The proofs for Carousel Seas, the Thrilling Conclusion to the Archers Beach Carousel Trilogy by Sharon Lee, that started with Carousel Tides, and continued in Carousel Sun, just landed in my inbox!
What this means to you — yes, you! — is that the eARC of this long-awaited novel should be available for purchase on the Baen site realsoonnow.
You know what to do, I think?
Splendid.
I’ll be over here, finishing a short story.
So today’s mail brings three catalogs, HearthSong, Woolwich, and American Girl, by which the scariest, by far is American Girl, the most interesting is HearthSong, and the most useful is Woolwich.
Interestingly enough, the American Girl catalog (which horrifies me) and the HearthSong catalog (which pleases me greatly) have an item in common: A ceiling tent made of sparkly semi-see-through material. They differ in detail — the American Girl tent included pillows and was blue-and-silver; the HearthSong tent was a seasonal orange with green trim, and came with a cluster of led lights, also in orange and green, to hang at the apex of the tent; pillows not included.
Now, I just might have to get me one of these. JoAnn’s, after all, sells sparkly material of all kinds, and I can get a knock-off HulaHoop at the Dollar Store — led lights, too. Pillows are easy; in fact, I probably have enough pillows on-hand, just need some bright covers. Mmmmm, pillow corner.
Of course, after I made it, it would be preempted by the cats, but still. . . pillow corner.
Today’s mail also brings the signing checks for the Atlantis Verlag German edition of Carpe Diem, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, which is not only pleasing, but well-timed.
On the Actually Writing front, I’m about half-way through the Archers Beach short story commissioned for the Baen website. Not at all the story I thought I was going to write last year, when I signed the contract, but a good story; I’m pleased with voice, character, and direction. With luck and a tailwind, I’ll finish it today, then let it sit a couple days before rereading and revising. And coming up with a title, of course.
First, though, I need to go into town and take care of some errands.
Here, have some cat pictures to keep you company while I’m gone:
I have mentioned before Scrabble’s considerable choreographic skills. I’m pleased to report that she has a new dance under construction.
Yesterday was, of course, Royal Justice Day. Here we have Princess Jasmine Sprite ready to hear the commoners:
As promised earlier, the outtake from Carousel Tides is up at Splinter Universe, with a Bonus Teaching Moment. Here’s your link.
Thanks to everyone for their timely suggestions regarding timepieces! I have Ebayed, and a new watch will be with me next Tuesday (Monday being, of course, a bank-and-post-office holiday. Do you know where your Christopher Columbus costume is?)
A couple people asked if I just can’t have the crystal replaced — which was, in fact, my first thought, coming as I do from a generation where things that got broken were repaired. The local jewelry repair shop, however, threw up its hands and claimed there was nothing to be done; and the Dakota warranty only covers the watch’s innards, not the band, clip, crystal, or stem. Something to bear in mind the next time you buy a Dakota watch.
In the meantime, I’m moving forward with an Archers Beach short story, and will likely be posting an outtake from Carousel TIDES (that’s the first book in the trilogy) on Splinter Universe sometime later today, just to get us all in the mood for Carousel SEAS (that’s the third book in the trilogy. For completists, Carousel SUN is the middle book.)
SPEAKING OF CAROUSEL SEAS: Time’s running out to preorder your very own signed and/or personalized copy. Here’s how to do that.
Everybody caught up?
Good.
I’m off to do some housekeeping, including the ever-popular left-handed vacuuming, since my right hand is still kicking up a fit.
What’re you doing that’s fun today?
. . .this may become relevant later.
So, I have a funny problem, which is that I can’t wear wristwatches — can’t really abide anything close around my wrists, anymore, including button-down sleeves and tight jerseys. The wristwatch thing, though, that’s been a problem for years, which I had long ago solved by purchasing clipwatches, which I would then clip to the right-hand-front-hip belt loop of my jeans/slacks.
This has, as I said, worked for many years. Except not anymore. I’ve managed to smash the face crystal on my last two watches in record time — and I don’t even know how I’m doing it. I’ll clip the watch on, go about my business, look down, the watch is fine, look down again, maybe a couple hours later, and the glass is cracked.
The first watch I did in by this magic process had been with me for some while, and was a cheap watch when I bought it. I was sad, because I liked the watch, but it’s not like it owed me anything.
The watch I just defaced, though, was barely a year old — an expensive Dakota clip with a light, that I bought on clearance, so instead of $60, it was — what? $40? I figured it would last me a good long time, being rugged and all, and, to be fair, its crystal isn’t smashed anywhere near as comprehensively as the glass over the first watch. But, still, hardly the sort of thing you want to wear out in company — and it happens that I’m going to be out in company at the end of next month, so. . .
Does anyone have a line on a clipwatch with a blast-glass crystal, or, I dunno, a cover? Any tips on how to generally protect a watch on a clip from getting smashed while in the line of duty?
In other news, Trooper has apparently decided to make a push to be Boss Cat. Let’s just say that Scrabble is not on-board with this game plan.
Thunderstorms rolled over the Cat Farm on the overnight, which meant No Eclipse for Us, but we have a consolation prize — my favorite kind of day: cloudy, blowy, damp, and oceany. Windows are open all over the house.
And, now, it’s time to get back to work.
Over in another part of the internet, a question, in several parts, has arisen, to which I used to know the answer, but it seems, like so very much else, that the Wisdom of the Internet has produced a new, and startling, answer. This happens a lot, as we get older, that what worked for us no longer works for anyone else, so this is in the nature of a reality check.
So, first, the meta-question, with my own response beneath, in parenthesis.
1. Do you need an agent?
(Well, no. You don’t need an agent. We’ve variously had agents and didn’t. When we have had representation, I’ve found it to be worth the 15% commission. In my experience, agents not only vet contracts, but they’re also on hand to make those Awkward Phone Calls, such as: “In the most recent contract, X Rights are reserved to the author, and yet you, the publisher, have now exercised those rights. We assume, of course, that this is an honest error, but, still, it needs to be addressed. How would you like to proceed?” Also, we often ask our agent for advice regarding situations we haven’t faced, and which she likely has, by reason of representing many authors. So, that.)
2. Is it “better” (as in “more cost effective”) to have a lawyer go over your contract, as opposed to an agent?
(My received wisdom is that lawyers look at publishing contracts and their heads explode, because they simply don’t know what the words mean.)
3. Will the publisher get angry with you, the author, if, after they’ve offered you a contract, you hire an agent (or a lawyer) to go over it?
(Myself, I think that a legitimate publisher would be delighted to have a pro going over their contract and dealing with the writer’s questions, rather than having to cope with that, themselves. I also think that, in the probable case of the agent/lawyer finding nothing amiss, that this finding would be the beginning of a foundation of trust between author and publisher.)
4. Would you ever not read a contract because you know that the publisher would never, ever act against your interest as an author?
(Myself, I think that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Also that good fences make good neighbors. Mistakes happen. Somebody new in the Contracts Department might send the wrong contract, for instance. It’s a pain, but — just better, all around, to read the thing and reassure yourself that your publisher loves you.)
5. I addressed this somewhat in my answer to #1 above, but — Do you feel that having an agent is actually cost-effective? Why or why not? Examples are encouraged.
So, we’ve been working on our Principal Speaker speech for PhilCon — which is to say, I took a first swing at it, and now it’s Steve’s turn. Spent a good bit of time last evening — all of my writing time, in fact — staring at a blank sheet of paper. I’m sorry to report that the paper won the first round.
Well. Today’s another round. We’ll catch it on the rebound.
Yesterday brought the news that the Verso Paper will be shutting down the mill in Bucksport by year-end, throwing almost 600 people out of work — about 10 percent of the town’s population. That number does not, of course, include the businesses that depended on the mill and the mill workers, which will also be forced to close.
Verso Paper says the Bucksport mill isn’t profitable — that it simply can’t be profitable. Well. Don’t take my word for it — here’s the article in the Bangor Daily News.
Today’s news run also produced a map of the hardest places to live in the US — here’s the link to the article and the map.
When I posted that link on Facebook, a friend mentioned that some areas of Maine aren’t doing so well. And I agreed that, yes, Maine is a poor state; a fact that encouraged our move here, a quarter century ago. Had we remained in the Baltimore area, both Steve and I would have been working multiple jobs in our so-called “professions” in the clerical and retail fields, just to pay the rent. We would have been no richer, in the sense of having more money, and we would surely have written fewer novels — perhaps only the first three; who would have had the time to write? We would, I think, have had a. . .less joyous life thus far, even granting that parts of the life we have had were Pretty Scary.
So, it’s a funny thing. . .we did sort of choose to be poor, going into the whole writer thing eyes open and knowing that writers often die too young and broke. But, knowing that we would never get rich by staying inside the box, and knuckling down to work. . .helped make the choice to break out of the box and pursue our art much, much easier.
If you’re going to die broke, you might as well live happy.
So, that.
For the rest of the day, I have some blank paper to stare at, a survey to fill out, and some housecleaning to do. Someday soon, I really ought to drag out the files to be gone through and sent to be archived, but today may not be that day.
Up here in the northland, it’s a cool, brilliant day. The leaves on the tree outside my window have turned yellow, and half of them have fallen already. The sumac is a blazing scarlet.
Hope your day is every bit as brilliant.
Today’s blog title brought to you by Foreigner. Here’s the link to Juke Box Hero.
34. A Brother’s Price, Wen Spencer (e)
33. Spiral Path, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel (e)
32. Earthly Delights, Kerry Greenwood (e)
31. Night Broken, Patricia Briggs (e)
30. Just My Type, Simon Garfield
29. Bones of Faerie, Janni Lee Simner
28. Dancer of the Sixth, Michelle Shirey Crean
27. Tryst, Elswyth Thane (re-re-re-re-re-&c-read)
26. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
25. The King of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
24. The Queen of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
23. The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
22. Cuckoo’s Egg, C.J. Cherryh (re-re-re-&c-read)
21. The Windflower, Laura London (Tom and Sharon Curtis) (re-read)
20. Sparrow Hill Road, Seanan McGuire (e)
19. Demon’s Lexicon, Sarah Rees Brennan
18. Refining Felicity, Marion Chesney
17. Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury (re-read aloud w/Steve)
16. The Vanished Priestess, Meredith Blevins
15. Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny (re-read aloud w/Steve)
14. Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein
13. Ghost Point, James A. Hetley, manuscript (read aloud w/Steve)
12. Peacemaker, C.J. Cherryh (read aloud w/Steve)
11. The Red Hot Empress, Meredith Blevins
10. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
9. Black Widow: The Name of the Rose, Marjorie Liu, Daniel Acuna
8. Agent of Change, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
7. The Emperor’s Agent, Jo Graham (e)
6. Eternity and a Day, Aline Hunter (e)
5. Kindred Rites, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel (e)
4. Billy the Kid, the Endless Ride, Michael Wallis
3. The Steerswoman, Rosemary Kirstein (e)
2. Uncovered, Jordan Matter
1. Dancers Among Us, Jordan Matter
What does the author wait for, you ask?
Well, happily, she no longer waits for the power to come back on. Central Maine Power was on the case almost immediately, and we were back on the grid in less than two hours. Since the coffee auto-brew cycle had finished *this much* ahead of the black-out, I believe we can chalk the whole experience up to: More Fortunate Than Not.
But I am waiting for Other Things, among them:
*An answer from someone who sent me her email address, but apparently never checks her email
*A contract with signing check
*Galley proofs
*Authors’ copies — I called this one yesterday when the UPS truck pulled up in front of the house (as in, I said, “Now, what. . .? Oh! BOOKS!”). It turned out to be the monthly order of cat litter, and after we took it on, Steve said, “What books are we expecting?” and I said, “Mass market Trade Secrets.” and he said, “Already?”
*Books — this being a modest order of used books for moi
*The backbrain to get on the case and fork over with the short story I need to write
*A buyer, krugerrands twinkling on his fingertips, for this house
*The perfect in-town house for us to move into to manifest, but not before the guy above puts the krugerrands into our hands
*A movie deal for Agent of Change (or The Tomorrow Log, or Carousel Tides, or Barnburner; I’m not particularly picky on this point)
. . .I think that’s it.
So! It’s a good thing I have some peppers and onions to chop up for the freezer, and some vacuuming to do, while I wait.
What’re you waiting for?
This was the scene of debauchery we discovered in our living room, yesterday afternoon:
This morning, we slept in somewhat, in celebration of the fact that tomorrow heralds the return of The Schedule. Steve made us asparagus omelets with hollandaise sauce for breakfast, after which I retired to the couch to elevate my foot and finish the book I was reading. Those tasks now accomplished, I will turn my attention toward speech-writing, and laundry-finishing, as Steve has dealt with the dishes.
For those playing along at home — we’ve gotten feedback from a fan on Dragon on Exile, which I reproduce here: “Wow.”
So, that’s coming in June 2015.
. . .and I think that’s all the news that’s fit to print.