betwixting

Blogging once again from the ferry, in Active Pass just now. On my way to the Kingdom Arts & Sciences & Bardic Championships, in the Interior of BC this year. I'm sitting in the buffet section, watching thickly-forested islands rumble by while I sip coffee (with whipped cream) and nibble on cheesecake and florentine biscuits.
Some days I can taste everything intensely, so I'm taking advantage of that while it lasts.

So, let's catch up. Writey stuff first. I finally got Dread Synopsis 2.2, the tighter, leaner, yet historically expansive! outline off to my agent.
"Thank you, this synopsis looks really great. I think you've found a manageable middle ground between "small genre story" and "overwhelming historical epic"! 

We'll be talking on the phone in a few days, to discuss the characters' emotional arcs which I sort of scanted in covering the events.
If that's sorted out satisfactorily, I just have to write about 75k to finish the first draft. A mere bag of shells, as a friend of  mine says.

And my story is among the 9 finalists in the Friends of Merril Short Story Contest. I'm not naming the story, or linking to the contest at present, because there's another round of judging to go. We'll see what happens in a month. However, congrats to Colleen Anderson, another finalist, and best of luck to her!
No word yet on whether there will be a cage match for the last round.

Semi-writey, I was off last weekend to Seattle for Potlatch 21, and to visit with my friend Lynne. I went to panels on 'collapse novels' and 'librarians'--the book of honour was Canticle for Leibowitz--and chatted with people in the dealers room and hospitality. Somehow I acquired books, which I had meant not to do, but when a collection of ghost stories by L.M. Boston falls in my path, what am I to do?
Now I've learned about FogCon, which sounds awfully tempting, but not a lot of lead time to decide.
Lynne and I went for dinner to a Greek restaurant adjoining a bookstore, where I was only saved from further acquisitions by their system not accepting my Canadian debit card because it had no expiry date.
No, I don't get it either, but it means it's still my turn to buy dinner (just as it is for me for Nikki, but for different reasons).

And entirely non-writey, I've started weight training, 3 times a week in the mornings, with MC to make sure I do it right. Thirty-plus years I've worked at the uni, and only now do I take advantage of my free gym access for anything more than showers. I've always been a bit of a slow starter.