Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 48

Nose to the Grindstone

Turned in the editorial revisions to Crisis of Vision today, and minutes before hitting SEND, a FedEx truck arrived with  hot-off-the-press copies of the mass-market paperback of Oath of Fealty and the hardcover of Kings of the North.   The revisions had taken an extra week because I got sick a couple of weeks back, sick enough that I couldn't focus on what the problems were (despite very clear guidance from Editor.  Sometimes the brain just isn't capable of analytical thinking.)  

Nonetheless, in the month of February so far, I've written another 30,000 words of Book IV, which is now handily over 70,000 words of rough draft.   (That's at least partly due to teriegarrison  and the Great Invitational Writers Handicap Race: see the graphic before it disappears from her LJ on March 1.)  Plus the usual blog entries on the Paksworld blog as we near release date for Kings, plus LifeStuff, which refuses to go away just because I'm busy.   Somewhere in there we had severe winter weather and a broken pipe and we were both sick.  Whew!

With the paperback release of Oath, the hardcover release of Kings, and the approach of the summer convention season, I'm backing off on Book IV to allow time for a) more blog entries, b) more promotional stuff, c) work on the map for Crisis, if it turns out that the map for Kings isn't adequate.    The Kings map is...and yes, I'm bragging on myself...gorgeous.   But at some point I have to finish the whole map, and that's going to be hours and hours at the drafting table. 

Our choir (and several others) are joining to perform Bach's St. John Passion this April, so I need to be spending at least an hour a day on the music until I have it rock-solid in my head.  Especially because we're singing it in German--which I don't know--and I discovered this past Saturday at the 5 hour introductory rehearsal that trying to sight-read even some of the notes and sing an unfamiliar language overloads whatever processing capacity is left after writing.

Nose is definitely firmly against the grindstone.  

From Twitter 02-20-2011

06:18:21: RT @reetamac: wait.... hollup. we *fund* NASCAR? and we *defunded* Planned Parenthood? that's enough America, I want my damn money back.
06:18:32: RT @RBReich: Reps seek to divide working Americans, and deflect attention from the unprecedented income and wealth at the top. We must n ...
12:42:09: RT @KSmithSF: Ironworkers Local 8 http://j.mp/evgfmw
15:10:32: RT @daynasteele: Big cos. should have to follow the rules too. @UPS owes @houstontxdotgov $120,000 in parking fines. #ups #fail #payup
15:10:57: RT @daynasteele: "Success is never owned it's rented and you pay the rent everyday if you want to be successful" @rory_vaden
18:15:31: Finished my goal at the Great Invitational Writers' Handicap Race. Sometimes you have to kill your darlings. Incl. characters. #writing.
18:16:14: And now on to all the other writing chores that need doing. Er...maybe supper first?
19:07:55: RT @GerryDuggan: The Koch Bros are Saruman & Sauron, Scott Walker is Wormtongue, Wisconsin is Helms Deep and you -- are next. #WIUnion
23:25:23: RT @awfulagent: Borders bankruptcy spells problems for Washington area businesses: http://wapo.st/gLoiWg Washington Post looks at local ...

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

From Twitter 02-19-2011

07:47:34: Heading for city for loooonnnnggg rehearsal. Himself staying here to unplug a pump filter, plant potatoes, etc.
07:50:19: Panicky white-winged-dove flock took off when I opened curtain, but perched in big leafless ash. Easy to count 'em. 26. #GBBC
20:28:26: RT @KSmithSF: The other national impact of Wisconsin http://t.co/YTIzceC
20:30:43: RT @PPact: 80k supporters have signed Planned Parenthood's open letter to Congress - let's make it 150,000! Sign now: http://bit.ly/eoyh ...
20:31:15: RT @KSmithSF: House Republicans: Contraception OK for horses, not women http://t.co/HOpaG3b
23:08:26: New KINGS OF THE NORTH snippet up at http://www.paksworld.com/blog/ One month to release! (yes, of course I'm excited!)
23:08:34: RT @EmMaguire: 'Without female correspondents in war zones, the experiences of women there may be only a rumor.' http://tinyurl.com/49w53jg

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

From Twitter 02-18-2011

09:36:50: RT @robinmckinley: Yep. RT @AdviceToWriters If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. WM. ZINSSER
09:52:22: RT @standupmaths: Man tattoos Leviticus 18:22 that forbids homosexuality on his arm: http://bit.ly/hOJStj But Leviticus 19:28 forbids ta ...
09:58:56: RT @NatureNews: The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny .. ...
11:18:56: First day of 4-day Great Backyard Bird Count http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/
Join up & contribute to data on bird populations.
11:21:30: Should have added #GBBC Great Backyard Bird Count, http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/, count your birds & share info.
20:02:53: RT @KSmithSF: RT @tpmmedia: Dems Closed Much Larger Budget Shortfall In Wisconsin Without Destroying Worker Rights http://tpm.ly/hMORjU
20:03:00: RT @NatureNews: Climate research under fire at US science budget hearing http://ff.im/-ylByp
21:13:28: RT @HunterDK: Funny how Tea Party is only really animated about causes that affect companies that pay Dick Armey money.

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

From Twitter 02-16-2011

00:08:28: RT @robinmckinley: Absolutely. RT @AdviceToWriters Good swiping is an art in itself. JULES FEIFFER
00:08:39: RT @robinmckinley: RT @JSCarroll Dorito syndrome n.Feelings of dissatisfaction & mental bloat after spending lg amt of time doing task w ...
08:55:03: RT @robinmckinley: Great lady & editor Margaret K McElderry dies "If you don't catch them young," she said, "you won't have any adult re ...
11:05:02: RT @patinagle: RT @dorannadurgin: This is SO COOL! My backlist ebooks are featured on Daily Cheap Reads today! http://ht.ly/3XC6o

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

From Twitter 02-15-2011

12:39:25: RT @KameronHurley: WTF, America? "The law that would legalize killing abortion providers is just one of several measures..."http://su.pr ...
23:04:20: Lots of revision + 1000 words on new book. Still not enough. #writing

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

From Twitter 02-14-2011

11:21:20: Revision work continues...extracting nuggets from areas of excision and rewriting to include them seamlessly. #writing

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

From Twitter 02-13-2011

00:36:08: RT @vondanmcintyre: Book View Cafe Sunday Feature: Starfarers Quartet http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/McIntyre-The-Starfarers-Quar ...
00:36:18: RT @NatGeoSociety: Huge Ice Age Fossil Cache Found: http://on.natgeo.com/g7o8qi #photos
08:50:03: RT @Eaterofsun: "radical transparency is the opposite of democratizing if the underlying power relations remain, as they certainly do" ...
14:04:52: RT @KSmithSF: When democracy weakens http://j.mp/gdYD08
23:33:26: 2200 words late in the day. Sometimes sitting and staring miserably at the computer screen works. #writing
23:35:19: When we go in the vegetable garden, cat now follows, gets on picnic table, and expects prolonged petting. Prefers both of us, both hands.

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

From Twitter 02-12-2011

10:29:31: Unblanketed Old Yellow since it's above freezing. Idiot horse had managed to squirm blanket partway off anyway.
12:03:00: Peas and onions survived the big freeze under cover. Radishes...not so lucky. Sowbugs got 'em, I think. One rose definitely a goner.

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

From Twitter 02-11-2011

09:28:57: RT @eccentricyoruba: Multiculturalism for Steampunk: CYL: The Wild, Wild South- Gaucho Gear http://t.co/E03qBXj
09:30:42: RT @ACLU: According to conservative estimates, 80,000 Americans lost a new job last year because of mistakes in E-Verify. http://bit.ly/ ...
10:10:51: Wow--mention you're starting knitting again and suddenly it's like opening a closet full of yarn stash.
10:23:21: Only it's knitters that fall out, not skeins of yarn. Fun!
11:28:32: Found needles. Practicing on #6 double-ended, have now knit 11 stitch, 3 row. First time had to pull out a lot.
11:29:41: Found my mother's directions for socks & pr socks on the needles, partly done. Also a mitten. Ironic: character knits in nxt bk.
11:39:21: Free-roaming wind-powered kinetic sculpture: http://www.wimp.com/kineticsculpture/
18:44:42: My practice length of yarn now resembles kinky hair. I could sew it to a rag doll head and it would be fine. Hard to work with, though.

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com