Visited the vampires early this morning; afterwards moved on to Starbucks for mocha and bagel. They were out of multigrain bagels so I had to be content with an Everything Bagel. O! woe is me.
Home to find bills in the mail, and that the UPS account number, possession of which will magically get one cool dozen boxes of books out of my living room and on the bus to Minneapolis, is apparently none so easy to acquire. Two fiddles at the UPS online form, one email to those who had provided the pre-paid labels, which do NOT include the account number, a third fiddle at the online form, one phone call to UPS, one phone call to the label providers, one more go at the online form, and we have ignition! Boxes to be picked up no later than 3:00 today.
Yay.
I now await a call from yet another doctor’s office, to let me know if the appointment set up for Wednesday is actually needed. I’m not very much in charity with the doctor or her office at this particular moment, and if they fear being in my Black Book (as who would not?), they’ll get cracking and give me a call-back.
Also, I am exhausted, which I blame on the vampires, and which is not useful at the moment, since I have work to do. So! I’ll be arising from the comfy chair in just a moment to make a pot of coffee.
In other news, it’s cloudy and cold in East Winslow, and, honestly, if it’s going to be as cloudy and damp as all that, it might as well rain and have done.
You may have heard the rumor that we’re writing a book here in East Winslow. Well! The rumor’s true, and work continues. Yesterday’s project was to frog about 5,000 words (thanks to Brenda Clough for this very useful word, “frog”), and to wander around the house wailing and rubbing ashes in my hair, finally to gather with Steve at the kitchen table for two hours of serious staring at each other, interspersed with sentence fragments, after which I repaired to my office to make several pages of dense notes. I also identified the section that needs to be built up in order for this other section here to work, and the place where I forgot to put back in a scene that I took out because it was in the wrong place the first time.
Today’s project is to fix both of those problems and to get with the notes.
Yesterday, we also signed 180 books. Today, we will sign the remaining 60, and commence in to personalizing 68, after which we will tape up the boxes, affix labels, and on Monday call UPS to make a pickup.
Today we will also view two, perhaps three, houses in the Greater Waterville Megaplex. I’m in the mood to choose one of the three and Have Done, so it will be Steve’s job to Be Prudent.
Yesterday, we also had the Dead River guy, who repositioned the propane tank, which had been displaced by the Snows of Winter, leveled it, and replaced the cutoff valve which had been savaged by ice. It’s interesting to note that, when a particularly intense CLANG! came forth from the work site, Sprite ran back to my office, to take shelter in the Safest Spot — which would be Grandpa Mozart’s place under my desk.
I may have forgotten to mention the other day that, when I had my height taken at my annual, I was found to no longer be six foot tall. I’m now a paltry 70.75 inches tall. I suppose no one will look up to me now.
TomorrowOn Monday I shall visit the vampires, which means that tomorrowtonight I shall fast, and then I will come home to write some more.
Tomorrow, then, being Sunday, will be a Day of All Writing.
We received notification just a hair before midnight Eastern on May 5 that $1313.25 had been transferred to our checking account. The deposit arrived this morning, May 7, having lost another $0.25, which was its just toll to the transfer company.
We have, yes, taken the tax money out first. (I’m sorry for constant harping re tax money, but I can’t stress enough, to any freelancers who happen to be following this: Always take the tax money out first. Do not think you’ll be able to catch it up later; that way lies only tears. Uncle Sam does not care how much you make; he only cares that you have paid taxes on every penny you have made.)
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
Doctor’s appointment — came away with a ‘script for the shingles vaccine and orders for the vampires
Bank — deposited two checks from kind readers, which made it possible to go to the. . .
Town office — paid annual excise tax on Kineo and got new license plate sticker
Post Office — picked up Locus and mailed letters
Came home to enjoy the warm chicken nestled on lettuce and tomatoes that Steve made for our supper. Put stickers on Kineo, so I could stop having to remember that, and! just as we were cleaning up the dinner dishes, came the Big Brown Truck, and a sturdy young man in Regulation Shorts unshipped 12 boxes of Dragon in Exile, which we shall in the fullness of time sign, personalize, and ship off to Uncle Hugo, so that your preorders can be filled.
And now?
Time to go to work.
Today’s blog post brought to you by Tommy Sands, There Were Roses
Here is the promised accountability post for the first completed Patreon month in support of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
By April 30 end-of-day, 203 kind people had pledged a total of $1,493
Six people pledged in May, and were not billed for April by Patreon, nor should they have been. The system works!
Two pledges were denied — which is to say that the credit card company denied the charge, or the patron declined the opportunity to continue.
One pledge for $0.50 produced a $0 payout to the artists — the entirety of that pledge went to fees
Of the $1,493 pledged, Patreon collected a total of $1,467.50, deducted $80.86 in credit card fees, and deducted its own fee of $73.39
The artists will receive (on May 5, it says here): $1,313.25
Once the artists receive their payout, they will deduct 33% or $434 and place it into the account from which they pay their taxes
$879.25 will then be available to buy cat food, people food, coffee!, to keep the lights on while we finish Alliance of Equals (due May 31!) and get ready for the Grand Northeast Book Tour, starting on June 2.
Thank you all so very much for your support, your good humor, and your continued presence in our lives.
May 2, and the first of the Three Brave Daffodils trumpets its victory over winter.
Houston, we have daffodil
Looks like I have some bulb-digging and separating in my future. There’s, like, a sesquillion daffodils in that row, and they’re looking. . .rather crowded.
Procrastinators Take Note: You are at deadline. This is not a test; this is an actual, real-world deadline. Tomorrow, Friday, May 1, 2015.
Those of you who have been meaning to pre-order a signed and personalized copy of Dragon in Exile, the eighteenth novel in the Liaden Universe® by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, the hour is upon you. Now is the time to go to Uncle Hugo’s ordering page and order your book. Use the blank box on your order form to type the personalized message you would like us to write in your book. Be careful! Proofread! Because we will write exactly what you put in that box, unless: (1) It is, in the sole judgment of the authors, too long, or (2) It offendeth us.
For those who do not desire a personalized book, but would like to have a signed edition — carry on. Uncle Hugo’s will continue to take orders for signed copies until the signed copies are gone. I believe that Mr. Blyly ordered in 200 copies, total. They may go fast, or they may go slow, but when they’re gone, there aren’t any more.
For those who doubt that this fabled volume exists, here is proof:
Steve opens a box o’dragons
All righty, then.
In other news, Argent the Wondercar, Steve’s 2002 silver Subaru Forester was retired yesterday. We’ll be a one-car family for a bit, which has certainly been done before, while Other Things sort themselves out. And the repercussions of Uncle Sam taking more than half of our last check of last year just keep on repercussing. Gah.
Let’s see, what else is doing?
Oh!
As illustrated above, our authors’ copies of Dragon in Exile arrived yesterday, and a handsome book it is.
Several people have asked, and — yes. I will be doing an accountability post about Patreon just as soon as the first check comes down, for the illumination of donors, and also to assist anyone who may be thinking of setting up a Patreon account, but would like to see how things play out in Real Numbers.
Speaking of Patreon — it’s not very easy to find other Patreon accounts, unless I’m doing something really wrong. I’d’ve thought there’d be a cross-referencing system of some kind, so that people who like to support bands, or writers, or artists could find more of the Sort of Stuff They Like, but it does not seem to be so.
I seem to have lost my pedometer, which. . .sort of sucks. I hope Princess Sprite didn’t knock it under the stove. OTOH, I have a whole bunch of stuff to do while sitting down, so I guess it’s not that much of a loss at the moment.
And! The Question of the Hour: Steve and I are starting to think about how we ought to structure our “book signings,” which are actually events where we do a little performance, and then sign books. Last time, we gave a history of the universe’s publishing history, took questions and signed books. I don’t think we even read from the book — which would have been Trade Secret.
So, the Question: What should we talk about this time? Or — if you were coming to one of the stops on our book tour, what would you want or expect to hear? Do you like author readings? Is there something regarding the Liaden Universe® or the writing life that you’d particularly like to hear about? Now is the time to put your question(s) forward. We want your input.
. . .and now? Time to turn off the internets and go to work.
Here — have some cat pictures:
Sprite holding the dragons downScrabble did not want to have her picture takenTrooper, on the other paw, was ready for his glam shot
So, yesterday. We visited the Radiology Department, and now await news. I’m going on the theory that bad news will arrive more quickly than good news. According to the tech, news of all and any denomination ought to be with me no later than Thursday afternoon.
After the hospital, we took a ride out into the country. I’m pleased to report that Newport is precisely where we left it last autumn, and that the causeway over Plymouth Pond remains above water, but only barely. Also, the ustabe campground on the Newport side of the causeway, which was in later days purchased to be developed into private pond-side “condos” — is for sale. It is, of course, out in the middle of Nowhere Much, but it does have Location.
We returned home to find the contract for Liaden Mask novels 1 and 2 in the mail (Note to self: read contract today); a phone call from our real estate agent, telling us that she had people who wanted to look at our house on Wednesday afternoon; and an email from Madame the Agent regarding the Players List for Alliance of Equals, organization thereof, which has a lot of good stuff in it, that I need to look at more closely.
Yesterday evening, Steve went to the chess club and I proofed some of the stories included in A Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume 3. Also, we had a wind storm. The wind is somewhat diminished this sunny morning, and we hope to see it vanished entirely before too many more hours have passed.
Today’s tasks are writing, naturally, and straightening up the house in expectation of Viewers. I must say that some of the houses that we viewed on the weekend were…astonishing in the number of cellphones, mp3 players, and iThings simply left sitting out. In one house, the owner may well have gone out the back door as we came in the front; the computer was on, eyeglasses on a pile of businessy looking papers next to the keyboard, and the cellphone charging on the kitchen counter. We try to be. . .a little more advertent than that.
For those who were able to donate or to send a kind word to Cheyenne Wright and his family, Cheyenne has posted an update. Here’s your link.
Speaking of which — I want to again thank everyone who donated to us via Patreon, Splinter Universe, PayPal, or check. We very much appreciate your care, and your support of our work.
