Here I sit, back in Tulsa, peeling away my sunburn and dropping the flakes on the carpet of a La Quinta Inn across the street from the Conestoga hotel … where I waited too late to reserve a room, which is why I’m across the street.

Man, it’s good to see these people again. Yeah, some of them were at SoonerCon, but not so many of them. I’d try to name them all, but it’s easier to just provide a link to the guest list. Brad Sinor was kind enough to show me where the green room was this year. They have most kinds of M&Ms in there. Ummmm. Laurell K. Hamilton and her entourage was in there for a while, then she went to do her signing, where people were lined up like I’ve never seen for an author at a convention. It wasn’t quite an Alice Cooper or George Romero at Horrorfind line, but it was enough to make the rest of us authors drool.

I had a nice chat with Deb LeBlanc, who convinced me it was time to nudge a certain editor who is looking at one of my books. So, I did that. I also bought a copy of her newly released Morbid Curiosity. I’ve only heard and read the prologue so far, but I think this is really going to be a good one.

My reading was today. People actually came! I read Chapter 6 of Seven Days in Benevolence, although it’s not out yet. Still no proofs of the right version, either. grrrrr

Tomorrow I have a panel on urban fantasy with Rachel Vincent (who is just incredibly nice), Jeaniene Frost and Melissa Marr. I only just met Jeaniene and Melissa this evening. Both seem nice. How I ended up on a panel with these three women who have major publishing contracts and respectable literary agents is beyond me, but hey, I’ll be the token male on the panel. The programmers determined that Shara is an urban fantasy,and I suppose that’s pretty accurate.

I also have a panel on sci-fi in the classroom, or something like that. Sounds like the same kinda thing we did at SoonerCon.

There is an animal rescue group here and they have wolves with them. There’s a massive Russian wolf that is just beautiful. There’s another timber wolf/husky mix, too. (And snakes and other critters that don’t interest me.) I didn’t bring my camera, so I’m going to have to find a disposable and try to get some shots of the wolves.

Seems like there was more I was gonna say, but a long Yahoo Messenger “discussion” with my oldest daughter has chased it all outta my head. She’s just months away from being an official teenager, and somewhere or other has developed a very smart alecky mouth and independent streak.