Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...

SILVER ON THE ROAD is off to the copyeditor (eeep) and is being over-read for horse and tribal neep as well, to ensure that I only make the most embarrassing mistakes everyone else also missed...

Meanwhile, I'm closing in on the 10% mark of Book #2: "There was something his charge wasn’t telling him, her thoughts wrapped tight inside her head, those sharp eyes clouded in a way they hadn’t been just that morning. Gabriel was too tired to dig at it tonight, though. And, he had discovered, Isobel was a sensible girl: she would come to him in her own time. Or leave him an opening to walk through, when she was ready."

Things researched: buzzard vs vulture, the weight of a saddle, sleepwalking, bison maturity.

Favorite bit written: She couldn’t promise any more, not faithfully. But as the words left her mouth, one of the buzzards lifted its head and swiveled its neck to look directly at her, and the cold sting in her palm faded.

Whoops: escarpment is not the same thing as an encampment.

New words written: 1750

Clients dealt with: two  (one finishing up, one beginning)


And now I am going to be a post-NYE slug on a Friday night and curl up with the cats, a plate of pasta, a glass of wine, and the DVDs of NERO WOLFE (the Tim Hutton version).  Which, BTW, is TOTALLY research.

3.  In related-to-#1 news, I have had baklava and coffee for breakfast. Today will be ALL about the sugar high and ZOOOOMZ.

4.  SILVER ON THE ROAD is really starting to come together for me.  Of course, it's doing that some 80,000 words in, which means I'll be turning around and starting the first rewrite with some Significant Work to do on the first half.

(some of which my lovely beta-readers are giving me, with their notes. Dear Lovely Betareaders, I'm sorry for what I made you plow through in section 2...I promise, you'll see where it all starts to come together at the end...)

5. TAGGED is still being a bit balky, but after three books in the series I can feel the rough spots before I hit them, and know how to fix them when they appear.

(As I said on Twitter earlier this week, writing the first book in a series is the easiest, and the hardest thing to do. Writing the last* book in a series is the hardest...and also the easiest.)




*I don't know that this will be the last G&T book. But it is the last one currently under contract. Sales and pre-orders could make all the difference on them buying #5....

Weekend Catchup:

There's an Open Thread going on downstream - Ask Away!
January's Convention Schedule

As some of you may know/have heard, the weather in these parts has been pretty but ugly - not quite so bad as out in Illinois and Minnesota, but pretty damn cold. I've been using the stairs to exercise on (it's too cold and too icy to safely go outside) but I'm still twitchy as hell.

While curled up on the sofa, I've been doing that mainlining-tv-series-on-Netflix thing - most recently Ripper Street.  I'm just about through the first season, and while it's extremely good, I think I may enjoy my historical crime drama more in print form than visual. Need to think about why that is. I also rewatched GHOSTBUSTERS, which holds up pretty damn well.

I have not yet seen Sherlock (either ep) but people failing to tag on Tumblr have pretty much spoiled me for it.  Fortunately, I don't love the show for the plot twists, just the Feels.

I need to cut back on the obsessive binge tv watching, though - today the full workload kicks in: multiple projects, multiple deadlines.  It's going to be a busy-as-hell year (particularly now through July). Revising DOGHOUSE (G&T #3), promoting the new Kickstarter (more on that soon), working on the Can't Talk About It Yet Project.... this morning, I'm digging into the opening chapters of TAGGED (Gin & Tonic #4).Oh hai characters, I've missed you!

We have established that I am not a Summer Person, right?  If I wanted to live in a sauna I would have relocated south of DC?  Right.  Moving on.

Suggested new points of order, based on conversations over the weekend:

1. Before offering advice in response to a post or comment, first consider: is the speaker over the age of 25? Are they in possession of a functional, not to say trained mind? Might they probably have already considered possible solutions to their issue before mentioning it? If the answer is yes, rethink offering your advice.

(the above is negated if you are their mother, father, or agent)

2. If you see a problem forming in a social setting, cut it off at the knees (either by intervention or deflection) before it becomes an actual problem. Defusing a bomb should be more highly valued than trying to pick up the shrapnel after the fact.

3. Life's too short, grim, and otherwise often unpleasant not to take joy in the small, silly things. Don't let your "dignity" get in the way of laughter. Or, as the late, great Dr Major Sydney Freedman twice said, "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice - pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

In other news, Pandora goes back to the vet (hopefully this week) for X-rays.  I really don't have the emotional bandwidth to talk about that further, right now.

This week is Canada Day (Happy Canada Day, Canadians!) and Independence Day.  I'm hauling out of the city for the first time in years, and so will miss the NYC fireworks.  The lure of ocean air will make up for that, though, I suspect.

And then up to the Boston area for a long weekend.  I'm looking forward to that, too.

How are you spending your national holiday, if your nation-of-choice is celebrating one this week?

When I spend All Day at the Office & then come home late, the housecats are Seriously Affectionate, each in their own way.... For Boomer, that involves trying to eat my hair and head-butting.  Oaf.  But it makes me wonder why cats and horses seem to think eating hair (not grooming, EATING) is a sign of affection.  Should I be switching shampoo?

After several days among people, and a convention looming, and more interaction on the month's horizon,  I am starting to develop that Introvert's Twitch, the one that says "I like you a lot but please stand over there and don't talk to me?"  There are several friends who have perfected that art: alas, most of them are Not in NYC.

Due to scheduling issues (not mine) I'm juggling four different major projects this week.  Two is optimal, three is manageable, four makes me cranky.  The smaller projects are huddled in the corner, waiting their turn.  Apologies to anyone waiting on one of those smaller/non-time-sensitive things...

My brain is utterly in mystery mode right now, not fantasy. Good, because I'm writing a mystery. Bad, because I'm also revising a fantasy.

Writing mysteries is actually both weirder and calmer for me: there's less fannish connection, less chatter in my daily life, so I'm not distracted from the Story by the Community. This is partially because I was a reader rather than a Fan of mysteries and so not hooked into that community the same way, and partially because there seems to be less online "noise"  for mysteries the way there is F/SF.  Pluses and minuses to both.


and now I have to go away and juggle some more.  Feel free to use this thread to ask me anything.  I reserve the right not to answer (or to lie like a rug if provoked/inspired) but I'll try to get to all questions...

Morning:  I did the Stevia-in-my-coffee test again this morning. Nope. It still tastes like metal shavings on my tongue, and weirdly makes everything taste more bitter, not sweeter. Bleah.  Clearly, my body does. Not. Want.  (and looking around, there seem to be some studies suggesting that Stevia can mess with insulin sensitivity and hypoglycemia.  Yeah.  My body knows what it's talking about.  Oh well.  Back to raw sugar for me.)

1. L'Shana tovah to all, even if you don't celebrate - may the next 12 (lunar) months be full of joy, peace, and good-health.

2. Bits and pieces of things accomplished today, but most important: "Promises to Keep" (the follow-up to "Miles to Go") officially started! Opening lines: “Hey boss. Coffee maker’s broken.”

3. My shoulder has decided to make like b'fast cereal (snap crackle & pop). And my previous massage therapist has left the area. I'd ask my local folk for recs, but I suspect they'd give me names in Brooklyn, and spending an hour on the subway is NOT the way to maintaining that post-massage calm... Meanwhile, I ice and wince and try to NOT use my right arm. Yeah, good luck with that....

4. Today is the one-year anniversary of OWS. The fact that we're still fighting to be heard over the Corporate Money is... sad. But there have been changes over the past year, too. And people aren't going to sit down or shut up any time soon - the more citizens told to be good little sheep, the more we channel our inner sheepdog, instead. Wolves, beware.

5. I owe people a Gilman Quarterly. in fact, I owe people TWO Gilman Quarterlies. I should write it all up and send it out, shouldn't I? Yeah. Along with everything else.... (see #3 for part of the reason why it's all delayed)

(and a bonus, reposted from FB):

You know what would make me believe in God? A worldwide visitation of the faithful by all incarnations, saying "humanity, cut that out. If I want someone smited I will do it Myself."

Then? I'd be "okay, God, you got me."

Until then? It's just people being assholes in the name of "mine's exactly the same as yours, only better."

1. The advantage of working your ass off on Monday is that Tuesday doesn't seem so bad..... I still got a significant amount of work done today (1k on a Project to Be Submitted Later, and 3K on the Book to Be Written Now), and some client editing, but there wasn't the sense of OMG Ack WORK! that drove me yesterday. I will probably be back to OMGACK tomorrow. Or at least, Thursday. Timewise I should not have been working on the PtbSL, but books will out when they out (see: Thing #3)

2. Analyzing your alcohol consumption is an interesting thing. I started doing this years ago when I was going through my divorce, was feeling incredibly depressed and alone, and knew it would be too easy to rely on booze to get through. So when I thought "I want..." my next thought was "why do I want?" Periodically I pull that out and dust it off, just to gauge my own reactions. "Why do I want?" There are all sorts of answers, from "I want a buzz" to "this is the taste sensation that my body wants" and none of them are bad answers in an of themselves. And sometimes, the answer is "you know, I really don't." Which is, I admit, reassuring. When you want, but don't need...

(I suspect that dieters use something similar to this, when readjusting their relationship to food?)

3. The mind of a writer is a dark, simmering junkyard of Stuff, and it runs 24/7. While I'm working on TWO novels, and shaping the plot of a third in my mind, there's also this weird undercurrent developing the character of a fourth, where I'm constantly evaluating and adapting her body modifications, and considering the muscular and social implications therein. Even during my exercise routines, part of me is considering how she would handle something, and what the caloric cost would be, etc. Yay worldbuilding, on a totally brainstem level.

4. Speaking of exercise, I've made an interesting discovery: jumping rope seems to do amazing things for the tensor muscles - I'm getting definition there I haven't seen since I was riding regularly. All in my continued effort to not suffer from lower back or hip pain as I get older... and, y'know, still be able to rock the 4" heels. :-)

5. This weekend, I head up to Boston to see Springsteen with my tour-companion AS. This trip is particularly special though, because my eldest sister and her husband are going, too. I've never tailgated with my sister before - hell, we've never even gone to the same concert before, unless you count Tanglewoods. So this is an unlooked-for moment of sibling bonding.

(we don't have tix in the same section... there may be bragging rights, depending on who outseated whom. Because, y'know...siblings. *g*)

Despite the fact that we're about to hit another patch of 95+ degree days. My editors would understand if I bugged out of the office for the shore, right?
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For those who've signed up for Daily Science Fiction, my story "The Cost" should be in your mailboxes. The rest of you will have to wait a few weeks until it's up on the DSF website)

I'm quite curious about the reaction to this one....


Meanwhile, some new(ish) blogger-reviews for DRAGON JUSTICE (plus the chance to win a copy!)


and you can enter-to-win at Fangs, Wands, & Fairy Dust!

And another blogger (not a reviewer) utterly put me to the blush, earlier this week. And I do not blush easily. Thank you, Unnamed Blogger, especially for the "bullshit-intolerant" line. It's not always my most socially acceptable feature, but I'm kinda proud of it.

Oh, and I have handed in a short story for an upcoming blog feature. Yes, this is the ghost story I was talking about this weekend. Yes, you'll be able to read it...but not until August 10th. Which also happens to be my dad's birthday. Happy birthday, dad. :-D


...and yes, there will be another Book Giveaway coming later today, along with naming last week's winner...stay tuned!