catherineldf | Entries tagged with st. cloud pride

Because it's been a big week. Inevitably, I got back from my lovely writing retreat last week and promptly got sick. Then I got sicker. I did cancel on the Quatrefoil Library reading I was supposed to do on Friday, but stupidly did not just take a sick day (my day job's sick day sitch is kind of crappy so I generally work from home unless things are really bad. Reader, they were working up to really bad). Anyway, planted my feverish coughing butt at a computer all day, went to be early, then got up at the crack of dawn to drive to St. Cloud for St. Cloud Pride.

Then, the fun began. My assistant, Alexa, and I got the tent set up with help from some very nice vendors and Pride volunteers (St. Cloud Pride has the nicest volunteers and attendees) and I, because I am prone to over preparing, had checked the forecast and we had extra water and munchies and all kind of waterproof stuff (tarp, table plastic, waterproof book boxes, etc.). For the books and electronics, not so much for us. The first rainshower was pretty rough and we got soaked, but managed to keep everything else dry. Then, bunches of people came by despite the mud and the rain and we started selling books. We had a pretty great time until about 40 minutes before we were scheduled to pack up. I said the fatal words, "I'll just run a few small things back to the car," when we got a massive rainstorm, lightning, a tornado warning and the parking lot flooded. People helped us again and one teenager who had stopped by earlier came racing through the storm to announce that she had to have a copy of Unfinished Business. :-D

At any rate, we survived. I had to wade through a foot of water to get my car to higher ground but none of the books got damaged and we got out in one piece. And despite the storms and the various kinds of craziness, we had a nice time and sales were good. Alexa allowed as she would do it again so I figured there was a win there. I did get to drive home with all the windows open because the wet tent, tarp and so forth were piled in the back of the car and the tent just finished drying in the garage, so good times.

Then, the next day, instead of resting, I went to breakfast with a writer pal. Then went back home and noticed that I was feeling a bit poorly so I popped some cold meds and went off to St. Paul for the 20th Century Design Fair and errands with my buddy. Had a fine time, found stuff we needed, came home, did some things, went to be early. Went to work on Monday, lasted around 5 hours, left with a fever. Laid down for "a little nap" and slept for 3 hours. I do not nap, so this is a bad sign. Got up this morning, recognized I was quite ill and had to voice and laid around with cats watching Dragonwyck, which is an utterly glorious Gothic film and reading about the making of Crimson Peak (research! Research for teaching!). I'm somewhat better and going to bed early. Fingers crossed. I'm going to see "Bone Mother" at TMORA on Thursday night and I've got an event this Saturday at Bingley's Teas with Mike Merriam and I will be healthy for these things, dammit.

I leave you with the back cover of the lovely new Fireside Quarterly, available in October, featuring my new lesbian ghost story, "Lost Girl." This is the last issue that Hugo Award Finalist Julia Rios will be editing for the time being, so I'm very excited to be in it!

I spent weekend before last in Washington, D.C., hanging out with friends, going to museums and doing a reading at Outwrite. This post has taken me forever. Too much going on! So D.C. was fun - I got to see an old friend who I haven’t seen in forever, got to spend time with Rob and Peter (my hosts) and go museuming. I made it to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument, the Library of Congress and the Folger Shakespeare Library and had a fine time at each one. I now have a suffragist sash for my steampunk costumes, along with other cool things.

After that, I went to meet an old friend for dinner. Jennifer and I grew up together, but between one thing and another, haven't seen each for over 25 years. It made for a long and interesting reunion (and some fraught memories), but ultimately, it was great to reconnect.

Saturday was off to the convention. I went to a reading, spent some time with friends and ate a fab lunch at Poets & Busboys with Craig Laurence Gidney, Bob Angell and Rob Gates, with a bonus meetup with Bryan Thao Worra (in town for the Smithsonian's Asian American Writer's Lit Festival). Then it was back to the conference to meet up with more people, then the Queering the Grotesque Reading, which was well attended. Heard some good stuff (and possibly freaked a few people out reading my Victorian-style ghost story, "A Touch of Crimson"). After that, I headed back to Rob and Peter's for a dinner party and more chatting. Sunday was brunch and heading home.

Since then, I've gotten persuaded to go back to St. Cloud Pride on 9/21 (the day after a reading at Quatrefoil Library), put Unfinished Business up for preorder on Kobo, Smashwords and ITunes, gone to see Shaw and Hobbes (entertaining) and gone back to see "Hearts of Our People" at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Also worked on stuff, lots of stuff. Now to finish some of it.

Still getting caught up, so here we go. Things to not do before an author event: do not put ear drops in your eyes. For real and serious. Ow. So much ow. Anyway, was groggy and grabbed the wrong bottle, so much flushing of left eyeball ensued. But then I had to leave to drive up to St. Cloud (about an hour and a half away). My eye swelled and burned and seeped, so this was all kinds of fun, but the drive was otherwise uneventful. I got to the hotel, checked in and unpacked the car, then met Rachel for lunch.

We took a brief tour, then went to the Great River Library, which is surprisingly big and new (it is a multi-town effort). We had already gotten a nice write-up in the St. Cloud Times and the library had a good plug up in their "What's Happening at the Library" display. However, 4PM on Friday is not the most hopping time slot so we drew a small (10-12) person crowd. They were quite enthusiastic though, which helped. We read and did our on the road schtick and it was well-received. Flaming Eyeball of Doom did not help, however, so I was happy to wrap up and head back to the hotel. Rachel had been traveling for a couple of weeks so she decided to drive home for the night while stayed at the hotel.

Next day, Flaming Eyeball of Doom looked and felt more like Allergy Eyeball, which was a giant improvement. Rachel and I met for breakfast, then headed to Pride in the Park. We loaded in and set up the tent I borrowed from my buddy Kevin, with some help from other vendors and a minor injury to my hand (metal retractable banner snap-back is less fun than you'd think). We helped out one or two other folks and settled in. Folks stopped by with great regularity, bought books and picked up cards and chatted. Also, it was hot. Then it was blisteringly hot. Rachel had to go sit in her car with the A/C on for a bit. I drank a lot of water. It got hotter. I went and sat in my car for a bit. We still both got heat exhaustion. Blergh. But overall, it was a good tabling experience and a nice, friendly event. Would go again, minus the eardop thing.

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