Yesterday, I finally managed to finish my third middle-reader/YA novel, The Sleepers! At first draft, it is 53,000 words, or thereabouts. Right now, I'm pretty pleased with it. Finishing a novel is a great experience, all warm glows and satisfied feelings of contentment, which I'm going to enjoy for as long as can before I have to revise it.

My first novel is still doing the rounds of the publishers, courtesy of my incredibly efficient agent. No bites yet, but it's early days. One thing you notice when you've got an agent (or at least a good agent) is how quickly editors respond. It's almost frightening. And they seem to read the whole manuscript.

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We had a good time a Eastercon this weekend. It was the first British convention we've been to. We met some nice people, bought lots of books and went to a few interesting panels. Eastercon, though, had a strange feeling to it. It was as though we had turned up on the last day of something larger and better, when most people had slipped away. The programme was sparse. Many fans didn't go any panel events at all, prefering to hang around with old friends. Are we hearing the slow drumbeat of the last days of British fandom? Should we care?

There were no bids for Eastercon in 2007. Next year may be the last. Again, should we care?

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An example of how to deport yourself at a convention if you want it to do business for you: The nicest and most intelligent writer that we met was Geoff Ryman. He was pleasant, approachable, reasonable, and just plain nice. I've never read any of his books before, but after the con, I'm determined to hunt some down and read them.

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Steph's wonderful story, "Some Girlfriends Can", received an honourable mention in the Strange Horizons readers' poll. And quite rightly. It's a great story. If you haven't read it already, go and do so!