Paksworld

Today had been planned for several chunks of writing work, but the computer problems took up nearly the whole day.   Luckily, I had washed all the socks before that happened, and a few pages were written while notes for others were hammered out.   Others were thought about.   The best news is that what I thought might have to be a three-book project was summarily reduced to one (at the suggestion of a wise friend, and after I thought about it for all of sixty seconds) and that markedly reduces the likely time away from Paksworld, even though no long stories of Paksworld have yet popped up.   That’s because the grimdark project has been eating a hole in my brain for over six months now.  And it will be much better, if it actually jells instead of being a really neat idea, in a shorter form, because the worst grimdark part won’t last as long and the character I’ve been interviewing in a small uncomfortable room will have less time to display his darker side and more time to show his (previously well plastered over) humanity.  I was not looking forward to a whole book of him in detail (but I can’t get the setup out of my brain.  Yet.)  And maybe it won’t jell after all, and I’ll feel less guilty about dumping a single volume unfinished than a set.  And maybe another story WILL jell , quickly, and I’ll be back on a long project.

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NewBox is now in my study; OldBox is on a table next to my husband’s computer desk.  NewBox is, demonstrably,  working–I’m writing this on it in its new place.  I do need to hook up the printer again, but in my glee at having NewBox turn on and work, I forgot that and went and washed my hair.  Now I have a large wad of wet hair wrapped in a towel, and if I crawl under the desk now to hook up the printer, it will unwrap and drape wet hair and a big damp towel on wires and dust.  Not a good idea, for either hair or wires. Read the rest of this entry »

A reminder for those interested that I’ll be doing the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer Chat with Bryan Thomas Schmidt this evening.    On Twitter, follow the hashtag #sffwrtcht  starting at 9 pm Eastern Time (US), 8 pm Central, 7 pm Mountain, 6 pm Pacific,  and for all others, 0100 UTC and you can do the calculations.   If it IS starting at  0100 where you are, I hope you’re not following, unless you’re usually up in the middle of your night.

I hope it will be fun for all.  Bryan sent me a bunch of questions to have answers ready for,  so I could fit them into 140 characters.    I think he understands long-form writers.

Some of you have mentioned wanting more Paksworld stuff.  “What about X?”  “Will Y ever do [mumble-mumble]?” Read the rest of this entry »

Some of you have noticed that both cats and dogs are not prominent in Paksworld…and yet, they’re there, they just haven’t been emphasized.   Crown has a cat who moves plot a little, in one area.  And there’s a hound someone recognizes.   But that’s pretty much it.   Cats in Paksworld serve the same purposes as they do here, in those farms, ranches, and towns where vermin cause damage and spread disease.

Cleopatra, our current cat, with a hispid cotton rat she killed.

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With the UK edition in stores, and the US edition days away (except one “leak” in the pipe has already been reported to me off-site)  it’s time to make a Spoiler Space available.   Please confine all discussions of Crown of Renewal to Spoiler Space, below the cut.

If you don’t want spoilers, please do not read in this topic, and do not look at the comments below the cut.   There will be spoilers; spoilers are legal here (and only here.)    Spoiler Space rules will be in effect until I give an all-clear.   If this spoiler space’s comment line gets too long, I’ll open Spoiler Space II. Read the rest of this entry »

For Orbit UK, Rachel Bach and I interviewed each other; my interview of her went up a few weeks ago (I did mention that, didn’t I?   I hope?)   and her interview of me is up now at the Orbit blog.   It’s not specifically about Crown of Renewal but it’s a nice general thing.  We were asked to pose 4-5 questions for each other–and we both enjoyed the process.

Next week (Wednesday the 27th)  I’ll be Twitter-chatting with Brian Thomas Schmidt on SFF Chat for an hour (no doubt annoying my choir director, because I won’t be at rehearsal.)   Schmidt,  you may recall, is the editor of Shattered Shields, the fantasy anthology a new Paksworld story is coming out in.   Some of you may be too engrossed in Crown to join us, but any who want to (whose Crown copy didn’t arrive?) are welcome.   As you can see from the website transcripts, Mr. Schmidt has a wicked sense of humor and I will have to be quick on my mental feet to keep up with him and those who enter the conversation.   (There will be more reminders about this.  That’s how the writer ego works…) Read the rest of this entry »

It began early in the morning with a cat deciding it was time for the human to wake up.    As those of you with a feline in the house know, once the cat who thinks the human should wake up arrives on the bed, and then on the human, waking up will occur, with or without the human’s cooperation.  That was, roughly, 5:30 am.

It continued with some breakfast, some business emails, some goofing off on Twitter, whence I found this wonderful video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjm-WQKJCOM&feature=youtu.be&ac   That’s a three day old foal playing around in the sun in Yorkshire. Read the rest of this entry »

First US printing of Crown of Renewal  in hardcover is 12,000 copies.  WOW!   Should be plenty available from most places.   (I have no idea if all 12,000 selling in the first week would get me to a spot on the NYT list, but it couldn’t hurt.    However, with the cost of hardcovers these days and the general economy,  that’s not going to happen.   Absolutely no dark looks cast at anyone who’s waiting for their library to get a copy, or who will wait for the paperback.    Not into guilt-laying my readers!)   Editor let me know that today. She also reported checking on a potential situation with Amazon that appears not to affect Crown (at least not so far) but had affected other writers’ books (heard about it on a closed list, and let her know that, as well as the Book World problem Hawkman mentioned here.   Read the rest of this entry »

I picked up one of my older books last night and read it a bit before going to sleep.  Gross Ego Inflation,  you may be thinking, though the internal editor pointed out every single place where–years later–maybe another word would have been better?  Huh?  Are you listening?    It’s not one of the really-old ones–it was written post Hurricane Katrina*, for instance.    But it ties in with something that affects all writers in all eras, even if they’re trying not to be tied to a particular time and place.  Read the rest of this entry »