Friday, July 18, 2008

Updating the Updates

Sorry I haven't had more substantial posts the past few days but I've been really busy with a couple of things, mostly getting ready for the Babel Con convention, and trying to set up a PayPal account so I can get paid by one particular market that's located in Canada. They were happy to send me a check but my damn American bank won't cash it. Sigh!

I had a haiku accepted by Paper Wasp, an Australian magazine. I also joined a group called Goodreads, which a couple of my writer friends have pointed me toward. It's a place to share book recommendations and talk about books, something I love to do. I've actually spent quite a bit of time there the past couple of days adding books and friends.

In Babel Con news, I'm down to giving two presentations now, on Alien Evolution and the Psychology of Fear. The Dream presentation will be next year. I've also been put on a new panel, on Speculative Poetry, which I'm interested in. I'm glad not to give three presentations. They can be time consuming, and they sure cut into your ability to just relax and "Grok" the con. It's coming up tomorrow so I probably won't post again or be able to visit many blogs until Monday.

Until then, may the farce be with you.

31 comments:

chris said...

Paypal, you will get your money, but learning how to navigate their site,what a pain.

Good luck this weekend with the Psychology of fear, watch out they are everywhere.

The Farce is always with me, I work for Uncle Sam.

BernardL said...

Thanks, Charles, for the 'Stranger in a Strange Land' reference. It made my morning. :)

Lana Gramlich said...

Congrats on the haiku, baby!

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

That's very cool! I hope you have a great conference! I wish I were there. Those sound like fun topics.

Shauna Roberts said...

Congratulations on getting your poem published, and have lots of fun at the convention.

Sarai said...

Congrats! Have fun and enjoy.
Hey I'll look ya up on goodreads I'm a big fan of theirs *g*

Lisa said...

Congratulations on the haiku! Ooh, and be my friend on Goodreads!

Heff said...

Have fun, and enjoy some speculative drinking in your down time.

Unknown said...

It sounds like you're verry busy!!
Paypal is pretty good - I have an account here in France. But you get a lot of scam mail from fake Paypals. Annoying.
And Bravo for the Haiku! Very cool!
Have fun at the con!!!!!

Sam

laughingwolf said...

lol... have fun there with lana, charles... farce indeed ;)

grats on getting published in oz

thx for the links, too... will check em out....

JR's Thumbprints said...

I think I'd like to hear your presentation on the Psychology of Fear. Unfortunately, I'm too far away. Perhaps a future blog post will do.

Steve Malley said...

My old bank would take the deposit, but they wouldn't release the funds until they'd sat on them for 90 days.

B**t**ds.

Charles Gramlich said...

Chris, yeah, I've already had some hassle with it, but I want to get it set up. You didn't have any trouble with "verifying" your account did you? It scares me a bit.

Bernardl, I grok you my friend.

Lana, tankee sweetness. Missed you today.

Ello, I'm gonna try to have fun with 'em.

Shauna, thanks. See you on Goodreads. Thanks for rating my books there. I appreciate it.

Sarai, see you on Goodreads.

Lisa, you are now my friend on Goodreads. yeah.

Heff, the after parties at the cons are usually quite alcoholic.

Sam, glad to hear PayPal is OK. I've gotten some of those spam things. Very irritating.

Laughingwolf, will do.

JR, I'll post some on it next week.

Steve Malley, it's a major pain. They actualy first cashed the check, then I got a call saying oh no we are taking money out of your account to cover it because we can't cash it. WTF.

Barrie said...

Oh yes, two presentations seem like enough. :)

Sarah Hina said...

Wow, you are busy. I, along with JR, would love to hear more about the psychology of fear.

And congrats on the haiku! They're so fun to write. :)

Travis Cody said...

I enjoy browsing on Good Reads.

Congratulations on the haiku!

Barbara Martin said...

I hope your conference goes well. I just finished reading the article in the Illuminata -- excellent advice for writers to craft a good story.

Charles Gramlich said...

Barrie, I'll probably be tired by the end of the day.

Sarah Hina, I may have an announcement in a day or so about a possible haiku chapbook. I do enjoy them, and like to write fantasy and horror haiku as well.

Travis, I'm having a lot of fun on Goodreads so far.

Barbara Martin, thanks. I'm glad you found it helpful.

Greg said...

congrats on the haiku! paper wasp is a great magazine.

good luck with the presentations. the psychology of fear sounds interesting.

X. Dell said...

I'd really be interested in the psychology of fear lecture. Any chance of posting that one on YouTube?

writtenwyrdd said...

What was that you said to me on my blog recently? Get thee behind me Satan? Well, right back atchya Charles for telling me about Goodreads. I really need another way to waste time and avoid writing. Some of us aren't as capable of time management as you. I wasted a whole hour over there today. :)

Charles Gramlich said...

Greg Schwartz, thanks. Hey, I may have an interesting haiku related announcement by Sunday evening. Keep your fingers crossed.

X-Dell, I don't know that anyone is going to be videoing it, but I will post some stuff about it on my blog next week. I actually posted some bits of it a long time back so at the least I'll repost those.

Writtenwyrd, uh oh, what comes around goes around, I guess. Yes, I spent a bunch of time at Goodreads the last couple of days myself. It's kind of addicting. I have someone else to blame for turning me on to it, though, so ultimately it's there fault. ;)

the walking man said...

Be our True Witness at BabelCon eh?

Donnetta said...

Hi, Charles: Sounds like you're busy as usual. Good luck with the presentations and enjoy the convention as much as you can. Great news on the poem, too!
Donnetta

Erik Donald France said...

SO cool! Happy Grokking.

So, will Canada in turn start refusing US money because our banks SUCK?

It's odd living on the border with Canada. You'd think we were in a state of war -- with Canada.

Paypal is handy once you get the ball rolling, I suppose.

Junosmom said...

Ok - second time I've heard today about GoodReads. Must be worth checking out.

Congrats on the haiku!
Lots of material here to read for days since I'm new to your blog.

Mary Witzl said...

The farce is always with me too, what with raising teenagers. Just keeping track of their socks is a full-time job.

Speculative poetry? Now you've got ME speculating. I always discover these things way after everyone else does...

Charles Gramlich said...

Mark, so far so Good. Saturday went well.

Donnetta, thanks, I had a lot of fun yesterday.

Erik, I know, it's ridiculous how the banks act.

Junosmom, thanks for stopping by. I will get over to your blog as soon as the con is over.

Mary Witzl, speculative poetry is kind of cover name these days for SF/Fantasy/horror/surrealism and various experimental forms.

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Charles:

Congrats on the haiku and thanks very much for pointing to paper wasp. I've linked 'em up on Issa's Untidy Hut.

Have a great con ...

best,
Don @ Lillie

LoveRundle said...

I'm so excited for you! I wish I lived closer or at least had a chance to go to the Babel Con. I'd really want to hear both presentations. I want to write an Alien theme novel and also because my stories are on the dark side, I'd like to know about the "Psychology of Fear." Can't wait to hear how that goes for you.

Charles Gramlich said...

Issa's Untidy Hut, thanks. Yes, it looks like Paper Wasp is a very fine magazine.

Christina, report is up now but I'll have pieces from the presentations later this week. Some exciting stuff going on.