Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 94

Where in the World Is My Book???

A fan took my new book to the beach and then took a picture of it lounging on a towel in the sun...and she's let me post it over on the Paksworld blog.   So if anyone else wants to photograph Oath of Fealty in interesting surroundings and have the image posted there, just let me know.  It would be fun to have some pictures of the UK edition and locations in various countries.    Although I personally like bookstore pictures (look! On the shelves!  Wheee!!!) I think things like the beach-bum b...

From Twitter 03-23-2010

04:36:22: Woke up at 2:30 am with mind in buzz-saw mode and could not get back to sleep. Did not need!
10:25:19: Achieved 500 words on a very sulky Book III. (Sulky bc neglected during launch of Oath & revisions on Kings.) Not good words yet, but...
14:50:40: Author copies arrived...bounce-bounce-bounce! Ah, me beauties (insert glyph of gloating here.)
15:50:07: Voice practice: I sound like someone short of sleep, with sinus blockage, who winces away from high notes. So would you, if you...

Mind Like a Buzzsaw...

Not a good thing when it's 2:30 in the morning, second time you've waked up, and you can't get back to sleep.   Brrrraaaaaawwww went the mind, full on, full speed, slicing through all sorts of topics with the ease that only hours after midnight impart and the control of a terrier chasing a rat.   In other words, all those bright ideas weren't really worth anything...it was just "Hey, I'm awake, I'm active, watch me whirl!"  

Sure enough, by 4:40 (the alarm was to go off at 5, to get M- to...

From Twitter 03-22-2010

00:17:22: New post up at http://www.paksworld.com/blog/ on why bribing author doesn't make books come faster.
00:18:46: Miserable scumsucking revision problem FINALLY unkinked. Easily, as if it had never been tangled. I had a fine-linked chain like that...
00:19:36: ...if I stuck a pin in the right part of the big knot, it would slip open and become a chain again. Finding the right spot...priceless.
00:21:42: Woman called from Carolina, left rambling message on machine, rattled off phone...

Lambino curry

As regular readers know, we do some of our own meat processing, which means that sometimes (as now) we have freezers full of home-grown meats.   Right now, the top layer is the result of Friday's adventures with a lamb that dropped its milk teeth and became ineligible thereby for showing in livestock shows. 

Lamb is a wonderful meat, fine-textured, tender, juicy...and works in a lot of recipes.   One of our favorites is lamb curry.  I used to just follow directions and always serve it over...

From Twitter 03-21-2010

07:34:34: Skin of ice on horse trough this morning; too much wind for it on the lily pond. Bright now--still windy & cold. Singing Bach soon.

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From Twitter 03-20-2010

11:59:45: Weather: thunderstorms before dawn, hard rain, high winds--rain's gone, wind remains, much colder, will freeze tonight.
13:38:01: Bread in oven, chunk of lamb will return (diff temp) when bread comes out. Hearty food for cold day.
22:55:49: Scorched curry because I fell asleep and no one else checked it. I SO like cleaning burnt stuff off the pot. Was good, though.
23:51:55: Support Health Care Reform, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! - http://bit.ly/28DhWP

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From Twitter 03-19-2010

08:04:56: Working on CE questions from UK Gird/Luap book & revisions on Kings for US ed.
17:50:33: It's a lot easier to fabricate a carcass with a really good meat saw. And an electric meat grinder. Lamb chops for supper.
17:52:12: Though not all the lamb chops came out the same thickness, due to the inexperience of the operator (that would be me.)
22:42:23: Lamb chops--cooked in cast-iron skillet with a little wine...next time more herbs...but really good.
23:17:58: Maybe, just possibly, I...

Friday: Work Day

Today was another slog at revisions--the "write sentence, remove half the words, shift over one, and repeat..."  sort.   I know what needs to be done in the scene, but there's no flow at all, and it's crucial that every nuance carry to the reader.   Right now the reader would be going "ouch-ouch-ouch" from the roughness, like walking on sharp stones, when what need to happen is a slow flow of information to the backbrain without tickling analysis.  Yet.

If that's not sufficiently obscure, I...

From Twitter 03-18-2010

09:08:24: When checking garden yesterday, found fresh tracks and cow-flops--and cow had been in our front yard, too. Neighbor claims fence fix soon.
09:09:52: Gorgeous morning. Unforeseen help means I can go out for long walk. But first, French toast.
13:50:17: Got the walk but not the French toast. Hmm...also need late lunch...maybe now...but I should make bread today...hmmm...
13:51:34: FIRST BLUEBONNET in east grass. Another found not-quite-open in west grass. Scared a good-sized frog...