The Trampoline reading at Quail Ridge was great last night, and was almost a mini-convention in itself. I arrived ten minutes early, and talked for a bit with Richard Butner, got re-introduced to Richard's enigmatic girlfriend Barbara Gilly, chatted with Gavin Grant, and received a big hug from Kelly Link. John Kessel ambled in a few minutes later, and the two Lisas after that (one Lisa was blonde and knew Richard from somewhere, and the other Lisa was brunette and was her friend). Lew Shiner (now with considerably shorter hair) stopped in to say hi.

There's something about being in the presence of such smart, funny, and important writers that makes me smarter, funnier, and more important by sheer proximity. I feel more alive around these people, ecstatic that I can someday be called their colleague. Neil Gaiman said something very similar about being in the presence of Jonathan Carroll (in his introduction to Carroll's website); there are people who excite you about literature, and of being within and of literature. You get the vibe from them that they are doing something important, and it charges you up just being near them.

The authors were introduced, and Kelly took on the job of talking about Richard and Dave Shaw a bit before they came up to the podium. Richard read from "Ash City Stomp" in a great dramatic way, doing the voices, making it funnier and more fun than just reading the words yourself. Then Kelly read from Ed Park's story "Well-Moistened with Cheap Wine, the Sailor and the Wayfarer Sing of Their Absent Sweethearts". She brought up Dave Shaw next (who was in her MFA class at UNCG), who first read from Samantha Hunt's "Famous Men", then from his own "King of Spain". It was very fun. If you get a chance to go to one of the readings on the Trampoline tour, I highly suggest it.

Afterward, I got Kelly, Richard and Dave to sign my ARC, then took a quick peek in the SF section. John Kessel bought his copy of the book, then came over and talked to me a little more, wanting to make sure he'd properly congratulated me on my engagement (which he had). We talked about classes starting in two weeks, and how anxious I was. He went down to get his book signed, and I left. Normally I might have hung around a bit to talk to Gavin a little more or try to get myself invited to where they were going after they were done, but I was exhausted from work yesterday, and just wanted to crash on the couch. When I got home, I read most of Lady Churchill's #9 (I've been reading them in reverse order, starting with #12), then went to bed, reading another chapter in Viriconium.

For a long time at the beginning of my writing career, I wanted to be an author just for the title. Doing the actual work of writing was secondary to the prestige of being known as a writer. Somewhere along the way, my priorities flipped, but I still smile when people react after I've told them I'm a writer. Most of the time they say things like, "Cool!" or "Wow, you must be so creative!" It is cool; I love doing what I do. It's almost always hard work, but it leaves you with such a wonderful payoff. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

I also wanted to mention how cool Jeff VanderMeer is. Not only does he create works of art with his prose and philosophy of books-as-artefact, but in the emails we've sent each other, I can also tell that he's just a really great human being. We made a book trade recently, in which he sent me a signed hardcover Night Shade edition of Veniss Underground, a signed copy of his unbelievably inventive chapbook The Exchange, Jeffrey Thomas's Punktown (which he published), and Time Gifts and The Fourth Circle by Zoran Zivkovic. All these unaccountably neat and out-of-print books, and he sent them to me with only the barest minimum of bargaining. Jeff is talking to the folks at Prime Books into allowing me a little space at their WFC table for my upcoming chapbook (for ~10% of the profit, which is fair). We've exchanged messages on the Night Shade board and his own journal. Yet again, I feel in the presence of greatness.

I'm not sure what the point of all this blabbing has been, other than there are times when it feels as if all the planets and stars have aligned, and I know I'm doing the thing I was meant to be doing. I'm a writer.

And one last thing, Dat wins! Yay!

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Now Reading:
Viriconium by M John Harrison

Stories Out to Publishers:
9

Books Read This Year:
27