Blog – Page 28 – Sharon Lee, Writer

Saturday business with coon cats and yam

Business First: Amazon allows me to know that the paper edition of Civilized Behavior “is scheduled for release on 11/13/2025. On this date, your book’s detail page will become visible to readers to purchase your book on Amazon everywhere you have territory rights at 12:00 a.m. UTC.” This release is concurrent with the ebook release.

So, that‘s a thing.

Saturday. Dim and damp. Up at 6:15, breakfast bar and tea at the desk.

I hit a rough patch in the WIP, where I wobbled a bit. I removed two scenes, which has gotten me back on-course. The irony is that one of those was a touchstone scene that I started the book knowing I had to include. Proving yet again that writing is a Science.

Ahem.

Taking a break now to get myself some lunch — I’m thinking the yam, an onion, garlic, maybe a can of white potatoes, too (so I can have leftovers tomorrow, for breakfast, maybe, with an egg), sauteed, and cottage cheese on the side.

After, I’ll do my duty to the cats and get back with the WIP.

I hereby give myself permission to not finish the read-through today. Yes, I know that was The Plan, but it’s no sense bringin’ killin’ into it.

The cats have been Very Much Approving of me spending more time in Steve’s office, so that’s another thing. I’m enjoying having a dedicated writing, and only writing, computer, and a space that’s not cluttered with Business I Have To Get To, so this was actually a Good Move.

Last night, I worked late to get the first 200 pages read, then collapsed into bed after my dinner, and put Black Cat Jazz on ‘way low. All of the cats joined me and we just sorta zoned out and purred..

So, that’s what’s happening around here. What’s happening with you?

The work in hand

Friday. Dim and chilly. Slept late, for recent values of late.

Today is an Official sweatpants-sweatshirt-snuggy-sox-Read!-The!-Manuscript!-Day.

. . . just as soon as I get breakfast, which will be! Oatmeal with apple jam. First cup of tea is brewing.

Kpop Demon Hunters was amusing, and I’m not sorry I had to wrassle Netflix best two out of three to get to watch it.

Y’all have a good Friday.

Books read in 2025

56 Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt (e) (bkclb)
55 Hunting Ground, Patricia Briggs (Alpha&Omega 2)(re-read) (e)
54 Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega 1) (re-read) (e)
53 Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs (Alpha&Omega.5(re-read) (e)
52 Blind Date with a Werewolf, Patricia Briggs (e)
51 The Women, Kristin Hannah (e) (bkclb)
50 Emilie and the Hollow World, (Emilie Adventures #1) Martha Wells (e)
49 Black Tie & Tails (Black Wolves of Boston #2), Wen Spencer (e)
48 Shards of Earth, Adrian Tchaikovsky(The Final Architecture #1)e)
47 Hemlock and Silver, T. Kingfisher (e)
46 Outcrossing, Celia Lake (Mysterious Charm #1) (e)
45 Outfoxing Fate, Zoe Chant/Murphy Lawless (Virtue Shifters)(e)
44 Atonement Sky, Nalini Singh (Psy-Changeling Trinity #9) (e)
43 Stone and Sky, Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London #10) (e)
42 Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer (re-re-re-&c-read)
41 I Dare, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Liaden Universe #7) (page proofs)
40 To Hive and to Hold, Amy Crook (The Future of Magic #1) (e)
39 These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer, narrated by Sarah Nichols (re-re-re-&c-read, 1st time audio)
38 Faking it (Dempsey Family #2), Jennifer Crusie, narrated by Aasne Vigesaa (re-re-re-&c-read, 1st time audio)
37 Copper Script, K.J. Charles (e)
36 The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer, narrated by Eleanor Yates (re-re-re-&c-read; 1st time audio)
35 Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard, Nora Ellen Groce (e)
34 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Winifred Watson, narrated by Frances McDormand (re-re-re-&c-read; 1st time audio)
33 The Wings upon Her Back, Samantha Mills (e)
32 Death on the Green (Dublin Driver #2), Catie Murphy (e)
31 The Elusive Earl (Bad Heir Days #3), Grace Burrowes (e)
30 The Mysterious Marquess (Bad Heir Days #2), Grace Burrowes (e)
29 Who Will Remember (Sebastian St. Cyr #20), C.S. Harris (e)
28 The Teller of Small Fortunes, Julie Leong (e)
27 Check and Mate, Ali Hazelwood (e)
26 The Dangerous Duke (Bad Heir Days #1), Grace Burrowes (e)
25 Night’s Master (Flat Earth #1) (re-read), Tanith Lee (e)
24 The Honey Pot Plot (Rocky Start #3), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
23 Very Nice Funerals (Rocky Start #2), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
22 The Orb of Cairado, Katherine Addison (e)
21 The Tomb of Dragons, (The Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy, Book 3), Katherine Addison (e)
20 A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes (Lord Julian #8), Grace Burrowes (e)
19 The Thirteen Clocks (re-re-re-&c read), James Thurber (e)
18 A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17 All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&c read) (audio 1st time)
16 Destiny’s Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15 The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14 A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13 Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea (e)
11 Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10 Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9 House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8    Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7    Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6 Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5    The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4    The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (e)
3    A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2    A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)

_____
*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.

Sapphire Days, Peridot Knights

Weather first: It snowed this afternoon.

Earlier That Same Day: Taking a break to bring the windchimes in for the winter.

Today is the 45th celebration of the day Steve Miller and I married. Against both of our better judgments, and yet, it was the only way to make certain we would each have someone to speak for us, if we couldn’t speak for ourselves.

I am once again thankful that we were often in the situation of having to put off Official Celebrations until whatever project happened to be on-deck was caught up. This means that working on the WIP is nothing out of the ordinary for an anniversary.

In honor of the day, I am wearing one sapphire earring and one peridot earring — my birthstone and Steve’s adopted birthstone (he didn’t like rubies). The air cleaners are on in the living room and the bedroom, and all of the cats joined me in Steve’s office to work.

I have a pizza, which I may or may not partake of this evening — pizza was the Official Standby Celebration Food — and now the sun has come out.

Back to work I go.

I hope everyone’s having a good morning.
#
So! I rearranged the WIP, sorted what happens on which day, which was really needed. I pulled some scenes, and adjusted others. The whole manuscript in its new configuration is now printing out so I can do a read-through tomorrow.

For the moment, I’m finishing up my tea and cookies (note to self: find recipe for soft-baked lemon-sugar cookies; those things are yummy). After, I’ll go downstairs and do the cat box change out that I missed doing, what with the back and then the rush to catch up my stained glass. Then a shower, and then?

Maybe tonight is Kpop Demon Hunters. Why not?

I have decided that I will be making my own Thanksgiving dinner this year. There are certain things that I want to eat, and it’s not that hard to bake a couple of turkey fillets, pop a tube of biscuits, mix up a bowl of mashed, and another of dressing, if I wanna be Really Crazy, and throw some asparagus in a pan. Pie is readily available in Hannaford and Shaw’s and whipped cream is an easy buy.

So, this year, I’ll have what I want, as much or as little, while feeling neither forlorn nor bereft, and! I’ll have leftovers. And nor I won’t have to drive to Lisa’s or put up with Front and Main or The Senator. (All of these are very nice restaurants; I just don’t want to have to cope with any of them on Thanksgiving.)

That’s a Decision, then, and it even feels reasonable, which trying to convince myself to go to the buffet at Lisa’s just … wasn’t.

What else?

. . . not much actually. Days get weird when you prioritize writing.

I can report that it has stopped snowing — some hours ago, actually. Just a squall. Or a threat. Whatever.

So! Signing off for the night.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe out there.

Good day

So, that was a good writing day, where the word count will tell you that I goofed off all day. This is why word count is a blunt instrument. Hope to have another such day tomorrow.

I hear from my PCP that he will be scheduling an appointment with a neurosurgeon for me — not! he says quickly, for surgery, but because it looks like one of the nerves in my back is being pinched. OHkay… I guess I’ll wait to hear from the neurosurgeon.

Coon Cat Happy Hour has been served up. I thought I was going to watch Kpop Demon Hunters tonight, but maybe I’ll peruse a few catalogs and go to bed early, instead. I’m kinda bushed, what with having crowds of people traipsing through my head all day.

I see that Maine did the Right Thing and voted DOWN the make-it-as-hard-as-possible-for-people-to-vote item, and voted UP the take-the-guns-away-from-the-folks-who-are-obviously-having-a-break-before-they-hurt-somebody item.

All in all, not so bad a day, really. With luck and a tailwind, I may have a Completed DRAFT by the end of these few halcyon days of freedom.

Fingers crossed.

I hope everyone had a satisfying day, and will have a good evening.

Stay safe.

Oh, I found the mother load:

Psst! Gotta plan, here

So, here’s The Plan, insofar as &c.

I have nothing on my calendar (saving the 45th anniversary of Doing the Legal) until next Tuesday afternoon.

This? Is a Gift. And what I intend to do with the gift is to make some serious inroads into the remaining quarter of the WIP. This means that check-ins will be … sporadic, and possibly will not happen at all.

Default setting should be that nothing bad has happened; I’m working.

I thank all of your for your care and support, and —

cracks knuckles

Let’s do this thing.

Everybody stay safe.

Takin’ care of business

We haven’t done one of those for a while, so!

The Obligatory Buy My Books Post

Civilized Behavior: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Volume #36 is now available for preorder as an ebook from All The Usual Suspects. It will be available for instant purchase-and-download from Baen on November 13.

There will be a paper edition. In theory, it will be available for order from Amazon on November 12.

Paired charity anthologies A Future for Ferals, and More Futures for Ferals, edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail are now available for purchase. “Ginger and the Bully of Lowergate Court,” by Sharon Lee, is reprinted in More Futures. Across these two volumes are over forty stories about cats written by authors who know and love them. All stories are donated; the profits from anthology sales go to feral cat charity A Future for Ferals.

The kickstarter for Adversity and Audacity is now live, a reprint anthology featuring fiction by writers who continued to write despite cancer diagnoses/treatment. Twenty authors and over 120,000 words of fiction, and we’re not yet done. In addition to a Foreword provided by Robert J. Sawyer, and an Afterword by Susan Palwick, work by N.R. Brown • Adam-Troy Castro • Dave Creek • Ef Deal • Tom Doyle • Gregory Frost • Sally Wiener Grotta • Karen Heuler • Carol Hightshoe • Walter H. Hunt • Geoffrey A. Landis • Shirley Meier • Sharon Lee and Steve Miller • Juliet Marillier • Christine Morgan • Raven Oak • Martha Roo • Lawrence M. Schoen • Melissa Lee Shaw • M. Turville Heitz. This is not a charity anthology.

The latest Liaden Univese® novel was Diviner’s Bow, the third book in the internal arc that includes Trader’s Leap, Ribbon Dance, and Diviner’s Bow. All three are available as ebooks, hardcovers, and audiobooks. Trader’s Leap and Ribbon Dance are also available as mass market paperbacks. The mass market edition of Diviner’s Bow will be released in January.

Coming in December, the “anniversary” edition of I Dare by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

Bonus answer to the perennial question: What On Earth is the Woman doing?: I’m working on the sequel to Salvage Right, which is to be turned in to Baen in April 2026. It has a title, but I haven’t run it by Madame yet.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print.

People of the Internets, I greet you!

Tuesday, chilly, damp, and dim. Trash and recycling at the curb.

Richard the Fidium Guy is on Upper Main Street and called to let me know he’ll arrive in the next few minutes. “Is this the Miller residence?”

Sigh.

Hopefully, my next communication with you will not be through the good offices of my phone.
#
So, the problem was bandwidth piracy. Someone had gotten into the central box, took “my” cable, and plugged it into “their” feed. Richard has put it back, and all lights are green.

I hope he also rigged it so the next time the fiber thief tries to steal my bandwidth, they get a healthy shock for their trouble.

What a world we live in.

Firefly stayed right here in my office, and kept a Very Close Eye on Richard, from a distance, while he was here. Tali retired to the top of the bookshelf in Steve’s office, and I think Rook is in the closet in Steve’s office.

I — am sorting the thread and getting my needles ready for my next embroidering project. Yes, yes — I know. Stained glass. Embroidery. Writing. Is there nothing this woman can’t do?

cough

Today is election day in Maine. I voted via absentee ballot, as is my right and my privilege. Yes, it’s “only” a local election, but — please make time to vote today. Thank you.

So! How’s Tuesday shaping up in your piece of the world?

Beeswax, Bunnies, and Lasagna

Monday, cloudy, breezy, and cool.

Breakfast was oatmeal and a cup of tea. Had a very nice errand-running session.

Went to Uncle Dean’s and bought three pure beeswax votive candles in their own glass holders (they even give you a pack of matches, which is very thoughtful; matches not being as common as they once more). Two of those votives are unscented; the third is scented with frankincense and lavender. I’m glad I noticed the lack of candles on Halloween; I have an anniversary coming up a little later in the week, and it will be nice to have a candle for that, too.

Also at Uncle Deans, I grabbed a loaf of sourdough/olive bread, a pack of “everything” English muffins, and! Yes, I could not resist — dried pineapple.

The morning being a bit chilly, I grabbed my very favorite not-winter-yet hand apparel — Pearl iZumi biking gloves — and I noticed that some of the grippy strips are coming off, transforming them into sticky strips. After I got over being appalled because these gloves are Practically! Brand! New! (I bought them when we were in Miramichi for our anniversary in I’m gonna say … 2001?), I stopped at TJMaxx to see if I could replace them. Long story short, I couldn’t, but! I was able to buy an eight-pack of bed socks (my feet get cold without other feet to put them against) at a good price, so — success of a sort. I also did not find a 2026 desk calendar, so that’s still on the list.

Paid my excise tax on the car, got my stickers, had a nice chat with the lady who heads up Waterville’s Health and Human Services office, went to the post office where a kind reader (I don’t use people’s names, usually, because some folks don’t like the publicity. You know who you are, and thank you!) sent me a pic of their tree-and-dragon tattoo and also a moon-and-rabbit coin purse, which the fact that the moon-and-rabbit is on a coin purse couldn’t be more perfect.

On the way home, I stopped at Holy Cannoli and bought a slab of meat lasagna only slightly bigger than my head, and two cookies, because I couldn’t decide between pumpkin chocolate chip or lemon-blueberry ricotta.

Next up is getting the cat litter from the garage to the house, doing my duty to the cats, and staging the trash for tomorrow’s trip to the curb. Then I’ll reheat part of the lasagna for lunch.

How’s everybody doing today?

In which art is hard

Earlier this same day: Spent an hour in Foosball Studio. Got a little bit of foiling done. My back started to hurt so I am now upstairs in my comfy chair having a cup of tea. It used to be called buttermint tea; I don’t know what they call it now — maybe vanilla mint?

I’ll likely go down for another session. My goal is to finish foiling half, and there’s only another six pieces to go.

So, Rook escorted me downstairs for my second session in The! Studio! — and was waiting for me, almost an hour later, when I came out again. He ran over and flopped on my feet, showing me his belly, which was awfully nice of him.

Upstairs — it is dark. I — am not really sure I can do the dark this year. Not that it matters, particularly; I don’t except anyone to install a Celestial Light Bulb for me, but…things are dark enough, surely?

Regarding the glass project: I have ten biggish pieces left to foil and two so tiny they might as well be slivers. If my errands don’t take me too long tomorrow, maybe I’ll have a go at finishing the foil, so I can get a Flash Lesson in soldering before glasswork is over.

Tuesday will largely be eaten up by the Guy From Fidium, who is, so I’m told, expecting to be here at 8 am and his visit will encompass at least two hours. Argh. And the last glass class is on Wednesday. That was a fast six weeks.

Having gone to all the trouble of setting up The! Studio! it would be a shame to declare this art is not for me. On the other hand, I’m not feeling that I have any real competence, or maybe I mean affinity. I love glass, but this experiment hasn’t ignited me (ahem) the way working with hot glass did. And, no, I am not doing hot glass in the house.

What I may do, since I have so many glass scraps left over, is to try something smaller and simpler — a geometric pattern, maybe — and see if I’ve actually learned anything.

The cats are insisting that it’s Happy Hour, which, of course, it is not. I think this is my cue to wander around the house, close curtains, turn off and on lights, and wash the pans.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.

The state of the stained glass: