Orycon 27

Considering that Brian and I were spending the weekend in the same place, we hadn't had a moment to put our heads together and talk about HUNTERS and SANDWORMS. I had given him my edit of HUNTERS and had already begun the big task of going through the very rough draft of SANDWORMS. During my revision process in HUNTERS, I had written Brian a lengthy letter full of questions, suggestions, and problems that I saw in the book. Brian had done the same during his completion of SANDWORMS. With printouts in hand, we arranged to meet at 10 the next morning in the hotel's coffee shop. Neither of us had a panel until 1:00.

The furniture in hotel rooms is not very conducive for working on a laptop; the chairs are not comfortable, the desk the wrong height. Leaving Rebecca to get ready for her early panel about writing media tie-in fiction, I carried the laptop down to the lobby, got a very large cup of coffee, and found a table. I popped in my earbuds, turned on my I-pod with music loud enough to drown out all the background distractions (this morning, Audioslave and Dream Theater), and spent an hour going over the draft of Chapter 2.

Working in a hotel lobby at a convention where everybody knows you is a recipe for distractions. I had many conversations with other friends stopping to say hello, but I did manage to get through the chapter before Brian came down at 10:00. We got coffee and then found a more private room -- the hotel's Business Center -- where we could spend a lot of time in our discussions and brainstorming. Unfortunately, this was also the room with internet terminals available, so plenty of science fiction fans slipped into the center to read their e-mails . . . at which point, Brian and I had to be careful not to reveal too much in our discussions.

We spent nearly three hours working through details and changes in the drafts at hand before finally grabbing a sandwich and literally running through the dealer's room so I could find a small present for Rebecca's upcoming birthday. (I did.) Then we all sat on our last panel of the convention, an hour-long seminar on the business of writing. Afterward, we packed up our suitcases, said our goodbyes, and met our respective rides to the airport and the train station.

After checking in two hours early, I settled in at the airport's wonderful bar featuring a huge selection of Oregon's finest microbrews. Heaven! And a perfect place to work while waiting for the boarding call. With I-pod and headphones again (playing Coheed & Cambria this time), I got another two chapters edited before Rebecca and I boarded the plane. Beside me during the flight, Rebecca was editing manuscript chapters of our new Young Adult fantasy novel, CRYSTAL DOORS, for Little, Brown, while I managed to do a little more work before getting home to the Denver airport.

One weekend, five chapters edited, hours of successful brainstorming, two interviews, five panels, an autographing, three readings, and several parties. It'll be great to get back to normal again. I enjoy getting out to meet fans and readers, I enjoy traveling . . . but I'd really rather be writing and editing.

--KJA

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