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I'm home from the 2011 Nebula Awards banquet, where I witnessed Connie Willis win the best novel award for Black Out and All Clear which despite being published as two separate volumes is a really-o truly-o single novel, introduced Michael Dirda who gave speech that was not only extremely good but only 17 minutes long, God bless him!, and triumphantly failed to humiliate myself in my first time ever appearance as a toastmaster. And you thought Aubrey Darger was a pessimist!
You can find the complete list of winners (and nominees) here.
And because I like you . . .
Here's a video about the glamorous writing life, courtesy of Lou Anders who was told about it by Mike Resnick. Believe me, Parnell Hall's experience is not atypical. I once went to a signing by Samuel R. Delany, then at the very peak of his popularity, which had exactly five people attending, including me and a used book dealer who was there to get his stock autographed.
Enjoy.
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I find that if I sign at a convention, or a science fiction bookstore in the worst section of town, I can get a line that'll keep me busy for more than an hour. But if I sign at a superstore, a Barnes or Borders, even if they advertise in print and on radio, I'll sign about 3 books an hour and feel like an idiot sitting there alone.
ReplyDeleteOn those rare occasions when I teach, I always tell the gonnabe writers to go to lots of readings and signings by writers they know are good . . . So that when it happens to them, they don't slit their wrists.
ReplyDeleteSome of them have later told told me that it was the most useful advice they ever received.