Uncomfortable conversations at work, plus America enters the present

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Here’s a conversation I had at work this week:

Kindly co-worker: “So, when does your book come out?”

“September,” I say. “They had to push it back from May.”

“That’s a long time.” She is looking at me cautiously and I can’t figure out why.

“Yeah, but it’s for the best. Otherwise it would have competed with other books coming out at the same time. I’m told they’re going to be giving it a marketing push.”

“Okay. Um.” She looks around the room awkwardly, then turns back to me. “And, have you already paid them?”

Ah. She was worried about me. She thought I was being ripped off.

You guys know about Writer Beware, don’t you? And Yog’s Law?

I didn’t want to explain Yog’s Law to my very nice co-worker, because I didn’t want to talk about Yog Sothoth, but I did explain that the publisher was paying me for the book, because the book has value. She twigged to the truth of it very quickly.

And if you’re reading this on my LiveJournal (as most people are, I think) you can find a LJ feed of the Writer Beware blog on my profile page. Even if you don’t think you need to follow it yourself, it’s good to spread the word.

Also: IOWA! Maybe this is burying the lede, but Iowa is leading the other states into a future of fairness, family and love. I couldn’t be happier. Now I’m glaring at my own state government, tapping my foot impatiently.

Five Linkies make a Linky post (plus)

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First! Affordable off-site backup for all of your files. We have many, many gigs worth of photos, so I’ll be signing up for this after we get our taxes squared away.

Second! Bert and Ernie go brutal! Aren’t you glad I didn’t embed that? Anyway, I loled. Be sure to watch to the end. And you can find the name of that song if you click the “more info” link.

Third! writes a guest post at Victoria Mixon’s blog about what really matters when you’re trying to write for publication.

Fourth! Sarah Monette comments on a review of the fourth and final book of her Doctrine of Labyrinthe series that criticized it for not making sense if the reader hasn’t read the previous books. Be sure to check out the comment thread from editor about the appeal of different kinds of series, why marketing puts a notice on a book indicating it’s part of a series (or doesn’t put one on), who the publishers consider their true customer, reader preferences, and more. Also, talks a little about PW reviews, who they’re meant for and what certain passages mean.

I’ll admit that I bounced off the first book in that series, but I loved The Bone Key. I’m sorry to hear that Ace hasn’t offered her another contract, but I’m sure she’ll get snapped up somewhere else.

Finally… Fifth! Beaker is, unquestionably, the greatest of all the Muppets, (yes, that is a truth that can not be questioned!) but what semi-celebrity does he most look and sound like? Find out for yourself. Aren’t you glad I didn’t embed that, too?

And, in non-link-related info, taxes are almost done. Ugh. So annoying. And yeah, we’ll have a bigger bill than I’m used to, but we’re prepared for it. Next year, I’m going to go with a pro; Turbo Tax doesn’t cut it.

Page Proofs

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The page proofs for Child of Fire arrived last night, and I was (quite stupidly) surprised by how much they looked like little book pages. I mean, duh. Also: Yay!

I asked permission to post scans of a couple pages, in case anyone is curious what page proofs look like.

I also finished reading Those Who Went Remain There Still this morning. it’s a terrific book and practically a clinic on voice. Very nicely done. It’s a short novel, and I can’t say I cared much for the interior illustrations. While Ms. Priest was still describing the creature in the book in vague, mysterious ways, I turned the page and saw a full-page drawing of it. And it was less than impressive. (Discussing it with a woman at the blood donation center, she said “I like it! It’s like a Nancy Drew book!” which… yeah.)

Still, it’s a good book. Check it out.

Genre/Not-Genre

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Would you consider “road movies” a genre? I find it hard to reconcile movies as disparate as FANDANGO, WIZARD OF OZ, and THE SURE THING as a single genre.

I’m thinking it should be considered a setting, but Westerns are a genre that are defined by its setting.

What about movies set in a courtroom?

I’m curious to hear what people think about this.

“… All perfect light and promises.”

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I’ve been having a good couple of days on the writing-front. Starting on Saturday, Man Bites World has been coming together in a way that really makes me happy. The characters, the plot, all of it suddenly broke into a sprint. Even the long, talky conversation was working for me.[1]

But of course I knew yet another set of notes were coming for Everyone Loves Blue Dog, and I knew that the better things were going for book 3, the more likely book 2 would interrupt.

Well, things must have been doing even better than I thought, because the secret writing gremlins have not only arranged for the next round of revisions to hit today[2], but I’m also told I’ll be getting the page proofs for Child of Fire later this week.

Momentum is for breaking, I guess.

Still, the last couple days have been so good that I’m expecting to hit my weekly goal early. If so, I can take Saturday morning off (and sleep in!). Blessed, blessed sleep.

[1] My editor was curious how I was going to portray one of the antagonists, a guy who is planning wholesale destruction but still considers the protagonist his good friend. I’m hoping “Just because I plan to euthanize the world doesn’t mean I want to be a dick about it” covers that ground pretty well.

[2]The revision recommendations on ELBD do not include cutting my dark(ish) ending. Plenty of other work to do, though. We’ll see how the next draft is received.

A book and a show

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First the book: The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen.

For the first time ever, I was sitting on a bus reading this book, I looked over at the reader next to me (I’m an incorrigible book snoop) and she was reading the exact same book. I consider this scientific proof that the book is a bestseller.

And it deserves to be. It’s a historical thriller, and like a lot of genre books with a historical setting, it spends a lot of time establishing the time period before the story kicks in. But kick in it does. The two lead characters are more admirable than interesting, but some of the supporting cast get POV chapters.

The most interesting character here is the setting, ‘natch. The rough conditions in the maternity ward, the medical school classes, the filthy rooms where the poor had to live–yeah, it’s gross. But it was fascinating, too. And once the plot picked up speed, I couldn’t put it down.

And I hereby declare my book grouch period to be over.

Next is the show. Here is the trailer to the CGI anime series CatShitOne

and OMG, do not let your kids see that.

Well, *that’s* a relief!

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School headmaster insists that there are no vampires infesting the Boston Latin School.

Aren’t you glad that’s settled? I am.

ETA: Remember that “legs like quills” book I linked to a while back? Making Light does a thorough link farm on it.

Heh. “… her neck was a bottle of wine covered in dew and otters.”

Dear Book:

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If I want to make the characters to do something crazy and cool, please do not fight me on it. I am not interested in hearing that my ideas don’t make sense or that the characters would never do that. I have a word count goal to make for the day.

Or not.

Sincerely,
your author

Stupid video game…

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Question: Do you agree that Indiana Jones would never destroy priceless works of antiquity, even if it forwards the plot of a stupid computer game– Y/Y?

You know what helps my concentration? Distractions

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Let me be more specific: I’m sitting at a little table at Starbucks. One of the homeless guys from the neighborhood comes in and sits about three feet from me (it’s a small place) at about two-o’clock from me.

He’s wearing flip flops and his feet are filthy and covered with sores. He has two bags with him full of random crap, and he can’t seem to decide where to sit. He moves to a table, leaves his bag there when he moves to a comfy chair, spends about five minutes throwing wooden stirrers onto the chair opposite one at a time, then picks them up and throws them on the floor, then picks them up again and throws them onto a table.

Me, I’m deliberately not looking at him. Not when he’s standing at a corner scratching his back on the wall, not when he’s letting his feet dangle over the arm of the chair, not at all. He’s much too close to me for us to look at each other without engaging, and once that starts I’m never going to get anything done.

So I kept my eyes on my laptop screen. I kept my hands on the keyboard. And I met my goal for the day. Now I have to get a couple things done around the apartment and write enough to make yesterday’s goal, too. (eta: Done)