Laura Anne Gilman's Blog, page 36

Spring has sprung! The grass has riz! I wonder where my bicycle is...

So, yeah.

There's something slightly...mortifying about discovering that your beloved bike was...actually a smidge too large for you. But I will soon be the owner of an XS frame of a used-but-nicer-model bike, for only a little out-of-pocket, and hopefully a lot more use gotten out of it.

(Seattle: home of many hills...and lots of people biking a mile out of their way to avoid them. Wheeee...)

Also, the REI flagship store is somewhat of a modified religious experience, but I was apparently invisible to the staff there. Play it Again Sports down the street, on the other hand, were great....

Changing of the (Production) Guard…

The CEM for SILVER ON THE ROAD has gone back to Mr. Monti​.

That means.... it's time to go back to Yet Untitled #2 for the second pass, wherein I take an ugly rough draft and turn it into something that doesn't make me cringe. Prepare for weeping, swearing, hand-waving, and occasional impassioned headdesking...

http://www.lauraannegilman.net/changing-of-the-production-guard/

HBD, Boomer-cat!

Today is Tax Day, which means that 1Q estimated taxes are also due.

Happy Wednesday, my fellow freelancers! (for heavy levels of sarcasm)

But today is also the birthday (observed) of our own CatofSize!

(fitting, considering how much money he's cost me over the years).

This is Boomer when he first came to live with me, at an estimated 10-14 months.  As I said at the time, it was a good thing he had a sweet nature, because that much muscle could do damage without even thinking about it...

And this is Boomer now.  As you can see, not much has changed...except he got LARGER.


... but still the loving cuddler who kept me going through some very bad years.

HBD, my sweet boy.

There is no such thing as a painless copyedit, only ones where you don't mind bleeding.

THUD.

Pending my secondary research backup getting back to me with feedback on the Latin, and with the knowledge that I'll need to go over it one more time to make sure certain capitalizations and usages are consistent throughout....

Copyedits for SILVER ON THE ROAD are deflagged and done. All 452 pages of 'em.

My brain may be a grey leaky mess at this point. Please don't ask me anything more complicated than "would you like some chocolate?"

However, I fond myself thinking "yeah, I done good here."  This is damned rare among hypercritical writer-types, where "well, it don't suck" is the much more common high praise: take note.



(of course, now the pressure to go back to the draft of #2 and make it EVEN BETTER may become paralyzing....)

watching without a claiming horse in the race

The one thing I will say about the Hugo kerfuffle is that it's becoming glaringly obvious who in our field is an asshole without couth or manners, and who is a decent human being with social skills.

And that there are a sampling of both all along the political-opinion spectrum (although more of the really uncouth behavior documented seems to come from the far right, which is why they also come across as being the most scared).

Saturday

Today was a lovely day, given over to squring visiting desperance and his K around Seattle, me playing Junior Tour Guide to longer-term resident scarlettina .  We did the Theo's chocolate factory tour (nom), and visited the Chittendon Locks, and the Fishermans' Terminal, and had excellent food, and wine, and caught up on too much time since last we all saw each other.

And now I am behind in all the work-things, but that's okay.  There will be time to catch up on those things, and never regretting time spent with good friends.

Here, have some photos.

snarl

Aaaaaaand the pirate sites have found the Sylvan Investigation books. I suppose the run of quiet was too good to last. Especially with the new one coming out this year.

If you want to support a writer, and make sure there are more books to come... you don't go around asking "where can I get this for free, I don't want to pay for it." That's not you being smart or savvy, that's you being a spoiled little ass spoiling it for everyone else.

For the record: the SI novellas (and all my books) are available via libraries, too. You want 'em? You can get them by request. For free, even. Without hurting anyone.

/snarl over

State of the Author Dealing with Copyedit, in gifs

aand then, when it all seems lost... you just give up, give in, and start STETing the fuck out of everything.

that thudding noise you heard may well have been me.

Huh. Yeah, that's that, then. A little short and a lot messy, nothing anyone gets to see but me, but that's Draft 0 of Devil's West #2.

~Woo.~

[I'm actually really really excited about Draft 0, but right now I feel like I've been beaten with bamboo rods, so 'woo' is all I got]

Now I have a month to do the second pass, and get it into shape I'm willing to let someone else read....



And, of course, I check email and hey! There's the CEM for Book 1 (aka SILVER ON THE ROAD) landing! Nice timing. Cruel, but nice.

So yeah, I'm back....

Norwescon is a nifty convention, large (3k attendees, I was told) but well-run, and filled with fans of all ages and colors (including one who was purple), the costuming was excellent, the panels were very well-attended, the conversations fascinating, and apparently Simon Green and I have a comedy duo we can take on the road if this writing things fails out...

And the bar had very comfortable seating, and almost enough of it.

Interestingly, it wasn't a heavy-drinking convention. At least not for me. Two glasses of wine in the evening was my worst indulgence, and asleep well before midnight.

And a half-hour drive home, even with traffic. I liked that.

So yeah - hooray for my new 'local' convention.  And hooray for them taking no shit from would-be creepers...




And tomorrow we're back to the write-all-the-things and edit-all-the-things and file-all-the things schedule. Kinda looking forward to it, actually.