Why, yes, I do live in the country. Why do you ask?
A line of thunderstorms came through yesterday late afternoon into evening. Which meant that Steve and I got to finish reading Inheritor and also that today is a Serious Working Day.
Welcome to the new folk! Introduce yourselves if you’re so moved. Otherwise, there’s drinks and munchies in the fridge; help yourself. Pull up a chair or a piece of the floor, but remember! The cats have first dibs on all comfy spots.
Inheritor, C.J. Cherryh (read out loud with Steve)
I Don’t Want to Kill You, Dan Wells
Invader, C.J. Cherryh (read out loud with Steve)
Library Wars Volume 1: Love and War, Kiiro Yumi
The Perilous Gard, Elizabeth Marie Pope
Edie Ernst, USO Singer — Allied Spy, Brooke McEldowney
Silver Phoenix, Cindy Pon
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (e)
Foreigner, C.J. Cherryh (read aloud with Steve)
Betrayer, C.J. Cherryh (read out loud with Steve)
Right-Ho, Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse (e)
American Rose, Karen Abbott
The Bull God, Roberta Gellis (e)
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
We’re looking at embracing some near-and-mid-term challenges here at the Cat Farm — have I mentioned this?
No, I think I haven’t.
Well.
First, and most near-term — the day-job and I will be parting company as of close of bidness on Thursday, July 28. This is prompted by a whole buncha things, but most pressing is the fact that both of my jobs have been expanding their demands over these last almost-five years, to the point where I had to Choose One, or resign myself to providing diminished performance at both.
Since I never actually learned how to do a bad job on purpose, the diminished performance option was Right Out, which left Choose One, and, honestly — there was never a contest. I’ll miss my faculty and various colleagues and acquaintances around the campus, but not as much as I would miss being able to do my art on my terms.
So, once again with the following of the bliss. Joseph Campbell’s got to be right one of these days.
Now, one of the reasons that we can undertake this particular challenge at this time is — you guys. That’s right — give yourselves a hand.
Why?
Because you’ve supported our work in the most gratifying and concrete way imaginable — you bought books.
You bought a lot of books.
Last royalty period (that would’ve been the royalties paid in October), Fledgling earned out — that means that we don’t owe the publisher any money to pay back the advance; that we get a piece of the action from every book that’s sold. However, Fledgling didn’t just earn out — it earned out handsomely. Enough so that we could get ahead on mortgage payments and salt away another piece of change, into, like, savings.
This royalty period — the statements arrived yesterday, accompanied by a check. This royalty period, Fledgling continued to earn; Saltation earned out, and! (especially near to my heart — thank you all!) Mouse and Dragon earned out.
We got to — not quite kill, but almost kill — the Monster Bill that accrued while we were waiting for Meisha Merlin to catch us up on what we were owed.
Since the day-job is going away, savings becomes living money.
That’s a little tight, but doable, if we’re careful. The echapbook sales are moving briskly. We of course expect that stream to diminish, but hope that it will continue to flow, Steve and I being subscribers to the Every Little Bit Helps school of economics. We’re still working on those stories for subscription, however the mechanism for that finally shakes out — that’s a line from one of those stories-in-the-making, up there in the title bar.
What else?
Short-mid-term challenge — We still do need to move — to a smaller place, in a more populated area. Country living’s for you hearty young folk. I’m holding out for Old Orchard Beach/Saco/Biddeford. I may have to adjust my sights, but — not yet.
Oh, and of course, we’re back on the Freelancer’s Health Plan — Don’t Get Sick — and what used to be called Major Medical (aka pay all medical expenses unless something Terrible Happens, but have the advantage of paying all medical expenses at the insurer’s negotiated rate. Yes, it’s an idiot system, but we love it. Eh.) But, to be fair, the day-job’s health insurance was headed in that direction, too — to the point where health insurance coverage was a consideration in decision-making, but not a major consideration.
That’s where we are, on this sunny, breezy and green Friday in Maine, and hoping you’re as at peace with your world as I am, with mine.
And?
Only twelve more working days ’til school’s out.
Today was consumed by phone calls and shoes.
The phone calls — vet appointments have been set; appointments for annual check-ups for the non-feline members of the household have been set; home visits from CPAP techs have been arranged. Truly, I am Queen of the Telephone.
Sigh.
The truth is — if these folks did appointments by email, I’d’ve been done weeks ago. Telephones are an instrument of the devil. I thought so even when we were on a party line.
(and who knows what that is, anymore?)
Regarding shoes — I had ordered in two pair from Zappos — a “sensible” pair, which I figured I’d keep; and a pair of Frye oxfords that I wanted to see, having once owned and put manymany hundreds of miles on a pair of Frye boots. I figured that, once seen, the oxfords would be returned.
Except — the sensible shoes were not only Sensible to the point of ugliness, they didn’t fit.
And the Frye oxfords?
Fit like they were made for my feet alone.
. . .I bow to my doom.
I did get a few words written on behalf of George, and Steve and I worked out a motivation problem in what will be Story the Oneth in the Liaden Universe® short story extravaganza. I hope to have time to plot that out in detail tomorrow.
Tomorrow is, by the way, Wednesday, which is the Monday of day-job summertime. Happily, it is immediately followed by Thursday, which is the Friday of same.
Progress on the Book Presently known as George
43,885 words/100,000 OR 44% complete
Or maybe Rudy stood on principle with the brats of bosses.
Steve reminds me that I am remiss in mentioning this happy event — ARCs of Ghost Ship arrive at the Cat Farm!
It’s pretty:
. . .there lived a scholar who had three daughters, and they were the light and comfort of his elder years.
A reader stopped me after a panel at some con or ‘nother in order to tell me what was wrong with “Veil of the Dancer.”* The essence of their complaint was that it was written in “fairy tale” language and yet it wasn’t a fairy tale.
I told them I thought that was one of the story’s strengths.
No. Authors, according to this earnest young person, aren’t supposed to “mislead” readers.
…and here I thought that was my job.
In any case! Quiet Knives (including “Veil of the Dancer,” and the title story) and With Stars Underfoot (including “This House,” and “Lord of the Dance”) — Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Numbers 9 and 10, respectively — have today been uploaded to Smashwords. There remain only 13 more chapbooks and a novel to process.
In other news, Mozart has this morning been out to Deepest Unity, braving yaks and chickens, and sheep the size of Colorado in order to see his stylist. He is now returned, and sporting the Summer Shorts. He looks. . .adorable, that’s the word. Adorable.
Many thanks to everyone who weighed in on databases! I am much enlightened, and more than ever determined not to enlist as a database programmer in my twilight years.
Me and the yellow pad are headed for the couch, now.
Hope everyone has a pleasant evening.
——
*Why do people do this? Do they think I’m going to rewrite the story, or recall all the magazines/chapbooks/webpages in which the offending narrative appears? Or — what, exactly?
Today’s eChapbook upload to Smashwords was Shadows and Shades: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 8 I thought I might get another one up this evening, but Events Conspired against me.
Tomorrow is — Monday! So what? Well…I need to drive Mozart to to his stylist tomorrow morning, and Steve has some appointments in the city, but I — don’t. Which is good.
The other thing of use that I did today was work on George, to the tune of nearly 2,000 words added to the rumble and roar, which, lately, is a Stellar! Day! of writing. This stint gets us to the end of Chapter Sixteen, new ground, all, so — yay.
Progress on the Book Presently known as George
43,008 words/100,000 OR 43% complete
Yeah, Mike thought, some people were too stupid to come in outta the snow.
Alert readers will recall that I live in Maine. In fact, that I live in that geographically squishy area known as Central Maine, about 3 hours from the Massachusetts state line and 2.5 hours from the Canadian border, if you’re feeling sanguine with regard to Coburn Gore.
Now, not only do I live in Maine, but I am a veritable giantess among Maine women — six foot tall in my striped sockfeet. This means that I need to either (1) make my own clothes, which I used to do when I was young and ambitious, but have not done for more than twenty-five years, (2) wear mens clothes, which I do pretty often, or (3) buy girl clothes from tall shops on the internet, which is what I do somewhat less often than (2).
One of my favorite vendors of tall women’s clothes is Long Tall Sally, a British chain with stores/distribution points in Massachusetts and in Canada. Mind you, I order from the internet, and make no secret of my US address.
Which is of course why two out of three orders that I make with Sally are fulfilled by the Canadian distributor. I wouldn’t mind this so much, except that the Canadian facility runs the credit card and I get whacked with a currency conversion fee.
And, also, on the rare occasions when I need to return something, the Sally folk in charge of issuing RMA numbers pretty much always insist that my original order of course did not come from Canada; that would be. . .silly.
Ahem.
I suppose there’s a database somewhere in Sally’s kingdom that figures out which shipping facility is closest to what customer and shuffles the orders that way, with a fine — let us even allow, a joyous — disregard for such human vanities as the borders between countries.
* * *
Speaking of databases — this post is about databases — I wonder if someone who is more savvy than I am can explain why it is that bookstores can’t seem to handle co-authors in their databases. It seems universal, from the Big River on down to Ma & Pa’s Bookstore and Pizza Emporium.
Steve, as the second author listed on our collaborative work, is constantly dropped from the database record. This is not only unfair and untrue, but it means that readers who may only recall that “Steve Miller” is one of the authors of those space opera books they like so much can’t find what they want to read.
Which seems a disservice to readers, authors, bookstores, and publishers.
In other words — it’s lose-lose.
And yet the error persists.
Is it Just Too Hard to build a database that will accommodate the reality of co-authors? Or do the builders of databases, being, perhaps techies more than readers, not understand (and therefore don’t care about) the issue?
* * *
I have met folks who haven’t believed that co-authors do equal work on the projects that bear both of their names.
My co-workers on the newspaper many years ago for instance widely believed that my husband “let me put my name” on his books. To keep peace in the family, one assumes.
More recently, I submitted a novel by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller to the Maine Arts Commission, in application for a grant. After they had the application in hand, and despite having asked beforehand and told to go ahead, I was told that co-authored works were not acceptable. The official’s suggested solution was that I simply remove my co-author’s name from the application.
I don’t believe that, to this day, she understands why this was wrong, though, be assured, I did my Very Best to tell her.
So, it’s not at all outside the realm of possibility that those who are charged with building database may be. . .misinformed regarding the necessity of listing all the authors of a particular work.
What I’d like to know, I guess, is how to get to these folks in order to educate them.
Ideas?
From Uncle Hugo re Ghost Ship
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller will be autographing at Uncle Hugo’s on Saturday, August 27th, from 2:30-4:00 pm. If you’d like to order signed or personalized copies of their books, go here to order. Please mention that you want your book(s) personalized in the Special Instructions when you check out. Orders for personalized copies must be received no later than Friday, August 26th.
Around 500 people have preordered Ghost Ship with a tipped-in signature page. Those copies will arrive at the store about a month before the signing.
1. If you preordered and want us to ship the book as soon as possible, you don’t have to do anything.
2. If you preordered and want us to hold the book until the end of August to be personalized, you must let us
Edited to Add: Where “us” is Uncle Hugo — unclehugoATaolDOTcom
know by July 15th that you want the book personalized, and how you want it personalized. (You don’t have to provide your original order number.) If we don’t hear from you (preferably by email) by July 15th, your order will be shipped as soon as possible after the books arrive.
3. YES, you can still order signed/personalized copies of Ghost Ship. You must order by July 15.
Please bear in mind that it will take us a week or more to pack and ship all those orders, and that media mail packages take up to a week to be delivered. So PLEASE wait until at least mid-August (for signed copies) or mid-September (for personalized copies) for your order to arrive before bombarding us with follow-up emails.
Thanks.
Lee and Miller Summer Con Schedule
June 23-26, 2011
Wyndham Hotel
South Portland, Maine. . .your best bet to catch the duo will be on Saturday, June 25 when they’re scheduled for two writing-oriented panel discussions as well as a signing.
August 17 – 21, 2011
Convention Center
Reno, Nevada . . .Lee and Miller will be panelists. The Friends of Liad will host a party, and a FoL breakfast.
Man, summer vacation is the greatest.
Yesterday, I tidied my office inasmuch &c. It had just gotten too messy to write in. I can’t say that it’s tidy as I sit here, but it’s tidy enough, and that’ll do.
Today, I converted and uploaded Loose Cannon: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 7 to Smashwords. Because of its reviewing process, it is taking those books I’m uploading quite some time to propagate out to the other vendors, but for those who consider Smashwords to be their Bookstore on the Web, the Liaden Universe® is coming your way. My goal is to upload a book a day, which should get everything we have up in…counts on fingers…seventeen days. Which means by the end of June, even given a break for PortConME, which is coming up in Portland, June 24, 25, and 26.
Today, I also worked on George, breaking new ground. Hopefully this work will pick up, too, now that we’re into a saner headspace. For values of sane that include comfortable and usual, for me, if not necessarily for you.
And now, work done, I’m going to go rustle up some lunch. Steve had mentioned that the potstickers we had narrowly missed having for breakfast on Friday might make a good lunch.
I think he’s onto something.
Progress on the Book Presently known as George
41,082 words/100,000 OR 41% complete
“I fear that you will not walk far with me at your side,” he said. “But I will gladly go as far as I might, with a brother.”