How'd the Local Author Tea earlier today go?

Thank you for asking.  It went rather well, as best I can tell.

The audience, which included only one male who later shook my hand and apologized for not reading SF and then declared that his wife had forced him to come, numbered over 20.  Even better, the people I did not know greatly outnumbered those I did.  I couldn't fit the entire audience into one photo from where I sat, so here's a little under half the room.

Click an image to see a larger version. 

Sue Scott, the librarian who organized the event, had cookies and tea and water waiting for all, as she had promised, and did a fine job of kicking off the event and asking for audience questions.

Because the other two panelists, mystery writer Sarah Shaber and romance writer Erin Knightley, worked in different genres, among us we represented the three major genres and so provided a nice set of viewpoints for the audience.  As it turned out, we three shared one somewhat unusual feature:  each of our first novels won an award that is well known in its genre.  We took turns and frequently ended up playing off each other's answers, which makes for a good panel and which is entirely too rare.

Because I head out tomorrow for a two-week business trip, I left as soon as the panel was over, but that is no reflection on the event itself.  It was a fun time for all, audience and panelists alike.  The Wake County Public Libraries and Sue Scott deserve credit for making it happen.  I thank them for including me.

Want to come see me yak on September 10?

If you do, you're in luck, because I'll be joining two other local writers, Erin Knightley and Sarah Shaber, at the Cameron Village Regional Library on that Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Click the image to see a larger version.

Our appearance is, as you can see in the copy of the Wake County Public Library poster above, part of a Local Author Tea program.  I'll be bringing Coke Zero, but the poster promises tea and cookies, so you can listen to us talk and eat and drink, too.

I'm not sure exactly what we'll be discussing, but it'll probably include can't-miss tips for getting wealthy, as all writers are, ways to fend off the inevitable hordes of writer groupies, and where to buy bespoke clothing for all of the dressy events we writers attend.  Or maybe some other stuff.

If you ask me questions, I will answer them, so there's that.

If you have nothing else to do the afternoon of September 10, consider coming by the Local Author Tea at the Cameron Village library.

Sunday in the library with Dave and Mark

Granted, it's not as good a title as Sunday in the Park with George, but you could indeed spend part of a Sunday--March 1, to be precise--in a library (the Eva Perry Regional Library in Apex, NC) listening to David Drake and me discuss one of the giants of SF, Robert A. Heinlein.

Check out this poster for the event. 

Click an image to see a larger version.

You'll notice that our talk is just one of many such events that the Wake County Public Libraries are running.  Here's a poster that showcases them all.

That's a great selection of classic authors and a good group of local writers discussing them.  If you're free on March 1, come out and participate in the discussion; we'll be happy to see you.  If you can't make our event, try to hit one of the others.  We'll all do our best to make the talks entertaining and informative.

Library happy snaps

Gina was kind enough to take some photos of Tuesday night's library event, so I thought you might like to see a few of them.

First up is our host librarian, Carla Payne, setting the stage for the evening.

Click on an image to see a larger version.

She did a fine job of running the event.

The four of us, all hesitating to answer a question.

I find it difficult to express how much I dislike photos of myself.

It wasn't all hesitation, though.  We certainly did laugh, as Mur and Dave are doing here.

For those who tell me to post smiling photos, here's as close as I can manage right now.

Did I mention how awful I look?

John hasn't suffered a close-up yet, and Gina went to the trouble of creating some black-and-white shots, so we'll close with John in mid-answer.

Thanks to my fellow panelists, Ms. Payne, and our swell audience, the event was a good time.

Come see me Tuesday, October 1, at the Wake County West Regional Library

The redoubtable Dan Brooks is once again spearheading an SF/Fantasy author series for the Wake County Public Libraries.  Dan graciously invited me to take part in two of these events.  The first, which is also the first of the series, is this coming Tuesday, October 1, at 7:00 p.m. at the Wake County West Regional Library.

Click on an image to see a larger version.

As you can see, I'll be joining three other local writers--David Drake, Terence Holt, and Lisa Shearin--in this panel discussion. We'll be talking about genre fiction of various types, our writing processes, and so on.  We'll also field questions from the audience.

There may be unicorns.

Okay, no unicorns, but there will be other, similar panels during October, as you can see in this flyer.

If you expand the image and read carefully, you'll note that I'll also be taking part in a second panel a week later.  No need to remember that one right now; I'll remind you later.

Some of us may grab dinner nearby afterward.

After all, unicorns have huge appetites.

All rumors of unicorns are strictly that, rumors.  I don't know why we even mention them; they are notoriously unreliable, not to mention piggy eaters who won't let you finish a bacon cheeseburger unless they also have one.  Don't even get me started on them and cheese fries.  The pigs...I mean piggy eaters.  They hate being called pigs.  Hate it almost as much as not getting any cheese fries, though not quite that much of course.  Unicorns, they love them some cheese fries. 

Want to watch me talk about finishing a novel?

A few weeks ago, Todd Frei, a librarian who is also a videographer, asked if I'd be willing to let him video me for a NaNoWriMo series the Wake County Public Libraries are doing.

I said, sure.

They'd scheduled my segment to appear today, November 21, so he asked if I'd be willing to discuss how to finish novel.

I said, sure.

Here's the result.  I can barely stand to see myself on screen, so I've only scanned this video, but Todd did a good job of cutting my talk to the time limit he had to obey.



If you're working on a book, I hope the advice proves to be useful.