Kim Harrison's Blog, page 130

Happy Fish

I am happy to report that after two years of casual shopping, I have found something that seems to safely heat my Beta tank.  The hermit crab heater under the tank is not too hot, not too cold.  Mr. Fish looks so much happier.  I keep the house cold at night, and I'd often find him with his face planted in the gravel in the morning.  His tank is still cool, but not cold.  Yay!

Freebies have finally come in, so look for them to show up soon.  We need to get them down to the post and find out how much SASE postage they're going to need.  Fingers crossed!

Also . . . I have a date for the release of the first chapter of PALE DEMON!!!  Look for it next Thursday.  If you would like it (and the next couple of chapters as they follow) to show up in your inbox, hustle on over to Harper and sign up for their author tracker.  It might take a few days to get you in the system, so don't wait until the last moment.

Harper Author Tracker

Mood, not so good today . . .

I'm taking a break from the blog for a few days.  Me answering posts when I'm in a snarky mood is not productive, and some days, it's better to just be the hermit writer.

Q&A page is still open.

Comfort and Joy

So I'm out doing a little shopping this weekend, and Guy and I found ourselves in a pet shop.  There are these little rawhide candy canes that are just the right size for Xander (Alexi doesn't like them) and the only time I can find them is in early December, so I stock up for the entire year.  We slowly perused the shelves for stuff we really don't need, mourn the loss of our fish tank, gone about a year now, and taunt ourselves with the idea of getting a canary.  (I breed them for a couple of years and we sort of miss them.)

So what did we walk out with?  A tin of Superworms for the frog overwintering in my pond, and a hermit crab heater to stick to the side of Mr. Fish's tank.  Betas can survive the winter without heat, but they don't enjoy it, and I've been looking for something to warm him up with for two years.  Oh, by the way.  Those candle warmers don't work.  (rolls eyes)

Their comfort, my joy.  ;-)

 

tongue in cheek, I think . . .

And then there's the point where I really get cooking on the rough draft where Guy starts to make himself invisible, sliding chi tea across my desk and making sure I don't answer the phone or door.  It's not that he's protecting my writing time.  He's trying to keep the neighbors from knowing I'm temporarily nuts.

I wasn't writing when we first met, and in fact, he had several years of normalcy with me before it got bad, but there is a definite but subtle shift in the head when you spend so much time with "what if," and it comes to a point when writing rough draft and the brain has a naturally elevated level of creativity running through it.

It's not an obvious change, and most people won't even realize there is a shift in persona if they meet it casually.  Editors recognize and dread it, knowing that they have to deal with the crazy to get to the good stuff. Agents haunt the halls of conferences looking for it, hoping the woman muttering to herself in the corner might be "the big one" and not a homeless person in a suit.  Other writers recognize kindred sufferers without realizing it, often meeting in informal groups called "writer workshops" which are thinly disguised self-help meetings where, in a moment of lucidity, we might come to grips that we can't kick the addiction, but perhaps we can learn to live with it.

Those who knows us well recognize the hints of the changes that signify a relapse and will take pains to keep us separated from normal people lest we embarrass them and ourselves.  There is nothing sadder for our loving caretakers than to find themselves in a coffee shop ordering a cup to go and having us blurt out, "I had such a great day yesterday.  I finally figured out how I can kill him!"  Do they ignore us?  Edge away like the guy standing behind us in line?  No, they smile and pull us closer, beaming as they say, "That's great!  I knew you could do it!"  Such understanding, though, only makes makes our insanity all the more obvious.

So be kind when you see us, standing at a street corner, analyzing the way the shadow from the cross walk seems to make a interdimensional portal as the cars race through it, because after all, it's all just make believe until someone puts it on paper.

 

 

And a little bit of shifting

Usually by the time I near the 100 page mark in a rough draft, I have to do some tweaking to the plot.  I do it again at about 300, too.  It's generally forward tweaking both times.  This time, though, I had to go backward and tweak.  I know, I know!  I've always maintained that when you're writing rough draft, you pencil in changes in the finished material in the margin and push forward, but we're talking chapters here, so I spent yesterday tweaking the first two chapters and writing a brand new third.  From here, I think I just need a quick run through the old third, fourth, and fifth to change them to four five, and six.  Writing chapter seven today would do my heart good.  It will be a long day, but it's do-able, and then I'd be back on track for my weekly page count.

Why the tweaking?  The pace was too slow, and I didn't like how it was taking forever to get to the real problem.  "Oh, it's this.  No, it's this!  Oh, look, this is the real problem."  It was making me tired, so I just jumped all the way back to the third chapter and put it all out on the table.  Instead of decreasing the tension, it increased it, and I'm much happier.

Snow is still dusting, but the roads are cold, and watching the dry bits of snow drift under the passing cars is mesmerizing.  Having a substance that can be in all three phases (gas, liquid, solid) within such a narrow temperature shift is very, very cool.  One of my favorite YA short stories when I was growing up was called A PAIL OF AIR.  I don't even remember who wrote it, but it's stuck with me.

December Snow

I try not to see omens, but it's hard when I'm in rough draft mode and my mind is loosie goosie with jumping from thought to thought.  I've made no bones that I've missed the snow, and just because you're in Michigan, it doesn't follow you're going to get any of the white stuff.  Today, though, I woke up to a dusting on the first of December.  Very peaceful.  And not enough that it needs to be shoveled.  That's nice, too.  Winter wonderland?  Bring it on!

Frog update: He's fine so far.  I saw him yesterday

Page count update: Got 27 pages in the last two days in the file cabinet.  If I keep this up, I'll be one very happy camper.

Need less slow, more steady

I'm working on rough draft today.  My grand total of new November material looks like it's going to be about sixty-eighty pages.  That's not where I wanted to be by now, but I had a lot of PR and a few personal issues crop up that slowed me way down.  Not to mention the first ten days were lost to a quick rewrite to book ten, so I guess I shouldn't complain.  I don't expect my pace to get any faster for a while, but if I can work smarter, stay focused, I should be able to get back on track.  A month of solid writing with no interruptions will get me far.  (Dreamer, I'm a dreamer.  Something is going to show up.  I'm expecting two things, actually, so I'm a hopeless dreamer.  -laugh-)  But the ideas I'm working with are exciting, and the plot is solidifying.  It's been harder this time because I am constantly thinking forward to the last (?) book, making sure I have everything in line and haven't painted myself into a corner.

Oh, crap, it's December tomorrow.  How did we get there so fast?

In my copious spare time . . .

I had been trying all weekend to get to stripping a chair that Guy and I got from his folks, and I managed to work it in just last night, right after dinner.  (sheesh!)  Re upholstering is something that I've not ever done before this year, but after finding almost zilch in terms of antique furniture you can sit on that was in good condition, but lots of beautiful pieces with ugly, worn, or missing upholstery, I decided to give it a go.

I've done three pieces so far, after having gotten a book from the library and some stuff from a catalog.  Deciding to start small, I recovered two benches and a little square piano stool, each one giving me practice in a new skill that I can take to the next project.  This will be the first chair for me, and it should be pretty

straight forward.  I'll learn how to web with this one, and then I'll move on to something with springs, perhaps.  My ultimate goal is an East Lake sofa that I bought for my office.  Between it and me sit two more chairs, but I might get a few more pieces for practice before I tackle it.  I don't like frustration, and the house needs more furniture.  -laugh-  Besides, it lets me be creative with color and texture.  I don't do much with my hands in my day-to-day work, and I need that for balance.

I'll let you know how the chair turns out.  It had two layers of upholstery on it, (a vibrant orange leather hiding a vinyl brown fax leather) and what I think was horse hair.  Nasty stuff, that.  I've got a red/brown/green paisley to recover it with.  I'm not so much a traditionalist that I'll wash the horse hair and reuse it.  Give me modern foam any day, thank you, very much.

The Harrison Frog Spa is now open

I've got a green frog in my fish pond, and I'm kind of concerned for him.  It's far too cold for him to be out of the water and moving around, and he's taken up in my pond since there's a heater and it's toasty warm.  He should be hunkered down in some thick pond muck somewhere, and my pond is so new, there isn't even a smidgen of anything between him and the plastic.

This is going to be an interesting winter as I keep an eye on him.  Is he going to winter in the Harrison Frog Spa successfully till spring?  If it keeps him warm enough, will he be so active that he doesn't have the resources to keep from starving?  I wish I knew what to do with him, but seriously, I'm not sure where he came from to begin with.

I'll be taking the rest of the week off from the Drama Box because of the holidays, but I'll probably be shunning the big stores on Friday for my desk . . . although I will be going downtown for a cup of coffee and to shop local.  I've been down there more than a few times now, and I'm amazed at the quality of the stuff I found.  I like the idea of commerce so close I can walk to it.  Not a bad option compared to driving, parking, and worrying about leaving stuff in my car.  Besides, I'm starting to recognize people, and that's kind of cool.  It gives a fantastic sense of both responsibility and unity, of belonging to something larger.

Happy Thanksgiving, guys!

Pale Demon Tour T's!

The Tour T's are in! This year, they are based on a petroglyph that Guy and I "found" at the ancient village in the Petrified Forest while researching the book. It struck me enough that it figured into the story itself. (Seriously, how could a bird eating a man not get a writer's imagination going?)

So here it is, available until February 14th, 2011. Cut off for orders will be that day.

Wearing one to a signing gets you into a "family photo" at the bookstore and bragging rights. We only make these available until the tour, and then they are gone, which makes them extremely limited. And they are pretty cool conversation starters at the office, too. The dates listed are not necessarily accurate in this picture, so do check out the event's page to see if I'm coming near you.

We like to make the shirts available for the holiday gift giving season, but we can't guarantee Christmas delivery. (If you PayPal before the 15th, chances are really good.) Guy worked hard to bring the price down from last year despite rising shipping costs. We've tried to make it simple, and all prices include shipping. (Priority mail shipping in US and Canada.) Here's the details:

Unisex size. (I wear a med to large)

Size          USA and Canada       All other International

SM-XLG        $19.20                               $24.41

2XL                 $21.20                               $26.41

3XL                 $23.20                              $28.41

4XL                 $25.20                              $30.41

5XL                 $27.20                              $32.41

Sorry, no discounts on multiple shirt purchases since they will be going out in individual packages. (Trust me, it's cheaper this way. Weird but true.) These are printed upon your order, so please allow for extra time at the printers. So, to order your Pale Demon Tour T . . . THREE THINGS WE MUST HAVE.

1: PayPal the correct amount to Guy at vampcharms@comporium.net.

2: Tell him the sizes you want in the notes area at PayPal. PLEASE!!! I'm begging you to not forget this. If you do not tell us, you will get whatever size Guy thinks you are. (And he's not good at guessing.)

3: Make sure your name and address are correct at PayPal. We can't be responsible for misdirected mail. If you're using your brother's PayPal, keep this in mind.

4: Any questions at all, email Guy, and be sure to include in your correspondence your PayPal email. I don't want to listen to him complain about John Smith having one name for his address, going by ThunderGod on his regular email, and TwoCute for his PayPal. It makes for a very stressful day trying to match them up.

5: You can snail mail monies in as well, but I suggest you don't wait until last minute, especially if you want it for Christmas:

Kim Harrison

2011 Tour T

PO Box 66

Chelsea, MI 48118

There it is! If you have any questions, email Guy at vampcharms@comporium.net.

JoBeth, Charlotte, NC, 2010