Rainy days and wednesdays...
Feb. 24th, 2010 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanYesterday I wrote about 3,000 new words and edited another 35 pages, bringing me to the halfway point of WEIGHT OF STONE. I should feel good about my progress, but then I saw this, perhaps the #1 way to ensure a writer gets cracking on those revisions: http://tinyurl.com/ygmb4zd
Ack!
You may, if you follow the clicky, note that FLESH AND FIRE will be available in paperback in September 2010. However, if you want to buy them all in a hardcover set, you should do so soon. Hardcovers don't have an infinite bookstore life, and once they're gone, that's probably it.
Anyway, am actually feeling pretty good about the revisions -- as I'd hoped, the notes clarified some thing I wasn't quite 100% on, and while having to unpick a thread and then weave it back in differently is a pain in the whoa, it makes for a much stronger book that I' really happy about. Also, seeing what I did there makes me feel Smart. The reader may or may not get it, consciously, but it's there, and infuses everything the character does afterward.
And it's making me think about the on-going work on PSI#3 differently, too. You learn nothing but that it challenges you to do the next thing better.
And now the caffeine is ready, and the pencils are sharpened (yes, I'm old skool, I edit with Very Sharp #2 Pencils) so back to work I go. But first let me leave you with this...
Dear blog-reviewer: I'm not sure why you felt it needful to be quite so mean-spirited in your review of a book you apparently liked, but in the same spirit of "it's all in fun" I have to tell you that the assumption that a demi-god whose death saves his/her people must be a Christ-analog figure? Shows that you are incredibly narrow in your reading and cultural awareness. Ditto the use of wine as a religious artifact. Because both those conceits (to use your own term) pre-date Christian mythology by several civilizations... And also, that was Burgundy, not Italy. You can't tell the difference?
But hey, so long as YOU feel clever, that's okay.
Meanwhile, from SciFi Now, talking about the Nebula nominees, says kinder things:
"In Flesh And Fire, Laura Anne Gilman takes a dubious premise for a fantasy novel – one where everything seems to revolve and predicate on the production of wine, and turns it into a compelling narrative that turns much of the traditional literary conventions regarding wizards, magic and other such mainstays of the genre on their heads. It’s both affecting and addictive, a blend of complex characterisation and original thought that keeps the interest of the reader through even an in-depth examination of the fermentation of grapes."
The reviewer picks China, but does it in a way that made me think "yeah, okay, that's a really good argument, even if I think he's wrong. Nicely advocated" A good (professional) review should be like a good story -- the narrator needs to get their ego out of the way of what they want to say, and say it. You want to be snarky and egotistical? Get a personal blog. (what? we all do it...)
And in closing, it appears to be Spring-like: it's raining, and the remaining snow is turning to ice underfoot. Be careful out there, New Yorkers!
And remember, the "open thread" will be open for your questions & comments all week!
Ack!
You may, if you follow the clicky, note that FLESH AND FIRE will be available in paperback in September 2010. However, if you want to buy them all in a hardcover set, you should do so soon. Hardcovers don't have an infinite bookstore life, and once they're gone, that's probably it.
Anyway, am actually feeling pretty good about the revisions -- as I'd hoped, the notes clarified some thing I wasn't quite 100% on, and while having to unpick a thread and then weave it back in differently is a pain in the whoa, it makes for a much stronger book that I' really happy about. Also, seeing what I did there makes me feel Smart. The reader may or may not get it, consciously, but it's there, and infuses everything the character does afterward.
And it's making me think about the on-going work on PSI#3 differently, too. You learn nothing but that it challenges you to do the next thing better.
And now the caffeine is ready, and the pencils are sharpened (yes, I'm old skool, I edit with Very Sharp #2 Pencils) so back to work I go. But first let me leave you with this...
Dear blog-reviewer: I'm not sure why you felt it needful to be quite so mean-spirited in your review of a book you apparently liked, but in the same spirit of "it's all in fun" I have to tell you that the assumption that a demi-god whose death saves his/her people must be a Christ-analog figure? Shows that you are incredibly narrow in your reading and cultural awareness. Ditto the use of wine as a religious artifact. Because both those conceits (to use your own term) pre-date Christian mythology by several civilizations... And also, that was Burgundy, not Italy. You can't tell the difference?
But hey, so long as YOU feel clever, that's okay.
Meanwhile, from SciFi Now, talking about the Nebula nominees, says kinder things:
"In Flesh And Fire, Laura Anne Gilman takes a dubious premise for a fantasy novel – one where everything seems to revolve and predicate on the production of wine, and turns it into a compelling narrative that turns much of the traditional literary conventions regarding wizards, magic and other such mainstays of the genre on their heads. It’s both affecting and addictive, a blend of complex characterisation and original thought that keeps the interest of the reader through even an in-depth examination of the fermentation of grapes."
The reviewer picks China, but does it in a way that made me think "yeah, okay, that's a really good argument, even if I think he's wrong. Nicely advocated" A good (professional) review should be like a good story -- the narrator needs to get their ego out of the way of what they want to say, and say it. You want to be snarky and egotistical? Get a personal blog. (what? we all do it...)
And in closing, it appears to be Spring-like: it's raining, and the remaining snow is turning to ice underfoot. Be careful out there, New Yorkers!
And remember, the "open thread" will be open for your questions & comments all week!
