Okay, so not free as in I can lounge around eating chocolates. Now I have to work on all the things I had to shove to the back burner until the revisions were done. Let’s take a look at my scary to-do list for this week (as if you don’t have better things to do — hee hee).

1. Clean the house! That is every room, top to bottom, culling for a trip to the Goodwill as I go.
2. Clean off my desk and put all the various types of paperwork (bills, bank statements, book promotion, etc.) in different piles and prioritize.
3. Cull and respond to necessary backlog of e-mail.
4. Craft a plan for the future of this blog. I’m thinking about devoting certain days of the week to certain topics. What do you all think about that?
5. Exercise every day.
6. Clean the garage.
7. Work in the yard.
8. Perhaps do early voting if the line isn’t tremendously long. Sometimes waiting until Election Day is better.
9. Work on typing in some revisions to another manuscript I’ve redone in hopes of selling it.
10. Keep my fingers crossed that (a) my YA editor LOVES the revisions and (b) my Harlequin American editor LOVES my three partials on her desks and buys them. (All good vibes greatly appreciated.)
11. Cook good dinners every day this week. Since the stock market is tanking, we’re tightening the family belt and not eating out unless necessary (as in when we’re on a business trip).
12. Read a YA partial for a friend.
13. Catch up on some magazine reading.
14. Read some books for fun!
15. Post to this blog every day.
16. Keep up with all the group blogs I’m on and sign up to post some days.
17. Catch up on reading my friends’/other writers’ blogs.
18. Watch the accumulated programs on my TiVo and the Netflix discs that have been here awhile.

Anyone tired yet? At least there’s some fun built in, and I’m actually looking forward to getting lots of things done.

So, Thursday I drove down to pal Tanya Michna’s (aka Tanya Michaels’ house) so we could get the jump on arriving the next day. In preparation, we watched Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a Joss Whedon project that was an Internet hit this summer and which Tanya’s seen many times and I had yet to see due to my crazy schedule. Anyway, as with all things Joss, I loved it. Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible) and Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer) were hysterical. My two favorite new sayings, quotes from Dr. Horrible, are “What a crazy random happenstance” and a Captain Hammer quote I can’t say on the blog.

On Friday, we arrived at our hotel, unloaded our stuff in our room and headed down to the Hyatt to register and get on with Day 1. Tanya had obligations on the writer track that day, but I went to see Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk (from Firefly and Serenity) speak. Had to wait in line for an hour and a half, but it was worth it. When my spot in line ended up so far back that I was on the outside of the hotel, I figured I wouldn’t get in, but I was miraculously on the sixth row. Nathan and Alan were really funny as they answered audience members’ questions. Later in the afternoon, I had a signing but since I currently don’t have any sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal books out, I only signed things for two people — one book cover and one DragonCon program. Oh, well.

That night, Tanya and I attended first the Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog live performance, which was several people in costume lip-syncing the show while the show played to the side on a big screen. Very funny, and the guy who played Dr. Horrible was really good. Afterward, we hopped over to another hotel to hear part of the performance of the Brobdingnagian Bards. After that was the Buffy Sing Along, which was the same format used in the Dr. Horrible Sing Along but with the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Once More with Feeling.” I’d wanted to attend this for a long time, so I was glad to finally get to see it and sing along with a room full of people who loved Buffy too.

We started off Saturday with a program by Matthew Lewis, who plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies. I’ve heard him interviewed before on the Pottercast podcast, but it was fun to see him in person. Here’s Matt, looking a lot different than he did when Neville first came on screen.

That afternoon, I was on a panel about YA fiction along with several other authors, including Rachel Caine, whose Morganville Vampires series I’m really enjoying. I told her this and that I love her Weather Wardens series too. She was very nice and signed the first Morganville book for me. Next up was a reading by me. Again, because I don’t yet have huge paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy cred, no one showed up. I sat at read Rachel’s book while I waited to see if anyone showed up. When I was still alone after 15 minutes, I took off for the line that was already forming for the Firefly panel with Nathan (Captain Mal), Alan (Wash) as well as Jewel Staite (Kaylee) and Morena Baccarin (Inara). They were very entertaining, and you could tell they all loved working together. Here’s the lovely cast members, from left: Alan, Jewel, Morena and Nathan.

After dinner, we went back to our hotel to rest for a bit and drop off the promo materials we’d been lugging around during the day. But we were back down at conference central at 10 p.m. for a panel on Supernatural. We were able to announce we’re in the Supernatural anthology, In the Hunt, that’s coming out in March (which incidentally is now up on Amazon.com here). After that, we headed over to the ballroom to see dark wave band Cruxshadows play. Again, the line stretched outside and wrapped the building. We didn’t know the band’s music going in, but we really enjoyed it and ended up both buying a CD. I met almost all of the members of the band. Here’s me with JoHanna Moresco, a violin player.

Here are dancers and singers Jessica Lackey and Sarah Kilgore.

Me with violinist David Wood and keyboardist Jen Jawidzik (aka Pyromantic).

And with lead singer Rogue.

On Sunday morning, Tanya and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 7 despite having gone to sleep after 3 a.m. so we could get a good spot for the Dollhouse talk with Tahmoh Penikett (who also plays Helo on Battlestar Galactica). Dollhouse is a new Joss Whedon show starting in January. We got front-row seats! Here’s Tahmoh talking about his new character, FBI agent Paul Ballard. Lots of the info on the show online shows the name as Paul Smith, but Tahmoh revealed it’d been changed.

A lot of the rest of my Sunday consisted of getting three very exciting professional photos taken. Prepare to squee, people!

Here I am with Tahmoh Penikett. Love his Helo character on BSG; can’t wait to see Dollhouse.

And with Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk.

Okay, brace yourselves. Here I am with James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Milton Fine/Braniac on Smallville, and Captain John Hart on Torchwood).

They were all really nice, but because of the long lines you didn’t get more than a few words with each. Which I understand. They were probably really, really tired by the end of each day. Oh, funny moment from when I was standing in line to get my photo with Tahmoh. I had on a shirt that had “WTF — What the Frak?” on it (See above. For those of you who don’t know, that’s a saying from BSG). Michael Hogan, who plays Col. Tigh, saw it, chuckled and said, “What the frak? That’s great.” There were other BSG cast members in the room too — Edward James Olmos (Adama), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), and James Callis (Baltar).

Jewel and Morena weren’t doing photos, so I wasn’t able to get one with them. The only other person who was that I thought about getting one with was Michael Rosenbaum, who played Lex Luthor on Smallville, but I figured I’d done enough. I did see him, however, in the Walk of Fame room. I didn’t meet anyone in there because you had to buy an autographed picture to meet them, but I just walked through to see who I could see. Among the other notables: George Takei, Walter Koenig, Lou Ferrigno, Jake Lloyd, Yancy Butler, Beau Bridges, Avery Brooks.

More than 30,000 people attend Dragon*Con, and a huge portion of those dress up in costumes. Here are some of the many I saw.

With Jedi Shaak Ti and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Ironman

Giselle and Prince Edward from Enchanted

With Number Six from Battlestar Galactica.

With Professor Snape and Sirius Black from the Harry Potter series.

Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett

A fantastic Tia Dalma and Gibbs from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I better stop there before I make the blog post explode. If you ever have the chance to go to Dragon*Con, I highly recommend it.

You know how you get those meme things in e-mail and are tagged by other bloggers all the time. You know the ones that ask things like — tell us six random things about you? Well, I’ve decided to start my own and see how long it takes the world of the Internet to send it back to me. So, here goes:

Famous People Meme — Which famous person in each of the following categories would you like to meet?

Author — J.K. Rowling

Movie Actor — Orlando Bloom

TV Actor — Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, also Sarah Michelle Gellar

Musician/Singer — Bon Jovi

Historical Figure — Queen Elizabeth I and Sacajawea

Fictional Book Character — J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood brothers

Fictional Movie or TV Character — Buffy Sommers

Okay, if you have a blog, go forth and blog. Everyone, including the bloggers, share your answers in the comments section. I’m verrry curious.

Hubby, being the great guy he is, went with me. While I was standing in line (I was number 449), he wandered off to a section where no lines were curling around the bookshelves and read. I’m glad I reserved the book because the poor souls who hadn’t had to stand out in the mall or outside until all the reserved copies had been sold.

Hubby took this photo as I was waiting in line to get my Reserved bracelet showing my spot in line.

This cute little dude, named Griffin (or possibly Gryphon), was behind me in line. His mommies had dressed him up like Harry when he was left on the doorstep of the Dursleys. So cute! And he’s all bug-eyed here because of the flash of my camera.

At approximately 12:45 a.m., I purchased my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

This is when we got home.

I’m currently on Page 168, so PLEASE no spoilers in the comments.

Check out some conceptual pictures here. And you can read the CNN story here. Finally, here’s the Universal Orlando press release.

It has got to be simply amazing for an author’s work to generate such legions of fans that it eventually spawns a theme park. Go, J.K.!

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So I loaded up several episodes to see what they were like as I walk my way around the neighborhood each day in my quest to shed some pounds. All I can say is I’m bummed I didn’t find these sooner. When I listened to Episode 88, the first podcast I’d ever listened to of any stripe, I found myself feeling like I was sitting in a living room on a comfy couch with show hosts Melissa, Sue and John learning the latest Harry Potter news, theories and commentary. I’ve laughed several times, and it’s possible that as I walk by the neighbors are shaking their heads and thinking, “Oh, look, that poor girl has written and edited so much that she’s finally cracked up.”

I really like the fan interviews, Canon Conundrums, the way the crew can take apart a movie poster or trailer pixel by pixel, and all the new stuff to which I’m being introduced. Who knew there were wizard rock bands with names like Harry and the Potters, Ginny and the Weasleys and Draco and the Malfoys? Okay, so lots of people knew, just not obviously-painfully-behind-the-curve moi.

So, unlike listening to songs while I walk, which makes it easier to stop walking sooner, listening to Pottercasts keeps me walking longer and thus hopefully getting slimmer and healthier. So not only is it fun and informative, it’s healthy! So, thanks to everyone at Pottercast. My waistline and cholesterol count will be indebted to you.

If you’re a fan of Harry Potter and are eagerly awaiting The Order of the Phoenix movie and The Deathly Hallows book this July, I urge you to check out the fun being had at Pottercast. Even if you don’t have an iPod, you can listen to the podcasts on your computer.