lincoln Wheat Cents, but this is extremely uncommon.)

I handed out ten Indian Head Pennies at ArmadilloCon to a number of first-time recipients: Bill Ledbetter, Adrian Simmons, Tam Thompson, Scott Cup, Don Webb, Maureen McHugh, Joe Lansdale and James Hogan were all recipients. I tossed one in the fountain in the courtyard. I also gave one to the clerk in the gift shop. I caught up with Don Webb there, and when she saw the penny she was so fascinated I gave her one of her own.

These were all 1903 cents, btw, like the one shown in this post (not terribly good quality). Then again, I'm sure people don't expect me to hand out proof sets.

Visits at 'DilloCon

Like most people, I came away from Armadillocon bemoaning the briefness of many conversations. There's just so many people to see, you just don't have enough time.

One person I was happy to meet, for the first time, was John DeNardo, the fellow who runs the SF Signal web site. He was just up for Saturday, and we chatted for a while in the lobby. I told him that his web site is one of the three news web sites I visit every day (the others being SF Scope and Locus). I commended him for a job well done.

Doug Potter is another person I was happy to meet for the first time. He's an old friend of Howard's. I guess we've never been on any panels together because he is an artist. Really friendly; he came with us Saturday night when we ate dinner at Fuddruckers.

I met Bill Ledbetter and tickled the pink out of him when I told him I tuckerized him in my upcoming novelette, "Dispatches from the Troubles," which is going to be published by GUD next spring. Guillermo "Bill" Ledbetter is the head of the American Irish Republic state police.

Bill asked, "Ooh, do I get blown up?" Which was funny, because the character actually does get blowed up by a roadside bomb. Bill said, "I always wanted to get buried in a bucket!"

Saw Steve Utley for a while, and served on a panel with him. It was only the second time we've visited; I saw him for the first time at last year's DilloCon.

I attended Maureen McHugh's reading and talked with her a bit. Had nice visits with Adrian Simmons and Tam Thompson (I don't know whether I've seen Tam since a Turkey City Workshop in 2005). Visited with James Hogan after our panel Saturday night - another all-too-short exchange.

Talked to Elizabeth Moon in the con suite. Had another short chat with Scott Cup. Tim Miller was there; I'm looking forward to FenCon next month.

Chatted more extensively with the usual suspects - Howard, Joe Lansdale, Jayme Blaschke.

Brad Denton only was able to stop by on Sunday. I mentioned again how impressed I was that "Sergeant Chip" seems to be on the way of becoming a classic. I had telephoned him after the "Mind Meld" feature ran on SF Signal because two of us had cited "Chip" as a memorable story.

Chatting in the lobby with Denton and a cluster of people led to one of the funniest exchanges of the con. I told Brad I was always impressed how well-written the story was; it was obvious how much work went into the story. Brad confirmed that. I said that - with my background in journalism - I get bored with a story after three hours.

I turned to Howard and said, "Now Howard, here, he works on a story for 20 years."

Jayme Blaschke says, "Howard thinks about a story for 20 years."

We all laugh, and Howard says, "And then I start sharpening my quill," making the appropriate gesture. It was pretty funny.

Report from ArmadilloCon

The bus left Mount Pleasant at 7:40 p.m. Friday, and - after a change in Dallas - I got to Austin at 2:40 a.m. A short cab trip to the hotel ($4.25 - I'm not sure the cabby was happy about such a small fare) and I woke my room mate Keith West up. My first panel wasn't until 11 a.m., so I had time for some sleep. We caught breakfast in the hotel.

The first panel was "Using Softer Sciences in Genre Fiction", with Steve Utley as moderator. It seemed to go well, and was a good opportunity to visit with Steve, who I saw for the last and first time as last year's con.

I thought the panel at 1 p.m. on "Short Fiction" was very helpful to the audience. Don Webb, Carrie Richerson, Alexis Glynn Latner, J.K. Cheney, Mikal Trimm and I all had useful insights and stories to tell.

The panel at 4 p.m. on "Texas" was, I think, a highlight of the convention. Given the subject, Joe Lansdale was the right guy to moderate it. Elizabeth Moon, Scott Cupp and Neal Barrett all had interesting stories to tell - Howard was a bit subdued, I thought. Joe pointed out that some Texas writers are really Yankee transplants, but I pointed out that us transplants are a big part of Texas now, also, and I matched his grandparents coming across the prairie in a covered wagon with my chugging along I-30 in a '74 Gremlin back in 1985.

I had promised Howard I would buy him dinner for writing the intro for my book, and we had a bunch of us go to Fuddruckers at 6 (it was within walking distance); me, Howard, Keith, K.D. Wentworth and Doug Potter. Howard seemed to be in good health - so much better than the same time as last year - and he really seemed to enjoy himself; a number of people commented on how happy he seemed at Fuddruckers.

My reading was at 8:30, and I had three amigos - Bill Ledbetter, Adrian Simmons and Tam Thompson - there In my rush to leave town I had forgotten to run off an unpublished story, so I read "The Cast Iron Dybbuk" from ASIM No. 19. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Afterwards, I caught the last half of the "Fireside Chat", which featured - among others - James P. Hogan and Howard. Hogan told a joke that struck me so funny I laughed until I fell out of my chair.

Hogan chaired my final panel of the day, "Is Hard Science Fiction Getting Harder to Write". By 10 p.m. the panelists were beginning to fade, but I think we did well by the hard core fans who were there. Adrian Simmons was on this panel with me.

Sunday I didn't have any panels. Went to lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant with my younger brother, who lives in Austin. That afternoon a student from A&M buttonholed me about being a panelist at AggieCon. I had gone in 2005 and 2006. Unfortunately, it will be a week before ConDFW. I told him to send me a formal invite and I will weigh my options. I sat at the autograph table in the dealers' room from 2:30 to 3:00 and watched people packing up. It will be nice in the future after "Fantastic Texas" comes out for me to actually have a book to sign.

Keith and I watched Howard read his story from the "Dying Earth" anthology, "Frogskin Cap" at the con's conclusion, and we were on the road by 4:30. We rolled into Commerce about 10:30 and I got home about 11:45.