Part of My Adventure in Toronto

[twwcredits.livejournal.com]

This is my third attempt at my second post.

Within a few days of joining Sounis news of  Megan coming to Toronto was posted. I took it as a sign and decide to go meet her. I emailed her thinking I'd go get my mountain of books signed and go home. Then Megan's reply included the irresistible suggestion that I attend the conference also, which I did. The meet-up:

• Apparently important stuff first, the earrings were the half moons with mother of pearl. Accompanied by the matching necklace.
  
• Megan nearly became "an honorary Canadian", Mark, her husband was offered a job at the University of Waterloo in Ontario but it was conditional on being approved by Canadian Immigration who took so long they ended up in Maryland instead.
  
• Megan was glad that both she and Mark were invited to the conference. They could spend time together and he'd be the husband of the children's author, the trailing spouse. Due to busy schedules they were going to pass. The organizer asked Megan to reconsider because they really wanted Philip Pullmam to attend and he wanted to meet and talk with Megan's husband!
  
• I asked Megan why she decided to cut off her main character's hand. She explained that she was inspired by the writings of Rosemary Sutcliff particularly The Eagle of the Ninth. She admitted she finished the story of The Queen of Attolia and polished it before sending it to her editor so they had the whole idea before talking to her. Because she knew if someone suggested not amputating his hand in the process of writing she may have been talked out of it. As it was her editor tracked her down through her mother saying 'tell Megan we have to talk'.
  
• I told Megan that I particularly enjoyed The King of Attolia because I knew at "Don't usually attack cripples?" that Gen was much more comfortable with his handicap. She said he would be even more so in the next book, where after snapping at his attendants who are pressing him to grow his hair long, to fit in more, he explains to the Magus, that he prefers his hair long but until someone can explain how to fix it with one hand, to keep it out of his eyes, it stays short.
  
• Megan explained that she wrote The Thief has a way to teach kids about geopolitics. That wars start because each side has something at stake. The problems aren't as straightforward as kill the obvious bad guy or possess the magical chatchke and problem solved.
  
  
  Writing this much with my speech-recognition has taken much longer than I expected so I will post again about the conference later.
  
  
  JP (me) Megan and Lauren

Comments

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting all of this interesting stuff! (And to you too, Lauren, I'm enjoying the different posts from different POVs). I can see why Megan finished the whole of Queen of Attolia before sending it off - I was so shocked at the start of the book that if I hadn't had the rest to read straight away I would have been hard pressed to believe the rest of the book could overcome the horror of the beginning.

I'm starting to get worried I won't have anything to ask or say to Megan beyond "eeeeeee" when I see her. I think I'll need to re-read the books and email friends from home for any suggestions :)

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Yes, thanks very much for this AND for promising a report on the conference. Can't wait!

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

What speech recognition system are you using?
-- (thnidu)
Chief Linguist, Dragon Systems, Inc. (R.I.P.), 1990-2001

[(Anonymous)]

Welcome! Thank you for posting, it sounds like it was amazing!

~Feir Dearig

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Wait wait wait, he says that to the Magus? So Gen and the Magus meet up again? Awesooommmme! :D

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

oh, just brush up on your Sutcliff & Howl, and you can talk about that. If things get slow, drag her into a nearby used bookstore. :D

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

good catch!

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting! You had some great questions, and kudos for noticing the earrings :)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks for the post. Yay for Gen's hair, yay for the Magus. Yay.

Earrings

[(Anonymous)]

Can't take all the credit, Megan remined me and provided the description due to the bad angle I couldn't see them at the time.

Re: Earrings

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

shhhhh!!!!!! Delete that comment, and take the credit! Megan won't give you away =D

speech recognition

[twwcredits.livejournal.com]

Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 Preferred ;-)

Re: Earrings

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Ha! She knew you would be hounded for the information if you didn't describe them.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad you had a great time! (Not that I doubted you would, but it sounded like you had an even nicer time than you'd expected.) I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to be there myself!

[savvywriter.livejournal.com]

Wow. This post was total awesomeness!

[boxofpencils.livejournal.com]

oh that is so like Gen to make that remark about not keeping long hair! *squeal* oh and did u mention that MWT is now residing in maryland?

[twwcredits.livejournal.com]

Not now, at that time.

[boxofpencils.livejournal.com]

oh so sad... where is she staying now? (oh my gosh. do i sound like a stalker?)

[cailet-06.livejournal.com]

Ack, this is making me more anxious for the new book to be out. Expect I have uno question, what earrings are you referring to?

[twwcredits.livejournal.com]

The earrings Megan was wearing.

Re: Earrings

[twwcredits.livejournal.com]

Yep! :-)!

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

AAAAAAAAAAAAH SPOILERS ABOUT THE NEXT BOOK I AM TORN BETWEEN "O NOEZ SPOILERS" (which is my typical approach, so don't worry about it--ask anyone who knows me about my reaction to spoilers and they will* probably roll their eyes and mention straightjackets) AND "OH YAYZ SHE'S WRITTEN ENOUGH TO START LEAKING INFORMATION TO HER LOYAL FANBASE!"

I want to write a book to teach kiddies about geopolitics too! And and and the idea of writing a whole book before sending it off! And the earrings! And the GOSH DANG IT MEGAN COME BACK TO CHICAGO.

thanks for the post! it is greatly appreciated. And welcome, if I haven't said it before. :-)


*Or they could say what my best friend said, which was "ZOMG SHE WILL EAT YOUR EYEBALLS AND THEN FORCE YOUR FINGERS INTO THE EMPTY SOCKETS AND PROBABLY MAKE YOU LISTEN TO CELINE DION'S DVD BOX SET ON REPEAT FOR ETERNITY." *coughs*

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to get worried I won't have anything to ask or say to Megan beyond "eeeeeee" when I see her.

If(/when? please!) I ever get to see her, I think I'd have a similar problem. :) I think it's been generally been established that many of us are in awe of the amazing MWT. :)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

OMG. I need to read the next book NOW.

I mean... take your time, Megan. Take all the time you need to make it great... BUT NO MORE THAN THAT.

Thanks. ;-)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for posting this! You're so lucky you got to meet Megan. (Megan! You know you want to come out HERE! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! :)

Ok, so I need to read some Rosemary Sutcliff, clearly. And--Hey, I'm in the library right now! I'm going to go find some Sutcliff!




*scurries away*

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

*agrees with Jade on spoilers, and the "oh yayz" about leaking information.*

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for posting!

And thank you for extracting some information about the next book.

I'm finding it quite charming that his attendants have gone from ruining Gen's clothes in their efforts to humiliate him, to giving him fashion tips so he'll fit in.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

She's in Ohio!

[jesusphreaq.livejournal.com]

Wow! How exciting. *_* Thanks for posting!!

[netslefj.livejournal.com]

Thank you for a very interesting, substantive post. Did Megan say anything about how we could read the papers from the conference? (I'm assuming that the conference was as interesting and fun as your visit, of course.) Your report sounds like and I hope it's true that she is enjoying writing #4, overall.

Re: Earrings

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Checkers! Are you reading a book about my child?????

Re: Earrings

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about that, philia, but yes, I AM.

Actually, I read this book back in the 80s when I was into gothic-romancey Mary Stewart ripoffs. I bought it when we went to Goodwill with Megan. We'll see if I like it as well as I did back then.

Huh, now that I think about it, I bought everyone a book.