Laura Anne Gilman's Blog, page 67
May 9, 2014
Read in 2014
* means it was on my #TBRin2014 list
8. *DARK OF THE MOON, John Sandford
7. CLIENT MANUSCRIPT, Unidentified Client
6. THE GOD OF THE HIVE, Laurie King (re-read)
5. SPIRAL PATH, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel (pre-pub)
4. CLIENT MANUSCRIPT, Unidentified Client
3. *EIFELHEIM, Michael Flynn
2. KNOWN DEVIL, Justin Gustainis
1. *INK, Amanda Sun
8. *DARK OF THE MOON, John Sandford
7. CLIENT MANUSCRIPT, Unidentified Client
6. THE GOD OF THE HIVE, Laurie King (re-read)
5. SPIRAL PATH, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel (pre-pub)
4. CLIENT MANUSCRIPT, Unidentified Client
3. *EIFELHEIM, Michael Flynn
2. KNOWN DEVIL, Justin Gustainis
1. *INK, Amanda Sun
May 8, 2014
So, THAT happened...
How To Adult (a YouTube edutainment channel affiliated with John Green) just reblogged one of my "adulting" comments over on Tumblr. And it kinda exploded.... (over 100 reblogs in under ten minutes, a month after it was originally posted, and still going). So one assumes that considerably more than a hundred people just saw it....
Dear Mr. Green: I have these books over here, they're not officially YA, but if you or your team would like to mention them positively somewhere public, that would be swell....
Dear Mr. Green: I have these books over here, they're not officially YA, but if you or your team would like to mention them positively somewhere public, that would be swell....
In which the author has a few words...
Some of them possibly even coherent.
As a prelude to the release of DEAD MAN'S HAND, John Joseph Adams interviewed several of the contributors about their stories, their influences, and why they wrote what they did.... mine's here, if you're interested.
May 7, 2014
The Progress Invisible...
To you, anyway. To me it's marked in blood, coffee rings, and inky fingers.
Gin & Tonic #4 is a Draft, as of Tuesday. It's an ugly, messy draft, but it has a beginning, a middle, an ending, and a through-line, so there's that, and I still have a few weeks to polish it to something I'd be willing to let my editor see (and then she will tell me all the places it's still ugly and messy, and I'll fix THOSE. Because having a clean and clear eye at this point is really helpful.)
Meanwhile, I'm back to work on the draft of SILVER ON THE ROAD, first-pass reader notes at my elbow. Two chapters revised today. Thirty to go. Then a second-pass reader's notes, and I do it again. Six weeks and counting until deadline (and 1 week and counting for the route-checking research road trip).
I bought 3 2-liter bottles of diet coke, a bag of popping corn, and a box of chocolate-covered graham crackers. Yep, all set. At least for the next few days....
(revisions are serious business, kids. you gotta go in prepared.)
Gin & Tonic #4 is a Draft, as of Tuesday. It's an ugly, messy draft, but it has a beginning, a middle, an ending, and a through-line, so there's that, and I still have a few weeks to polish it to something I'd be willing to let my editor see (and then she will tell me all the places it's still ugly and messy, and I'll fix THOSE. Because having a clean and clear eye at this point is really helpful.)
Meanwhile, I'm back to work on the draft of SILVER ON THE ROAD, first-pass reader notes at my elbow. Two chapters revised today. Thirty to go. Then a second-pass reader's notes, and I do it again. Six weeks and counting until deadline (and 1 week and counting for the route-checking research road trip).
I bought 3 2-liter bottles of diet coke, a bag of popping corn, and a box of chocolate-covered graham crackers. Yep, all set. At least for the next few days....
(revisions are serious business, kids. you gotta go in prepared.)
May 5, 2014
reality check. Or, the camera doesn't lie so much as give you the worst case scenario
Hrm. Feeling good *checks mirror* looking pretty good...
*gets passport photos*
OH MY GOD HAVE I NOT SLEPT FOR A DECADE?
On the plus side, there won't be any issues at passport control when I stagger in off a redeye...
*gets passport photos*
OH MY GOD HAVE I NOT SLEPT FOR A DECADE?
On the plus side, there won't be any issues at passport control when I stagger in off a redeye...
May 4, 2014
weekend recap, mostly in photos.
Saturday I took off for one of the AlternOffices, and honestly, It was like having flashbacks to working my senior thesis, back in college.... (except fewer frisbees going overhead)
That, because odds are maybe one person reading here will recognize it, is the southward view of Isham Park in Manhattan, what one fellow sun-soaker referred to as "the best spot in Manhattan." I don't know that I'd totally agree with that, but it's got to be in the top 5. And all the better because the folk who live below 125th street aren't going to suddenly show up and ruin it.
(there is an entire population that thinks NYC ends at 125th street. And a large subgroup of that convinced there's nothing but wolves and suburbanites above 96th st. We laugh at them. A lot.)
And as though to reward me for doing several hours of significant research, when I walked back into the park to meet a friend for lunch, there was an Urban Animals festival going on, complete with some injury-rehab animals doing ambassador- duty.
Porcupines, for the record, are cuddy, and somewhat pungent. Skunks are badass and adorable. Owls have no patience with your daylight hikinks, and the red-tailed hawk thinks your nose looks like a mouse. Sirs Turtles-not-Appearing-in-These-Photos really just wanted to be left alone.
And Sunday? Today I was good, and worked. Mostly. :-)
That, because odds are maybe one person reading here will recognize it, is the southward view of Isham Park in Manhattan, what one fellow sun-soaker referred to as "the best spot in Manhattan." I don't know that I'd totally agree with that, but it's got to be in the top 5. And all the better because the folk who live below 125th street aren't going to suddenly show up and ruin it.
(there is an entire population that thinks NYC ends at 125th street. And a large subgroup of that convinced there's nothing but wolves and suburbanites above 96th st. We laugh at them. A lot.)
And as though to reward me for doing several hours of significant research, when I walked back into the park to meet a friend for lunch, there was an Urban Animals festival going on, complete with some injury-rehab animals doing ambassador- duty.
Porcupines, for the record, are cuddy, and somewhat pungent. Skunks are badass and adorable. Owls have no patience with your daylight hikinks, and the red-tailed hawk thinks your nose looks like a mouse. Sirs Turtles-not-Appearing-in-These-Photos really just wanted to be left alone.
And Sunday? Today I was good, and worked. Mostly. :-)
May 3, 2014
this is the kind of problem I hate to whinge about, but....
let me say that being able to write in two genres (mystery and fantasy) is like getting the perfect hot fudge sundae and being PAID to eat it: it’s really hard to complain.
But some day, please the scheduling gods, I will have more than six weeks between book deadlines? Because ow.
On the plus side, when I hand both of them in and have a breather before the revisions hit, I can get back to the TBR pile that ISN’T for research....
May 2, 2014
a rare "beauty" product endorsement
For years - YEARS, people - I chewed my fingernails down to the quick. And even after I stopped that, I'd still chew on the cuticles. And I hated that, because ragged bloody fingers do not give a good impression. So the trick was to make sure I didn't have cuticles to chew on. But manicures aren't cheap (not good ones, anyway).
So I've tried a lot of home care products. And most of them...meh. But last month I picked up a pot of Sally Hansen cuticle massage cream, because hey, a $6 experiment.
Best $6 I've spent in a long time. The skin around my nail bed is smooth and healthy after just a week of use, and I can't swear it's related, but my nails are stronger, too. The product feels a little waxy at first, but it massages into the skin easily, and has a nice smell (sort of orange-y) that fades quickly. And even though the pot is tiny (.4 oz), you use so little each time, it lasts much longer than you'd think.
The one drawback is that the plastic protecting the contents is a bitch to get off. Don't try to pull it off - cut it away with a paring knife or scissors.
So I've tried a lot of home care products. And most of them...meh. But last month I picked up a pot of Sally Hansen cuticle massage cream, because hey, a $6 experiment.
Best $6 I've spent in a long time. The skin around my nail bed is smooth and healthy after just a week of use, and I can't swear it's related, but my nails are stronger, too. The product feels a little waxy at first, but it massages into the skin easily, and has a nice smell (sort of orange-y) that fades quickly. And even though the pot is tiny (.4 oz), you use so little each time, it lasts much longer than you'd think.
The one drawback is that the plastic protecting the contents is a bitch to get off. Don't try to pull it off - cut it away with a paring knife or scissors.
May 1, 2014
Ass in chair, followed by feet on trail
2700 new words, then the rain left, the sun came out, and I hauled myself out of the chair and went for my run. And I discovered that it's hit the time of year when I need to switch to an evening run... *sweats, collapses* You people who don't get the natural wonder drug known as a runner's high - how the hell do you make yourself ever exercise? If I didn't know that at some point my body would start feeling good.... nope.
On the plus side, since part of my run goes through wetlands, I got my fill of red-winged blackbirds today. Y'know how some things just always make you smile? That flash of yellow and red does it for me. No idea why.
And now...back to work. Or a nap. Napworking!
On the plus side, since part of my run goes through wetlands, I got my fill of red-winged blackbirds today. Y'know how some things just always make you smile? That flash of yellow and red does it for me. No idea why.
And now...back to work. Or a nap. Napworking!
this fog will never lift it will always be like rain
Yesterday's bounty: 2K new words on the mystery, and a revelation in the backbrain about revisions to be done on the fantasy, plus some long-range promo work done for DEAD MAN'S HAND which you can get your own hands on in 12 days....
and I declutterd the office, which after three days of rain was starting to remind me of a car after a long road trip, minus the fast food wrappers but with bonus abandoned tea mugs.
I am quite tired of this rain, which has been enough to keep me inside but not fierce enough to create any kind of 'safe from the storm' enjoyment. Of course, considering I'm heading into tornado country during tornado season in a few weeks, maybe I should just hush about that?
Today's goal: another 3K and we're into the final twist of the plot before the Grand Confrontation. Right now, our Investigators have all the pieces.. they just don't KNOW they have all the pieces. *rubs hands, gets back to't*
and I declutterd the office, which after three days of rain was starting to remind me of a car after a long road trip, minus the fast food wrappers but with bonus abandoned tea mugs.
I am quite tired of this rain, which has been enough to keep me inside but not fierce enough to create any kind of 'safe from the storm' enjoyment. Of course, considering I'm heading into tornado country during tornado season in a few weeks, maybe I should just hush about that?
Today's goal: another 3K and we're into the final twist of the plot before the Grand Confrontation. Right now, our Investigators have all the pieces.. they just don't KNOW they have all the pieces. *rubs hands, gets back to't*
