Connected again!

Our area has been without power since about 4 pm on Wednesday. It's not unusual for that to happen for several days at a time every winter; this is a hilly, forested area and high winds blow down big tree-parts, boom! across roads and power lines and such. Normally, it's not biggie for our standby generator. Except this time, said generator failed to generate. So we got out candles, kerosene lantern, flashlights, and made up a fire in the fireplace. The repair person was in the area, and he got it started. We trundled along quite happily until yesterday suppertime, when the generator again decided it was not going to generate. Fortunately, dinner was hot, candles were to hand, and both our laptops had enough power so we had interesting things to do until bedtime. Power has now been restored, and things that have batteries are re-charging. The generator is due for a check up, not to mention a severe talking-to.

I am struck by how comfortable we were. We weren't cold, we had plenty of food, even without digging into our emergency no-cooking-need supplies, and a means to make hot tea this morning (a propane-powered cooker-thingie that would also have provided stir-frying wherewithal for tonight's dinner). We had running water (even hot showers, because our water heater is gas) and working toilets. This morning, we had plenty of things to do that did not require electricity: taking the dog for a walk, playing piano, sweeping up storm debris, working in the garden, reading a book... Our landline telephone worked. Our neighbors chatted with us and those with functional generators offered to run extension cords across the street if we really needed anything.

Still, it's nice to be in touch via the intarwebs again.

Deborah J. Ross: Loscon: Some General Thoughts on Conventions

For my Loscon report, I've put up a series of blog posts. Here's the first:

Deborah J. Ross: Loscon: Some General Thoughts on Conventions

And today's: <a href="http://deborahjross.blogspot.com/2011/12/loscon-attending-as-part-of-writer.html</a>

A Writerly Education

Frequently asked questions from YA author m_stiefvater:

1 - “Did you go to school for Creative Writing?”
2 - “Do you have to have a degree in writing to get published?”
3 - “Have you taken classes in writing?”
4 - “Will you be my mentor?”

My answers:

1. No. I have degrees in biology, psychology, and things I don't talk about.
2. I hope not. In my more cynical moods, I think a degree makes it harder to publish genre fiction, but what do I know?
3. No, unless you count freshman Humanities, where we had to turn in a paper every two weeks, not to mention reading 300 pages a week.
4. This is a hard one to answer graciously. Basically, thank you for the compliment, I don't do this but I'd be happy to recommend established writers who do and who are insightful and experienced. You should not expect to receive this kind of professional expertise for free, but to pay a reasonable amount based on the amount of time the two of you spend on your work.

Maggie adds, I reckon before I post this, I should emphasize that I have nothing against degrees in Creative Writing. If you think you need one to keep you motivated or to structure your education, go for it. But it’s not the way I learn. And I’d wager in some cases it can do more harm to an introverted creative person’s psyche than good. But the most important thing is: they’re pretty much invisible when it comes to getting your book published. Your education, however you manage it, is the process: the book is the result. Agents, editors, readers: they don’t care how you got there, just that you did.