Author: Sharon

Books read in 2022

12  The Pride of Chanur, CJ Cherryh (Chanur #1) (re-read)
11  Written in Red, Anne Bishop (The Others #1)(re-read)
10  Shadow Scale, Rachel Hartman (e) (Seraphina #2)
9   Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (e) (Seraphina #1)
8   Grave Reservations, Cherie Priest (e) (Booking Agents Series #1)
7   Gothel and the Maiden Prince, W.R. Gingell (e)
6   A Gathering of Gargoyles, Meredith Ann Pierce (Darkangel #2)
5   Crystal Lattice, Paul Aurelius (The Crystal Cities #1) (e) (pre-pub provided by the author)
4   The 5th Gender, G.L. Carriger (A Tinkered Stars Mystery) (e)
3   Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic #1 or #3, depending) (e)
2   Snowspelled, Stephanie Burgis (The Harwood Spellbook #1) (e)
1   Widdershins, Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborn and Griffin #1) (e)

Deadlines for the next three Liaden books

Madame the Agent and Madame the Publisher have been very busy on our behalf.  We can now provide TURN-IN dates for the next three Liaden books (for those who collect such things, this is the so-called Triple Threat Contract).

SALVAGE RIGHT due to Baen June 2022

TRADE LANES due to Baen, September 2022

BOOK THREE (return to the Redlands) due to Baen, June 2023

Again — these are deadlines, not publication dates.

Saturday after the storm

So, yesterday it snowed.  I believe we got at least the five inches the weatherbeans had been predicting.  On Thursday, we had large swathes of grass showing in the back yard.  This morning, we have an even cover of white.

The other Big News yesterday, aside the snowstorm and that I won at Scrabble, is that Steve read the first 25,000 words of Salvage Right — this being the Edition that includes all the details that were previously only in my head, and picks up some of that timekeeping I was talking about — and pronounces it Good.

So, we continue.  My job today is to read those 25,000 words, and sketching in a blueprint to likewise expand Section Two, so that next week I can get down inside the interstitials and start hooking up the plumbing and the electricity.

For those wondering after turn-in and publication dates, we are talking with Madame, and may have a schedule to share — soonish.

To review:  Steve is working on Trade Lanes, the sequel to May’s upcoming Fair Trade.  I am working on Salvage Right, set on Tinsori Light.  A third Liaden novel, as yet untitled and only vaguely considered, will finish out the current contract, referred to in-house as The Triple Threat Contract.

Aside taking Trooper to the vet for his annual physical next Wednesday, I’ve got nothing on the calendar until the Cancer Center again intrudes on my life, on March 17, the two-year anniversary of my mastectomy.  I’m looking forward to getting some solid work done before then.

. . . and I think that catches us all up.

Everybody stay safe.  Tell the people you care about that you love them.

 

 

Books read in 2022

11  Written in Red, Anne Bishop (The Others #1)(re-read)
10  Shadow Scale, Rachel Hartman (e) (Seraphina #2)
9   Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (e) (Seraphina #1)
8   Grave Reservations, Cherie Priest (e) (Booking Agents Series #1)
7   Gothel and the Maiden Prince, W.R. Gingell (e)
6   A Gathering of Gargoyles, Meredith Ann Pierce (Darkangel #2)
5   Crystal Lattice, Paul Aurelius (The Crystal Cities #1) (e) (pre-pub provided by the author)
4   The 5th Gender, G.L. Carriger (A Tinkered Stars Mystery) (e)
3   Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic #1 or #3, depending) (e)
2   Snowspelled, Stephanie Burgis (The Harwood Spellbook #1) (e)
1   Widdershins, Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborn and Griffin #1) (e)

The writer at work Tinsori Light edition

It occurred to me at right around 58,000 words into Salvage Right, that, yep, everything is happening on Tuesday afternoon, and I’d better Fix That Now.

So, that’s what I’m doing now.

I’ve read what was the original first scene — +/- 20,000 words — and have a plan to open it up to let air and sunshine and characterization and stuff into the manuscript.  Once I’ve solidified that opening section, I’ll move on to the next scene.  Which is one of your Big Advantages of writing in scenes.

I did know going in that there was going to be a fair amount of timekeeping required for this book, because of its place in overall Liaden Universe® events.  I’d been having so! much! fun! on Tinsori Light, though, that I’ve been ignoring that part of the process, and this is my opportunity to do that work, as well.

To sum up — the writer is writing, is happy in her work, and hoping you’re all the same.

 

Steve Miller’s Boskone Schedule

Boskone 59 starts today!

Steve Miller will be participating as a virtual panelist.  Here’s his schedule:

All times are Eastern Standard.

VIRTUAL: Unhappy Endings Format: Panel
18 Feb 2022, Friday 8pm – 8:50pm, Marina IV (Westin)
Jane Yolen, Steve Miller, Julie Czerneda, Paul Di Filippo (M), Ada Palmer

Tragic plays from Shakespeare, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides are still with us … hundreds, even thousands of years later. Not all stories let the protagonist triumph — sometimes they lose; sometimes they even die losing. Some science fiction and fantasy writers’ unhappily ending stories are quite popular. Why do they succeed? Why do other such stories fail — even fail so hard their authors never try to write unhappily ever after?

VIRTUAL: My Favorite Character
18 Feb 2022, Friday 9pm – 9:50pm, Marina IV (Westin)
Olav Rokne, Jen Gunnels, Steve Miller, David Marshall, James Moore (M)

Google once estimated that humanity had published 129,864,880 books. If about half were SF/F/H trilogies — never mind, let’s ask it this way: from all the speculative fiction stories ever published, who’s your favorite character, and why? Heroine, villain, sidekick, romantic interest, alien bystander? Would you like to meet, have dinner with, or be that person? What does your choice say about your own character?

VIRTUAL: Solo Reading
19 Feb 2022, Saturday 12:30 – 12:55, Marina IV (Westin)
Steve Miller

Books read in 2022

10  Shadow Scale, Rachel Hartman (e) (Seraphina #2)
9   Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (e) (Seraphina #1)
8   Grave Reservations, Cherie Priest (e) (Booking Agents Series #1)
7   Gothel and the Maiden Prince, W.R. Gingell (e)
6   A Gathering of Gargoyles, Meredith Ann Pierce (Darkangel #2)
5   Crystal Lattice, Paul Aurelius (The Crystal Cities #1) (e) (pre-pub provided by the author)
4   The 5th Gender, G.L. Carriger (A Tinkered Stars Mystery) (e)
3   Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic #1 or #3, depending) (e)
2   Snowspelled, Stephanie Burgis (The Harwood Spellbook #1) (e)
1   Widdershins, Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborn and Griffin #1) (e)

The Writing Life: Feast or Famine

So, yesterday was one of those days when the mind — the mind it zzzzzzzzzzzzoooooommmmmmmeeeedddddddd!!!!!!! 

I took notes; I typed words in a row; I took more notes.  My brain was, like, BIG PARTY at Tinsori Light! and I was being dragged along, whether I wanted to go to the damn’ party or not.

Though of course — I did.

This is the kind of day every writer hopes for; a gift from the back brain, when suddenly! it’s all So Clear, and everything just snaps into place.

It’s also an exhausting and terrifying kind of day — so! many! ideas!  coming in a rush.  You’re afraid you’re going to miss something — fingers only move so fast, after all.

So, today, I’m being kind of sleepy and slow.  I did the next-day read-over-and-revise of what I wrote yesterday, and I know where I need to go today, but I’m moving at half-speed instead of Warp 6.

Balance, I guess.

At this Point In Time, Salvage Right (aka Tinsori Light: The Novel) is less than 100 words short of 54,000.

And that’s kind of awesome, considering that, in October, I was writing a story that had already been written from another point of view, to try to teach myself how to write again.

There’s a snippet below this paragraph.  If you don’t want to read it, stop scrolling now.

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SNIPPET:

“How’re you doin’ there, Pilot?”

“I have once again established that my head is harder than hull plate.  Apparently this must be periodically verified.”

 

 

Books read 2022

9   Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (e) (Seraphina #1)
8   Grave Reservations, Cherie Priest (e) (Booking Agents Series #1)
7   Gothel and the Maiden Prince, W.R. Gingell (e)
6   A Gathering of Gargoyles, Meredith Ann Pierce (Darkangel #2)
5   Crystal Lattice, Paul Aurelius (The Crystal Cities #1) (e) (pre-pub provided by the author)
4   The 5th Gender, G.L. Carriger (A Tinkered Stars Mystery) (e)
3   Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic #1 or #3, depending) (e)
2   Snowspelled, Stephanie Burgis (The Harwood Spellbook #1) (e)
1   Widdershins, Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborn and Griffin #1) (e)