Sharon Lee, Writer

Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

You thought I’d forgotten, didn’t you?

Here’s where we stand, as of today, Sunday, May 6. Please check the lists below; if you have sent in your list and I haven’t included it in the “received” list, please drop me a note at rolanniATgmailDOTcom. Thanks!

I have received completed lists for the following novels:
Agent of Change, jessie_c
Saltation, micheledear
Scout’s Progress, sb_moof
Ghost Ship, Alon Ziv
Crystal Soldier, redpimpernel
Local Custom, eoma_p
Mouse and Dragon, eoma_p
Local Custom, Deborah Fishburn
Fledgling, marniferous
Carpe Diem, Deborah Fishburn

I have received a partial list for the following novel:
Crystal Dragon, capricchio

The following titles are in the hands of Wranglers:
Crystal Dragon (partial), capricchio
Conflict of Honors, silverdragonma
Balance of Trade, Elaine Bushore Fisher
Plan B, Jennifer Briggs
Dragon Ship, Alon Ziv
I Dare, spiritdance

I have emailed the editor of the audio editions, asking if he has deadlines, and which words lists he would prefer to have first.  Still waiting for a reply.

Thank you!

This blog post is brought to you by the recent, and very gratifying, reception of the electronic Advance Reading Copy (eARC) of Dragon Ship, by frequent offenders Lee and Miller.

Dragon Ship is the Fourth Book of Theo Waitley, but it is not the last book of Theo Waitley. I believe that I may say without spoilage that it is an exciting read, and some of those who indulged in the eARC came out of the experience, um, eager to find out What Happens Next.

Now, it’s a sad fact that readers, even very slow readers, read faster than writers, even very fast writers, write. It’s also true that Traditional Publishing, even in these days of e-pubbing, takes some time.

How much time depends on a number of factors that are only vaguely relevant to the discussion of Books Between, so let’s just say, barring eArcs, and things like a manuscript falling behind an editor’s bookcase and remaining unmissed for a decade — between six and and 18 months.

All of us here are savvy and sophisticated Persons of the World, so I’m not going to be popping anybody’s balloon by stating right up front that professional writers write for money (cue Samuel Johnson).

Because we write for money, we don’t write a book, wait for it to be published, gauge the critical reaction, if any (cue laugh track), before deciding what our next project will be. If we did that, we’d starve. (I speak here of those of us who are attempting to approximate a middle class living while standing freelance, not of the superstars of the field.)

So, what writers try to do, is that we pitch several books at once when it comes down to submitting proposals. Of course, nothing says the publisher will accept any particular proposal, all or any of the books proposed.

Sometimes, though, the publisher takes the whole deal, as offered.

This happened to us, in 2010. We proposed three books to Baen — all of them Liaden Universe® novels; one that was wanted (and requested) by the publisher (the sequel to Ghost Ship), one that had been requested many times by fans (the sequel to Balance of Trade),  and a story that one of the team (that would be me) particularly wanted to write — and Baen said yes to all three.

Yes, there was dancing in the streets — it’s a good thing to sell three books on proposal (“on proposal” means that the books have to be written — I know you all know that; just making sure we’re all on the same page), and to get half of the advance money for all three upfront.  I am not complaining that we sold three books on proposal (in fact, I’m not complaining at all, really — just explaining why it is that Between Books are necessary, and perhaps inevitable).

However, as we’ve discussed here previously, one of the realities of books purchased on proposal (as opposed to books written “on spec”) is that contracted books acquire constraints.  Delivery deadlines, that’s one.  Word count limits, upper and/or lower — that’s another one.

The order in which the books will be delivered — that’s another one.

For this contract, the publisher wanted Dragon Ship delivered first, thus preserving the momentum of Ghost Ship.  This is perfectly reasonable.  We made sure that it was known that Dragon Ship wasn’t the last Theo Waitley book, and asked to deliver the Weird Book — working title George, now titled Necessity’s Child, delivered at the end of March and scheduled for publication in May 2013 — we asked if we might deliver that book first, which would, yes, have put a book between Ghost Ship and Dragon Ship, but would only put one book between Dragon Ship and  its sequel — Books Between; that’s what we’re talking about, after all.

The final decision was that Dragon Ship would be delivered first, Necessity’s Child second, Trade Secret last.  Again — this is perfectly reasonable, in fact, more than reasonable.  I was extremely happy that Baen took a chance on a “side” novel, because, let’s face it, I would’ve written it anyway (cue Samuel Johnson, rolling in his grave).

To recap:  We had three novels under contract, with a contracted delivery schedule of:  Dragon Ship, Necessity’s Child, Trade Secret.  We have, as of this writing, delivered two of those three books — Trade Secret being due in July.

Now, you’ll notice that the discussion between the publisher and ourselves didn’t revolve around us immediately writing the Fifth Book of Theo Waitley  after submitting Dragon Ship.  It was purely in the realm of how the between-books ought to be distributed.  In other words, there was a tacit agreement that there would be books between.

But why?  ask the folks who want the Rest of the Story right now.  How could you possibly leave us in such an exciting place and go off and write something else?

Well, the answer to that is. . .multifaceted, but simple.

First — contract, remember?  Three books, in an order determined by the publisher (see above to refresh yourself on the books and the submission order).

Second — While writing an exciting novel is, sometimes, exciting (though possibly less exciting for the authors than for the book’s eventual readers), what it mostly is?  Is tiring.  You — or, say, we — have to rest up a little after such an outpouring of effort — but — see above — writers don’t make money unless they write.

The answer to the conundrum, the balance between have to write and have to rest is?  Anybody?  You there in the back — Yes, thank you.

A busman’s holiday.

You write, because you want to eat, but also because you want to write.  Trust me, you’re not a writer unless, at some level which is, yes, sometimes rather deeply buried, you want to write.   You can, however, write something a little less…fraught, something a little off the wall (in my case, with George) or something that you’ve been meaning to write for some few years now (in Steve’s case, with Trade Secret).  This gives the story brain some time to. . .play. . .to revivify, to generate new ideas, and to rev on up to speed for the next exciting! installment! of the so-called “mainline” series.

Now, yes, there are writers who write their series, Book One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!  They’re awesome, and I’m in awe.  But the truth is that Steve and I have never yet done that — I mean, look — we wrote the second book first at the very start, and we’ve continued in that vein ever since.

What that means for our readers is that — you guys don’t always know what you’ll be getting next, and you won’t always get the direct sequel directly — though chances are good (see Mouse and Dragon, see Trade Secret) that you’ll get it eventually — and you’ll be getting our best work, written not only because writers write for money, but because we’re writing what we  want to write, pretty much when we want to write it.

That’s pretty awesome, too, in this day and age.

Got the September sublet in Archers Beach Old Orchard Beach. YAY!

The garage had originally quoted a price to replace the muffler just one point south of Five Bills, but! When I got to the shop to pick up Binjali (two minutes shy of closing time, thanks to Steve’s expert driving and knowledge of back roads), the bill was for half of that, because the front pipe was able to be re-used. YAY!

OTOH, Binjali failed inspection. Needs to get outfitted with a new pair of back tires inside of two weeks, and try again. Sigh.

On the way home from The South, we stopped at Target and scored chairs for the new, covered deck, on sale! YAY!

Came home and watched Tin-Tin, which was just a touch slow in the middle, but enjoyable overall, so — YAY!

Which makes four YAYs and one Sigh; according to our Rating System — a Very Good Day.

Today is catch-up-on-all-kinds-of-crazy-things day, including a blog post about writing stuff.

See you later.

Well, so — today thus far.

Since I had a return to make to eBags, and, as was established on Monday, there is no public FedEx drop-off in the Waterville environs save a self-serve box too small to take the parcel that was being returned. . .deep breath. . .this morning I drove twenty miles to nearest manned — or, in this case womanned — FedEx office, in the Great City of Augusta, and got rid of the damned box.

That accomplished, I stopped at the Augusta edition of Staples and bought a USB stick/thumb-drive/whatevertheheck they’re called this week. It is, in fact, slightly smaller than my thumb (my previous stick was as long as my forefinger) 16 gigs for $15 — almost a buck a gig! — while the former stick packed a whopping 128 megs and cost somewhere in the vicinity of fifty clams.

What an age we live in.

Those two minor errands accomplished, I headed back to Waterville, aiming for the post office, the drug store, the grocery store, and the Cat Farm, in that order, driving happily through the grey, damp day, singing along with Warren Zevon, when suddenly! without warning! the car began making a Horrible, Horrible Noise.

Yeah, the muffler had come uncoupled and was dangling by a slender thread.

I made it to Mr. Smith’s repair emporium in a roar of, err, power, checked Binjali in — hey, he needs to be inspected this month, anyway, right? — called Steve to come get me, as Mr. Smith can’t get to repairs until tomorrow — and we did the rest of the errands together, which was nice, but unplanned.

So, home now, and doing catch-up, since tomorrow we’re needed down-coast on bidness of the house. And! I just realized that, if that bidness goes forth, I’m going to have to learn how to cook.

Oops.

But enough about me!

You may not know that today is a very special day. Indeed! Today is the day that my neighbor in Bangor, Mr. “James A. Burton” sees his book Powers published by Prime Books. Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all the Usual Suspects. Check it out; you won’t be sorry.

I was going to write a longish blog entry about why there have to be Books Between, but…I’m tired, and the dishes need to be done, and after that I wanna curl up and read one of my geisha books, so…maybe later.

Today was cleaning, early, and getting bread started, and then the visitation of the Bath Guy, Stage One in our intention to remodel the bathroom, replacing the bathtub with a shower enclosure.

This consultation took much longer than I had planned on, and the execution of Stage One will be somewhat more expensive than I had anticipated — Balancing the under-budget work we had done in the fall. We signed the contract, gave a deposit and sometime in mid-June we’ll have a brand-new shower. Upon which time we will commence in saving for Stage Two.

Does it strike anyone else as Completely Unfair that the least glamorous room in the house will cost the most to redo?

Anyhow, I also finished compiling the second volume of short stories, and writing the foreword for that, so everything’s ready for an orderly transfer, just as soon as the contract’s ready.

Oh! And exciting news, for those who didn’t hear it elsewhere: We heard from David Mattingly this afternoon; he’s finished reading Necessity’s Child, and is excited about doing the cover. Can’t wait to see it!

Before I answer the siren call of the dishes, I want to assure fans of Silversocks that he’s settling in nicely. Here’s a picture Steve took of him yesterday afternoon, while he communed with a box:

Since this has come up in discussion several times:  No (that’s NO), Necessity’s Child, a Liaden Universe® novel scheduled for publication in May 2013 is not (that’s NOT) the sequel to Dragon Ship. 

Necessity’s Child is the book that bore the working title George, snippets of which were posted in this journal through late 2011 and early 2012.

Further to the sequel of Dragon Ship — It has not (NOT) been written yet; we are not (NOT) in the process of writing it; it hasn’t even been pitched yet.

Writing projects currently on the Lee-and-Miller plate are:

1. Short story for Baen website, due July 1 — Steve
2. Trade Secrets, sequel to Balance of Trade — Steve
3. Two sequels to Carousel Tides, tentatively titled Carousel Sun and Carousel Seas — Sharon
4. Write and submit proposals, one of which will be for the sequel to Dragon Ship.  We have discovered that we need to let our brains rest before we start in proposin’ agin, so that’s what’s happening.  *Looks at list above.  Falls over laughing*

Download it here.

 

I’m sorry I’ve been quite so scarce — had a small dose of Life here at the Confusion Factory.

However! While I was goofing off, the Word Wranglers were hard at work. Go, Word Wranglers!

Here’s where we stand. Please check the lists below; if you have sent in your list and I haven’t included it, please drop me a note at rolanniATgmailDOTcom. Thanks!

I have received completed lists for the following novels:
Agent of Change, jessie_c
Saltation, micheledear
Scout’s Progress, sb_moof
Ghost Ship, Alon Ziv
Crystal Soldier, redpimpernel
Local Custom, eoma_p
Mouse and Dragon, eoma_p
Local Custom, Deborah Fishburn
Fledgling, marniferous

I have received a partial list for the following novel:
Crystal Dragon, capricchio

The following titles are (or, in the case of Dragon Ship, will be) in the hands of Wranglers:
Crystal Dragon (partial), capricchio
Carpe Diem, Deborah Fishburn
Conflict of Honors, silverdragonma
Balance of Trade, Elaine Bushore Fisher
Plan B, Jennifer Briggs
Dragon Ship, Alon Ziv
I Dare, spiritdance

I have emailed, but have not heard back from, the editor of the audio editions, asking if he has deadlines, and which words lists he would prefer to have first.

Thank you all for your very capable help on this project!

…while I ice the blasted ankle. Honestly…

So, yesterday got away from me. We had an early appointment with the accountant in re the necessities attending the formal shutting down of SRM, Publisher, Ltd. This meant that I had to throw away yesterday’s projected to-do list in favor of doing a whole buncha paperwork that had to be filed within 30 days of the last day of bidness, which was, um, March 31. A fun time was had by all, the paperwork is complete, and in the mail, and we shall speak of it no more.

I am still behind on email. Ox and I will deal with that over the course of the afternoon, since the sofa is no place to be compiling a short story collection. We’ll also be working on proposals and dipping into the newly-arrived research books: Geisha, Liza Dalby; and A Geisha’s Journey: My Life as a Kyoto Apprentice, Komono, with (lots and lots and lots) of photographs by Naoyuki Ogino.

Money quote from the latter: Maiko training begins by learning how to say “hello.” The trainee must greet the other person as an adult human being. She must be able to assess their position, and her own, and speak accordingly. Her demeanor–or as we say here in Kyoto, her motenashi–must be perfect at all times.

Number Ten Ox continues to be a joy to use, with the exception of the trackpad. I never did get the hang of trackpads, though I am trying with this one, which seems well-behaved. However, there may be a wireless mouse in my future.

Off now to answer email and try to stay out of trouble. While I’m gone, here — have an interview.

The Quiet Gentleman, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Unbroken, Rachel Caine
The Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Sylvester / OR, The Wicked Uncle, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Death and Resurrection, R. A. MacAvoy
The Unknown Ajax, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Black Sheep, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses, Diane Duane (e)
The Reluctant Widow, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Friday’s Child, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Dragon Ship manuscript, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
Kim, Rudyard Kipling (e)
Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Pollyanna, Eleanor H. Porter (e)
Chimera, Rob Thurman (e)