Thank You

The Nebula nominations have closed. I got a total of twelve votes - not enough to reach the ballot, but far more than I ever expected. I want to thank all of you who supported me and my story. I'll try my best to live up to your confidence in me and write even better stories in the future.

Thanks also to all my blog followers and readers. You're wonderful, and I am grateful to all of you for your interest in my odd musings. It's been hard for me to post in the last week due to various factors beyond my control, but I'll try to get back to it now.

Juliette

Update for Thursday

Something exciting and nerve-racking is happening right now. I'm very close to making the Nebula ballot with the novelette I had in Analog this year, "Cold Words." It's making me lose sleep (though the kids being sick have a lot to do with that too). When I look at all the marvelous authors on the list with me, I'm amazed... and more than ever, I hope I can get onto the ballot. Just being there would mean so many more people would read my stories, and right now that's my greatest hope. So if you're a member of SFWA, or know one, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could read my story, and think about it. And if you've already thought of me, let me say thank you, thank you, thank you!

Enough with the self-promotion (which makes me feel awkward anyway).

Tomorrow I'm hoping to post an article - my first Ridiculously Close Look in far too long - about Howard Hendrix's "Monuments of Unageing Intellect." I'm excited about putting this up, because I think it brings up some interesting topics that aren't often discussed. So at this point I'll go off and try to finish the piece so I can get it to you all.

Classic science fiction and the Nebula Awards

I bought three books of classic science fiction today. This was inspired in part by the Nebulas.

When I was in Los Angeles last weekend, I was deeply impressed by the sense of community in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. There was a beautiful song by Janis Ian that mentioned in its lyrics at least ten different titles of famous science fiction stories. There was the gratitude for science fiction as an early life-changing experience expressed (humorously) by Chuck Lorre, who gave the keynote speech. Most interesting in this regard was a speech given by Grandmaster title awardee Harry Harrison. He spent several minutes reminiscing about a trip to South America he took with a large number of science fiction writers - who was there, what they did, even how one of them nearly drowned in the surf. He mentioned many, many famous names. Some people there may have felt that the speech was too long, or that he was name-dropping, but I could have listened to him a lot longer. To me, what he was doing was creating a world for us - a world he wanted to show us so it wouldn't be lost, and one where we now were coming to belong. In a way, everyone there was contributing to the same vision: a vision of science fiction and fantasy not so much as a field, but as a community that maintained its continuity over generations. I found this very touching, especially since I felt I was being welcomed into the group as someone who could help carry this wonderful tradition forward.

I'm looking forward to the arrival of my books. I want to get a taste of what these early writers accomplished, and I think it will help me understand both the SFWA community and writing itself.

The Nebula Awards Banquet

This will be a short post, because it's late.

The Nebulas have been amazing. I've met people who write for Analog magazine, and writers I've admired for years. I discovered that Sheila Williams from Asimov's knows my name (imagine my thrill of shock!). I got to chat with a movie writer/producer. I spoke to an agent about my book. I sat five feet away from Robert Silverberg at the banquet, and got to shake hands with Wil Wheaton.

It's been an exciting and emotional weekend.

I miss my beloved husband, and my two lovely children, very much.

I'll be going home tomorrow.

More soon...

A reminder to my readers...

...that I am leaving for the Nebula weekend tomorrow. I hope to be able to post from there, but if I seem a little distracted, that's why :-) .

I'm very excited, as this will be my first big SF/F function outside my immediate area.