Blog – Page 238 – Sharon Lee, Writer

December’s most important Cat Farm holiday…

…is, of course, Trooper’s Birthday.

Which is — today!

Kelimcoons Super Trooper, the 17th Best Allbreed Cat in the Northeast Region, said TICA, in 2011, and the 2nd Best Maine Coon Cat in the Northeast Region, retired from show biz and relocated to Maine, in June 2013. Today, he is six years old.

Trooper is a thoughtful, kind gentleman — a scholar and an athlete — who takes a constant interest in our lives and our work, and does his best to encourage us to play flying mouse more often, because exercise is good for us. We hope to celebrate many more birthdays on his behalf.

On this auspicious, if rainy day, Trooper plans on napping, herding various springs and floofy balls up and down the hallway, collaborating in the writing process from the copilot’s chair, and possibly the red basket, and assisting in the preparation of the celebratory ice cream.

Here’s a picture of the birthday boy:

How the internet works: One writer’s perspective

Once Upon A Time, back in the late 1980s, it was difficult for authors and readers to get together. If you were a science fiction/fantasy writer, you could travel to SF conventions and get face-time with readers, and sort of hand-sell your work. If you were a fan of a particular book, you might, if you were Very Ambitious, or energized by the Magnificence of the Work, write to the author’s publisher, who might, or might not, remember to pass the letter on.

Book reviews were written by book reviewers and published, in hard copy, in various magazines and newspapers across the country, and if you were a genre writer of science fiction or fantasy, you could pretty well forget being reviewed anywhere except, maybe, Locus, which, by the 1980s, had completed its morph from fanzine to trade journal, or possibly (as we were) in Romantic Times (founded in 1981 as a print review magazine).

Reader reviews, except for reviews in fanzines were. . .not too common.

Eventually, came the internet, and it became easier for readers to connect with authors, and vice-versa. Webzines and fan sites cropped up; listserves for enthusiasts came into being. Readers could talk to readers, and compare notes and insights. Readers could talk to authors, comparing notes and insights. Authors could talk to authors, only think of that!

It was a heady time.

And into this heady time of connection, Amazon.com was born. They realized that word of mouth was important, and that readers/customers find it valuable to compare notes on books — especially books, I’ll say, because I’m a writer and books are inordinately important in my life.

We here in the Liaden Universe® converted our paper newsletter to an email newsletter; we benefited greatly from a Liaden Universe® mailing list set up by a fan — a list that still lives today, administered by another fan, though, with all the other social media options available, a much quieter life than it enjoyed in its heyday.

Eventually, we migrated to other platforms, LiveJournal, where my blog, Eagles Over the Kennebec, has been posting for. . .12 years, come March. We also moved to Facebook, and to a very lesser extent, to Twitter. I understand that there are other, cooler, places to connect readers and writers nowdays — the point being that those connections are continuing, and growing.

Indeed, connection is what the internet does best. Publishers understood it, at last, and began demanding that authors go out, connect with their fans, do a blog tour — promote their work! The Theory of the Long Tail was espoused (we’ve talked about that before, here), and misunderstood, and continues to be both misunderstood and not quite accurate to this day.

Now, since my life has, perhaps, been stranger than most, I have readers, and friends, and friends who are readers, and people whom I’ve “known” for twenty years and more, whom I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting in the flesh. I have friends who I only see at conventions; and readers, too. And a whole lot of those people, and others, too — read my blog, or follow me on Facebook, or on Twitter or Pinterest or (as discussed here recently) on Patreon.

They do this because we have a shared history — be it high school, or the Liaden books, or a love of Things Feline, or an appreciation of Georgette Heyer, or because we’re colleagues — and want to stay in touch.

Connection is what the internet does best — for good or for ill.

Here’s a photo of one writer:

Sharon Lee is one-half of the writing team of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, authors of the Liaden Universe®, as well as other high-class science fiction and fantasy works. Sharon is also the author of a contemporary fantasy trilogy set in a Maine resort town (Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, Carousel Seas). The next, 19th, Liaden Universe® novel, Alliance of Equals, will be published by Baen in July 2016. Sharon and Steve are presently at work on the 20th Liaden novel, The Gathering Edge.

The writer at work

So, this is where I’ll be today — at the ~~bookshelf~~ standing desk overlooking the foggy, foggy trees, going through the Threads — each of those folders is a thread — combining clean-up with lexicon-building, and also identifying snap-on points.

Why, yes, that is quite a bit to have to hold in one’s head at once. This is why I’ve turned off FB and Twitter and all the various news thingies that are so shiny and distractive.

Yes, the window is open. Yes, I still live in Maine. It’s like 41F/5C out there this morning, and looking to rocket into the 50s/10s.

See you later.

How to win at Patreon

So, some background on this. Earlier in the year, after having resisted suggestions that we do so for Some Time, Steve and I set up a Patreon account, and waited to see What Would Happen. We were astonished and pleased at the willingness of people to sign up as Patrons of Liad, but we were surprised by another thing that went along with our account and our patrons.

Though the level of support was gratifying to us, personally, what we hadn’t understood was that we — Lee and Miller — were among the higher-“paid” creators using Patreon. We’re certainly not in the same league as Jeph Jacques or Amanda Palmer, but, apparently, for writers — and especially for writers who aren’t giving our supporters any special goodies, except for the Warm, Fuzzy Feeling of helping us keep on keeping on — we’re doing pretty well, certainly far better than the hundreds (this is not hyperbole) of folks who have set up as writers at Patreon and have 0 supporters and $0 pledged.

Because we had basically come out of nowhere and had such a wonderful level of support, we were interviewed by John Mierau on behalf of Patreon, which was lovely, and! we began to get email from new and aspiring writers, who wanted to know how we/they can use Patreon to launch/bolster their careers and/or how they can grow their audience.

Now, the short answer to those questions is: Beats the heck outta me.

I can — and have — told people How We Did It: here and here. But the Sad Truth is? Steve and I have been doing this writing thing seriously for more than 45 years*.

Which means: (1) our goals and needs are different from the goals and needs of someone at the beginning of their career, (2) the wisdoms we gained when we were young writers — were all gathered BtI — Before the Internet. Most of the strategies for getting published then, don’t work now**, (3) we already have an audience.

Of those three points, the third one is probably the most telling.

We, for instance, never saw Patreon as a way to find and/or grow our reader base. Growth is good, and, according to my in-box, we’ve actually picked up some new readers from the Patreon page — but that’s more on the order of an Unintended Consequence. We saw Patreon as giving our readers — some of whom have been with us for twenty-five years — a convenient way to support us, if they so desired.

All that said, here’s this fellow here, who has a lot of Definite Ideas about how to succeed as a creator on Patreon. Many of these ideas sound worthy, with one small caveat, which is this:

Succeeding as a creator on Patreon does not necessarily equate with succeeding at your art.

One danger I see of Patreon is that — in an effort to connect with an audience, and increase pledges — some creators promise crazy levels of special goodies, putting themselves in the position of having to use time set aside to create to make patron goodies. That strategy may grow your audience, but it’s not necessarily growing your art.

I do have some hopes that Patreon will eventually come to foster a cross-pollination process among its creators (something along the lines of “If you liked Lee-and-Miller, then you might like New Writer X”) — that would be one way, perhaps, that newer creators could benefit from the audiences of more established creators.

But, no, sorry; I have no strategies for using Patreon to launch a new writing career. I think that the best way to launch a new writing career is to write, and publish*** — lather, rinse, repeat, even though it’s going to take a Really Long Time, and you may have to work a day-job while you’re simultaneously nourishing and practicing your art, and even then you may be poor — and build your audience that way.

But, then, I would.

_____________
*Counting from Steve’s first paid publication in 1969. If we count from my first publication, in 1978, that’s only 35 years, or still longer than some (not all) of the people writing to us on these matters have been alive.

**One telling example: Back when we were submitting Agent of Change, a lone — or in our case, a pair — of writers could, all by themselves, armed only with two large manila envelopes, and enough postage to carry their clean manuscript There and Back Again, submit to any publishing house on earth. You did not need an agent to submit (most agents wouldn’t talk to you unless you had a work under consideration). Now, I think only Baen and DAW still take over the transom submissions.

***By which I don’t mean “self-publish the first thing you finish,” but rather “place your best writing in a venue that has professional standards, (an) editor(s), and will, preferably, pay you for your work.”

Books read in 2015

47. Midnight Riot (aka The Rivers of London), Ben Aaronovitch
46. Hounded, Kevin Hearne (e)
45. Saratoga Trunk, Edna Ferber (read aloud to Steve)
44. Death at Wentwater Court, Carola Dunn
43. Silver on the Road, Laura Anne Gilman
42. Lessons in French, Laura Kinsale (e)
41. Evil Genius, Patricia Rice (e)
40. A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny (re-re-re-&c-read aloud w/Steve)
39. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
38. The Chocolate Thief, Laura Florand
37. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
36. The Paper Doll Museum, Abigail Padgett (e)
35. The Princess Bride, William Goldman (re-re-read; and–it’s official–I definitely prefer the movie)
34. The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
33. Cooking the Books, Kerry Greenwood (e)
32. Forbidden Fruit, Kerry Greenwood (e)
31. Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear
30. Trick or Treat, Kerry Greenwood (e)
29. The Golden Hawk, Frank Yerby (reread; six pages fell out at various spots during this reading; it was reread many times, when I was 14)
28. The Wave in the Mind, Ursula K. Le Guin
27. The Boy from the Burren, Sheila Gilluly (e)
26. Dead Heat, Patricia Briggs (e)
25. Girl Genius: The Beast of the Rails, Kaja and Phil Foglio
24. A Bollywood Affair, Sonali Dev
23. Who Buries the Dead, C.S. Harris
22. Killer Instinct, Zoe Sharpe (e)
21. Devil’s Food, Kerry Greenwood (e)
20. The Making of a Marchioness, Frances Hodgson Burnett (e)
19. A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett (e)
18. Geekomancy, Michael R. Underwood (e)
17. The Perfect Rake, Anne Gracie
16. The Martian, Andy Weir
15. Blaze of Memory, Nalini Singh
14. Tracker, C.J. Cherryh (read out loud with Steve)
13. Chanur’s Legacy, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
12. Chanur’s Homecoming, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
11. The Kif Strike Back, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
10. Why Kings Confess, C.S. Harris
9. Chanur’s Venture, C.J. Cherryh (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.)
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

In which we have conquered Monday and are moving on to Tuesday

So, today.

Appointments were kept, groceries were taken on, wreathes also; vegetables were chopped and put into the freezer; cats were beguiled with the flying mouse; bills were paid, and banking was done.

Had a dash of Incredible Luck at the grocery store’s book bin. Somebody had thrown in six brand-new Peter Wimsey novels (Clouds of Witnesses, Unnatural Death, the Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Strong Poison, Five Red Herrings, Gaudy Night, for those keeping score at home), which I snatched up for a buck-a-book donation. These will replace the Wimsey books winnowed from Baltimore-area used bookstores back in the mid-and-late-1980s, which are pretty much falling apart. In fact, I believe that one title — Have His Carcasse — may have already met that fate, falling apart in a time where Sayers was out of print.

Now, of course, I have a Problem Before Me. Do I buy brand-new replacement copies of the other books in the set (and replace …Carcasse)? Or is that just too. . .too?

First World Problems.

In other news, we receive advance word that OVO will be at the Bangor Cross Center June 2-5, 2016. I was rushing off to buy tickets when Steve mentioned that we not be home from BaltiCon yet. Right. Next year, we have some traveling inked in. Must remember that.

No words today, what with one thing and another thing. Tomorrow, I have an early appointment with the HR Nurse for the hospital, and possibly a visit to the vampyres, after which I have nothing but writing on the calendar for the rest of the week.

Hope everyone has had a pleasant beginning to the week.

Writer at work, with attendant muses:

So you want to be a writer

This morning I write to you replete with a breakfast of Steve’s wonderful French toast dressed with dark maple syrup, a side of bacon, and several cups of coffee. On the schedule today is finishing the laundry, changing the bedclothes, and, of course, working on The Gathering Edge. Steve and I were brainstorming some ideas last night, and over breakfast, and we’ve got direction and energy. I have a couple of scenes to write and braid in early on the backbone, so that’s what I’ll be concentrating on today. Steve, who was lead writer on the story we handed in last week, is now coming back to the book and will be building us some more backbone.

Sounds like we know what we’re doing, doesn’t it?

Honestly, in broad measure, we do know what we’re doing, having done it so often. On the other hand, there is the truism — every book is different. Every book is different, even books written in a long series, or set within a created universe, or books with continuing characters. After all, if the author’s doing it right, the characters will be growing, the universe will be evolving, and the author will be bringing their own new experiences, growth, and insights to the work.

Which brings me to yesterday’s tweet from James S.A. Corey: Series writers: Be aware that some people will be angry you aren’t writing the same book over and over again. Ignore them.

. . .which both reflects my experience and is sound advice. I’ll add that series writers also need to learn to ignore the people who perhaps have not read their work, but see many novels written in the same universe, and therefore know that the author is simply writing the same book over and over and over again, and are therefore dismissible as artists and, occasionally, as human beings.

Which brings me to my next link in this Sunday Salad: an article in the New York Review of Books by Tim Parks, in which he makes the argument that the only writers who can afford to experiment with, or grow, their art are those who are already known to be important/bestsellers (there’s a reason for that slash, there — read the article). Midlist folks, argues Parks, are required by the field to play it safe, and produce the same old, same old, because one mistake — one “failed” book — can mean the end of a career, whereas the guys at the top get unlimited Get Out of Jail Free cards. Here’s your link.

To an extent, I disagree with Parks’ argument; I think that the act of writing is a risk of itself. However, I do realize that, for career novelists, putting food on the table means that the book has got to earn out, and that the next one is under contract — which produces some constraints.

OTOH, we’ve been writing in a universe of our own devising for darn near 30 years, and taken what risks we wished. We’re certainly not at the top of the Literary Ladder, but it may be that our continued ability to write what we want stems from the fact that we found our audience, that it is sufficiently large to give us a buffer against the necessity to always write it safe. Or, yanno, our imaginations could be so limited that even our daring stuff is considered the same old, same old.

Lastly — a local film critic and commentator has recently published his first book, and he describes his experience here.

. . .and that’s what I’ve got today, if I’m going to do the laundry, and write those pages.

Somebody please remind me that I need to do a post about my advice for growing one’s audience in This Digital Age, if I don’t get to it in the next day or two.

I hope everybody has a pleasant and relaxing Sunday.

I think Sprite’s outgrowing her basket:

I get no kick from champagne; mere alcohol doesn’t thrill me at all

Well, let’s see. . .

Back is more or less functional, and mostly pain-free. Bending over is still a small challenge. We’re working on it.

This morning, I went to the local hospital for an interview with the volunteer coordinator. I dressed in my Very Best Mundane Clothes (as distinct from Sci-Fi Dress-Up, Con Clothes, and the jeans-and-(t)shirts that are my usual day/work wear). I have no photo, but I wore my Very Best Pair of Jeans, trouser-cut, deep, dark indigo; my favorite Mundane top, which is black jersey with a self-tie; my wheat-colored sports jacket of many pockets; and a pair of black, chunky heeled half-boots. My hair, recall, is that nice blue-purple that I like. I thought I looked respectful and professional, though I considered it possible that I might get dinged for the hair, and off I went.

Arrived at the hospital in good time and presented myself at the Information Desk which was today manned by a single volunteer (Abby the Service Dog and her owner were also behind the desk, signing in for their duty shift), who greeted me with great good cheer: “Good morning, sir — ma’am! — what can I do for you today?”

Seems I still give off the “what gender is this person” vibe. Or maybe it was the jacket — men’s jacket, you know, because pockets! also? Fits beautifully through the shoulders.

Anyhow, I gave him my name, and told him I had an appointment with the volunteer coordinator, for which I was slightly early, and he went off to let her know I was arrived. I got to talk to Abby and her owner, receiving thereby a thorough dose of Vitamin Dog, and then I sat down and read a couple pages of my book before the coordinator came out to fetch me to her office.

The hair passed without comment, but the blue jeans? Did not. The hospital has a dress code and blue jeans — even nice blue jeans that have stood before audiences of hundreds — are Right Out. This was mentioned more than once during the interview, which was pleasant (even the no-jeans prohibition was presented pleasantly), and I have an appointment next week with the HR Nurse, who is expected to cut orders for me to have a hospital-mandated and paid-for blood test, to make sure I’ve been vaccinated for various illnesses, and that I don’t have TB.

If I prove to be alive and healthy enough, then they’ll do the checking of references and a Background Check, to make sure I’m not a serial killer, and! if I’m not a serial killer, than I can attend the New Volunteers Orientation in January, and start being trained for my duties.

I did ask that I not be put into a clerical position. Part of the point of this for me is to do something other than sit in a chair and type. There seem to be a variety of tasks that I might be assigned to do, which are not sitting and typing, so — win.

Needing to buy new clothes so I can volunteer may prove to be something of a problem, though I hope not a deal-breaker, given the imminence of after-Potlatch sales. Because I’m so tall, I can’t just wander into Goodwill and pick up a couple pair of good used khakis, like I can a sports jacket of many pockets.

So, that’s what’s happening here in the vicinity of the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory. The weekend has writing inked in, which I’ll be getting to, directly after lunch.

What’re you doing this weekend that’s fun?

* * *

Today’s blog post brought to you by Cole Porter, “I Get a Kick Out of You.” Here’s your link.
If you don’t like that one, here’s another link.

And! for the Facebook peeps, a picture of Belle sleeping with the manuscript:

In which anything can happen, and what’s happening is rain

So, I screwed up my back at the end of last week, which meant Saturday was spent in the Comfy Chair, heating pad unleashed, and aspirin bottle to hand.

Sadly, this therapy was found to be insufficient, so on Sunday, I hit the hard stuff.

Which mostly worked. We’re at about two-thirds efficiency at the moment, where bending over to pick things up from the bottom shelf of the fridge is Right Out, stretching to get something off the top shelf is OK, and running with a constant low ache, that’s both distracting and infuriating.

Having spent so many hours in it lately, I report with sadness that the Comfy Chair is noticeably Less Comfy than previously, which, considering that we purchased the Comfy Chair (formerly “Archie’s Chair”) when we moved to Skowhegan, in 1988, oughtn’t be a surprise. Need to get our acts in gear and come up with a new sofa and a new Comfy Chair.

Yesterday, Steve and I went forth into the day, to shop for groceries, and a new heating pad. In the early evening, after putting the groceries away, and lunch at home, and realizing that we had actually failed to buy a new heating pad, we wound up in Augusta, at Barnes and Noble, where I snagged a copy of Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch, and we signed stock. The store was insanely crowded, what with hosting both a signing by Travis Mills *and* an elementary school book fair. I also nailed a new lapdesk (see Comfy Chair, above), so, in all, it was a pretty successful outing, even with the crowds.

And — bonus! — we remembered the heating pad, on the second outing.

Let’s see, what else?

The Yule cards are all addressed and stamped and ready to go out into the world.

Oh! I got a phone call today from the Volunteer Coordinator at the local hospital, about my application to volunteer. Interview set for Friday morning. I do believe that this is the first time I will go to a job interview with purple hair. It will, perhaps, be Interesting.

In other news, this morning I printed out All the Threads of The Gathering Edge, so that we may refer to them during the upcoming Planning Sessions. The manuscript currently stands at 56,103 words, which we’re calling half-a-book.

On Monday evening, we turned in our story, presently titled, “Shame the Devil,” to the Alien Artifact anthology. For those keeping score, “Devil” is the 70th Lee-and-Miller collaboration.

. . .I think that’s all the news that’s fit to print at the moment. I do have one short scene to write, and then I’m going to retire once more to the Comfy Chair and the heating pad, and read a chapter or two of Midnight Riot.

Hope y’all are having a good week.

And, for the FB peeps: Princess Sprite is bored.