I’ve been prepping for ArmadilloCon by reading the manuscripts for the writers workshop and coming up with questions for Paolo Bacigalupi for the guest interview. The current Locus has an interview with him and at first I was like, hey, they stole my thunder, but actually Locus just made it a little bit easier for me. I won’t ask the same questions but will use some of his answers to dig deeper.
Ages ago I was a reporter for my hometown newspaper, The Ridgefield Press, and later I worked for computer magazines, but it’s been a while since I’ve interviewed someone for a feature. People mostly like to talk about themselves though, and the good part is I don’t have to write it all up afterwards.
Also in preparation for the convention and the interview I read Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker, which is really good. I read it in one day and had a very hard time putting it down. I haven’t plowed through a book like that in forever. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Everything came together — setting, character, and the technology, which is highly important in a science fiction novel. It has a Heinleinesque feel with a darker edge to it. If you have boys aged 12 and up, I think they would really like it.
Naturally since I have very little free time, I sat down and wrote the first 1,700 words to a new short story. It’s one I’ve been mulling over for years and there’s nothing like the feeling that I needed to do a million other things to get the creative flow going. I have to commit to it over the next two days, since starting Thursday night, it’s all con, all the time, until Sunday. If I can finish a rough draft by Wednesday night, I will be ecstatic.
In other convention news, WorldCon will be in San Antonio in 2013. The last time it was here was in 1997. That was my very first Worldcon, my very first major convention ever, in fact. I’m really looking forward to experiencing WorldCon again. I wish I had gone to Renovation, which just finished up this year, but it wasn’t meant to be. Alas.
2 Comments
A3 · August 23, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Renovation had the very cool feature of a live feed of the Hugo awards, which I really enjoyed watching. But I’m hoping to make it to San Antonio in person. I’ve never been to a WorldCon.
Good luck with the short story!
Patrice Sarath · August 23, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Thanks! Yeah, I think the WorldCon in two years is going to be a treat. I rarely get to cons outside of Texas and I’ve been meaning to start making an effort to get out and about more, but just from a cost standpoint, it’s easier when the big conventions come to me. ; -)