It was a lovely convention. Delighted to see that there’s going to be another one in 2004; we’ll be there to wrangle the writers’ workshop again.
Meanwhile, home life has reasserted itself after a brief visit up North to see Peter’s mum. The cats came back from the kennel in good shape. There was at that point no particular improvement in Mr. Squeak’s attitude toward Beemer, since they’d been kept apart; Beems’s vaccinations hadn’t yet taken full effect, and Mary the Cat Lady felt Beemer should be kept isolated just as a precaution. But after a couple weeks at home, matters seem to be stabilizing. Squeak now only hisses at her in a rather perfunctory manner, and (more indicative of his mood) he’s not boycotting the house any more: he’s coming back inside to sleep again, which he wasn’t doing while he was still really pissed at her. Beemer and Goodman, on the other hand, spend at least an hour a day chasing each other around on the lawn. Right now Beemer was just up on the kitchen table, on a pile of laundry, throttling Goodman and biting his throat, while he lay there trying to sleep through it. Memorable.
Work continues on finishing the last Rihannsu book; outlining’s also going on on Wizard’s Holiday. Busy, busy.
In the meantime, some minor hardware/software geekery is going on. Ryoh-ohki has been getting a little temperamental as regards communications. Her comm port assignments are screwed up, due to a series of events too weird and complicated to describe here (in short, a great deal of installing / deinstalling / reinstalling of various modem drivers): and since a couple of weeks’ effort haven’t gotten them unscrewed, I’m going to back up her data and do an install-over of XP Pro. Presently waiting for the software to arrive from Amazon. With the signing tour coming up, this issue needs to be resolved within the next couple of weeks. At least the flights, hotels, etc., are now all sorted out.
Brief bemusement: on the printed confirmations for the signings at the two Barnes & Noble branches, there’s this strange notation: “Loss Prevention Ranking: C.” Just what is it that they’re afraid to lose? Books? The author? And if so, does C mean the author is less likely to run away in the middle of a signing, or more? Another of life’s little mysteries…