Life's Been Good

I thought it was time for an update on all the exciting things happening around here, for some values of "all", "exciting", and "here".

→ FOGcon is in two weeks! I'm getting excited for great discussions of speculative fiction, the opportunity to meet and celebrate this year's honored authors, hangout time with friends, and karaoke.

→ I've been reading a lot, including my anticipated new releases as those books have come out. The ones published so far have brought me much reading pleasure, and I'm looking forward to the two appearing next month.

→ As tends to happen, more reading correlates with less writing, but I have been noodling around with a few things. We'll see if anything emerges.

→ Cleaning up my writing room is also occupying a bunch of my time. I have sorted and filed mountains of paperwork. I wish this involved digging out amusing treasures to share, but it's almost all dull stuff like bank statements. The one entertaining thing I unearthed was my commentary on the refinancing process.

→ I finished knitting another sweater! The simple, one-piece pattern for this project meant I was able to knit it in just two months, unlike my first sweater, which I dawdled over for a year and a half. The new sweater is extremely warm and cozy, and I enjoyed snuggling inside it on the blustery, rainy day after I completed it. Every day since then, it's been in the 70s, and my sweater lies here unworn. I probably shouldn't complain (but sometimes I still do).

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Tanwi Nandini Islam shares a behind-the-scenes look at the process of arriving at The Perfect Book Cover: "For the cover of my debut novel Bright Lines, I knew I wanted something abstract, geometric, bold, and iconic. What I didn’t want to see on my cover: mangoes, saris, boats, the colors green and red, or stock photos of sad-faced-sexy-faced brown women. I didn't want cultural tokens to be stand-ins for nuanced, beautiful artwork." (Thanks, The Millions!)