Category: Blog

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!

In which Rolanni may be the tiniest bit testy

Dear Google.

Please stop writing to me from a no-reply address to tell me that GoogleTalk is dead.  I know GoogleTalk is dead and I mourn its passing every day.  No, Hangouts is not just as useful, only cooler; Hangouts is an annoyance and a sham, and I would be delighted to tell you in-depth exactly how I feel about it and its non-functionality, if you had the guts to write to me from an address I could reply to.

But, no.  Anonymous scolding is all you know.

No love,

Me

* * *

Dear Eset.

First, you tell me I need to buy a new license.  Then, I decide if I still want to use your product, and, if I do, I pay you.

Downloading the product to my laptop under the guise of an “update,” then telling me that in order to “activate” it, I have to purchase a license?  So uncool.

No love,

Me

* * *

Dear Internets.

Please stop repeating this silly, insulting question: “How do I write believable women characters?”

The correct question is, “How do I write believable CHARACTERS?”

The answer to the correct question is, “By observing people and by exercising imagination and empathy.  These three things are your most powerful tools, as a writer.  Keep watching, keep dreaming, and keep writing until you get it right.”

Also, know that you aren’t going to get it right the first time, or the fifth time, and by the lights of some, you will never get it right.  Do the best you can.  You can start writing without knowing how to do All The Things.  Writing is a lifelong learning process, with many, many accomplishments to unlock.  The only way you can start unlocking is by starting in to work.

Frustratedly,

Me

* * *

Dear Backbrain.

Thank you.  I believe that did in fact improve the story and moves things along more quickly.

Worth every bit of lost sleep and gnawed fingernails.

Keep up the good work,

Me

* * *

Dear Trooper and Sprite.

Boy, are you guys workaholics.

Princess Sprite overlooking the basement
Princess Sprite overlooking the basement
Trooper takes the high ground
Trooper takes the high ground

Liaden Universe® InfoDump No. 107

Party on the Internet!
Steve and Sharon will be among a half-dozen author guests celebrating the release of Christie Meierz’s new novel of the Maran, The Fall, on Monday, March 2, from 8-10 pm EST.  The party will take place on Facebook.  Here’s the link  Attending authors include Corrina Lawson, Cat Rambo, Jael Wye, Miller and Lee, Heather Massey, Laurie A. Green, and Veronica Scott.  There will be giveaways and all kinds of cool stuff going down, so c’mon and be part of the fun!
Pre-order signed and/or Personalized Copies of Dragon in Exile
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.Please read the following carefully, and then act in accordance with your necessities and estate.

There is a DEADLINE in play for personalized copies (in which “personalized” means that you ask the authors to write something /in addition/ to their names in your book). Personalized copies MUST BE  pre-ordered by May 1.  Also!  If you want your book personalized, you must write the personalization in the box provided on the Uncle Hugo’s order form.  The authors will reproduce what you have written on the half-title page UNLESS the personalization requested is, in the sole judgment of the authors too long and/or offensive.

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.

Uncle Hugo’s ships worldwide and does not charge your credit card until your order is ready to ship.

Here’s your link to pre-order from Uncle Hugo’s.

Dragon in Exile eARC now Available
Those who indulge may wish to know that the eArc edition of DRAGON IN EXILE may be downloaded directly from Baen Books in all the formats known to man, woman, and Turtle.  Here’s your link.

Lee and Miller Mini-Tour in June
Baen Books and Simon and Schuster are sending Steve and Sharon on a mini book tour in support of Dragon in Exile in June.  Here’s where we’ll be:

Tuesday, June 2, 7-9 pm — RELEASE DAY PARTY at Pandemonium Books, 4 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA

Wednesday, June 3, 6:30-9 pm — The Toadstool Bookstore, Colony Mill Marketplace, 222 West Street, Keene NH

Thursday, June 4, 6-8 pm — The Toadstool Bookstore, 586 Nashua Street, Milford NH

Friday, June 5, 7-9 pm — Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester, 65 James Street, Worcester MA

Saturday, June 6, 7-9 pm — Northshire Books, 424 Broadway, Saratoga Springs NY

Sunday, June 7, TBA — Flights of Fantasy, 381 Sand Creek Road, Albany NY

Korval.com
If you missed the korval.com website in mid-February, you are not alone; the site was up and down for about ten days due to a changeover in its hosting arrangements.  If you sent email to any korval.com address or searched for the website during that period to no avail, please accept our apologies.

Korval.com has been online since 1998, and we’re committed to keeping it online for years to come.

Thanks for your patience with the sometimes bumpy connectivity the interwebs bring us.

2015 Publication Schedule
January 6: Carousel Seas, final book in Sharon Lee’s Archers Beach Trilogy
May 15:  Short story for Baen.com, title TBA
June 2: Dragon in Exile, 18th novel of the Liaden Universe®
August 4: A Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume 3

Delivery Schedule  (NOTE:  these are deadlines for turn-in Madame the Editor, NOT publication dates)
April 15, 2015:  Short story for Baen.com, title TBA
May 29, 2015: /Alliance of Equals/
November 15, 2015:  Sequel to Alliance of Equals (aka Third of Five)
August 15, 2016:  Fourth of Five
May 15, 2017:  Fifth of Five

Blogs and Other Webly Things of Note
Steve Miller’s blog, Journeyman: http://kinzel.livejournal.com/
Sharon Lee’s blog, Eagles over the Kennebec: http://rolanni.livejournal.com/
Sharon Lee’s “Professional” blog: http://sharonleewriter.com
Splinter Universe Discussion List: http://splinterverse.livejournal.com <http://splinterverse.livejournal.com>

Facebook Connections — please feel free to add us!
http://facebook.com/kinzel — Steve Miller
http://facebook.com/rolanni — Sharon Lee

Pinbeam Books: http://www.pinbeambooks.com an online catalog, with vendor links, to all Lee-and-Miller eChapbooks
Splinter Universe: http://www.splinteruniverse.com features outtakes, splinters, and oddities from the Lee&Miller writing career, currently changes irregularly.
Welcome to Liad — The official homepage for Liaden Universe® news — http://www.korval.com
The Hyperspatial Boardwalk Shop: T-shirts, mugs, more! — http://www.cafepress.com/hyperspatial

Liaden Interest Groups on Facebook
Clan Korval: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38719490864&ref=ts <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38719490864&ref=ts>
Friends of Liad: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=16280839259&ref=ts
Flaran chamenthi: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=2213414696&ref=ts

Twitter
Steve’s on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bechimo
Sharon’s on Twitter, too: http://twitter.com/ClanKorval
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/rolanni/

Disclaimer Stuff
This InfoDump is a product of the Liaden Universe®, accept no imitations. You have received this message because you asked for it. If you wish to subscribe to the Liaden Universe® email list, to unsubscribe from the Liaden Universe® email list, or to /change/ your delivery email address, go here: http://www.fireopal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/liadenuniversenews

Books read in 2015

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