Weekus Interruptus

That's what my week feels like so far. I "tele-experimented" from home last Friday and this Monday, but they didn't work out as well as we would have liked. So I repeated one of the experiments at home today. Friday is a vacation day so Eugene and I can go to a wedding in Michigan. I do have to go in tomorrow, and I'm sure it'll be a busy day.

Thought for the day: what makes people want to join/participate in groups, particularly in professional organizations? I'm on the Membership Committee for Broad Universe, which promotes women writers of SF, fantasy, and horror. We're trying to brainstorm ideas to increase membership. (If any of my writer-readers are interested in learning more about BU, please let me know.) Obviously we need to target the places where writers can be found, such as cons, bookstores, and libraries. But we also have to convince them that it would benefit them to join. I can speak from experience; I sold my short story because I learned about a dragon anthology from the BU mailing list. Of course, I'm still next-to-nothing on the SF totem pole, so I doubt my testimonial will offer much. Perhaps part of the answer ties in with Sara's recent blog about marketing : direct personal interaction might be the best way to go. So far, the best places for BU to interact directly with other writers have been at cons. They have a info table, readings, and occasionally parties. It would be nice if we could think of other venues for these events.

Writing: I finished critting Sue's latest chapter and finished editing Chapters Two and Three of Lennon's Line. Sue, of course, is way ahead of me as she reads it, but that's a good thing. Thanks for taking the time to reread the whole book, Sue; I appreciate it. I think for the rest of the night I'll stare at a different story and see if I can make some progress with it.