Word count: 2,054. Last sentences written: "'There's a second Bay station [**above or below?] that was originally supposed to be part of the *** line. They use it for film shoots now.'"
Obviously a few things to look up.
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Bummed to have missed the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium on the weekend. Had a rough night with the offspring so was in no condition to go the next morning. (Anyone want to buy a baby?) Would have only been able to attend for a couple hours anyhow, due to his ravenous eating habits. There are days when I wish there wasn't such a stigma around formula.
Margaret Atwood on CBC Radio's Q this morning, talking about sf and her new book (the name of which I could google but am too lazy to due to typing this on my iPhone with one hand and cradling the sleeping offspring with the other). Had always thought Atwood hated the label "science fiction" because she didn't want to be ghetto-ized, but it seems she believes that "science fiction" describes the impossible (her example: H.G. Wells's Martians) and "speculative fiction" describes that that could actually happen (her example: Jules Verne and his submarines). Hence The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake etc are sf. Still, I'm sure many in the sf writing community will have their backs up for one reason or other, so I am going to have to read her book and pick my side. Me, I prefer "sf", not because I think my stories could actually happen, but because "science fiction and fantasy" makes people think of spaceships and wizards. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but anyone who does like spaceships and wizards would be disappointed by my latest work.
Later in the afternoon there was someone being interviewed (again, too lazy and occupied to look it up) about the launch of an e-book about Jack Layton. It took them 3 weeks from conception to production. I didn't catch the whole interview, but the interviewee said something like, "E-books are like potato chips. You can always eat another one." Which implies some interesting ramifications of the rising popularity of e-books. The question is, though, do I really want to read a book that only took 3 weeks to put together? Granted, I'm assuming it's a collection of Layton's speeches or writings or whatnot. But still.
And back to babies...if I really wanted to make money, I would write a baby sleep book. Seriously. All the advice out there is so contradictory, I could just recommend anything short of drugging your child and half the readers would swear by it and the other half would condemn it - much like every popular baby sleep book out there.
