Author: Sharon

She believes that life is made up of all that you’re used to

So, Friday the 13th; the second Friday the 13th in a row.

I woke up with my back aching, a little, and in an unusual place.  We here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory know all about low back pain, but this was. . .higher.  In accordance  with my Usual Procedures in re back pain, I swallowed a couple aspirin and took myself to town to run errands (among which was purchasing make-up, something I do…seldom.  Boy, has makeup changed.  Though I did see a eyebrow stencil.  Haven’t seen one of those since my grandmother’s vanity.  But I digress.)

By the time I got home, the back pain was. . .annoying.  I took another couple aspirin and lay down on a heating pad for 45 minutes before the afternoon meal, only to find when I arose to eat that the pain. . .was worse.

A lot worse.

And I now had additional pain, in my right arm, plus I was also slightly sick to my stomach.  We consulted.  Steve called my doctor, because by this point, the pain in my back was shooting off fireworks of more intense pain utilizing a playlist of its own devising, and it was all I could do to stay upright.

The doctor’s office gave us a 4:00 appointment and we arrived in some disorder, Steve driving.  In due time, I was examined, several possibilities were dismissed for the moment, though held in reserve, in case of This or That manifesting.

Muscle relaxants and pain medicine were prescribed, and filled, and taken with dispatch.

I spent the rest of Friday afternoon on my back on the heating pad, listening to my mp3 player, which was a lifesaver, since it turned out that I had misjudged the number of T3 I ought take — I have never in the past needed more than one to get any pain down to a manageable level — and so prolonged my period of pain.  I took two T3 when the second hit was allowed, and more muscle relaxants, listened to Steve read the next chapter of The Kif Strike Back, and so to sleep, surrounded by coon cats.

Yesterday was pretty much sitting in the big blue chair, dozing-reading-dozing, and the early part of today, also.  I believe the situation is now under control — and I have a whole new level of pain to use as a benchmark.

This afternoon, I’m going to show up at the work-in-progress and see if, indeed, my brain has recovered from his brief fling with narcotics.

In other news!

It’s snowing in East Winslow.

Today’s blog title brought to you by Matchbox 20, “3am”.  Here’s your link.

 

Books read in 2015

10.  Why Kings Confess, C.S. Harris
9.  Chanur’s Venture, C.J. Cherry (re-read, read out loud with Steve) (Note:  the publisher’s note at the end of the book states that the next-in-series is Chanur’s Revenge. This is false. The next-in-series is The Kif Strike Back, which we will begin tonight.)
8.  Angels’ Blood, Nalini Singh (read out loud with Steve)
7.  The Pride of Chanur, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
6.  What Darkness Brings, C.S. Harris
5. When Maidens Mourn, C.S. Harris
4.  Where Shadows Dance, C.S. Harris
3.  What Remains of Heaven, C.S. Harris
2.  Where Serpents Sleep, C.S. Harris
1.  When Gods Die, C.S. Harris

Inquiring author wants to know

In your opinion, what is the:

Darkest Liaden book?

Lightest Liaden book?

Please show your work, by which I mean, explain your choice.

NOTE:  Since the eArc of Dragon in Exile is available and some folks have read it, it may be nominated for either of the above categories.  HOWEVER, since the official publication date is not yet upon us, please, if you do nominate DiE, leave a spoiler space before your explanation, out of compassion for those who wait for the retail release.  Thanks.

In our next house. . .

So, Steve and I have taken to stating what we’d like — or not like — to have in our new house, if-and-when.

For instance:  In our next house, the telephone will not be in Sharon’s office.

Until that happens, however, the telephone is in my office, and yesterday the damned thing just would not stop.  I’m not a big fan of phones as things to talk to other people with on the best of days, but yesterday, I needed to work.  Letting the call go to “voicemail” (aka, the answering machine) doesn’t help much, because –?

Yep, the answering machine is in my office, too.

Sigh.

Despite the annoyances of various calls, I did get about 1,500 words written well before 5:00, my “traditional” starting time, which left plenty of time to clean the bathroom, and then read the first 50 pages of the page proofs for Dragon in Exile, which landed in my inbox yesterday morning — and produced a distraction of its own, as the black ink ran out about 70 pages short of the finish line, and –?

I was out of black ink.

I’m NEVER out of black ink, being kind of obsessive about making sure I always have one spare of each ink cartridge.  I suspect Sprite took the last cartridge to print out the most recent draft of her memoirs, A Most Fair and Puissant Princess, and failed to write “ink” on the list.

To be fair, princesses don’t write “ink” — or anything else — on lists, and it’s really too bad of me to expect her to undertake such menial tasks.  This is what she has minions for, after all.

Luckily, Steve’s computer had ink in it, and so the last pages were printed.  I then checked to see if Sprite had left us any red pens and sticky notes, but those supplies are up to war levels.

Here’s what’s up today, then, at the Confusion Factory:

More coffee!

Write!

More coffee!

Proof!

. . .that oughta keep me out of trouble.

REMINDER REPOST: Pre-order your signed copy of Dragon in Exile NOW

As promised, Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore in Minneapolis, will be — is! — taking pre-orders for signed and personalized copies of Dragon in Exile, the 18th novel entry in the Liaden Universe®, the history of same having been faithfully recounted by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Chroniclers of Korval since Nineteen-Aught-Eighty-Eight.

Be aware that there is a deadline in play!  Personalized copies (in which “personalized” means that you ask the authors to write something in addition to their names in your book) must be pre-ordered by May 1.  NOTE1:  If you want your book personalized, you must write the personalization you desire in the Special Instructions box on the order form.  Be careful and check your spelling; the authors will transcribe your words exactly.  NOTE2:  The authors reserve the right to refuse to personalize your book in the manner you stipulate if, in their sole judgment, the personalization is too long or if it for any reason offendeth them.

Pre-orders for signed copies (in which “signed” means that the authors wrote their names in your book, period), will be taken until all the books are gone.

Here’s your link to pre-order personalized and/or signed copies of Dragon in Exile.

In which the day-star rises, and sets again

For many, many years, I have been a Nighttime Writer, starting around 5 or 6-ish in the evening and continuing on to 10 or 11-ish, whereupon I would call it a night and go to bed.  This was more than in-part made necessary because for many, many years, I had a day-job to fill my morning and afternoon hours.  I never had any problem writing at night, though, and assumed that my natural writing niche was in the evening hours.

When I left what I fervently hope proves to be my last day-job, I continued to believe myself  a Nighttime Writer  And I continued to schedule Things That Were Not Writing in the morning, to “get them out of the way.”  The only problem was that, by the time evening rolled around and I had taken care of all the Not Writing Things, my brain was tired.  Which meant that (1) it took longer for me to write my Daily Words and, (2) I was getting seriously short on sleep, which meant that I was even tireder by the time the hour to write came ’round.  I broached the idea of just flipping House Time completely around — y’know, sleep in the daytime, work in the nighttime — but Steve nixed that.

So, I tried to mix it up.

First, I tried just moving the Writing Hour up into mid-afternoon, but!  Midafternoon has always been and continues to be the Best Time Ever to Take a Nap.  I have no brain at 3 pm; I will never have a brain at 3 pm.  At 5, I’m back in the game and good until 2 am, but for the love of ghu, don’t ask me to anything  between 3 and 5.

So, clearly, that little bit of time travel wasn’t going to work.  The next logical thing to do was to move the Writing Hour to Hard Morning, right after breakfast; while I’m still drinking my third cup of coffee.

That was logical, sure, but I resisted it, because, if there was one thing I did know about my so-called process was that I was Just Not a Morning Writer.  Hell, I’m not even a Morning Person.  I have seen the sun rise, many times, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rise because I was getting out of bed.

This morning, I decided that it had to be tried.  So!  I turned off Facebook and Twitter before I went to bed last night, so I couldn’t log in this morning, just to “see what’s going on” and get mired down for a hour.  And after breakfast, I came back to my office, read the comics, and opened up a file to start to write.

I wrote for 90 minutes — this is a revival of an Old Thing I Used To Do:  Set a timer for 90 minutes.  For those 90 minutes, I do nothing — nothing — but write.  If I stall out on a description or something, I do not open up a game of Solitaire “to help me think,” I stare at the screen until the words break out on my forehead in drops of blood, whereupon I transcribe them onto the page and continue.  When the bell goes off, I have 30 minutes to do whatever I want to do, then it’s back to the 90-minute run.

Anyway, this morning, I did one 90-minute run, for a total of 1,251 words.  After lunch, before 3:00, I did a second 90-minute run, for a total of 1,004 words.  Two thousand, two hundred and fifty-five words is, by my lights, at least, a reasonable writing day.  Even more reasonable because I didn’t feel like every word was being pried out of my brain by a tweezer-wielding chimpanzee.

So, I’m encouraged, and very much less reluctant to pitch in again tomorrow morning.

. . .all of which is, of course, fascinating stuff, but it’s what I’ve got today.

Except vacuuming.  Now that the day’s work is out of the way, I have chores to do.

 

Books read in 2015

9.  Chanur’s Venture, C.J. Cherry (re-read, read out loud with Steve) (Note:  the publisher’s note at the end of the book states that the next-in-series is Chanur’s Revenge. This is false. The next-in-series is The Kif Strike Back, which we will begin tonight.)
8.  Angels’ Blood, Nalini Singh (read out loud with Steve)
7.  The Pride of Chanur, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
6.  What Darkness Brings, C.S. Harris
5. When Maidens Mourn, C.S. Harris
4.  Where Shadows Dance, C.S. Harris
3.  What Remains of Heaven, C.S. Harris
2.  Where Serpents Sleep, C.S. Harris
1.  When Gods Die, C.S. Harris

And in Archers Beach

Frequent auditors of this blog will perhaps recall that, in addition to my work with Steve in the Liaden Universe®, I’ve written a contemporary fantasy trilogy* set in a partly fictional Maine beach town called Archers Beach.

Archers Beach is, of course, based on Old Orchard Beach — a real Maine beach town and one of the state’s prime tourist attractions.

For those coming in late, there’s an Archers Beach photo album here (I’m told Pinterest has taken to mangling the pictures for non-Pinterest members, which strikes me as. . .rude, and, yes, before anyone says so, I should move the pictures to Some Other, More Inclusive Place, which I’ll surely do after I’ve finished all the things in-queue ahead of it).

Now, the problem with the above album (setting aside Pinterest) is that all the pictures are taken during clement weather:  High Season, Pre-Season, After-Season.  I don’t get to the ocean in High Winter, mostly because I’m usually snowed in here in the center of the state, and so that Season has bee unrepresented, until now.

The Portland Press Herald has put together a very nice video of Old Orchard Beach in the winter.  Be sure your speakers are turned on, so you can hear the wind moving against the carousel’s storm doors.  Here’s your link.

___________

*Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, Carousel Seas, available at fine bookstores everywhere, including Uncle Hugo’s; in ebook editions from Baen, and the Usual Suspects; and as audiobooks, from Audible.

Ich am a gentil harlot and a kynde

So, today was Steve’s day to read the redrafted manuscript (and also to make dinner — chicken, mashed potatoes, and asparagus — yum!). While he did that, I puttered — laundry, dishes, cat grooming, boxing up books in the basement.  Honest to ghu, we’ve gotten rid of a truckload of books; I can’t figure out why we still have so many.  Mind you, these are the basement books.  We still have the books in my office, the books in the bedroom; the books in Steve’s office; and the books in the living room.

Oh.  And the cookbooks.

Well.  At least I have a couple of epiphanies with regard to the work-in-process to show for all this goofing off.  Including — duh! — if you have a. . .

Um.

Well. . .no.  I can’t tell you that, can I?

Well, I can tell you that — err. . . nope. Not that, either.

Oh.  Well.  Just take it as given that I had a very productive day.

For fans of Chaucer, Middle English, Old English, and even older — or odder — English — young Geoffrey Chaucer invites us all to a celebration of  languages on April 15:

Yn thys celebracioun we shal reade of oold bokes yn sondrye oold tonges. We shal singe olde songes. We shal playe olde playes. Eny oold tonge will do, and eny maner of readinge. All are welcome. We shal make merrye yn the magical dreamscape of ‘social media,’ and eke, yf ye kan do yt, yn the ‘real worlde’ too. 

For more information, follow this link.

And that?  Is all I’ve got.  Oh, except that the guy down the road — yeah, that guy — is setting off fireworks.  I’m trying to work up some sympathy for him, poor guy. It’s been so! dern! cold! for so long, the flames froze on the fuses before the rockets went off.  He’s been months without fireworks. . .

Naw.  Not working.

Anyhow, that’s all I’ve got.  Tomorrow will be brainstorming and role-playing and note-making, then — back to work!

Hope everybody is having a delightful weekend!