Year: 2011

Sin in the Second City, Karen Abbott
Of Blood and Honey, Stina Leicht (e)
The God Engines, John Scalzi (e)
Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key, Kage Baker (e)
Unseen, Rachel Caine
Total Eclipse, Rachel Caine
Weight of Stone, Laura Anne Gilman
The Story of Chicago May, Nuala O’Faolain

Of Blood and Honey, Stina Leicht (e)
The God Engines, John Scalzi (e)
Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key, Kage Baker (e)
Unseen, Rachel Caine
Total Eclipse, Rachel Caine
Weight of Stone, Laura Anne Gilman
The Story of Chicago May, Nuala O’Faolain

The drive to Bridgton was pleasant in a bright and sunny, but very blustery, day. We did the interview for “What are you reading?” in two segments, and are promised a copy of the final show.

Out again into the day and home by an alternate route, battling the wind the while. Stopped at Best Buys in Augusta to try out the Nook and the Kindle, but was defeated by the two-inch anchor cords and the lack of any sales associate sufficiently interested in selling ebook readers this afternoon. One thing that I did determine during our messing about and self-tutoring was that I was Really Not Happy with the whole Kindle keyboard thing and the navigation ring (discovered by Steve — I could’ve looked at it all day and never recognized it as an Important Manipulative Component) made me buggy.

While we were in that part the world, we took the core-board-mounted cover art for Mouse and Dragon to A.C. Moore, hoping to be able to find the frame segments that snap around odd-sized art. Alas, A.C. Moore was not able to accommodate us, but the young lady who waited on us took one look at David Mattingly’s wonderful art and said, “Where can I buy a copy of that book? Can I download it to my Kindle?” And so we had a lively conversation about B&N, if she wanted hardcopy, and Webscriptions if she wanted it on her Kindle above all else, and she recommended Michaels for the segmented frames.

As it happens, Michaels is right next to Barnes and Noble up on the other side of Augusta, and BN was our next stop. We arrived to find that, indeed, the very segmented frames that we were looking for were to be had at Michaels, and have them we did. We then repaired to BN where, after a demo of the NookColor and the eInk Nook by a patient and capable Kate, Sharon committed eInk Nook, which is charging even now on the kitchen counter. I also purchased the easel Nookcover, though I have yet to purchase a book. Tomorrow, surely, is soon enough for that adventure.

I want to thank everyone for their input on electronic reading devices. The discussion helped clarify what was most important for me in a Device of My Own, and also gave me very useful pointers.

I’m very excited about my new toy, and hope that we’ll have lots of time together and share many good reads.

Now, I guess I better go download Calibre.

What did you do today that was exciting?

That?  Was a staggeringly unpleasant week.  Let us speak of it no more.

Instead, let us speak of what Steve and I will be doing tomorrow, which is driving out to Bridgton to record an interview on “What Are You Reading?”, which airs on Lake District Cable. Bridgton’s a pretty place, a couple hours away from the location of the Cat Farm, and we anticipate a pleasant, relaxing drive and a good time at the interview itself.

In other news, the taxes have been dropped off with the accountant, so Sunday I’ll start revising “Intelligent Design.” That done, I’ll be clear to reread and get back with George, which still hasn’t forked over with a Title. Though, yanno, if there can be a movie called Harvey why not a book called George?

A question for all you ebook readers out there. I’ve actually been enjoying reading with the Nook app on my Android, which I never thought I’d say. But I really like that I can make the text bigger and read without my glasses, and I like how crisp the resolution is, and the page-turn — which was slllloooooowwwwwww in the One Real Nook I’ve ever held in my hands — is snappy. So, I’m thinking…maybe an ebook reader. But! There’s the brand-new iteration of the Kindle, of which I’ve heard lovely things, including the fact that they’ve got the hand-feel down to mass market weight, and, well — weight counts. I could never hold one of your whomping great Ipads and read on a book on it.

So, those of you with ’em — how’s the refresh rate on the actual Nook and Kindle? Comparable weights? Glad you have one? Wish you hadn’t bothered? What do I need to know? What should I think about before I plunge my next bit of crazy money into one of these things? Tell all.

In the meantime, I’m going to go vacuum the house and terrify the cats. Double the fun!

So, the other day I had occasion to count on behalf of a Sekrit Project. And my counting revealed to me — and I revealed to Steve — that we have thus far in our careers committed (rounding only slightly up) 323,000 words of Liaden Universe® short stories.  (This number includes the not-quite-yet-published “Skyblaze” and the author-written fanfic “King of the Cats,” but does not include “Intelligent Design,” which is still in process.)

We’ve also written almost a million and a half words of Liaden Universe® novels.  Add in the rest and we’re at a cool 2mil.

All of which sounds, yanno, like A Lot, until you start putting perspective into the picture.  That’s only 34 stories, and 14-or-21 novels.  Which suddenly doesn’t sound so impressive, after all, but does bring me to my point.

Why yes, there was a point to this, besides the public display of an unhealthy fascination with numbers.

I was once stopped, nicely, correctly* by a young writer at a convention.  They were working on their first novel and had a couple of specific questions.  Clearly, they had put some thought into what they were doing and were not just haring off in all directions at once (which I admire; being a hare of long standing), and we had a very pleasant talk.  They spoke of their hopes for their story and the characters living inside it, but, suddenly confessed, with a sort of half-glance under the lashes, that they were afraid that the manuscript was getting a bit. . .long, and there was still a lot of story left.

How long was it?  I asked. Words, not pages.

Gratifyingly, they knew this (really, this was a very serious and thoughtful writer; I want to read them somebody, and I think I will).  “Thirty-five thousand words.”

“Oh,” I said, “you’ve got plenty of room!”

“I do?”

“Sure — at least seventy thousand more words.  Try not to go more than one hundred fifty thousand, total, though.”

“I had no idea novels were so. . .long,” they said, which seems funny from someone who (as this writer was) had read reasonably widely in the field, but which also seems true of nearly everyone.  No one has any idea how long novels are, except novelists.  And editors, of course.

So, that’s the point — novels are long.  Not only that, but it takes a significant chunk of time to write a 100,000 words, not to mention revising, polishing, so forth &c.

Because novels are long and take so much time and effort to produce, it’s important to chose a project that you’re excited about; that you can live with, day in, day out, morning-noon-night, for four months to a year.  It’s important that your characters are interesting to you, and are people with whom you have empathy.  I can’t imagine anything much worse than having someone I loathe living in my head for a year.

If you want to write a book, try to have fun.  I know, I know; it’s Serious and Important Work, and we’re taught that Serious and Important Work ought to be dealt with, well. . .seriously.  Soberly.  It’s this mindset that for many years contributed to my referring to my writing as play, as in: “I’m going to go play now.”

. . .and so I shall.

————-

*They came up to me as I was leaning against the wall — waiting for Steve, as it happened — introduced themselves, explained that they were writing a novel, realized that, as Guest of Honor I was of course very busy, but wondered if I would have perhaps ten minutes over the weekend to talk to them; they were writing a novel and had some questions.  Polite and respectful.  Well done.

Unseen, Rachel Caine
Total Eclipse, Rachel Caine
Weight of Stone, Laura Anne Gilman
The Story of Chicago May, Nuala O’Faolain

Wrote all day to the tune of 4,082 words, including those perennial crowd-pleasers “the end.” The first draft of “Intelligent Design” is complete. It needs work. Oh, my, doesn’t it just need work. But what it gets right now is a comfy rest while I reap the just rewards of industry.

By which I mean that, tomorrow, I’ll start doing the taxes.

Why no, the fun never does stop; why do you ask?

“Intelligent Design”
10,351 words/First draft complete

Total Eclipse, Rachel Caine
Weight of Stone, Laura Anne Gilman
The Story of Chicago May, Nuala O’Faolain

So the power went down at 4:45 last night, just when I was starting to fill in the DMCA form because Yet Another person thinks it’s Perfectly OK to steal from us.  I was in a foul mood, because, well, people stealing from us — and instead of writing, I’d be form-filling, and it’s not like I have enough time in the day to write anyway. Then the power went off and that was Just. . .Ducky.

Which, as it turned out, it was.  Steve hooked up the reading lamp in the living room to the Big Green Battery and we read together on the sofa for the next five hours.  Very pleasant and cozy.  We should do this more often.  Possibly without requiring the destruction of innocent utility poles as a prompt.

In other news — The Catechism of Cliche — or at least parts of it.  Go, read, enjoy.  Then get thee to the Dalkey Archive Press and purchase for your own The Best of Myles, which collects all the “Cruiskeen Lawn” columns from the Irish Times, giving you access not only to the Catechism, but to the sordid details of the Ventriloquists War, news of The Brother, and all the various schemes launched by Myles na Gopaleen, the Da, to make money.

Also highly recommended are the na Gopaleen novels The Third Policeman and At Swim-Two-Birds.  The former is a science fiction novel disguised as a literary novel.  The latter is a writer’s novel, detailing the adventures of  a young, layabout writer, whose characters, fed up with his sloth and his bad treatment, turn on him.  Both are very, very funny.

And now — no, wait!  Everybody saw the article about the “Rosie computers” during the war, right?  Here, in case you missed it — worth a read.

And now I better get some coffee and get on the road.

Day job surreal.  Send Winslow Homer.

Headache.  Applied ice cream therapy.

Submitted proposals for two novels.

Packed box for shipping tomorrow*.

Going to go collapse now.

___________

*Pending outcome of this: