Day 7

Full day today.

Got up early and exercised, then had a surprise treat of pancakes with blueberries cooked by some workshop classmates--Oz, Traci, and Kim (3 cool ladies) in the ski lodge unit next to mine.

Afterwards, Oz snapped a picture of me. I don't usually pose for pictures, so this is a rarity, and here it is, courtesy of Oz. Thanks a million!

Once I got my mug snapped, I went into Taos with Connie and some others to sight see, eat lunch, and buy groceries. I stocked up on breakfast and lunch for my last week here. I also found two books in a bookstore for two film scripts I have in mind. And on the same shelf no less. I wonder what the odds are?

We got back to the ski lodge in time to wait for George R.R. Martin to arrive. He got delayed by traffic piling into the "Pow Wow," a local Indian festival.

When he finally made his way up the mountain, he gave a talk that covered the reasons why people read fiction (to learn about different subjects, escapism, etc.), about how there's fewer readers and publishers, and how authors who aren't New York Times Best selling writers are becoming an endangered species.

The fiction field seems to be entering rocky waters.

I then rode with Connie, George, and some other people in her car as the whole group went to Taos to eat at a New Mexican restaurant. Two good meals in Taos today--for a price. Good thing we won't be eating in restaurants for the rest of the week.

Small note: Before I rode back with Connie and George, George mentioned that HBO was developing his fantasy book series "A Song of Fire & Ice" into a long running TV series. I don't have HBO, and don't plan on getting it. I'll have to wait for the DVDs to come out then. George said he told his agent that if anyone would produce his books, it should be HBO since a TV series would do a better job than a trilogy of feature films and HBO has produced some good projects. "Band of Brothers" (based on Stephen Ambrose's book) is one case in point. I love it myself.

Several (me included) are planning to go into Taos tomorrow on Sunday to catch a noontime showing of the latest Harry Potter. Looking forward to that.

I just have to find the time to write up a 2-3 page synopsis of a published novel and critique 3 of 4 stories for Monday. One of the four is mine. I'm planning on doing my synopsis on the alternate history novel "Gettysburg" by William R. Forstchen. Newt Gingrich's name is on the cover also, but I feel it's Forstchen's story.

Hailing frequencies closed.