cornerofmadness

I had my writerly ways nearly done, the browser crashed and for a second time the blog did NOT save a draft. I'll do that another day.

And my title isn't a lie. It is spooky. I went down to microwave something and the whole lobby/halls were empty. Just a few hours ago it had been bustling with all the steampunkers. Now it was like we were never there.

This morning went really well if you can ignore the low energy/half the people already mentally checking out. I went to a make your own tea blend thing. I've always wanted to do this with Adagio (still do) I wouldn't have called this a workshop really. It's like here's the tea, here's the mix-ins, go for it. I'll let you take 1 ounce for the 10$ you paid.... I mixed up whiskey black tea with some lapsang sou chong, added in cacao shells, ginger and cinnamon with a sprinkle of elderflower and called it Husk. I haven't tried it yet.

The next panel was by my friend Leanna on Poe and mesmerism. I very much enjoyed that. I thought I had an hour for lunch but no. The Victorians and the supernatural in literature was next. 15 minutes into it, no one showed and I thought well maybe since all the other talks were at the half hour not the top of the hour maybe the speaker was mistaken (wondering if it was Leanna since this is her forte). Someone went to find staff and next thing we know (it was a packed room) Leanna swoops in. No, this wasn't her panel. That person bugged out without telling anyone (how to get uninvited next year) and like I said it's Leanna's thing. She did well.

I said goodbye after that because the final panels had no interest for me. I headed out to Evergreen Cemetery to find Jennie Wade's grave (the one civilian death in Gettysburg) That was easy. There were other cool graves. and some fun names, can't remember them all but there was Solomon Toot, someone named Zephaniah and a mausoleum bearing the name Ball-Dickson (yes I became 12). Also found one mausoleum entirely in Italian.

From there I rolled down the street (past the hotel I usually stay in with my brother and SiL because it's in walking distance to all the interesting stuff. This con hotel is about 3 miles out) and stop at Mr. G's home made ice cream and texted my chocolate peanut butter to my brother to taunt him ( he loves it) God made the chocolate drip on my shirt in retailation.

Then I went to the battlefield to get pics of some of the monuments. After that it was dinner and I went to GarryOwen's Irish Pub. It was metered parking only (but I found plenty) and it's old fashioned meters, only takes quarters. I forgot about that. Then I remembered in some states handicapped tags can park for free. I google it. In PA I can do that for one hour so up goes my tag and in I go for the crab imperial 'poutine' (fries, cheese and the crab imperial in the place of the gravy) Tasty but SMALL for the price (ended up stopping at Sheetz for a hot dog to round out the meal, really goes together). I also had an Earl Grey Sour, gin, lemon juice and earl grey simple syrup. I think it needed a strong earl grey taste (I need to try making this syrup)

I was going to go ghost hunting but I'm exhausted and there was a writers' meet up on Discord tonight. I did that instead and got a little writing done before Discord fucked up and that was that.

Here's what I would have mentioned on the writerly ways: Always be on the watch for story fodder (Well Gettysburg is good for that) As I pulled into the Sheetz there was a man on the corner holding a nearly full sized cross and he had a microphone/transmitter with him. He started haranging people. As I was pumping gas, he was screaming at two women in a car at the redlight. JEZEBEL! You're whore like your mother. JEZEBEL JEZEBEL. You need to find God. Better hope you don't die tonight or you'll be in hell you diseased JEZEBEL.

Holy shit.




On to Hershey tomorrow.

And sometime this week I WILL catch up with comments (if there is any blog post you think I need to see, send it to me)

I'm too tired to do it justice (and friday's fannish 50 will probably be moved to tuesday). I hit a new museum here in town, Beyond the Battle out of the Adams County Historical Society. It was a nice idea and a small museum (with two enthusiastic older lady docents) It starts with local dinosaur findings, then a wee bit (very wee) on the local natives and then the making of Pennsylvania (and it's skirmishes with Maryland)

There was some on a famous local abolitionist and naturally quite a bit about the battle of Gettysburg and afterward (including Mag Palm who I learned about last year, the woman who beat up the slave catchers who came for her even though she was a freeborn woman)

It also went into the Spanish flu pandemic, WWI and WII I guess the Eisenhowers retired here.

But the really cool thing was 'Caught in the crossfires' It was set up like the sitting area of a typical house in the mid 1800s in disarray. You're sat in there and it's five minutes of what it was like in Gettysburg in those three days. The 'family' is in the basement and you can hear their voices as cannons and guns fire on the house with lights appearing in the 'bulletholes' in the walls, screams of animals and people and the floor shakes. They put effort into it (Not recommended for people with PTSD related to battle)


From there I went to the Shriver House museum and cracked the key as to when to get to downtown historic Gettysburg. Get there by 11 and you can find plenty of on street parking (during the week at least) The house was down up in period pieces and tells the story of the Shrivers. The husband was set off to war (thinking it wouldn't last long) while Hettie takes care of their two daughters and tries to keep the business going, a saloon in the basement and a two lane bowling alley (Shriver had sold off his farm and had a fair bit of money when he built this place.

It doesn't have a happy ending. I got the diary of the neighbor girl plus the one about the Shrivers (and a book on battlefield hospitals) These Shrivers are distantly related to the famous ones, like Arnie's wife.

Since the festivities didn't start until late today I went to the movie theater here on campus and saw Fantastic Four. I loved it with one major exception. I'm biased. I can't remember if FF was my first comic or if it was Justice League but I know Johnny Storm was my first comic book crush so there's that. I adored the mid-Century American feel (with the futuristic tech). What I liked, they reduced the origin story to a news clip since most of us know it and that Sue didn't get sidelined because she was pregnant.

What did annoy me: Reed, the world's smartest man, saying something stupid in a press conference that he could have not said a word about and for what? 10 minutes of drama? We could have done that a different way. Other than that, really liked it

At the con, I got to see my friends and I've already bought a few things. One thing they can do better (and I'll put that in my response if they do a survey) was tell us WHO are doing the panel talks. I went to one and it was Calamity Dawn and her cocktails which I didn't mind. I like her but I didn't even know it WAS her. Drank malort. don't rec.

I did notice that a lot of the usual actors aren't here in the vending room. Hmm, I need to look at them more carefully tomorrow. It's holiday shopping time.

I went dancing and I went to the magic lantern 'castel' presentation. I need to work magic lanterns into a story somewhere.


If I'm slow in answering you, sorry but man I didn't even get back til nearly midnight. I'm getting old for this place.

Today was the last day. 6 AM my GI tract decided to play up. Fantastic. I still have 2 hours to go back to sleep. My body is like yeah nope. At 730 I gave up, took the suitcases out to the car and went to breakfast. After coming back, dressing and emptying out the car, I went to the first talk: page to stage. I thought it was about play writing. Nope. Costume design and making by two people, husband and wife team who does it for the Atlanta theater, the glimmerglass theater and several around D.C. It was the first time I've seen two pros presenting that topic. Absolutely gorgeous stuff, even if it's something outside my skill set. He did designs for The Cunning LIttle Vixen and I will say the costuming was SO good I knew what animals they were before he even said (and told him so. He was pleased).

From there I went to the 'radio show' production which was silly fun and funnier to the Gen X crowd than the younger I would guess. (written by Gen Xers)

And I went to the food truck...regret. Well I had wanted to go to Dobbin House for food but dismissed it last night as going out of my way too late in the day. However after food, it's not even 1 pm and I realize that the only thing left I want to see is at 2:30. Almost two hours away. And that was the broom making thing but since it had no price tag I realize it's not US making it (because those have $ value for the supplies of course) so I thought meh, I could look up how to do it on YT if I really wanted that. The other two I would have liked are people I know and have seen plenty so I'm like you had 4 hours sleep. You're tired. Go. Home.

So for the price of what the food would have been at Dobbin I do regret the food truck. I should have just packed it in gone to Dobbin, over to the tourist trap 'tourist info center' to get some postcards and then go home. Oh well. It's no big deal. And going home WAS the right thing. I was so tired at the beginning I knew it would have been bad if I had waited 2 hours. I have NO idea what was going on on the turnpike, high traffic and SO MANY people going 50 in the passing lane (It's a 70 mph highway) took a half hour off my trip and several of us nearly crashed into their slow asses. And then the last oasis on the turnpike where I planned to eat had closed all the food except burger king. Ew.


In the future, especially if I realize that the friday events don't start until the afternoon, I might just arrive friday and then stay til Monday so I don't have to drive exhausted and I don't have to do the check out day elevator fight. I'm getting old for this.


And oh, how did I forget? There was a vaudeville show last night. A woman singing in Italian, a juggler and a strong woman who nailed a nail into her nose with a bedazzled hammer and she bent three skillets into juggling pins for him.


And since I'm too lazy for a separate Writerly Ways let me just give you the links here


Open Call

Coffee Stories Volume 2 royalities

Brave Knights: Heroic Courage royalities

Dark Age Press is open to Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

Five Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in August 2024

The Brussels Review: Now Accepting Submissions

31 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for August 2024

From Around the Web

Dealing with Problematic Authors This had points for both authors and readers/fans

Amazon’s KDP Identity Verification and NO FAKES Act Protect Creators: Self-Publishing News with Dan Holloway

Who Cares?

Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn: How We Respond to Threats

I Fell For a Vanity Publishing Scam. Here’s What I Learned.

Book Cover Design Ideas: Before And After

What is a Character Arc?

Writing Is an Ageless Pursuit



From Betty

Defeating the Contrivance Bogeyman

Eight Natural Phenomena to Use in Your Stories

Three Things That Will Make Your Characters Deeper

40 Books Later: 10 Essential Writing Insights

Accountability Can Be a Writer’s Best Tool

4 Ways to Avoid a Saggy Middle in Your Novel

Plotting Words of Wisdom

Life Lessons from Geese to Writers

Using Your Setting to Characterize

Story Structure as a Fractal

Another Way To Think About "Conflict" and "Stakes" In Your Fiction

Conflict is just a type of obstacle

What Risk Do You Need to Take with Your Writing Today?

A Willingness to Let Our Writing Take Us New Places

How Writers Can Tap into the Emotional Heartbeat and Connect with Readers

Point of View for Writers: First Person Epistolary

Know what's hard? Dancing for an hour to a rock band in one inch heeled boots with a knee like mine while wearing a corset and being closer to an elder than a youth. Fun as hell though. The convention is good, really good. Multiple dealer rooms, lots of talks and how-tos. And music. lots of music.

I've already forgotten the name of the first performer. The second and third are both from England. Madam Misfit was fun but not really my sort of music. You can hear some of hers here

The last group an alt rock duo from London was exactly my style. Loved them. They came out dancing with us several times. Mom's like make new friends at the con. Does me dancing with a guy young enough to be my kid to this song count?



I bought a couple cool things, something for a holiday gift, and an amazing amethyst skull that had no price tag and they're like 40$. SOLD. No way this was that cheap. It fills my hand and one side is a carved skull and the other is raw crystal. It's amazing. Later she's like...that is probably more but I said 40$ so... yes it's a steal and I'm taking it. I got chocolate from sweet steam (who hasn't been in Cincinnati since covid) and now they have hot chocolate. I got earl grey hot and six demon bag. We sat there quoting Big Trouble in Little China as we drank samples.

I'll hit the vendors again tomorrow. I made one pass and I bought things I was sure wouldn't be there tomorrow. I also sat thru my friend Leanna Renee Hieber's talk on Gothic and Noir fiction, really good. I need to buy one book but only one. I'm going to be good, right? I found a new to me author so hers will be the one.

Tomorrow I don't plan to leave the hotel. Today I went out into the blinding rain to go to the seminary museum. It was worth it. First though I went to Perkins, haven't seen that chain in forever and they had a kid's charity. Pick a rubber duck, win a prize. i won another breakfast. Sunday seems reasonable for that.
As for the museum it was 4 floors. I even attended a short presentation. one floor was general battle stuff (and how the seminary building played a role), next floor was about the hospital that was set up in it (both floors talked about the ziegler kids who were living in the seminary as their parents worked there, the other two floors were about the seminary leaders and their abolitionist ways and of course, the enslaved people themselves.

Since that was over by noon and this didn't start til 2, I went to lunch at Sheetz (Needed gas) because people rave about it. I could have gone to a sitdown restaurant for the cost of this sad hot dog and onion petals. eye roll.

From there I went to the dedicated movie theater for this hotel complex. They have so many horrors I'd like to see but what I did see was Deadpool and Wolverine. It was very vulgar, very violent, and pure enjoyment. Loved it. Wolverine and Gambit have been my favorites for like 30 years + and all the cameos!!

The only negative is this bed. My hotel room is nice but these beds are low to the ground, hard as a rock where they aren't broken down. I'm getting this room rather cheaply (if you can call 170$ cheap) If I was paying the usual 240$/night I'd be pretty pissed over these crap beds. Also I'm catty corner to the ice machine. Who the fuck was getting ice at 4 AM??

Today was great. Expensive AF but great. Taking the allergy pill helped with the sleep issues (though I'm not sure if my ear acting up is allergies or the beginnings of an infection. it's the bad ear).

I did get out of the room in time. It had an early check out so it was like eat and pack fast (nothing at the con opens til 10 so there's this lull...) Mom calls me to ask me to look for lemon pie filling at the big store and askes why didn't you ask for late check out? Where were you yesterday with that nugget mom? Why didn't I think of it? (You couldn't figure out the shower so what hope did you have?)

I picked up some tea and gifts and then another piece of jewelry made from the artists original art (much more affordable than the art and I have SO MUCH art I don't have enough walls for it all). Talked some more with the authors (got kicked in the butt to send in my sapphic horror which I DO need to do tonight) and sat in on one last panel about the bifurcation of the skirt (i.e. working women getting to ditch the corset) and learned there were women coal miners. I had NO idea.

I will try to share pics in the next few days but have this one, a guy walking his turkey as you do. Her name is Martina McBeak and she wore her clothes well


And you can't go to Cincinnati and NOT go to Jungle Jim's 200,000 sq ft of international market especially since it's across the street from the hotel. If I lived in Cinci, I'd be BROKE. I lost my fucking mind in here. Of course the first thing I saw was the boutique Flying Olive (olive oil/balsemic vinegar) store within a store. I bought the sample sizes (still 5 dollars for something the size of a McCormick's spice bottle), got olive wood smoked olive oil, lavender// blackberry-ginger// maple balsemic vinegars. Oh what will I do with these goodies?

Then I beelined for the kombucha stand because drinking a pint of alcoholic fermented tea will help me make good decisions right? Hey at least I didn't go for the London Fog at 5% ABV (only because I had a 2 hour drive home) I BOUGHT SO MUCH NONSENSE. (you know that pricy corset I said no to? Yeah this was half that price. yikes.)

I will share pictures of a lot of it. I am too tired to detail it all but I will. I laughed as a young African American couple laughing told me 'you all have the best store here you can drink!' I'm not from here either but if you want the booze, it's right there!

I got stuff from lebanon, india, england, wales, germany, finland, sweden, norway, italy, greece and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting. I got SO MUCH cheese, gjetost a brown cheese from Norway is the one I can't wait to try. I got two slabs of mackinac island fudge and frankly WAY more candy than my diabetic butt needs.

my knee is walked out. Not super sore but enough and when the elevator bounced my knee collapsed. Thank goodness for hand holds on the elevator sides. Good call on me planning a less-walking vacation if I get one.

Made it to Cincinnati without trouble (if you ignore popeye's chicken. I didn't want to eat in the restaurant here because it kinda sucks but instead of a breast/wing they gave me thigh/leg AFTER a half hour wait. I still tried to eat it but it was so fatty I ate the breading and went for a pretzel in the hotel restaurant. that's dinner right?)

I'm a million miles from the elevator but it's very quiet so that should be nice when I collapse shortly.

I did check out the vendors room very quickly. I tasted some yummy but ridiculously overpriced tea (will probably still buy it) I'm more than a little disappointed to see no one has full dresses. There was one very chatty, happy older woman who makes 'coats' (more like overdresses) that I might buy one because I did like them and I liked her. The corset guy I wanted to buy from (that I have checked out before at the renn fest) had a very nicely made corset and was quick to tell me was likely to last 20-30 years (good it'll last til I'm dead, so there's that). I do NOT remember them being THIS expensive. I know I have nearly bought them in the past. it's nearly 400$. I don't see me buying it. I'd rather buy that coat (even if it is also 400$. I don't know I didn't ask yet)

Part of me says you just drop 200$ on not your cat. Why not for yourself? It's going to take some more thinking and what have you.

Then I got to hear most of the Nulydedz concert. SO glad I did because they were fun. Zombie rockabilly with a little Ramones tossed in for fun. I bought a cd. Can't wait to listen to that (granted I heard most of the songs tonight). Yep I'm old, I still prefer cds. (hell I prefer vinyl but I'll settle for cds) I didn't realize this was their only performance. I wonder what's on for tomorrow.

I met R.S. Belcher tonight He wrote Six GUn Tarot I had him autograph the next book in the series. I had wanted to start his other series but he didn't seem to have that with him.


I caught a little bit of Leanne Renee Hieber's talk about spiritualism but I was getting very tired and this is the first time wearing anything but athletic shoes since the injury (wearing my snakeskin cowboy boots which holy fuck they pinch on the toes) so I had to cut out early. Sadness. My knee is a balloon but not that hurty

I didn't realize the program was online only (nor did I bring paper. waah) I can't see stuff this small on my phone so I want to bring my list of things to go and see when. I do not like it online (and steampunk tends to be older crew, I heard a lot of grumbling but I understand why. You didn't know if we would be here or if it would be canceled again.

The only downside so far, the handicappped tub. I have literally NO idea how to turn on the shower head. There are no buttons or levers and I'm like I can't possibly feel more stupid than I do right now. Ha.

So it's been a second horrible writing day (will be back later with just how bad) because I HAD to get tests graded and two lectures written. I have still one more test to write. I did this from waking up until 11 pm.

My only break was 2 hours this afternoon for a steampunk tea party in the Tea Caddy in Jackson (I've taken ELD there). I wasn't sure what to expect but I got nothing like I would have imagined. It was just a group of us sitting, drinking, eating and talking. Which okay yes I could have imagined that but I guess I was expecting...more flamboyance.

Turns out I'm the only one from my airship, three of them were from the Columbus airship (and she's the one who organized it) and the other three were the organizer's mother and her two friends.

I'm an extroverted introvert. I'm content on my own but I am mostly capable of talking to strangers. And we did. For two hours. More people were meant to be there but honestly I'm shocked anyone was.

None of the loli group came but they're from Cincinnati. That's 2 hours away. I can't imagine driving that for tea. Even coming from Columbus (which is an hour and a half) is a bit much for tea. Mom lived in the area and two of them grew up here which is why they came.

If they want more attendance, they're going to have to offer more than tea and scones. That said I enjoyed meeting them and hope we do this again.

Tonight Mom echoed what I said last night. Because we like Prodigal Son, it'll get canceled. (because if we like things they always do) I could at least tell her that it's 10 episode test run was 'renewed' for a full 22 episodes

992 / 50000 words. 2% done!

To follow up on yesterday's post, OUCH. My inner thighs shouldn't only hurt this much after a weekend of passionate sex, not ten minutes of squeezing a damn ball between my legs. Note to self, don't skip out on PT next time.

It's been raining here all day and I've felt as lazy and dreary as the day looks but on the plus side I've finished Cassadaga Nights, the lame-ass title I gave my simmer story. I'll send it off tomorrow after a few more tweaks. It's still over by about 800 words but that's livable. I did manage to cut out 4000 words and I have them in reserve. If this flops, novella time it is.

Thanks to evil_little_dog & kiramaru7 for all their help (and for reviewing Soldiers of the Sun, love you ladies!)

The steampunk pictures are starting to show up. It's raining hard and screwing up my connectivity but here's a great one of me.



and one of the costume winner. I'm not too comfortable sharing pictures of people I don't know but I figure there's no harm in this. Her daughter was dressed similarly and she also won.

I was worried I wouldn't make it. I woke up nauseated and exhausted. I ended up not leaving here until 2 pm as it was so I did miss a lot of it but that's okay. I mostly wanted to go to the ball.

I did get to two talks at the library. One was on the evolution of the piano from the harpsichord which was interesting enough but a tad long. It wasn't helped by the fact the speaker was a bit flustered by both technology and the fact that the tesla coil work shop ran way way long in the same room. My friend did a talk on Edwardian men's fashion. I didn't know she was doing one. It went well.

I had shrimp in garlic sauce at my favorite restaurant in Athens and then the horrors began. I.E. Finding a fucking place to park in uptown Athens. I was there a half hour early so I could help. I ended up inside ten minutes after the opening because I FINALLY gave up after 40 minutes of circling several blocks and parked illegally in Family Dollar.

About 40 minutes later someone said 'they're towing at the Family Dollar.' We ALL flew out of there. I ended up parking practically in the cemetery with the weeping angel and walking several blocks. Turned out she was towing someone who had been there all day and didn't care we were there but she didn't SAY that. IN fact she wouldn't get out of my way when I pulled out. Sigh.

It was fun. A mother and her little girl won the costume contest dressed in gas masks that were lit and armed to the teeth. We had a live band, the boys of hock.


We had a steam brewery delivering sasparilla and some cake. I ran the voting booth for the costumes so I was on my butt most of the time but still, I had a good time. The guy who would make a great Temple was there again in his fishnets and platform romper stompers

I wish I lived closer so I could do more with these guys. However as testament to how bad I felt this morning, I left here forgetting my parent's cellphone number (I was supposed to call) my glasses and my camera. Go me. so no pictures until someone puts some up on the site and I can snag them. There were at least three professional photographers running around.