Kim Harrison's Blog, page 91

You tell me and we’ll both know.

I woke this day to the sound of thunder.

How far off? I sat and wondered.

Started humming a song from 1976

Odd, so I got up early for kicks.

The morning closing in . . .

Seriously?  Five fifty?  I got up at five fifty?  What’s with that?  But as my dad says, it’s good to be somewhere, and right now, I am not in my bed where I should be, but at the keyboard, getting ready for another steamy day.  I’m blaming the early rising on the weather, which is really bad just over the horizon, the rumblings of which woke me this morning.  But it was the red sky that got me up, and now there’s no way I’ll get back to sleep.  Besides, the birds are really noisy.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, so I will not be posting.

Happy 4th!

Ahhhhhhh . . .

Feels good to be back at my desk, the house wrens singing and the nestlings of chickadees flitting through on their way to the next garden.  It’s going to be hot again today, but right now all the windows are open and the 66 F air is slipping through the house and my office.  I’m guessing I’ve got until ten before I have to shut everything up and hide in the dark to try to stay cool.

June is OVER and I’ve soaked up the two weeks I hammered all spring to get with home-life stuff, and now I have 200 pages to write in a month to keep to my yearly schedule.  I’ll admit that it feels good to get back to my desk.  My mind is already switching into creative mode.  This morning, I had an interesting, non-Hollows dream of a young woman lost in the woods who stumbles into a troll’s garden and is captured.  Very much a beauty and beast situation.  But it means everything is switched on and I’m ready to rock on the last 200 pages of this beast.

Whoo-hoo!

P.S.  My favorite song was on the radio this morning when I fired it up.  It’s going to be a good day, darn it, no matter what it throws at me.

So I went through my old paperbacks . . .

So I went through my old paperback, you know, the ones that I’ve been collecting since I was 12, most of them garnered when between the ages of 15 and 18, but written anywhere from 1950 to 1985.  I had a brutal hand this time, putting entire beloved series in the “pass on” box, keeping only the first title to remind me of the feeling the work gave me.  I slashed my library to perhaps a half of what I had, which was already two-thirds, and two-thirds again, and so on, making the bottom line perhaps a tenth of what I started with ten years ago.

But you know what?  I couldn’t do it with the Young Adult titles.  I could not put those very first books in the “go” box.  They were too much a part of what shaped my thoughts and thinking processes to discard, even though I will never read them again, and they only take up space on my shelf.  Legacy, perhaps.

The ones I kept?  Let me think.  The Narnia books, the first Nine Princes in Amber, A few beloved Andrea Norton, The Zero Stone.  (Loved that one)  Have Space Suit, Will Travel, Dandelion Wine, Midnight at the Well of Souls.  The first three Dragon Singer books, Lloyd Alexander.  Larry Niven.  Ring World.  Ice Rings.  Robert Aspirin.  (I met him when I was in High School.  It was Rad.)

Sort of explains a few things . . .

And the picture?  That’s my Author Chow.  I have it for breakfast every day.  :-)

Fab weekend

Guy and I had a fab weekend, I think it was the first really relaxing weekend since March.  Seriously.  We had that much going on.  But we putts around and chilled, and got ready for our next big adventure.  (snerk)  Had a great Father’s day with my dad and I even made cake.  :-)  And not just any cake, but orange cake.  I’ve never seen it before, and it goes well with butter cream frosting.  Yum.

I’m looking forward to good news this week of a more personal nature.  We’re shifting things around, accessing what we’re doing for the next ten years and how we will be taking our down time, and this week is the first expression of that.  What we do this week isn’t going to have a real effect for probably months, but it’s a positive, very definite step in where we want to be at this time next year.  Good thing I’m used to long-term planning.

No butt kicking here . . .

Friday, finally, and work is starting to pick back up, not fast, but at least not slow.  We’re into day four of Rachel’s latest adventure, the middle of the book.  I know a lot of writers have trouble with the middle game, but I like it as I can, in theory, slow down and touch on the emotional stuff, but this one is falling into place a little differently.  Much of the emotional stuff happened earlier, and the danger is becoming clearer to Rachel far more faster.  (Both emotional danger and physical danger.)  She’s in it thigh deep, and about ready to do something, something she needs to do but is going to have an unforeseen consequence.  Trent is having a good influence on her.

Have a great weekend.  I may or may not be posting regularly next week.  Guy and I are taking care of  project and it’s going to take all our energies.  Still . . . I’m a PR whore, and I’ll likely post SOMETHING!

Like ‘dem audio books?

A few weeks ago I signed nearly a hundred audio book covers for Tantor Audio to help them celebrate June being audio book month.  They’re going to be giving them away later in the month, the first of them starting the 23rd, but if you can’t wait for a “maybe I’ll win” you can jump on over to Tantor right now and pick up the titles you want for 50% off.  This link takes you to my main page, and from there you can get to the reduced price.  Also at this link is the interview that I, Jocelynn Drake, and Vicki Pettersson did earlier this year for Sirius radio.

Tantor is the group that produced the first five Hollows titles, giving us the talented Ms. Gavin.  I swear, when I’m working with Ivy, I hear her voice, but Jenks is my favorite.  It’s hard to make a high voice sound butch and dangerous, but she can do it.  Even if audio books aren’t your thing, it’s worth jumping over there just to hear Ms. Gavin bring them all to life.

My work went better yesterday, but 14 pages in two days isn’t cutting it.  I’ve got to abuse my keyboard today and get some pages in the cabinet of awesomeness or I’m going to have an ugly weekend.  Also, manic Monday books are starting to go out, so if you’ve not paid your invoice yet, your shipment will be delayed a few weeks as Guy and I take care of one of our summer projects.  I just may shut down the drama box for a week.  We’ll see . . .

Go on. I dare you.

I got absolutely nothing done yesterday in terms of page count, and I’m not happy about it.  Managed to get about six pages of dialog, which filled up about two hours of my day.  The rest . . . poof.  Day gone.  The final score: Father time-8, Author-2.

And I’m out of author chow.  how am I supposed to get anything done when I don’t have my author chow?  (snap, snap, bark, bark.)

I am blaming the weather, which is perfect, and the fact that I am trying to cram three projects into one summer after I just finished one that should have taken four months, and the one that really needs to happen is not moving forward at all.  (growl, bark, bark, bark!)

So if you are a telemarketer, and you call me this week, you are going to get the brunt of it.  Go on.  I dare you.  (Grrrrrrrrr, bark!)

How does your garden grow?

It’s Tuesday, and I’m already looking for the weekend.  I think it’s high schooler envy.  They got out last week, and I’ve been sitting in my office, watching them skateboard, bike, walk the dog, etc, on their way to the pool, beach, shopping, or an ice cream cone downtown.  Blahhhh.

Still, I managed to get through my expected pages, which was both a miracle and about two hours over my usual quitting time.  Today will be worse since I’ve got an appointment, and even though it’s going to cut my day in half and rob me of three hours, I still expect me to hit the same mark.  My boss is a monster, I tell you.  A monster.  If she didn’t garden, she’d have no redeeming qualities at all.

The picture is of my summer squash.  They sell them for about a buck fifty down at the Farmer’s Market when they start to come in in-mass, but Guy and I go through them so fast I thought it might be fun to grow them this year.  I picked a bush variety because of lack of space, and this little guy has doubled in size since I took the picture on Friday.  I actually started this from seed, which is something I never do but probably will more often since the tomato blight a few years ago.  (If you missed it, almost every tomato plant sold at a big-box store had a virus that is now in the ground where ever they were planted, killing tomatoes right before they set fruit.  You have to either remove the dirt and replace it, or plant your tomatoes somewhere else for a few years.) For those of you who are interested, this squash hasn’t yet been pollinated.  You can tell because it still has a tightly closed flower.  If it keeps growing like this, I’ll be having squash by the weekend!

Manic Monday, and a little Rockabilly

Manic Monday books are gone.  Thanks everyone!  If you missed out, Guy and I will be having more Manic Mondays in the future.  Guy will be sending out invoices over the next couple of days, so be sure to watch the email you reserved your copy from.

Last Friday I talked about the Rockabilly lifestyle that Vicki Pettersson touches on in her latest series, starting with THE TAKEN.  Some of you knew exactly what I was talking about, some of you were already into it, and some of you were scratching your head, wondering if it was some new subculture coming out of the hills of Tennessee.  No, it is not, and you can find Rockabillies as far away as Japan all the way to . . . well . . . a small town in Michigan.  I begged Vicki for a link to explain, and she found me a good one.  It’s in an interview she did for The Big Thrill, and it’s the best explanation I’ve seen to date.  You get a much better sneak peek into THE TAKEN,  as well.  The Taken  So check it out.

Which reminds me.  Chapter four of THE TAKEN should be popping up today.  I’ll drop the link here when it does.  (Chapter Four. ) And if you’re lucky enough to be where Vicki is going, here’s her tour schedule.  The Taken comes out tomorrow, so she’s hitting the tarmac.  The one piece of advice I gave her was to pack as few shoes as she could get away with.  I’m dying to find out how many that was, so if you go to one of her events, find out for me, huh?  -grin-

I’ve also promised you a Manic Monday, and in celebration of the third Madison book SOMETHING DEADLY THIS WAY COMES, now being out in paperback, Guy and I have a slew of them to give away for the price of shipping and handling.  SOMETHING DEADLY THIS WAY COMES is part of HarperTeen’s summer promotion, and I’m tickled three shades of pink.

Here is how you get yours.

Guy will begin taking orders at noon today, EST.  (Don’t email him now.  Wait for noon.)  One book per person, please.  The cost covers the shipping and handling.  USA shipments will take two weeks from when we ship, international will be a bit longer as there are forms to fill out and longer shipping times.

Shipping and Handling is $5.78 in the US, $10.78 to Canada, and $17.78 everywhere else.  To make this as painless as possible for Guy, we are taking Pay Pal only.  Unfortunately we can’t combine any other merchandise in with this, but until we run out, you will get this year’s freebie of Rachel’s pack tattoo.  Domestic will come Media Mail, everything else will come first class international.

If you are interested, at noon, EST today, (no earlier) send an email to Guy at vampcharms@comporium.net with the words SPF9 Madison in the subject line.  If you are among the first 90, he will send you an invoice, so please include your shipping address in your initial email.  If you do not include your shipping address in the initial email, he can not ship you your book, and your order will not be acted on.  PayPal doesn’t always put the address in, and it’s frustrating.  We don’t do anything with your address but ship you your book.  We don’t have the time to do anything wicked, and I hate it when people sell mine, so . . .  Also, please do not place an order if you do not intend to pay for it.  We had too many last time, which is why we were not able to do another until now.

We have a lot of these, so I’m I’m thinking the window will be a few hours, and as usual, I’ll update this post when they are gone to help avoid confusion.  If you miss out, I’ll be having more shipping and handling give aways.

I think I saw a rockabilly couple last night.

I think I saw a rockabilly couple last night.  Guy didn’t believe me, but that’s what it looked like to me.  See, one of our local small towns has a festival every Thursday night in the summer, closing off a few streets, bringing in about six unique live bands and the local restaurants offering specials.  There’s even an informal old car show that evolves as car shows do in rural areas.  And that’s where I think this couple came from–the car show.

I love it when people step outside, or perhaps, inside themselves and show their uniqueness.  I didn’t know about the rockabilly culture until recently, but now I’m on the lookout for them.  Right here in rural Michigan.  And if it shows up here, then it’s showing up everywhere.  I’m blaming Vicki Petterrson.  She saw them before me, about two, three years before me I’m guessing, and has worked the culture beautifully into her next series, THE TAKEN.    OH! As promised,  chapter three is now up for your viewing pleasure.  Chapter four will be up on Monday, and the entire book comes out Tuesday. Earlier chapters are clickable from the first link.  She’s also got her tour schedule up.

I WILL be doing a manic Monday on Monday as well, so do stop at the Drama Box before noon to find out how to get your book for shipping and handling.

P.S.  Guy and I had a great time last night eating our sandwiches and drinking our cream sodas while listening to live bands and hunting for Thing Two, on the loose and living free.  :-)  Spotted him once, and that’s kind of cool.