Bill Leisner

This afternoon, I visited the nearby Barnes & Noble, to see what was new.

David "infinitydog" Mack's The Calling is out, and after I got to it, faced out on the shelf.

Sandra "affinity8" McDonald's The Stars Blue Yonder is not yet out, but I fully intend to give it the same treatment when I do spot it.

(Interestingly, though it would seem both writer friends chose somewhat similar screennames, the words "infinity" and "affinity" actually have different Latin root words (fini and affinitas, respectively). Well, *I* thought it was interesting...)

And I had the special little thrill of witnessing a teenage girl approach the SF section, snap up a copy of Losing the Peace, then show it (along with something else) to her mother, letting her know what she intended to buy. I said nothing, of course, though I may have had a goofy grin on my face from the way the girl looked at me. (Or maybe it was just the fact that a creepy old guy was staring at her.)

Some people you can tell, "Here's a dollar, go buy yourself a clue."

Others, you need to take by the hand, bring them to the clue store, lead them to the checkout, put the dollar in their hand and then make them give it to the cashier... and they still don't fucking get it.

*headshake*

One more weird/cool thing that happened while in Baltimore:

One of the nice things about Shore Leave and the Marriott Hunt Valley is that, two blocks away, there's a Wegman's superstore. Wegman's, for those who have never been, is a supermarket chain based in my hometown of Rochester, and their superstores have, among other things, has just about the best sub shop ever. So, on my way to the light rail station and the airport, I stopped there for lunch. I get my sub and drink, go to the checkout, and cashier asks if I have their discount card so I can get 50 cents off my sandwich. I don't, of course... but the woman behind me does, and offers to swipe her card on my purchase. I thank her, and say jokingly, "When you're in Minneapolis, I'll return the favor." She laughs and says, "Great, except there are no Wegman's in Minneapolis. I was so glad when they came to Baltimore, because they used to be all over where I grew up."

Turns out that not only is she also from Rochester, but she grew up in the same suburb, only about five miles away from the Leisner abode! (Though she did her growing up a decade before I did.)

Nothing against the local grocery stores in the Twin Cities... but you'll never see a couple of strangers instantly bond like that over the Byerly's shopping experience, no way...

As stated previously and elsewhere, I think I have to say that, in five years of attending, this was the best Shore Leave in my experience. I think a large part of that has to do with the fact that I have not felt very social the past few months since being laid off, and being around so many friends was just the medicine I needed.

Of course, having one's name on the hot current Trek release certainly helps, too. Not only did the morning start with the thrill of seeing Losing the Peace on the New Releases wall at the MSP airport bookshop (yes, I'm easily thrilled), but the moment I walked into the lobby, Dave Mack gives me his hand and says, "Congratulations!" and tells me that, on his drive down with editor Margaret Clark, she told him my book was selling very well. It wasn't until that evening, at the Pocket Books presentation, that she told me -- and the rest of the Twittering world -- that LtP had reached Barnes & Noble's Top Ten Mass Market list, the first time a Trek book has done so in ten years. I needed to ask, from my seat in the audience, "Which book?" to be sure of what she had in fact said. And even now, I'm only 96% sure I heard correctly.

I signed something like 15-20 books during Meet the Pros, and made my beer money by selling one of my copies of SNW II. I signed not quite 10 copies during the 90 minutes I sat at the Borders table Saturday morning, and signed 8-10 more for them to take back to the store, and/or strip the covers off of. (Okay, maybe closer to 95% sure.)

There were two panels which I had suggested. The "Writing to Music" panel was everything I hoped it would be, with a good variety of different perspectives and some interesting conversation. The other, "Old School versus New School", got away from me, in part because I never quite got a good handle on exactly what I wanted from the panel, and in part because my Old Schoolers have many Old School stories, with which they are used to filling entire convention hours. But, better to have an hour filled than to finish the presentation in 30 minutes and have to beg for questions.

I got to spend some good quality time with Isla J. Bick, who I'd last seen at the con 4 years earlier; Marco Palmieri, sharing talk of story ideas and the current job market; Jim and Andi Johnson, talking about good-but-scary-looking barbeque joints among other things; got to better know Aaron Rosenberg, Rigel Ailur, and Dave Galanter; and hung out with about half the cool people who read this blog. (Oh, and Pearson was there, too, but now that we're proven we can cross the Mississippi whenever we wish, the pressure to seek each other out in Baltimore has been alleviated.)

Highlight of the weekend was The Roast of Keith DeCandido, which impressed me about six different ways. I was seriously frightened that this would denigrate into something ugly and be the cause of shattered friendships, but the entire dais, as well as KRAD, pulled it off with class. Or as much class as you can have while repeatedly calling someone a no-talent douche.

Memorable quotes of the weekend:
"You're welcome!"
"Too soon?"
... and of course...
"Fuck him! Fuck him right in the face!"

The first two, you had to be there. The third, I think, speaks quite well for itself.

So, I am back in the Twin Cities after what was a greatly needed weekend with friends at Shore Leave in Baltimore. I will probably write a long-ass post about it sometime over the course of tomorrow, but for now I'll just say that, despite the depressed attendance, this was probably the best experience I've had in the five(?) years I've attended this con.

In about 12 hours time, I shall be heading off to the airport, and thence to Baltimore, MD and Shore Leave 31. For those I won't see there, try not to miss me too much. For those I will see there, try not to show how much you would have preferred to miss me.

Does anyone still visit here?

Two more days 'til Shore Leave!! Whee!! If you're going to be there (or even if you're not, in which case, why would you even care?) this is where I'll be:

Friday:
10pm-?: Meet the Pros: Yes, come meet me! More importantly, come buy a copy of my book! Oh, and some other authors might be there, too.

Saturday:
1-2pm: Writing for Novels vs. Anthologies, with Rigel Ailur, Aaron Rosenberg. SPOILER: Novels beat anthologies with a buzzer-beating shot.

5-6pm: Old School vs. New School: Changes in Tie-In Writing, with Ann Crispin, Howard Weinstein Peter David, Christopher Bennett, Steve Mollmann, Aaron Rosenberg. Did you know Trek tie-ins used to be written on cave walls with bison blood? Whereas today, they are available in pill form? Learn even more about the way things have changed at this panel.

Sunday:
10-11am: Parallel/Alternate Timelines in Fiction, with Geoff Trowbridge, Steve Mollmann, Scott Pearson. About those fictional stories that didn't happen.

11-12n: Writing to Music: The Muse That Inspires, with Keith R. A. DeCandido, David Mack, James Johnson, Scott Pearson, Greg Cox, Allyn Gibson. Join us as the Star Trek Writers' Chorus sing selections from our first CD, For the World is Hollow And I Have Hit the High C.

1-2pm: Post Destiny: Now What Does the Federation Do? with Margaret Clark, David Mack, Christopher Bennett, Dayton Ward. This is actually the last panel of the weekend for all participants, so don't expect any strict adherence to topic.

For those I will see there, I'm looking forward to seeing you!

An LJ post earlier today by Laura Anne Gilman (suricattus) has, I think, put a finger on one of the major problems (if not the major problem) I'm having with this story:

I don't care about my characters.

More to the point, I don't know them well enough to care for them. This story is very much plot-centric. I have a lot of real cool ideas about historical events and historical figures and putting this fantasy twist on them... but my main viewpoint character is just a blank slate at this point. Hell, I think I changed his name 3 or 4 times now, because he can't even leave that much of an impression on me as his creator.

Having identified this, I think I now have to change how I approach writing. So far, I've been writing the framing part of the story, where my character is a tired and beaten man in his middle age, who then has cause to reflect back on events from 26 years earlier, when he was in his 20s and still full of piss and vinegar. I think I'll have a better chance of getting to know him if I tackle this chronologically, starting with the main story and then the framing segment.

Sounds like a plan. We'll see if it works like one.

I am a sloth. That's all the excuse I have.

I did, in fact, take my trusty legal pad out to the park on Friday, and managed to fill half a page -- maybe 300 words or so. I haven't, however, brought myself to pull the pad out of my bag and type those words into my manuscript. I really wish I could at least put a name to this whatever-it-is throwing up these mental roadblocks.

So how are you doing?

Found another positive review of Losing the Peace from "GeekSpeaker" at GeekSpeakBlog.com. The money quotes:

[The author] gives us pure, character driven drama that stands up right alongside the action filled previous books in the series. [...] William Leisner has continued the compelling storylines setup over the last two years of the Star Trek book line and is a fine addition to the ranks of great Star Trek authors. Losing the Peace is not a nail biter, but it’s definitely a page turner[...]

And, in the interest of keeping my ego in check, I should also link Brendan Moody's (brendan_moody) comments, complaints and annoyances about the novel. Gotta keep things in perspective here.

Let's take a quick trip in the Wayback Machine, shall we, kids, back to November 6, 2008:

Coleman urged Franken to waive his right to a recount, saying that the prospect of changing the result was remote and that a recount would be costly to taxpayers (about $86,000).

Coleman not only cost the citizens of Minnesota far more than the $86K of the legally-mandated recount with his multiple, sometimes contradictory court challenges, but also cost us our equal representation in the United States Senate for no reason other than to stroke his own ego, and to appease his masters running the Republican Party.

I'm not a real fan of Al Franken. The couple of times I've encountered him at book signings, he's never struck me as very personable, and while I believe he's reasonably bright guy, I don't know that political comedian is really a good prerequisite for politician.

But Norm Coleman, in six and a half years, has proven himself nothing more than an opportunistic set of nice white teeth. So, I wish Franken success in proving himself in the political arena.

Just finished up the interview at BlogTalkRadio, and since they gave out the address for the ol' blog here, I figured I out to put out the welcome mat, on the off chance anyone decided to stop by.

So... welcome! Pull up a chair, help yourself to to a beverage, say hi or whatever else might be on your mind.

... and for anyone interested in the original short story I had mentioned during the show, you can find that in this entry.

UPS just delivered a box of books! My books!! With my name on the cover, and filled with my words!! They have mass and dimension and everything you would expect from a real object!!

*squeeeeee!!*


Sorry. I'll stop now.

Amazon is now showing Losing the Peace as in stock, and the first civilian buyer has reported finding the book and reading it in one day.

So, keep your eyes up at your local bookseller. If you don't see it out, ask the sales staff to check the backroom. If they check the backroom and come back with nothing, ask someone else to check the backroom. If you still can't get the book, start shouting about suppression of thought, then leave a Trek!Fail post on as many internet sites as you can think of.

Or, just check back the next time you're in.

Maybe it's just me, but I find myself a bit weirded out to discover that Meg Ryan, who did all those romantic comedies with Tom Hanks, was recently in a direct-to-DVD film in which she played the mother of Colin Hanks, Tom's adult son.

Well, I wrote right around 700 words today. A lot of it being clunky infodumpage that will surely be subjected to colored pencil when the day comes to review and revise comes. But it's 700 more words than I had this morning.

Oh, and a belated Happy SF Writers' Day to all!

Ed McMahon has passed away at age 86.

I wonder if Johnny will do the introduction as he comes in through the Pearly Gates?

I have finally finished this scene that has been like an impacted molar in the jaw of my story. I'm not terribly happy with the scene, but I do still think it's part of a cool story.

4532 words down, about 95,468 to go.

One of the "rules" of writing that I have the most trouble with is, you need to give yourself permission to write badly. A first draft is a just first draft, and does not have to be perfect. This is why I've been stalled for close to a month on my WIP. I second-guess myself, or else I spend my writing time flipping to Wikipedia or Google, trying to figure out how long the Holland Tunnel is, or when chain-link fencing first came into use, or other minor factoids that aren't so important that I have to break my stride. Bad writer.

Now, I jut need to remember this, and put it into practice.