chop wood carry water – Page 4

Vampyres and Technology

Tuesday. Suddenly, it’s Spring. Trash and recycling patiently awaiting pickup at the curb.

I have been to tithe the Vampyres, who have got New Technology. It had used to be that you entered the lab area, took a number and were, in the fullness of time, Called. Now! You enter your name into a tablet, and it appears on the Big Screen in the waiting area. Occasionally, the Big Screen pings brightly, and a name is shown, with directions underneath. I input my name and sat reading for some time before my name went up in lights and I was directed to Station Number Two for logging in, after which I was returned to the waiting area, this time to wait for a call-code to appear under my name on the screen. I sat down, verified that I had finish reading my book, of which more anon — and the screen went down.

I swear I had nothing to do with this. All I did was say, so that the receptionist on duty could hear, “Technology! Screen’s down.” Then, as I had finished my book, I pulled out my phone to check my mail (and the guy next to me, on the assumption that he knew all about my intentions, said, “That won’t do you any good.” Really?), the receptionist called for Olivia, who appeared to reset the screen, and my name was called to enter the lab.

Blood was drawn, the tech was interested in the symbol on my shirt (Tree-and-Dragon), I made answer, was favored with the information that the tech’s granddaughter loves science fiction and went to bookstores and belonged to a book club, and all. I offered a card so her granddaughter could look for our stuff; the asked for several to share with other book loving friends, and we parted on good terms.

I stopped at Washville on my way home and came home richer by a clean car and a subscription, so now I won’t have to hassle the card reader at the gate, which I use for an excuse to not wash the car when it’s needed. Hopefully, this circumstance, and the fact that Washville is slightly less horrifying in its methods than Golden Nozzle, may help me keep the car better.

So, Duainfey. Yep, there are a couple of tough scenes, but no porn, and the reflective arcs of story are perfectly fine. It is Dark, but, being as that’s As Advertised, this is a Feature not a Bug.

I have just finished eating a cookie with a mug of tea, and as soon as I post this missive to the internets, I’ll be making rice, which I neglected to do yesterday, and also washing the bedclothes, which likewise didn’t happen yesterday. On the bed itself, I think I need to change out the Deep Winter blanket for the waffle-weave, and! I need to write an email, do my duty the cats, find lunch, and eventually wander out to the library to get crafty.

What’ve you got going today?

Philosophizing with Firefly

Sunday. Sunny and going to be warmer than yesterday, say the ‘beans, but it ain’t there yet.

Firefly and I had a very serious conversation about reset keys and how, no, no one has found a reset key, though not, I imagine, for lack of trying. That means that, no, we can’t get Trooper, or Sprite, or Steve, or Belle back, but that we have Rook and Tali, and while that’s not the same, it’s not necessarily bad.

She’s thinking about it.

Breakfast was flat egg on toast with cheddar cheese slices, followed by a dried pineapple ring, because I was Weak when I was at the co-op the other day, and bought a bag of dried pineapple rings.

Lunch . . . I’m thinking fish — haven’t had fish in a while again — and whatever I’ve got in the freezer for veggies. Peas, maybe.

Today is mostly going to be chores. I’ve done the dishes, and now I need to go sort the laundry and get that started. Also, while I was cleaning off my desk, I found orders to visit the Vampyres, um, a couple weeks ago. So! Vamps tomorrow afternoon, or, yanno, Tuesday morning. They’ve waited this long, they can wait a day longer.

And that’s what I’ve got this early in the day.

How’re you doing?

Tali helped me write this blog post:

. . .that followed, followed after

What went before: Well. I finished Crystal Dragon last night. When it comes time, I’ll be talking about Soldier and Dragon as one work, which they are (much as The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia are one book, IMHO). I do remember thinking that we ought to have included “The Hound of Heaven” (Francis Thompson) previous to the text. Steve argued that it would confuse more than illuminate, though, in my head at least, Dragon has its (very deep and complex) root system there. He was probably right, though. Nobody reads the classics anymore.

In any case.

Saturday! Sunny; rained overnight, looks like. Not going to be nearly so warm as yesterday. I’ve got The! Studio! warming up, and will today remember to turn OFF the heaters before I turn ON the grinder.

My first cup of tea has just finished brewing and Firefly is stamping her tiny slippered foot — ahem. Her large, furry foot, wanting me to get into the chair so we can have our morning chat.

Later.
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End of Saturday report.

The day was partially taken up with This Old House stuff — circuit breakers that wouldn’t unbreak, toilet that wouldn’t behave. I fixed all of it, eventually, and spent a little time with my glass project, cut out pattern stars for another project, and shared some lying-on-the-bed time with Rook (who took over my stomach) and Tali (who found a corner of folded-over blanket (Tali prefers blanket, God She knows what we’ll do when summer finally arrives). Since the reason I was lying down in the bed was to do my PT exercises, this was, as you might imagine, Vastly Convenient. But very comforting. Apparently, I’m on the lists as needing comfort.

I’m having some doubts about stained glass as an art that I’ll want to be pursuing, it taking more dedication than I’m free to give it, given the press of my primary art. Also, I’m having some serious trouble (1) scoring a line and (2) making it straight. I’ll visit The! Studio! again tomorrow and do some more grinding; there’s no rush, after all.

I started reading Duainfey at lunch (taking a break from the Liaden re-read; it strikes me that Crystal Dragon is a good place to pause), since I’m looking to republish it and Longeye.

Is there any interest in me discussing those books after I read them?

Other than that, I am not bouncing back as quickly as I feel that I should from having finished the book. OTOH, the absence of Steve was acute after I turned in the manuscript, and then the news of eluki’s passing.

Oh, and genocidal maniacs who have access to the means to make their threats good. That, too.

Rough month, all of a sudden, and it’s only the 11th.

Well.

I hope everyone’s doing as well as possible. Stiff upper lip, and a stiff drink, too, if it will help.

Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.

Today’s blog post title taken, in fact, from “The Hound of Heaven,” by Francis Thompson, which includes a very specific flight along shifting ley lines.

Friday and the adventures thereof

Friday. Sunny and warm. All of the windows and the new sliders in Steve’s office are open.

I was very sluggard rising from my nest this morning, ate a lettuce, cheese, and tomato sandwich on whole wheat bread for breakfast. Went down to The! Studio! set up my grinder and ground me some glass, though not, I note, ALL the glass. I was a grownup about this, and set a timer for an hour. Sadly, some of my time was used up by having to reset the fuse I blew when I turned the grinder on. Apparently the former workshop, where there was Honest to Ghu equipment still on the benches when we toured, pre-purchase, can’t handle two electric radiators, two lights and a grinder. This may be a problem if I need to grind in the winter. We shall see.

After glass, I changed out the cat boxes, vacuumed the basement, took a nice, relaxing shower, and came out to find that FedEx has delivered my tea — someplace else. The amusing thing about this is that when you got to FedEx and tell them that they misdelivered the package? The advice is to tell the seller. Because the seller had Nothing to do with putting the package on what looks to be a pallet on roller skates someplace that isn’t here.

I did write to Upton, in hopes of either my money back, which would be said, as I really actually wanted the tea, or if they can unbend enough to send by an alternate carrier — UPS and the post office can find this house just fine — another shipment. We shall see.

Lunch, which I will begin to reheat as soon as I finish this letter to the Internets, will be leftover stir-fry. After, I fully intend to find a chair in a window and finish reading Crystal Dragon. My goodness, does Rool Tiazan have a way with a ley line.

How’s everybody doing today?

Anything can happen day

. . . came in on the overnight.

Wednesday. Sunny; snow slowly melting out of the trees.

Slow, even very slow, morning. Sat for an hour or more in the window, with Tali, then Firefly, on my lap, trying to decide if it’s Me or the World. Or, yanno, both.

Discussed the matter with Tali, and decided, yeah, it’s both, and with Firefly’s help deleted all of the newsfeeds that come directly into my mail queue (with the exception of the local news, which I need for things like, how long is my road going to be closed to southbound traffic?). I have apps. If I feel like reading the news, I know where to find them.

I also ordered some tea, to top off dwindling supply.

Today is more ordering/straightening. I’m thinking stirfry for lunch.

How’s everybody doing this morning? Firefly really wants to know.

Crystal Soldier and Fey History

Tuesday. Sunny and still cool. Trash and recycling are at the curb.

Today is Straighten Up The Office Day followed by an hour with the crafters at the library.

I am reading Crystal Soldier for the first time in 20 years and I am glued to the page. Good Ghod, what a great story! The characters are awesome! The world building is great and so far, at about the halfway point, I have no complaints at all.

I was thinking that I would skip the Crystal books, because so very many people have disliked them. Not nearly as many people as disliked the Fey Duology, and not approaching the level of vitriol, but still — a lot of people really, really disliked these books, and they were not shy of saying so.

I go on record now as saying the critics are wrong.

Firefly is being keeping very close, and is taking every opportunity to climb on my lap to purr and knead and head butt. Her tail is back to normal, and I?

Need to go find breakfast.

How’s everybody doing today?
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A Brief History of the Fey Duology

Back in the early 2000s, Steve and I were writing Liaden books for Meisha Merlin and having a pretty good time, except that our paychecks were getting more irregular than we liked. We talked to our agent, who shared the Industry Wisdom that most writers did not put all of their eggs into one literary basket, but branched out, starting one, or even two, other series, under a (or several) pen names. They key was not to compete with yourself, because the intention of the secondary line was to smooth out the cashflow, not to supplant the primary work.

So, we brainstormed, we three, and we came up with an idea that was Nothing At All like Liad (saving a Regency-like setting for the human settlers), a Deeply Dark SF-grounded Fantasy which would be marketed under a pseudonym.

It was a good plan, and it might even have worked.

Except Other Events Overtook Meisha Merlin, and we were not only out of a job, but we were out a $ignificant amount of Back Royalties Owed. The sequel to The Tomorrow Log was a victim of this cataclysm. Fledgling-on-the-web was a benefit. Sharon re-entered the mundane world and took up the melant’i of departmental secretary at the local Little Ivy.

For a Period of Time, we didn’t know if we would retain our rights in the Liaden Universe, or if they would become part of the assets of Meisha Merlin sold to satisfy its creditors.

Our agent therefore had one thing in hand to try to sell for us, so that our cats wouldn’t have to go live under a bridge — the proposal for two dark “fantasies.”

And — all honor to her — she sold them. To Baen. Under the condition that they be published under the Lee and Miller byline.

Money talks. We took the deal. We shouldn’t have taken the deal, but we were, frankly, afraid. I don’t wish to paint Baen as a villain; in fact, they threw us a much-needed lifeline, and the fact that we’ve been publishing with them since 2008 tells its own tale.

But the Fey books — written against, as you might say, the Liaden books — the reaction to those books nearly finished me as a writer. Wow, did people hate those books, and they wrote to us, and they were Betrayed, and Horrified, and one woman said she had Thrown Away all of her Liaden books and — my ghod, what a mess.

And I was still working as a secretary at the college. Not my finest hour.

But! A happy ending. Meisha Merlin returned the copyrights to all of its authors; we resold ours to Baen, who, as I mentioned above, we’ve been working with ever since.

And we never tried to establish a second series again.

And THAT’S off my desk

Kin Right by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, the 28th novel set in their Liaden Universe®, has been submitted. Final weight +/- 141,000 words, including a brief intro, the book itself, and the cast of characters.

Kin Right is the direct sequel to Salvage Right and a sort-of sequel to Diviner’s Bow, since Shan is crossing storylines.

Baen believes this title will be published in Spring 2027.

Now I need to put away the laundry.

I’ll say goodnight, now, I think. It’s been a long day and I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be in a vertical position.

Everybody stay safe.

Prank-Free Zone

Today is April 1. This is an April Fool Prank-free Zone. Thank you for your attention to this detail.

This is also the anniversary of Steve Miller, Sharon Lee, Arwen de’Gray, and Archie McGee setting up their first household together.

Wednesday. Damp and grey. Oil delivery first thing, which I guess proves the algorithm, since the tank gauge was a squeak above 1/4 tank yesterday afternoon when I checked in.

Breakfast will be cottage cheese and an oatmeal cookie. OK. Two oatmeal cookies. I hope to decide if I’m doing errands first or getting with the Cast of Characters. I’m thinking errands first. After, I can get as caught up in work as I please without having to keep an eye out for a good place to stop and go do the necessary.

Firefly gave my lap a good, hard workout under the Happy Lite and pronounces me in good shape for somebody in the shape I’m in. Tali is napping in Trooper’s box on the corner of my desk and Rook is on the cat tree in Steve’s office, overlooking the Long Back Yard.

What’re you doing today?

So you want to be a writer…

So, where are we? Ah. Friday. Cloudy and colder than the last couple days. Haircut scheduled for this afternoon; before that, more reading of Kin Right.

Drafted “Melant’i Refresher for Terrans” to go into the front of Kin Right, pointing to the Cast of Characters in the back. Was reminded in so doing about the dog who was our outfielder back when I was eight or so and playing pick-up baseball at the local rec center. We couldn’t keep the dog off the field, so we made him The Outfielder. He fielded for both sides instead of batting. Helluva outfielder, that dog.

What else?

Rookie got locked in the bedroom closet, and missed breakfast. He’s making up for that now.

I think that’s all I’ve got, really. The Exciting Life of a Writer, ayuh.

What’re you doing that’s exciting today?
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Tali helping me edit in the Command Chair

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So, Kathy talked me out of a buzz cut. After the new ‘do, I walked over to Holy Cannoli and bought two lemon-blueberry ricotta cheese cookies — one just eaten with a mug of tea, and one for tomorrow. I really ought to learn how to make ricotta cheese cookies. Or, yanno, maybe safer not to.

Rook is sleeping in the copilot’s chair at my desk (as different from Steve’s desk), while I take my first stab at a list of characters for Kin Right. This? Is going to be An Undertaking.

Next book, I swear — one character and nothing happens to them.

I have about 100 pages to read in Kin Right, then 200 pages to enter correx into, then finishing up with the cast of characters and so on. The end, as the saying goes, is in sight.

I’m a little less than half-way through Theo of Golden, and the next meeting of the book club is April 20. I did finish reading Balance of Trade, and I’m going to have to take a step back and given some thought to my reading strategy here. If I’m going to be re-issuing the fey books, I’m going to need to read them, so I may have to break off the Liaden read-through for that. In the meantime, books I preordered last year when I foresaw oodles of time to read — are starting to download.

Whee…

Well. It’s good to have things to do, amirite?

New haircut:

Snowy Sunday

It started to snow right around 8 am, and it’s still snowing as I type, at 7:15 pm.

Split the day between reading Kin Right, which — I’m about 100 pages in and it’s holding my interest — and locating the top of my desk again. Order has been restored, and lists have been made. I have a lot of phone calls to make, because the reason I write is so I don’t have to talk on the phone. However, tomorrow, I really need to make those calls. And read Kin Right.

I really don’t have much else to report, except that my editorial team was topnotch. Here you can see them, editing: