What went before: Wrote 980 new words this afternoon. Again, they may not be beautiful words, but you can’t fix the words you don’t write.
I am … not in a good frame of mind. I did subscribe to The Atlantic and ill-advisedly looked up our names in the database of stolen works.
Every. Word. either of us has ever written, in every translation has been ripped off. Even if they’re made to “pay,” there’s nothing that can balance this theft. I know I’m only one of a vast number of colleagues who have also had their work vacuumed up to feed the greed of rich men. The number of people who hooked school the day “Stealing is Wrong,” was taught passes belief.
And here I sit, trying to write a book. And I really wonder why.
#
Thursday, sunny and warm(ish).
Breakfast was hummus, naan, and an orange. Second cup of tea to hand. Lunch is again on its own.
I’ve been up for a while, though late getting to my updates. I had some correspondence that needed to be answered, and some cats that needed to be snuggled. Figured out how to get from end of this scene to the beginning of that scene. Gordy needs to make a choice, here, and while I know what the choice is, he has to actually do the work of reasoning his way to it.
Thus, the difference between authors and characters.
I haven’t seen anything to the contrary, so I’m expecting there’s ASL class this evening. I should do one more review, and I also want to get Gordy to his decision, so I’ll mostly be here at the desk today.
I want to thank everyone who spoke to the value they place on the universe Steve and I worked in for more than 40 years. Your regard means a lot.
However, as I said elsewhere — the core problem with our society is this notion that awarding someone a dollar amount rectifies a wrong. The only people punished by being made to pay an amount of money to “rectify” a wrong are those people who have no money to being with. Rich people laugh, pay the fine, laugh, and continue down their road, having learned nothing, and utterly without remorse.
In the case of the theft of my life’s work, I don’t want money. (I have never been motivated by money. If I had, I wouldn’t have become a writer, even in a world where my work wasn‘t simultaneously considered frivolous and valuable enough to steal.) I want Balance. I want Them, in the words once written by an author, to lose something that means as much to them as those stories mean to me. I want them to hurt, and to cry, and to bear the scars of their wrongdoing forever.
NPC, indeed.
deep breath
Bedtime reading lately has been Very Nice Funerals, by Crusie and Mayer, the second Rocky Start book. I think the third’s one out now. I should look into that.
I note that Tuesday, April 1, is Book Day for Diviner’s Bow, for those of you who preordered from Amazon, BN, &c. I’ll have to find my Book Releasing Clothes.
So! What’s everybody reading that’s fun?
Today’s blog title brought to you by Mr. Eric Clapton: “It’s in the way that you use it”
Cat census below:
I am aching with you about the rip off. Unfortunately, the fact that there is evil in the world is never going to change, human nature being what it is. Still, it is no less a shame. I wish there were some of us like Shan, who could literally go in and untangle the evil webs and provide healing within for those who do not seem to care about such odd concepts of “right” and “wrong.” Meanwhile, I really enjoy the cat censuses that appear here and thank you for that as well as for the work you do to write stories that entertain, edify, and–in their own way–provide healing.
Why?
The stories want to be told.
Many, many people like reading the stories you write, and would miss them if you stopped.
The cats need to be fed.
Etcetera….
Crusie and Mayer’s Rocky start book 3 came out this week, it’s called The honey pot plot.
And I agree with Ed8r, I enjoy the cat pictures and your updates. A touch of normal human and feline life going on is a good thing to share, when we’re all stressed by circumstances.
Balance for the theft of your work may not occurr but those of us who love the Liaden Universe and all its souls know who the true genii are. On a related matter I was devastated to find that there is not a revipe for maize buttons in this universe except for one made up by a fellow fan. Is there a recipe you or Steve knew of that prompted your inclusion of them in the Liaden Universe. If there is might ee know what it is? Pretty please with sprinkles on?
https://sharonleewriter.com/2020/08/on-the-vexed-question-of-maize-buttons/
Was pleasantly surprised to see ‘Diviner’s Bow’ appearing in the Forbidden Planet weekly email with a Subject of “Happy Publication Week – Grab Your Copy Now!”, as a Featured Book. I’ll be getting mine from Baen as an e-book, but it’s great to see it getting out and about in the world, congratulations!