The Writing Life – Page 8 – Sharon Lee, Writer

A Draft Declared! and other news of note

Last night, I finished the Good Enough Draft of Salvage Right (the 25th novel in the Liaden Universe®, built and maintained by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, publishing since! 1988, with a brief hiatus because Big Publishing), which presently weighs in at +/- 106,000 words.

Am I going to leap Right Into revision? you ask.

I am not. I have done, and doubtless with do again, but this time? The book is due to Madame in June. Which means I have the Incredible Luxury of taking two weeks off to rest my brain and Think About Other Things before I leap into Revisionland.

Why does my brain need rest? Aren’t I a writer? Isn’t Making Stuff Up(tm) What I Do?

My brain needs rest because writing is hard. One definition of Writer is “someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people;” I am definitely a writer. And while Making Stuff Up is cool, then you have to Keep Track of It.

Tinsori Light has been eating my brain since — checks notes — November 15, 2021. Six months of riot, bedlam, and derring-do. Jeez, no wonder I’m tired.

But most of it’s on the page now, and my head feels weirdly empty, as it does when a long project is complete.

So, today, instead of choosing faces, or leaping into the fray with Jen Sin, I will be doing housework, and hope to make a good start clearing six month’s worth of Chore IOUs.

In other news — I did promise other news — Steve is simultaneously working on a commissioned short story and the next Jethri novel — Trade Lanes.

We will be attending the ChiCon 8, the World Science Fiction Convention to be held in Chicago September 1-5. We have purchased train tickets and reserved a hotel room. No word yet on if either of us has been chosen for panels. Be sure that we’ll publish our schedule in All The Usual Places, once we have one. Yes, we are hoping to host a Friends of Liad breakfast. More news on that front as we have it, as well.

Fair Trade, which came out in hardcover and ebook* just last Monday, continues to do well. If you’ve read the book, please consider posting a review in the venue of your choice. Reviews not only drive the Algorithm Engines at the Big Stores, but they also help other readers make Important Buying Decisions.

And here we are, all caught up.

Now I need to clean the bathroom.

_____________
*Nope — no word on an audiobook. The person at Baen who is responsible for this aspect of things is reportedly “working on it.”

That was the week that was

When last we heard from Yr Hmbl Narrator, she was looking forward to eight glorious, empty days, with nothing to do but play on Tinsori Light.

And that’s sorta what happened. To a point.

I knew going into the week that I needed to complete my application to take part on panels at ChiCon 8, which is ohsomuch more complicated than you’re envisioning, and with a deadline involved, but I figured to pursue that project during my writing breaks.

It started out well.

Steve had a dental appointment on Monday, but my services as a chauffeur were not needed, so I stayed home and — wrote. Tuesday was also pretty good, right up to the point where we heard from the narrator for Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume Two (coming soon from Tantor! link), who was requesting a Weird Word List and a recording of same.

This was great news! Only — Weeding through more than a dozen stories for the Weird Words consumes Serious Time, and — book isn’t going to write itself. Happily, I hit on the notion of asking for volunteers, and giving each of them one story to read. And — long story short — many hands quickly returned separate lists of Weird Words, which I was able to compile into a list over the next few days.

Meanwhile, in Wednesday, we took Belle to the vet for her annual wellness check, and, later that same day, Steve and I got long overdue hair cuts. The day was further livened by the arrival of 12 cases (240 books) hardcover edition of Fair Trade, for us to sign, repack and get ready to be picked up by UPS on Monday and given a ride to Uncle Hugo’s in Minneapolis.

While 240 isn’t a lot of books (back in the Meisha Merlin days, we signed thousands (yes, it’s true) and mailed them, too), but it’s a goodly number, plus I’m not a young thing of 50 anymore. So, we took some time to sign books, and box them back up — all done by Saturday evening, when I bore down and finished the ChiCon survey.

While Steve was signing the last two boxes of books, I recorded half of the Weird Word list for the narrator. While I was signing the last &c, Steve recorded the other half of the Weird Word list for the narrator.

Then, he boxed up the signed books, sealed the cases, attached the UPS forms, and in short got everything ready for Monday’s pickup, while I?

Finally got back to work on the WIP.

And discovered that my laptop has died.

Today, I’ve been writing. Sixteen hundred words on the day, so far, and Salvage Right has just broken 93,000 words. Support at System 76 has gotten back to me with a suggested course of action for the laptop, which I’ll pursue this evening, and tomorrow! Between 12 and 5, UPS will swing by and pick up 12 cases of Fair Trade and take them to the Uncle.

So, next week’s looking pretty good for writing — there’s some phone calls and Real Life stuff to deal with, and a Zoom interview with Baen host Griffin Barber on Thursday night, but pretty clear.

*fingers crossed*

I want to say that the cats have been very supportive during these unscheduled rushes and boxings. Trooper was particularly involved in the signing part of things.

Here’s a picture of Trooper, supervising Steve:

And here’s a picture of Trooper being removed from the signing table by Yrs Trly. For scale, I am six foot tall, and weigh 165 lbs. Trooper weighs just a thought over 17 lbs.

So! Now we’re all caught up. If you preordered a signed copy of Fair Trade from Uncle Hugo’s, you may commence waiting for delivery on May 2.

Writers’ Day Off

The weather forecast rain for the next, eh, six days, only yesterday was supposed to be cloudy and warmish.

So, we took yesterday off, and went down south to Ogunquit, a pretty little village by the sea.

The season isn’t quite in, so parking was Winter Well — aka free — at the public lot on Cottage Street. Steve and I alighted from Skylark the Subaru and walked out. The first thing Steve saw, after we’d crossed the street, was a sign that said, Footbridge to the Beach — so we did that.

There were people on the beach — barefoot children playing in the sand, their parents on beach chairs nearby. Lots of people, like us, walking, and staring, and walking some more. Ogunquit has a very interesting beach, and we were there at low tide, which meant we walking from the Norseman toward town center on the beach, rather than being forced by the tide to walk north, toward Wells.

Leaving the beach, we walked up to the village proper, where pre-season hours are in force at some places, while others were open. We stopped for tea cakes at Afternoon in Paris, bought chocolates at the chocolatier’s, explored the Village Market, and window-shopped.

We collected the car eventually and drove down to Perkins Cove to find that the public parking there was also on Winter Well, and had lunch at Jackie’s Too. Crab cakes, for those interested. Very good Maine crab cakes (this for those of us who grew up on the legendary Maryland crab cakes), with the interesting addition of (those who grew up on Maryland crab cakes may want to sit down for this next part) cheese in the mix.

After lunch, we walked around Perkins Cove, while the clouds congregated overhead. We got back to the car as the first drops began to spatter, and just over the town line into Wells when it began to rain in earnest.

Once home, we continued the theme. I did some embroidery, Steve read, we eventually had the evening meal, and so to bed.

Today, as predicted, it is raining. I have one, very brief errand to run out in Oakland, and then I’m in and writing for the next eight days, with two slight interruptions next Wednesday — to take Belle to the vet for her annual exam, and to get haircuts.

I’m aiming to finish Salvage Right by the end of April, so — off I go!

Ah, wait — have a couple of pictures from yesterday.

Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine. Photo taken from the top of the drawbridge.

Liaden Universe® Updates

Presented in order of Temporal Proximity.

First! We have a book coming out on May 3! Fair Trade, the third account of the loves and adventures of Jethri Gobelyn ven’Deelin, Trader Extraordinaire, will be available in hardcover, and electronic from all of the usual vendors. Right now, you may preorder the hardcover from those same usual suspects.

There are Notes, to wit!

Note A: YES, you will be able to buy this novel electronically on the release date. NO, you may not preorder it. This is how our publisher does things, and is above our pay grade.

Note B: If you want a signed copy of the hardcover Fair Trade, you can preorder one right here

Note B1: Personalizations are not available this time. Uncle Hugo’s is just getting settled into their new space, and there was some concern about Mistakes Being Made. Nobody wants mistakes, amirite?

Note C: We have heard nothing about an audiobook edition. This, too, is above our pay grade. Please be assured that, should we hear something, we will shout it from the rooftops.

Second! Salvage Right, a Liaden Universe® novel set on Tinsori Light, will be handed in to Baen in June. Trade Lanes, the fourth Jethri Gobelyn ven’Deelin novel, has a September deadline. That’s right, we’re turning in two books in 2022.

Third! Title TBA, a Liaden Universe® novel that will probably continue the story from the Redlands. This could change, so, yanno, don’t mark in down in ink. That book is due at Baen in June 2023.

Fourth! And, may I just say, the reason I’ve called you all together today — Lee and Miller have signed a three-book contract with their long-time publisher Baen Books. The contract’s call-name is Traveler’s Trio, and we have no idea where those novels will take us, yet, but we do have delivery dates. Those are:

Traveler’s Trio ONE: September 2024
Traveler’s Trio TWO: September 2025
Traveler’s Trio THREE: September 2026

Note A: In September 2026, I will be 74 years old. Steve will have celebrated his 76th birthday three months prior. This by way of reassuring those folks who have been worrying about our retirement that, err — writers don’t retire. At least, writers at our level of the game don’t retire.

Here ends the Updatery.

Writers’ Day Off

So, yesterday, it was sunny and warm, for values of warm that factor in March and Maine, and we called in one of our Rolling Days Off.

Now, what with one thing and another, I haven’t been driving much for the last, eh, year? Two years. Around town stuff — out to Unity Pond, or to Solon, but not what you’d call a Good Drive. Or not what I’d call a Good Drive. Understand, I like to drive, and it’s been a Point of Faith with me since I earned my ticket to fly that I could drive anywhere, any time, no problem. You wanna go to Mars? Fine, I’ll drive you to Mars; strap in.

For the first part of my treatment, I’d been driving myself to the Cancer Center — about 130 mile round trip — but then about half-way through the course, Radiation Fatigue set in, and Steve had to step up to be my chauffeur (cue the Beatles).

Now, the thing they don’t tell you about Radiation Fatigue, aside that “some” people experience it, is that — it hangs around after you’ve gotten done, received your graduation certificate from your ray-gunners, AND rung the bell. It hangs around for a long time.

Most usually, it manifests as a sudden, freewheeling Wall of Exhaustion — and I mean this exactly; you’ll be doing something — washing the dishes, reading, writing, driving — and BAM! you’re done. Now. You can barely hold your head up. There’s no predicting how, when, or why this will happen.

So, long story short, given the above, I haven’t been driving much. And, all other things being more or less back to normal — the other thing they don’t necessarily tell you about cancer recovery is that it takes a lot longer than you think — I decided to see if I couldn’t get my driving mojo back.

Frequent readers of this blog will recall that I recently bought a car — Tinsori the Honda. Tinsori is the back-up car. Our primary ride is a very nice Touring Subaru Forester with all kinds of safety features onboard, and it was the Forester that I drove out yesterday, Steve riding shotgun, all the way down to the ocean and back.

That’s a 200-mile round trip — no big deal — and I got to take a long walk on the beach, and we ate supper at one of our favorite restaurants; took another small on-foot tour of the town, stopped for ice cream on the way home, and!

It was fine. It was better than fine. No Wall of Exhaustion, not even on the horizon. So, I’m calling this a Modest Victory, and hope to repeat it — soon — and eventually arrive at a point where Steve doesn’t need to ride shotgun.

In Other News: I’ve completed my editorial pass through Section Two of Salvage Right, and Steve has it to read for continuity and general sense. In the meantime, I will be moving on to Section Three, continuing with the Write the Scenes You Know Method, with which I’m pretty well pleased. It means writing a lot of bridges, and sometimes having to frog, if the scene doesn’t wind up fitting exactly where it seemed to fit, but that’s all perfectly doable in the editing pass.

For those counting along at home, Salvage Right now stands at 64,656 words, or approximately half-done.

Here, have a snippet:

“One of the crew of Bechimo who may have valuable insight into my work. As you heard, we will speak in depth after the present task is completed, and I have slept.”

“Oh, you remembered sleep,” M Traven said, in a tone of broad enlightenment.

“If I had not, you would have reminded me,” Seignur Veeoni said, rising and moving toward the antechamber.

The writer at work Tinsori Light edition

It occurred to me at right around 58,000 words into Salvage Right, that, yep, everything is happening on Tuesday afternoon, and I’d better Fix That Now.

So, that’s what I’m doing now.

I’ve read what was the original first scene — +/- 20,000 words — and have a plan to open it up to let air and sunshine and characterization and stuff into the manuscript. Once I’ve solidified that opening section, I’ll move on to the next scene. Which is one of your Big Advantages of writing in scenes.

I did know going in that there was going to be a fair amount of timekeeping required for this book, because of its place in overall Liaden Universe® events. I’d been having so! much! fun! on Tinsori Light, though, that I’ve been ignoring that part of the process, and this is my opportunity to do that work, as well.

To sum up — the writer is writing, is happy in her work, and hoping you’re all the same.

The Writing Life: Feast or Famine

So, yesterday was one of those days when the mind — the mind it zzzzzzzzzzzzoooooommmmmmmeeeedddddddd!!!!!!!

I took notes; I typed words in a row; I took more notes. My brain was, like, BIG PARTY at Tinsori Light! and I was being dragged along, whether I wanted to go to the damn’ party or not.

Though of course — I did.

This is the kind of day every writer hopes for; a gift from the back brain, when suddenly! it’s all So Clear, and everything just snaps into place.

It’s also an exhausting and terrifying kind of day — so! many! ideas! coming in a rush. You’re afraid you’re going to miss something — fingers only move so fast, after all.

So, today, I’m being kind of sleepy and slow. I did the next-day read-over-and-revise of what I wrote yesterday, and I know where I need to go today, but I’m moving at half-speed instead of Warp 6.

Balance, I guess.

At this Point In Time, Salvage Right (aka Tinsori Light: The Novel) is less than 100 words short of 54,000.

And that’s kind of awesome, considering that, in October, I was writing a story that had already been written from another point of view, to try to teach myself how to write again.

There’s a snippet below this paragraph. If you don’t want to read it, stop scrolling now.

SNIPPET:

“How’re you doin’ there, Pilot?”

“I have once again established that my head is harder than hull plate. Apparently this must be periodically verified.”

The Writing Life, with tea and snow removal

So, we’ve been having some crazy weather, even for Maine. Sub-zero (Fahrenheit) temps alternating with warmer days; snow, rain, and Unidentified Stuff falling from the sky. This has made a Certified Mess of our driveway, given the snowbanks piled on either side by the plow guy, whose mission is to make certain we can get the cars out of and into the garage.

Yesterday, water was standing ankle deep over rotten ice at the bottom of the front steps, and more looking to flow in as the snow melted from the 50F/10C temperatures.

All that said, today I thought I was going to go out with a shovel and an ice-axe and dig a trough through compacted snow to release the water, so Steve and I could safely exit the house. Then! I thought again and called the plow guy, who will come by today with The Equipment, and Adjust the Situation. And in fact he’s here now in his little Bobcat thingy, apparently enjoying himself hugely.

After a lifetime — and I mean that literally; I started my habit at age 7 — of drinking coffee, I had to quit, and have been searching for an alternative source of life-giving caffeine. After some poking around, I’d hit upon Twinings Irish Breakfast tea as a reasonable substitute for the morning joe. However, Twinings green tea is — not pleasant, IMHO — and a search for a more drinkable cup sent me to Harney and Sons. While I was there, and in addition to two green teas, I bought a box of Irish Breakfast tea. For Science!

I had a cup of Mr. Harney’s Irish Breakfast tea for my first cup today, and it was very nice — flavorful, smooth; not bitter, but definitely black, if that makes sense.

Mr. Harney directs us to brew this tea for five minutes, and that’s what I did.

I have here at my right hand a cup of Mr. Twinings’ Irish Breakfast tea — my Usual Sort. Mr. Twinings directs us to brew this tea for four minutes, which produces a cup that is not quite as nice as Mr. Harney’s. Therefore, because I am a Slave to Science, I brewed Mr. Twinings’ leaf for five minutes.

Five minutes is too long for Mr. Twinings’ Sort; it’s bitter along the high edge — and not even I know what that means, but it seems to appropriately describe the experience.

I note that Mr. Harney’s tea was black in the cup. Mr. Twinings’ is reddish.

So, on the first taste test, I find a preference for Mr. Harney’s Sort, though Mr. Twinings’ Sort, at the directed four minutes, is perfectly drinkable.

What else? Ah! I may have been remiss in reporting here that at my last oncology appointment, I was graduated from every-three-month check-ins, to every six months. And there was much rejoicing.

Today’s to-do includes washing the dishwasher, which is already happening, and I may have to wash towels, after. Mostly, though, I hope to stick pretty close to Salvage Right, which, for those coming in late, is a Liaden Universe® novel set on Tinsori Light, after the events described in Neogenesis.

Yesterday, I finally intersected with a scene I’d written a month ago, so yay! Said scene needs expansion, naturally, so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’d like to get to the end of that whole section today, but, really, what do I know?

As of last night’s writing session, Salvage Right stands at 50,885 words, and continues to Amuse Its Author, while zooming right along.

And that catches us more or less up. As you can see, it’s been Very Quiet hereabouts — writers writing, cats napping, nothing really to see.

To make up for all the excitement included in this post, I have appended a snippet from Salvage Right below this paragraph. If you don’t like snippets — go no further.

SNIPPET

“What would you have done,” Theo asked, “if she hadn’t stopped?”

Jen Sin raised an eyebrow. “Jumped, of course. What would you have done if she’d veered left?”

Theo sighed. “Jumped,” she admitted.

FAIR TRADE eARC available for download!

All righty, then!

The eARC of Fair Trade can now be purchased at this link.

IF you purchase the eARC and would like to participate in the Tyop Hunt (NOTE: You are never required to buy the eARC of our work, nor are you required to participate in a Tyop Hunt. Both of these actions are voluntary) — please send errors to me at rolanniATgmailDOTcom BEFORE February 2. Error reports should have include a search string that I can follow (NO page numbers will not do; we’re working from a paper PDF) AND ALSO the name you wish to be thanked under in the final edition of the book.

You do not to write to me beforehand to tell me that you are a joining the hunt.

Now, I’m going to go hunt some tyops, myself.

Thursday catching up

So, I’ve been writing. Tinsori Light: The Novel (real title TBD) stands at about 32,000 words. I’m having fun, which historically has meant that y’all will have fun, eventually.

I’ve been in the habit of thinking that the book is Just Roaring Along, but, looking back, I see I started Serious Writing on November 20, 53 days ago, which gives me a nice, steady 600-ish words a day, on average. I think part of the Roaring Along feeling is that I’ve been doing a lot of sitting with my notebook and pen, plotting, and sketching in scenes. A couple days back saw the arrival of The Ending (of this novel, to be clear), which is actually helpful (as it so often is not), and pretty closely jibes with the plotting I’ve been doing, so that’s another thrill.

I foresee a slowdown in work, sadly, as the tax documents are beginning to arrive, and I’ll have to start pulling things together for the accountant. Also, we should be seeing the copy edits of Fair Trade pretty soon. I’m feeling pretty grumpy about the upcoming need to spend time away from the WIP, but one does what one must.

What else? It’s been cold and grey and precipitating, but, yanno — January in Maine. We have winter here.

And that? Gets us caught up.

Everybody stay safe.

Oh, hey! Here’s a snippet:

“Got a letter from Theo.”

“So soon? I hadn’t considered that even Theo could fall into a scrape as quickly as this.”

“You need to accept the fact that Theo’s natural state is ‘in trouble,'” Miri told him. “Be a lot easier on your nerves.”