I’m playing things fast and loose for the most part, but I also have two slightly-more-formal calendar items for those who enjoy both scheduling and things being read out loud.

Saturday, 2:00 PM, Mysterious Suite Location Yet to Be Revealed: Way of the Wizard Group Reading

I’ll be reading from my story “So Deep That the Bottom Could Not Be Seen.”

Saturday, 8:00 PM, Pacific 6/7: Reading – Genevieve Valentine

I’ll be reading from my story mumblemumblemumble. (I used most of my prep time on The Three Musketeers. I regret nothing…?)

The rest of the con will be spent drinking coffee, I expect, and trying to say hello to everyone I can find. See you there!

Sure, there are movies coming up (the mid-90s Beauty and the Phantom homage Rigoletto probably being first on the block, because a movie that disturbing must have been a DOOZY to see as a kid), but before you can blog a movie you have to screencap a mile in its shoes, etc., and somehow I haven’t been able to bring myself to go back and watch the whole movie again. I will! I just…need time. Time in which to test all my pens and throw out the ones that don’t work any more, and then arrange them by color in my pen holder I made from a mug, because I was too lazy to get a real pen holder, and let’s face it, the mug does a perfectly good job. (Before you judge, let me say, if you were sitting through a movie about how a questionable relationship with the close-talker at the top of the hill rockets a preteen to stardom just in time for somebody to be beaten to death only not really because of magical fairy tales about true love that apparently relate to said preteen, you would also be looking for excuses to do something else.)

However, even after all the pens have been tested, there are things left to do, which seems unthinkable, and yet.

First of all, things I am planning on leaving the house for in the near future:

Oct. 14-16: Capclave. I always have fun at this con, with the bonus of getting to see my DC-area family for a little while. (Part of my blog quietness is due to family time, and it’s always nice when the train to DC overlaps family and work.)

Oct. 29.5 – 30: World Fantasy. (This will also be immediately preceded by family time. In fact, as it turns out, I’ll be at the con a little over 36 hours; we’ll see how THAT goes! It will go with vats of coffee, I’m guessing.)

Second of all, things I would LIKE to leave the house for generally include walking the second leg of my trip to and from work, which is usually delightful at this time of year, but because of weather conditions has instead become a self-guided walking tour of a fetid swamp occasionally enhanced with bus fumes. I have continued to make the walk, but it’s so bad that commuters and early-morning joggers all eye each other back and forth as if determining whose fault the humidity is, or who’s more foolish for being out in it. (Joggers.) However, it’s still worth it to get the walk in, especially the morning shift, when there are long lines of judgey pigeons sitting along building ledges, just awake enough to glare at you but not really ready to begin their daily routine of harassing tourists.

Third of all, new fall TV is coming through, but I’m having a little Review Ennui, largely because I have yet to sit through any of the pilots I tried so far and think, “Season Pass!” Or even, in most cases, “I will watch the second half of this episode!” Have I just become a curmudgeon of epic proportions, or is this fall a little watery-gruel in terms of new TV? (This is even excluding obvious comedy gold like Unforgettable, whose tagline is, “She can do anything but forget,” and whose ads all feature her saying, “I can’t forget!” and/or “I remember!”)

I mean, I’m all for avoiding writing by watching TV (I’m all out of pens, I have to do something), but so far all that’s happened is actual writing, which is productive yet mildly disconcerting.

1. Alex Bledsoe was kind enough to ask me a few questions about Mechanique over at his blog, …from down in Lucky Town. I geek out around the point where he asks about the cover and interior art, both by the awesome Kiri Moth, and call out this piece of Elena as a particular favorite, because how could it not be? Check out the full interview for more of me nerding out.

2. And oh man, speaking of nerding out, I’m the guest at this week’s Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy!

Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine, developing the idea, researching circuses, the illustrations, parentheses, unpublished novels, short stories, movie costumes, bad movies, Jonah Hex, Sucker Punch, steampunk conventions, The Last Unicorn, Contact by Carl Sagan, Geek Wisdom, Catwoman.

This is basically what my mind looks like at all times, but it is also a list of the topics we covered during my interview!

They also talk amongst themselves, which I was down with until I saw on THEIR topic list that JJA walked out of Equilibrium AND they talk about Batman and Robin. Now, 1) I have questions about why Equilbrium was that bad – I mean, it was bad, but walk-out bad?, 2) I missed a chance to talk about the time my grandmother MADE ME walk out of a movie that is now one of my favorite SF movies I go to the mat for on a regular basis (Strange Days, baby!), and 3) Batman and Robin without me?! There goes any chance to play my favorite game, Complete Nonsense or Actual Line from Batman and Robin? (This game is amazing.)

Still, even without that game, it was a blast to record. Head over to io9 to give it a listen!

3. This has been another of those weeks where you look around and realize it’s already Thursday, you’re too afraid for David Strathairn to watch Alphas in case it’s awful, and your to-do list is so big that Gmail refuses to even open it any more.

The good news is, I’m going to Readercon tomorrow, so I can ignore that list all weekend, which is handy. I’m not on any programming, but I’ll be around!

I enjoyed myself, as usual at WisCon; as usual at WisCon, I only got to about 1/10th of the programming that I wanted to, and spoke to far fewer people than I meant to. At least this year I had the excuse of manning the Small Beer Press table at intervals, rather than my usual M.O. of completely forgetting things are happening until an hour after they’ve ended and I hear other people talking about them. And I got to have lovely chats with those who stopped by Small Beer, which, as it turns out, is a pretty handy way to catch people!

Thanks to all who came by the “…And Other Circuses” reading, which was a lot of fun, though when reading with Gwenda Bond, Christopher Rowe, and Richard Butner, that’s probably a given. Bonus: I got an Agatha Christie Mystery chair! (It’s the little things. Then again, only one of us stood up to read, so they’re clearly comfy.)

Special thanks to all who bought and/or asked me to sign their copies of Mechanique, which was surreal but flattering! Special apologies for my completely illegible handwriting. Just pretend it’s something pithy yet, at the same time, deeply touching.

The party circuit was fun, even for this introvert homebody. The Genderfloomp dance party’s maiden voyage was a blast (hat tip to Meg McCarron and Liz Gorinsky), and even though I retired early, I sat bolt upright around 3am with an idea for one of their background video accompaniments. That’s a good party. (Also, I have since completely forgotten the idea, but man, at 3AM, it was a WINNER.)

WisCon’s only downside: on the plane home, my ears decided not to depressurize for some reason, which has been interesting. Things are improving slowly, though I fly out again this weekend and am hoping it begins to improve a little faster. In the meantime, I’m sneezing with extreme care and just using my headphones as a way to deter casual conversation with strangers rather than as a music delivery device.

This week I’m catching up on notes from all the programming I never got to (it makes sense in my head), and then it’s back to writing. And getting into the swing of things, my story “Semiramis,” about the Svalbard Seed Vault and other casualties of war, is up now at Clarkesworld! (I have not yet listened to the audio version, available here for those so inclined, but Kate Baker is reading it, so I’m stoked.)

So, quickly. YES, I am coming to WisCon! I get in tomorrow, leave Monday, and can’t wait to see everyone I possibly can in the meantime.

I’m also doing a group reading! It’s Saturday at 4pm in Conference Room 2, which I am hoping is one of the ones with the wing chairs that make you look like you’re introducing an Agatha Christie mystery on Masterpiece Theatre.

I will be reading alongside Gwenda Bond, Christopher Rowe, and Richard Butner. And because at least 75% of the group has a circus-themed project already out or in the works, it’s called “…And Other Circuses.” (Did I make a dorky flier for it? Of course I did. It narrowly beat out the one where we pose for a hipster-band album cover, mostly because Richard Butner couldn’t bring his theremin.)

Tonight, dental work (I still don’t think this was the best plan I ever made). Tomorrow, WisCon!