Reading Day

I finally got the AlphaSmart to talk to one of the computers in my house. It's actually working off of the USB port, but only intermittently, and only on the slowest transfer speed. As a result, it's taking hours to upload the text I wrote in Kansas -- but at least it is uploading. I was not relishing the thought of having to retype all of that from the AlphaSmart's screen.

I've said many times that in order to write science fiction, you need to do two things: 1) write science fiction, and 2) read science fiction. I saw the latest issue of Asimov's sitting on my wife's desk, and I guiltily realized I've not fulfilled the second commandment in quite some time. So, while my text uploads (and hence I can argue I'm getting some writing work done), I'm reading the stories in this issue. Now, historically, I've not liked Asimov's very much. Gardner Dozois' tastes were, apparently, radically different from my own. I actually generally prefer the the stories in Analog quite a bit better, but so far I've been pleasantly surprised by this issue. Perhaps Sheila Williams and I will get along. :)

If you have not read the Decmeber 2005 issue, you should. Williams' editorial is about her experience teaching at Clarion West and Odyssey. It's short, but well worth the read if you're at all interested in either of those schools.

Back to work!