In an interview, when someone asked Lady Gaga what went through her mind the first time she heard her music on the radio, she said, “It’s about time.” This is much the way I feel about my first book sale.

Amidst the congratulations of friends and family, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed selling to a small press instead of a Harper Collins imprint. I’m not upset about the money or the fame, and I feel that the managing editor of my company is more accessible than Rupert Murdoch. Still, I don’t feel like I have taken a giant leap forward in my writing career. Rather, I feel like I have taken a small step.

On the other hand, maybe I’m being selfish in my disappointment. Sure, I don’t have a New York agent and $100,000, but I have a good editor who gets what I’m trying to do. I even got to give input on my cover art. And, unlike those going the self-publishing route, they’re paying me. Do I really have a right to feel down because I’m at a company that turns down 80% of their slush instead of 99%?

I suppose I have to remind myself that ultimately, the decision was mine. I do believe in the power and importance of small press, and in the digital age, I think they’re going to be more important than ever. I could have spent four more years honing my art and hoping to take things to the next level, and maybe I would, one day, see my work in print at a large house. But this way, I will have some nicely bound copies of my book and the chance to try my luck in the Kindle and Nook stores.

So what if a few dozen agents thought that either I wasn’t ready for the world or the world wasn’t ready for me? Maybe it’s time to let the world decide. If nothing else, I’m going to have an advance that will buy me a nice bottle of wine.

I’m sitting in my office, trying to focus on my work, but all I can think about is the dentist appointment I have coming in 2 hours.

I’ve become so obsessed with what’s about to happen with my teeth, that I’m listening to the Lady Gaga song “Teeth” to try to get it unstuck from my head.

The other thing passing through my head is, “What would my character be doing right now if he had a dentist appointment?” Whatever it is, I’m sure it would break the pacing.

However, there’s something to be said about environmental factors adding additional tension to characters. We all have tensions in our lives: bills to pay, an office bully, the sudden discovery of a meth lab in the garden shed. These types of tension can be much more real to a reader than the march of imminent death.

Until next time, and do try to floss.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk5vRoc0_nk]

This weekend, I attended ICON, the Iowa Science Fiction convention organized by the Mindbridge organization.

I used to eschew Science Fiction conventions, believing them to be the havens of the stereotypical, unwashed fanboys. However, when I became a little more serious about my writing, I decided that I needed to at least check one out.

I’m not going to lie. There are fanboys, but a surprising few have hygiene issues. A much higher percentage have minor socialization issues, which can take a bit of getting used to.

However, in addition to under-socialized fanboys, you can talk to world-class authors. In the three years I’ve attended ICON, the guests of honor have been Jim C. Hines, Cory Doctorow, and Jane Yolen. In addition, I have attended panels with Glen Cook, Mickey Zucker Reichert, and Joe Haldeman. Mickey Zucker Reichart even taught a writing workshop, although we didn’t see eye to eye on humor, or sentence length, or using a conversational style, or in fact, pretty much anything at all. (Don’t get me wrong, she’s a super-smart lady, and she’s a dedicated teacher. She was just unprepared for what I spread across the page.)

In addition to getting to learn from, and bask in the presence of, famous authors, there is a nice opportunity for networking. After attending a few ICONs and DEMICONS (the Des Moines convention) I probably know a good number of the people running small presses in Iowa. “Knowing someone” is no substitute for having a good book, but it may be what makes someone take a second look at your undiscovered good book.

On Saturday, I got to visit the public library in Marengo, Iowa, which is the most beautiful library I have ever seen. Rather than a concrete filing cabinet for books, the Marengo library is a warm and inviting environment, a veritable temple to books.

I am a huge fan of libraries. They provide a center a learning accessible to anyone. At a time with college costs $30,000 a year, anyone can go to a local library and check out a book for free. Or, in these days, they can go there to use the Internet to access actual courses from schools like MIT. Of course, you can also check out sleazy detective novels and space operas.

Some authors claim that every book checked out of a library is a potential sale lost. The publishing industry has even hired lobbyists to push this idea on politicians. I believe this opinion is poppycock.

As a fiction author, I see every book checked out of the library as an opportunity to make a new fan. Again, I fall back on a simple concept. I would rather build a following that sell a few more books.

The other wonderful resource that libraries contain are the librarians themselves. Librarians are far more than clerks who stamp books. They are well-educated professionals. They are champions of free speech. They cherish and support the written word. More importantly, the provide a non-profit motivated voice in an every-increasingly profit motivated industry.

I did something very unhealthy just a moment ago. I nearly got into an Internet argument. Of course, the argument was on something I’ve come to hold dear: grammar.

Now, I’m not saying I’m the greatest grammarian in the world. Without the aid of a computer, I probably wouldn’t even try to spell grammarian, but just because I’m not skillful in an area doesn’t mean I would throw it under the bus to feel superior. For instance, I know very little about the internal workings of modern automobiles, but I usually don’t argue with my mechanic, even when he explains the reason my car vibrates over 80mph is that my break rotors are warped. I might be skeptical, but I figure he knows more about it than me. (He was right too. One turn on the lathe and the wobble went away.)

So, back to my budding Internet argument. I found a handful of people on Google+ arguing that “it’s” should be used as both a possessive pronoun and as a contraction. I simply stated the difference in that “its” was it’s own word like “his,” not the possessive form of “it.” Of course, I had to add that there was one exception to the rule: one’s. This in English after all. We can’t have a rule that works consistently.

They wanted to disagree, saying that “his”: is a new word, unlike “its” which adds and “s”. Of course this is wrong. Just because “it” and “its” look alike, doesn’t mean they are the same word. The verb “Tune” and the noun “Tune” look alike, but that doesn’t make them the same thing.

Still, language is malleable, and English is evolving, but let’s put that all aside and look at it this way: English is difficult. The rules are contradictory and change not only between dialects but also between style guides. Unlike so many other rules, “It’s” vs. “its” is clearly defined everywhere in the English-speaking world. It’s the same whether you pick up the Chicago Manual of Style of the Oxford University Press Guidelines. The rule might be a little tricky, but it’s unambiguous. In a language where almost nothing makes sense. We have hung this one issue up to dry. It’s done. Finito. Kaput.

One difference between writing Science Fiction and Urban fantasy is the ease of using pop culture references.

Writing Urban Fantasy means being able to reference Internet Memes, make jokes about Jay Z, or even reference popular franchises in the same genre. One of my favorite Remo Williams moments was the time he jokingly introduced himself as Mack Bolan.

Pop culture references in far-future science fiction can be trickier. One way to create a pop culture item is to take concepts from our time and make obvious analogs, like Slurm in Futurama. It’s a sugary sweet drink with many things in common with Coca-Cola. This gives the reader a point of reference and give the author legal indemnity.

Another tactic you can use is putting together weird combinations of corporations. Tyree Campbell likes to do this in his Nyx series, where an enemy might be armed with a Kellogg-Feuer Ray gun. Actually, this method has some plausibility. For instance, over the years, Remington has made rifles, typewriters, shavers, and jewelry.

Of course, you can always make your own pop culture references. However, to do so, you have to build up a context throughout the story you are working on. This is hard work, and may only be accomplished over a series rather than a single book. A good example of this is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, which for the purposes here can be considered Science-Fiction as it is alternate Universe. While Pratchett relies heavily on analogs to our society, he has also created several of his own, but you wouldn’t get them. You have to be there.

On her blog, Paperback Writer, Lynne Viehl has a list of a few freebies from Nanowrimo.

She will be making her writing how-to Way of the Cheetah available free in PDF format from now until December.