I will get to comments that need answering later–there’s business stuff that must be attended to first, and only 500 of the day’s required words were written (on the bus that replaced the train as a mode of transportation from San Antonio to Austin.  And why do luxury buses–which this was–insist on putting their otherwise comfortable seats so close together that the ordinary person’s knees hit the back of the seat in front of them?   As bad as regional jets…but more comfortable seats, I’ll admit.

The good news is that, as usual, I was able to pile on the words while awake on the train.    Especially productive were the alternating sections, where looking out the window into lovely forest (and thus a break to think and shake my hands out) alternated with less bucolic (sad small towns, faded and beat-up-looking)  scenery and a reason to concentrate.

The bad news for “life on a train, writing” is that I don’t get enough sleep, and at some point the loss of cognitive function from sleep deprivation  overcomes the gain in concentrated attention.

Weather was a factor, both in events at home while I was traveling, and on the last stretch of the train trip (canceled as a train trip due to the intersection of flash flooding and train tracks.)  We were, in fact, in the hot seat for the flooding Hermine brought to Texas, but not in the hottest part of it and by the time I got home, the septic tank was cooperating again.   The ground was dry enough, and the deluge sudden enough, that there was more run-off than soak-in.

(Yes, I’m tired; I’m in a hotel in New Orleans after a very long day on the train.)

So, the snippet, from Book III, now officially not the last book of this group but somewhere in the middle, probably of 5.  Keep in mind this is very rough draft of III, and may or may not make it into the final in recognizable form.

……………………..

Heart hammering, [ummph] went down the narrow stairs and found himself facing a ring of swords.  Including his father’s.   His mouth went dry.  Had he been condemned?  Was he to die here, in this remote place?  Had this morning’s porridge been his last meal?  He had never, he realized, believed that he would be killed, not if he did what he was told.  The drawn swords told a different tale.

…………………………………..

Three hundred more words and I’ll have a 3000 word day.  I need to make up the days I didn’t get anything done.

As the spaces filled up, including the food court in the mall, it became harder to move from one place to another with any certainty of when you’d arrive.  I planned for that, and was at my autograph session in plenty of time, with water and after a trip to the facilities.   I met delightful people who wanted their books signed, and wish I were not such a dud with face recognition–I want to recognize them again!

I bought my Dragon*Con T-shirt (wearing it now; it will be my sleep shirt) in the giant, crowded, and hot main Dealer’s Room on the Marriott’s bottom level.  I went with Betsy, my editor, and we couldn’t see everything because of the density of the crowd…in some aisles, if you stopped you were going to be walked on.   We did see some gorgeous Celtic jewelry (and collected their card.)   Tomorrow I need to make it to the smaller Dealer’s Room with the books.

A word of praise here for the Dragon*Con staff and volunteers, who are doing an amazing job of keeping lines moving, elevators unstuffed, escalator lines moving smoothly, etc, etc.  The Green Room for guests is amazing–I stopped by today just to find it, and found it…beautifully appointed with friendly volunteers working it.    And the guy in charge of keeping the autographing going well–friendly and helpful and so on and so on.

Tomorrow I have that 1 pm “hour of ego” (well…it’s All About Me, so what else could it be?) and then at 5:30 I’ll be reading a bit from the new Paks universe stuff and helping Betsy, if she needs it, with her Del Rey presentation, and then the banquet.

Many more things are going on tonight, but I was wiped out so came back to  my hotel early (and discovered a rollaway bed in my room…which was removed when I called down…they’ve had an influx of football fans for a big game and this was someone else’s rollaway.)

And so to bed.

Tomorrow I go get my badge & stuff, and then dinner with Editor tomorrow evening, and then…the fun begins.

Tired now, though, and headed for the sack.

Although the wicked writer has to have her fun…with a mystery question:

Did (not to be revealed yet)’s father send that wedding dress or was it someone else, and was it meddled with in a way that could cause trouble…?

Convention schedule reminder here. For those who can’t make my autograph session on Friday at 4 pm, I’m happy to sign at other times as long as we’re not in someone’s way or I’m not rushing to something else (and that includes the restroom.)   For those who can’t make any of my program items, you’re just going to have to hunt for me…sorry.

Book III is now closing in on the next writer-odometer marker (watching those zeros turn over) and will reach that by August 31.   I don’t know how much writing I’ll actually get done at Dragon*Con, but I’ll try.

E-rights weren’t in the Orbit UK contracts, though they were in the US contracts.    DUH.  Everybody’s DUH, I think, including mine (did I read the contracts?  I thought I had…)  Orbit will be delighted to produce e-books of them once it’s legal to do so.   This does mean trans-Atlantic shipping of actual paper for me to sign (some I’ve already signed) and then trans-Atlantic shipping back, and three different agencies are involved–my US agent and two UK agencies.  So it’s not an instantaneous thing, and then the books themselves have to be converted to the appropriate formats, which isn’t as quick and easy as you might think.  (Those of my writer friends now converting their own out of print stories and books to put up on Smashwords & others are making it clear to the rest of us what the snags are.)

The “frontlist” books now have scheduled e-book release dates as follows:

OATH OF FEALTY – 4^th March 2010

KINGS OF THE NORTH – 24^th March 2010   (approx release date of print ed)

UNTITLED PALADIN’S LEGACY 3 – 01 March 2012

THE DEED OF PAKSENARRION – 1^st Jul 2010

A LEGACY OF HONOUR – 4th Nov 2010 (to match print date)

So: thanks to those whose complaints finally got my nose of out the current manuscript and into “Find out!” space, and many thanks to Orbit UK Editor for digging into the situation.

(And if I’ve gotten any of this wrong,  UK Editor will set me straight and I’ll correct it.)

It’s coils-within-coils time, apparently, another sign that this is the hinge volume of the story.   My plot daemon has been busily at work, tunneling away below my awareness and making layers of complexity that I’m now running into in the surface of “Stuff Happening.”    This may have been what stopped forward progress cold at the end of the week…I had to figure out what I’d just stumbled over.

If you ever want to write long, complicated stories, it probably helps to be the kind of writer who can lay out the full  history of your world ahead of time.  I’m not.   (And yes, this means I’ll make mistakes.  It would take a couple of full-time researchers–whom I could not afford to pay–to keep ahead of my needs.  Esp. without the misplaced notebooks, which I’m sure will show up after I’m all done with this story.)

The new stuff involves elven intrigue and murder,  a big storm that may or may not be magical (I think it’s not, but at the moment I’m watching the horizontal bludgeoning snow with some concern), and further evidence that there are dangers and plots still not fully understood by those who are going to be hurt.  Some of whom we’re all attached to.

OTOH,  Book III gives you Kieri’s new love, betrothal, marriage, a terrifying underground experience,  an innocent (maybe more than one) under unfair suspicion, and other goodies.    Someone who may have seemed weak in Kings is now shown to have great strength;  youngsters gain maturity;   Arvid finally gets to kill someone.

And unofficially…there’s good news on the whole story front.

Yesterday the rest of it took off at a gallop.    A snowy night, intrigue, danger, swordfighting that started on the roof, involved fighting down a flight of stairs, and in a courtyard…thrusts and parries and draw cuts and slips and falls and so on.   (By the time Book III comes out, I hope you’ll have forgotten this bit, so you don’t see it coming too soon…but if you do…sit deep in the saddle, because it doesn’t stop until it’s over.)

It’s also got its funny side.  A strong clue to which of the POV characters has center stage at this point.

Today I overslept (yesterday included making bread and choir practice as well as the scene) and my brain feels full of wet cotton wool.  Choir was particularly exhausting as the AC was out in the church and it had heated to the point where we were all sweating (but it was still over 100F outside.)  But it’s a work day, so…(writer vanishes behind the curtain again.  Loud squeals and grinding noises from the machinery as she tries to get it going…)

Friday: 4 pm Autograph Session

Saturday: 1 pm “Hour with Elizabeth Moon”

Saturday: 7 pm  Dragon*Con Awards Banquet (not a good place to chat. LOUD!)

Sunday :  1 pm “Delphic Oracle” (panel storytelling game)

Sunday :  4 pm  “Science Fiction and Politics”

Sunday: 7 pm  “Showcase: Elizabeth Moon

Monday:  11:30 am “The New Amazons”

Monday: 4 pm  “The Future of Fantastic Fiction”

Would be fun to meet up with Paksworld fans attending Dragon*Con somewhere in those four days.     I will be bringing along some unusual (one at least utterly unique) items to give away, probably in a random drawing, maybe after a contest.  Depends on responses here and there.

(And of course I’ll be glad to see fans of the other books and series as well–all are welcome.)