I've been thinking about how to start this entry for ten minutes, because so much has gone on in the last few days. I finally got the ethernet connection working in my hotel room, and I had 113 emails waiting for me. I guess I'll start with Wednesday morning.

I woke up at 5 a.m. to get ready and pack up my last minute things for ICFA, then left at 6:10 with my dad for the airport. He dropped me off out front, I went in and got my tickets, then went through security and got to the gate, all in 20 minutes, which suprised the hell out of me. I thought I'd be stuck in security for an hour, but I went right through. The airport was very efficient. I had two hours to wait before my flight left, so I read Terri Windling's The Wood Wife until we boarded. The flight to Atlanta was bumpy and jerky and uncomfortable. I was in one of those Boeing 757s that feel like a tin can with wings. Luckily, it wasn't a long flight. In Atlanta, I had to go to another concourse, so I gathered my things and took the interior train to terminal T. I was only there for 15 minutes before we started boarding for the flight to Ft. Lauderdale. This flight was spot-on lovely; the plane was a 767, voluminous and comfortable, and the weather was smooth the whole way down. It couldn't have been better.

I got to the airport Hilton around 2:30 and checked in. The only room they had left that was non-smoking was a handicapped room, where the only difference is a bigger bathroom and metal handholds in the bathtub. I checked in with the conference, got my schedule stuff, and peeked in the book room. It's more organized than any dealer's room I've ever seen, and has the best selection of books. Almost all the hardcovers are around $5; I couldn't believe it. It's been hard restraining myself, mostly since I'm short on space in my suitcase, but today I did break down and get Jonathan Carroll's The Marriage of Sticks in hardcover, Jeff Vandermeer's Veniss Underground, and last year's Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.

So anyway, after checking out the book room, I came back upstairs and unpacked, set up my laptop. I watched TV for a bit, then did some rewriting on my novel, getting the first thirty pages ready to submit to the class next week. I got the first third done, then got out "The Old Switcheroo" to practice one more time before presenting it the next day. Since the time limit was 20 minutes per reading, I had to read faster than normal to get it all in. At 8:30, I went downstairs to the clubhouse for the Opening Reception. I got to see John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly, and got to meet some of my fellow academics. I also met Ellen Datlow, and talked for quite a while to Guest of Honor Charles de Lint. It was hot and muggy and I was dead tired, so I left around 10:30.

Woke up at 7 a.m. Thursday morning to leave enough time to shave and get all duded up in my navy blue suit. Paid too much for the breakfast buffet down in the restaurant, and made it up to the Gulfstar room five minutes early. The two ladies sharing the panel/paper reading (Christine Mains and Robin Anne Reid) arrived, and we were off. I was the first reader, and it went really well. My paper actually sparked some discussion at the end, which was kewl and unexpected. On a really good note, one of the ladies in the twelve-person audience came up to me afterward, introduced herself as Farah Mendlesohn, and invited me to submit a 4000-word paper to Foundation for an upcoming volume about London writers who write about London. I also got to meet a fellow Clarionoid, David Barr Kirtley, who went to Clarion with fellow journal-buddy Tim Pratt, and introduced me to a few other Clarionoids later.

Afterward, I ran upstairs and changed out of my suit into some more comfortable clothes. Next, was a reading with Ted Chiang; he read "Liking What You See". I introduced myself and told him how much I enjoyed "Story of Your Life". After that was the big GoH lunch with Charles de Lint. Lots of great food, and every person got two free books: Ghosts and Grisly Things in hardcover by Ramsey Campbell and The Fall of the Kings in trade paperback by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman. (And yes, from now on, I'll be doing a lot of name dropping, so get your brooms ready.) de Lint gave a great talk about writing and inspiration and why he writes what he does.

Next was back upstairs for a reading with John Kessel and Alex Irvine. John read "Under the Lunchbox Tree" (if I recall correctly), which will appear in an issue of Asimov's this summer, and Alex read "The Sands of Iwo Jima" from his Small Beer Press chapbook, Rosetti Song. At the reading I got to see Andy Duncan and his wife Sydney, Brett Cox, and Jeanne Beckwith. After the reading was a panel on Fandom and Academia, then dinner with Andy, Sydney, Brett, and Jeanne at the Rustic Inn Crabhouse. I was planning to work a little more on the novel when I got back, but ended up watching Vanilla Sky on Showtime. Then I talked to my friend Corey Brown who lives in West Palm Beach, hoping we could get together this weekend, but not being able to because of prior obligations. Then I called Janet and we talked for a while. Then I went to bed.

This morning was a reading with Kij Johnson (who read from Fudoki), Liz Hand (who read from Mortal Love, and a notably absent Caitlin R. Kiernan. Then I came back to my room and finished reading The Wood Wife. The luncheon today was the Guest Scholar's Luncheon (where everyone in the conference was invited) where S.T. Joshi read "Establishing the Canon of Weird Fiction". Again, great food and free books, this time volume 87 of Foundation (the journal I got invited to submit to), and the hardcover of New Arrivals, Old Encounters by Brian Aldiss.

After lunch, I bought the aforementioned books in the book room, then went to the Interstitial Arts Roundtable, which was the most stimulating and exciting panel I've been to yet here. On the panel were Terri Windling, Dora Goss, and Delia Sherman, and in the audience were Greg Frost, David Hartwell, Jim Kelly, Alex Irvine, Andy Duncan, John Clute, Charles de Lint, and MaryAnn Harris, and those were only the people I recognized. They talked about the Interstitial Arts Movement and all the various fields which it encompasses; slipstream was the biggest example of literary style exemplified by IA. When it was over, I got Terri Windling to sign my copy of The Wood Wife, and she has perhaps the best penmanship I have ever seen. I also told her how much I looked forward to more of her writing, and she said that she did too.

Then I came upstairs to work some more on my novel, and ended up writing this journal entry. Tonight is a special reading by Ramsey Campbell, a musical performance by Charles de Lint and MaryAnn Harris, and a conference party up on the top floor. More to come after I get home.

I am having so much fun.

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Now Reading:
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Stories Out to Publishers:
13

Stories Sold This Year:
3

Novel Word Count:
2900