progress

Quick post

Standard

I’m about to get back to revising The Unnamed Project but I thought I’d drop in here for a quick post.

I have great news! … which I can’t share yet. Yes, I know, I’ve become one of those tiresome writers who talks about all the awesome things they’re not allowed to talk about. This one won’t be too much delayed in announcing; the contracts should be all signed and ready very soon now.

Gluten-Free! For the first few days I was doing pretty well (and dropping a few pounds) but fell off the wagon. I put the pounds back on and my face is inflamed again. Annoying. I also tried out a few of the apps folks recommended but they were unsuitable for one reason or another.

I tried the free version of the Livestrong app, for example, but apparently there’s no way to put a food into it at quantities smaller than their minimum serving size. Apparently, everyone who has maple syrup eats a quarter cup of it at one go; no one ever just adds a tablespoon to their yogurt. It’s also annoying and I’m not sure if the paid version fixes this flaw.

Galleys for Circle of Enemies! are done. I’m going to make copies of them and then ship they back to Del Rey later this week. There are sections I wish I could iron out–not too many, but some–but I still think this book is the best I’ve ever written.

Science Fiction Conventions! I’m going to one. Norwescon, in this case. I bought a membership over the weekend because I figured I’m supposed to be going to Readercon later this summer and even (gulp!) be on a panel or something, so I should probably go to one as an audience member to see what they look like. I realize they’re not the same sort of convention, but what the hell. I have until the end of April to remember where I left my extrovert mask.

iPad! Finally, a gadget my wife will actually use.

Ebooks for 99 cents! Boy has this been bouncing around the internet for a while. Personally, I’m sure the price of ebooks will drop below the current prices, but I’m not so sure they’ll fall all the way to 99 cents. This indie author has an interesting take on book pricing, mainly because she isn’t interested in the 99 cent market. She doesn’t believe those readers will follow her to other, higher-priced books, and also that they’re kind of a pain in the ass.

Combine that with some other readers out there who say they avoid one buck books because they assume they’re crap, and you see a case for higher prices. It’s pretty interesting and things are changing quickly.

Christ, didn’t I say this was supposed to be quick? Time to work.

“It was as if they’d gathered together in one place as a gift, to give me another chance to murder them all.”

Standard

The galleys for Circle of Enemies are done, barring one or two fiddly little checks. I need to send a note to the associate copy chief to ask her a quick question, and I need to look over one bit of exposition. That will be no big deal.

I’m honestly curious how people will respond to this book–it’s a little different from the other two. It’s shaggier and more personal. I also wish I could give it another polish, but that’s what I always say.

Tomorrow I can get back to the project that can not be named, and soon, hopefully, to A Key, An Egg… It’ll also be nice to spend more time with my family, which I can never seem to manage.

And of course the subject header is a line from the book.

Corned beef, I will love you until the day I die

Standard

I’m leaving my laptop at home today so I can work on the galleys for Circle of Enemies without distractions. I won’t be checking email or reading online (unless I get to jonesing and stop off at a library computer).

You good folks have a nice day.

Not another blog post about sleep

Standard

Okay, really it is. After going to bed at 11 last night, I woke at just after 4 am and couldn’t fall back. No, I don’t feel all that well today. In fact, my joints ache, my eyes ache, and my stomach is feeling cautious.

On top of that, being gluten-free is a gigantic pain in the ass. Gi. Gan. Tic. There’s no carb to be kept on hand to eat quickly, when a meal is delayed or no one is home. If you cook rice and stick it in the fridge, each grain gets all hard like little pills. Potatoes just get soggy. And yeah, we have quinoa, but you know what? Quinoa sucks. Don’t tell me what a complete protein it is; I’m an American in the 21st century, I could build a whole new person with the protein I eat in a month.

You know what’s quick and convenient? Bread. You know what tastes like shit? GF bread.

Ah well. I’ve done fasts before, and they always challenge me in ways I don’t expect. I’ve been trying to stay on top of the meals and calories–even with the extra cooking time wasted spent preparing these more labor-intensive foods, but I’m still seriously hungry for most of my day.

Yes, I know about “bodies holding onto fat when they think they’re starving.” My body doesn’t think it’s starving; I fed it two eggs with potatoes, cheese and black olives this morning. It has fuel, just not always when it needs it. There’s a lot of mental self-sabotage involved with food denial, and I just need to be aware of it.

Time for me to send an email to my agent, then get back to work on The Project That Must Not Be Named. I want to get as far as I can before I return home. I’m expecting the galleys for Circle of Enemies to be there, waiting for me.

Also, no, I’m not wearing green (or orange); I’m green on the inside.

In other news

Standard

When I revise, I accomplish a word count that other writers would do when writing a first draft.

Hit a roadblock on the new project

Standard

It was unexpected, but unavoidable. I’m trying to figure out how to fix it within pre-established parameters, and I think I just about have it handled.

It’s funny, though. I used tear my hair out over this stuff, but today it looks to me like a pleasant little puzzle (more fun than the Minecraft obstacle course my son designed for me, at least) and I know it’ll be stronger for being fixed.

Anyway, I put up a couple of posts over the weekend. I suspect you guys saw my joke post about Pat Rothfuss (I’m just trying to help the guy get his name out there), but I’m surprised no one wanted to talk about the super-low pricing on ebook backlist titles–prices set by a publisher, not an author who’ve had their rights reverted.

I think it’s potentially a great thing for midlist authors and may cement price windowing as a professional publishing business model. It could also hit very hard against indie authors who have been hoovering up all the ultra-low priced impulse-buy ebook sales.

If you are writing a series, would you ask your publisher to release an ebook of book one for $0.99 to help promote book four?

The David Lynch movie of cheeses

Standard

Last night (date night!) I ate the David Lynch movie of cheeses. It didn’t taste good, not at all, but there were so many flavors going on and they were so complex that I was fascinated. I mean, yeah, chief among those flavors was Old Feet and French Armpit, but there were others, too, and I kept picking up new one. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but it was compelling enough that I ate my full share.

Don’t ask what it was, though. There were no labels, and even if there were (and they came in the shape of the cheese’s country of origin, with little pictures of the dairy animal the milk came from and phonetic spellings of the name) I still wouldn’t remember the name.

The rest of date night was terrific–my wife and I wandered around our neighborhood shops–sampling wine at one place (and buying a nice bottle of port), sampling desserts at another, browsing the little local bookstore. Fun.

And even before that, I had a full day of work on the Project I Can Not Yet Discuss. (Everyone has a Sekrit Project–I want something of my own) Today will be more of the same. Lots of revisions to handle and I’m already getting a late start.

Mac Freedom… Engage!

Five things make a post.

Standard

First, early reaction to the sample of A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark is pretty good. I have to write much more of it before submission (it’s about 30% finished) but early signs are positive.

Second, there’s a gorgeous sunrise outside my window, all blue and pink. The sun will be above the cloud level soon, turning the day into the usual dismal gray, but this was nice.

Third, I’m making good progress on the synopsis of The Twisted Path aka Twenty Palaces 4

Fourth, I’ve seen exactly two of the movies on the Oscar nomination list, and both of those are up for less showy awards. I’m not particularly embarrassed by this lack but it does mean that I’m unable to take part in the blog discussions of it. See also:

Fifth, I skipped last nights State of the Union address, so I can’t comment on it. See? No blog material.

Back to work.

A brief interlude from work

Standard

My wife and son have just left me here alone while he gets an eye check up. Wish we had vision insurance, but what can you do? The boy can’t see.

I just finished listening to Nancy Pearl on our local NPR affiliate, KUOW. She recommended Jo Walton’s new novel along with Gail Carriger’s SOULLESS. I sent them an email mentioning Cherie Priest’s BONESHAKER, but Nancy Pearl brought up her name before they had a chance to read it on air.

They didn’t mention my books.

Which disappointed my wife, but I didn’t expect it. I don’t think the Twenty Palaces books are quite up her alley, to steal a cliche. Too dark, I think. Even if she had read them (and as a fan of hers, I wrote a personal note for the folks at Del Rey to send with her review copy–I even have a Nancy Pearl Action Figure but it’s an older, less flashy version) I’m not sure I would have passed her Rule of 50. Which is fine; no writer should expect that their book be loved by every reader everywhere. In fact, god forbid.

Anyway, the fam is out and Warren Olney has been turned off (I like his show, but his voice has a quality that’s hard to ignore) so I can dig in to the copy edit of Circle of Enemies. I lost the whole day yesterday dealing with my blown knee, but I’m less than 60 pages from the end, and I’d like to finish tonight.

Then, finally, I’ll be able to write a post or two about some of the things that have come up lately, like putting a direction behind the word “stand” and on the need to figure theft of your product when setting price points.

Back to it.

Well, that’s unfortunate

Standard

And for “unfortunate” read “awful.”

Last night I was having a snowball fight with my son when my knee twinged. I didn’t slip, didn’t fall, didn’t twist anything. I wasn’t turning when it happened. I just stepped and that was it.

Now I can’t bend my knee or move it side to side. I mean, it’s been painful and tender, but never this bad.

So I’m laid up with enough ice to crack the hull of the Titanic and I can’t really see myself doing groceries today.

It’ll give me time for the rest of my copy edit, though.