Jane Lindskold's Blog, page 37

The Week After

Looking to Write a Twelve

The week after a new book comes out is always a bit strange.  Especially for a writer like me, who doesn’t belong to a writer/critique group, and who uses only a very limited circle of “beta readers,” it’s a bit like introducing your new beau to your family.  Will what you love come across to others?

This can get in the way of actually writing.  I’ve known some writers who freeze up even after they’ve sent out a piece to a potential market.  I don’t have that problem, mostly because I learned all too long ago that market response is glacially slow, and even response on a project that was solicited (such as a novel under contract or a story for an anthology) can take a while.

So, last week, even though I wanted to get back to writing, the need to do promotional stuff kept reminding me that Library of the Sapphire Wind was really “out there.”  This week I hope to get back to writing, and I’ll do it by going back to a trick I developed way, way back in the days when I had to fit my writing time in to teaching college fulltime (five courses, often five preps, which is a heck of a lot of work).

In those days, I was corresponding on a regular basis with Roger Zelazny.  One day, he mentioned in passing that he tried to sit down three or four times a day and write three or four sentences.

I’ll admit, my first response was indignation.  I barely had one time in a day when I could write: three to four times sounded positively decadent.

But a little imp whispered in my ear: “Three times four is twelve.  Surely you can make time to write twelve sentences in a day.”

And that became my goal.  Twelve sentences, no cheating with a bit of “yes/no” dialogue.    The next day, no matter how much I’d written the day before—because sometimes twelve sentences was enough to get me going and I’d write a whole lot more—start over with twelve sentences as my goal.

To my astonishment, this worked.  During the five years that I taught college fulltime, I wrote several novels, numerous short stories, this in addition to writing a non-fiction book (a biography of Roger Zelazny for Twayne) and a quantity of non-fiction.  I even started selling, so I was writing up to professional levels.

These days I write fulltime, so having time to write shouldn’t be as much of an issue, but with the new demands on a writer (such as writing blogs like this one), my time to write is still impinged upon.  I still need to find a way to get my head into the space to write.

And when I do, I turn back to those twelve sentences…  Surely, no matter what, I can write twelve sentences.  Right?  I can revise the later or cut them.  But I’ll be writing.

This week, that’s my goal.  Anyone interested in knowing if I achieve it?

FF: High Note

Flowers for the Launch!

This week’s high note was book launch day for my Library of the Sapphire Wind.  Here it is, in all its glory, with celebratory flowers from my friend, award-winning artist, Elizabeth Leggett.  Kindly note how she coordinated her bouquet to the colors of the cover!

Many of the mysteries below are re-reads, but it’s been a long time for many, and in some case this is my first time actually reading, rather than listening, to them.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading.  Two of the series I’m trying right now are due to FF reader mentions.

Completed:

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold, Audiobook.  Set in the World of the Five Gods, but in a completely different area.  Almost done.

Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh.  I felt like classic mystery, and haven’t read this one for a long while.  The second Inspector Alleyne, and her first featuring the theater as a setting.

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh.  Her first Inspector Alleyne.  A murder game goes awry.

Monk’s Hood by Ellis Peters.  Brother Cadfael on the trail of a murderer who used one of his topical ointments to poison.  A touch of Cadfael’s personal history spices this one nicely.

In Progress:

The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters.  Three plotlines cross in an initially confusion fashion, but seem to be coming together very satisfactorily.

Year of the Griffon by Diana Wynne Jones.  Audiobook.  A semi-sequel (same setting, some overlapping characters) to her highly amusing Dark Lord of Derkholm. 

Also:

I tried Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline.  Despite Will Wheaton’s excellent reading on the audiobook, I just couldn’t get past the shortsighted egocentrism of so many of the characters, especially as the crisis grows grim for a large segment of the planet’s population.

How Library of the Sapphire Wind Came to Be

I Want to Read It First!

My new novel, Library of the Sapphire Wind is available!  You can find it in print or e-book, at the vendor of your choice.

Now for one of the jobs I find hardest as a writer: trying to figure out how to say what the book is “about” without spoilers or merely reciting the plot.  As Charles de Lint once memorably said, “I used as many words as I needed to tell the story,” so summarizing the plot seems a bad idea.  In this case, that would mean something over 104,000 words for Library of the Sapphire Wind and about the same for its forthcoming sequel, Aurora Borealis Bridge (in your hands April 2022).

So maybe, since you can read the jacket copy on the book, or a longer version of the jacket copy here, I should talk instead about how this story came to be.

I started writing this novel in April of 2017.  Yes.  You have that right: about five years ago.

My trigger was a wealth of “portal fantasies,” some excellent, some not so, that were coming out.  Good or bad, they all seemed to feature kids, often high school-aged or younger.  I found myself wondering why there are so few portal fantasies with adults as those going through the portal.

I decided to write one, and that I’d up the gain by using not only adults, but older adults.  I also decided that I would avoid a couple of the classic elements of portal fantasy.  Most importantly, my characters would not be trapped, and they would make a conscious decision to take on their new roles.  I also decided that when designing the world into which they are summoned, I’d feel free to pull out all the stops.

My love for therianthropic figures goes back a long way.  However, other than some of the animal/human mythic characters in Changer and Changer’s Daughter (originally published as Legends Walking), I really hadn’t used them in any longer fiction.  I have also tended to hold back on magic and magical items, in part because they’re so often abused in speculative fiction.  This time, I decided to go ahead and let magic play a major role.

Although I wanted adults to be my “summoned,” I have absolutely nothing against younger people.  In fact, the five years I spent teaching college full-time gave me a great appreciation for that age group.  Therefore, I decided to link up Meg, Peg, and Tessa (aka Teg) with three twenty-somethings.  These young people are what, in their culture, is called a “holdback,” that is they have some issue they need to deal with before they can move on.

Those issues are at the heart of the story, and lead to the search for the Library of the Sapphire Wind.

The story took fire from the start and by October of 2017, I had a very rough draft that totaled 150,866 words.  Yes.  You read that right.  And, no, I don’t usually write that fast.  I discussed the book, now titled Library of the Sapphire Wind with my agent, who expressed enthusiasm, but wanted a finished draft before she shopped it around.

Shortly thereafter, I had to put the manuscript aside because other writing projects came up (including the chance to write the two new Firekeeper novels, Wolf’s Search and Wolf’s Soul).  Right after that I had to get to my next collaboration with David Weber, A New Clan.

Therefore, I didn’t get to pick up Library of the Sapphire Wind again until August of 2020.  I re-read the manuscript, decided I still loved it, and started revising.  Revising also included filling in a lot of worldbuilding, language design, and fleshing out plot elements. In the process, the manuscript grew to the point I knew I had to split it into two books.

Around this time, my agent, Kay McCauley, died.  I considered indie pubbing the books, as I had the new Firekeeper novels, but I really wanted to see if they could reach a larger audience.  Since I was already working with Toni at Baen on A New Clan, I decided to try her.  To my astonishment, in a very short time, as measured by traditional publishing, I not only had an offer but Toni knew where she wanted to put the books on her schedule.

And that’s now, and here is Library of the Sapphire Wind, finally able to be placed in your hands.  Enjoy!

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FF: At the Close of January

Persephone Gets Her Teeth into a Good Book

A couple of my recent reads have been on the longer side, so fewer new titles this week. 

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading.  Two of the series I’m trying right now are due to FF reader mentions.

Completed:

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch.  Fourth book in his “Rivers of London” series.  This is the first I’ve read as print, rather than audio.  Good story, but confirming my impression of a series that gets darker as it progresses.

In Progress:

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold, Audiobook.  Set in the World of the Five Gods, but in a completely different area.  Almost done.

Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh.  I felt like classic mystery, and haven’t read this one for a long while.

Also:

Finished several magazines, including the Fordham alumni one.  Sometimes seems as if the university I attended and the one that’s currently operating only share a name.

Silver That’s Gold

Mei-Ling Laughs

The last thing I expected to receive as a 25th wedding anniversary gift was a new folklorish tidbit.  It happened this way.  Sunday night, I mentioned to my gamers that Tuesday would be Jim and my 25th wedding anniversary.

“Twenty-fifth on the twenty-fifth,” said Melissa cheerfully.  “That makes it gold.”

I was confused.  “Gold is fifty.  I’m not sure we’ll get there, given we’re not exactly young.  That’s why I’m unreasonably excited about this one.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Melissa replied with a slight shake of her head, speaking with a quiet confidence that I’m sure her patients (she’s a dentist) find very reassuring.  “Gold is when the number of years matches the date on the calendar.  So your ‘gold’ only happens once.  I’ve heard of it for birthdays, but I don’t see why I wouldn’t fit for anniversaries, too.”

Jim and I decided we liked that, so yesterday we celebrated our Silver-Gold anniversary.  Good thing, too, since he would have been one for his “gold” birthday, and I would have been fifteen for mine, so we couldn’t have taken advantage of this rather nifty tradition anytime in the future.

Silver and gold.  Not bad.  Not bad at all…

FF: Mythic in Many Forms

Mei-Ling Sticks Her Tongue Out at a Good Book

This week I see that all my reading choices deal with the mythic, both the overshadowing power of myth, and the myths that grow out of the stories we believe about ourselves.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading.  Two of the series I’m trying right now are due to FF reader mentions.

Completed:

Penric’s Mission by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Fourth in this series of novellas.  Combined with five, it would make a decent novel.  Since I read out of order, I had a few spoilers, but that didn’t quench my reading pleasure.

Stolen Skies by Tim Powers.  Third of his Castine and Vickerybooks.  This one takes on UFOs.  Some great visual images, as well as crop circles, cults, and cuisine.

In Progress:

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold, Audiobook.  Set in the World of the Five Gods, but in a completely different area.

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch.  Fourth book in his “Rivers of London” series.  This is the first I’ve read as print, rather than audio.  I miss the reader’s sardonic tones, but unlike some series where I’ve both read and listened, this one does not need the reader to compensate for weak writing.

Also:

“Bridges” a short story by Tony Greyfox in the anthology A Swordmaster’s Tale.  I liked the unexpected twists this story took.  It’s certainly not the straight out cyberpunk tale it seems at the start!

Ice Skating Flickers

Ice Breaker

Jim and I have a tiny pond in our backyard.   This time of year, it tends to freeze. The other morning, I glanced out in time to see one of our two resident flickers hop down onto the ice, slide and nearly fall over, then flutter up and to the side.  A moment later, it hopped down again, and again nearly tumbled over.

Back at the edge, it tilted its head, thoughtfully studied the ice, then hopped down again, this time gracefully sliding across the ice to its evident delight.  How do I know it was delighted?  It repeated the performance several times, gaining style points with each repetition.

Only then did it go to where there were openings in the ice and get its delayed drink.  Delightful!

I have a few treats for you, if less weird than ice skating woodpeckers, then at least more accessible.

As some of you already know, I learned last Wednesday that my short story, “Fire-Bright Rain,” a prequel to my forthcoming novels Library of the Sapphire Wind (February 1) and Aurora Borealis Bridge (April 1) is available now, for free, here.

“Fire-Bright Rain” is set about twenty-five years earlier than the novels, and does provide a minor spoiler to the novel…  Minor in that it will reveal something that you learn within the first chapter or so of Library of the Sapphire Wind.  There is no crossover of characters, or spoilers for major situations, so you can read without fear, and just enjoy a look at a new world.

Also…  sneak peek at the opening section of Library of the Sapphire Wind is available here.  The entire novel is officially due for release on February 1, but is available for pre-order in both trade paperback and e-book at most of the booksellers of your choice.

But just because I have a new book coming out doesn’t mean I’ve stopped working.  Last week, I spent much of my time working on the new e-book edition of Child of a Rainless Year, a standalone novel of mine from 2005.  When working on that got to be too much, I worked on catching up on a mountain of office chores that I hadn’t kept up with because I’ve been doing production work on my three forthcoming books.

Now Child of a Rainless Year is off to production, the mountain is somewhat reduced, and this week I’ll see about alternating more office stuff with sending love letters to my Muse, telling her that I really didn’t mean to ignore her, and might she like to come back and play.

I have a story or two I’d love to write!

FF: A Free Read and More

Roary Steals the Skies

I learned on Wednesday that my short story, “Fire-Bright Rain,” a prequel to my forthcoming novels Library of the Sapphire Wind (February 1) and Aurora Borealis Bridge (April 1) is available now, for free, here.

“Fire-Bright Rain” is set about twenty-five years earlier than the novels, and does provide a minor spoiler to the novel…  Minor in that it will reveal something that you learn within the first chapter or so of Library of the Sapphire Wind.  There is no crossover of characters, or spoilers for major situations, so you can read without fear, and just enjoy a look at a new world.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading.  Two of the series I’m trying right now are due to FF reader mentions.

Completed:

The Liar’s Knot by M.A. Carrick.  Sequel to The Mask of Mirrors.  Almost done.  I’m enjoying very much.  The “knot” in the title has at least a double meaning, probably triple.  I approve.

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch.  Audiobook.  Book five in the series.  I skipped right into a major spoiler, but Aaronovitch is a skilled enough writer that I now want to read book four, as well as one and two.  This is not always the case for me, so praise is due.

In Progress:

Penric’s Mission by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Fourth in this series of novellas.  Combined with five, it would make a decent novel.  Since I read out of order, I had a few spoilers, but that hasn’t quenched my reading pleasure.

Stolen Skies by Tim Powers.  Third of his Castine and Vickerybooks.  This one takes on UFOs.  Some great visual images, as well as crop circles, cults, and cuisine.

Also:

Archeology Magazine with the summary of 2021 discoveries.  Discoveries seemed an odd mix of choices, but the longer articles have, overall, been quite good.

Eleven Years, 364 Days Wandering

Dandy Smiles for the Camera

The other day, Jim asked, “How long is it you’ve been doing your Wednesday Wanderings?” 

I checked and discovered that tomorrow, January 13, marks my first, very short post.  January 20, 2010 was my first longer post.  So, we’re coming up on twelve years.

During that time, I haven’t missed a week.

The Wednesday Wanderings are definitely wandery.  I wander on about everything from the birds in our yard to the garden to places we’ve been and, of course, about my work and writing in general.  Some of the columns about writing have been collected in a short book called Wanderings on Writing.

There are also, possibly, too many pictures of cats, guinea pigs, birds, lizards, as well as our garden, almost all taken by my husband, Jim Moore.

This coming year, as I mentioned last week, I have three books coming out in six months (Library of the Sapphire Wind, February; Aurora Borealis Bridge, April; A New Clan, with David Weber, June).  So, the WW will definitely have announcements about book releases, if I’ll be attending any cons, doing book events (virtual and otherwise), and the like.

It’s also a great place for you to ask your questions about my books, writing, and the like.

Also on the same site…  For seven years, Alan Robson of New Zealand and I collaborated on the Thursday Tangents.  He and I continue to correspond, and a little kiwi told me that a complete e-book with all the Thursday Tangents is in the works.

Somewhere in there, I added in the Friday Fragments: a more or less inclusive list of what I’m reading.  That’s still on-going.

If you want more, I erratically post to Twitter @JaneLindskold, and on Facebook. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed these twelve years as much as I have, and I look forward to continuing these pieces into 2022.

FF: Re-Reading SK4

Roary Dreams of Treecats

Mom left the 27th.  By the 28th, I was immersed in re-reading the fourth of the Star Kingdom books, written by me in collaboration with David Weber.  He’d just addressed the editor’s notes, and my job was to see how smoothly it went.  Since I hadn’t read the book since late 2020, I had a good, fresh point of view.

Oh, when will it be out?  June 2022, now titled A New Clan.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading.  Two of the series I’m trying right now are due to FF reader mentions.

Completed:

Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch. Audiobook.  Book three in the series.  Much enjoyed.

In Progress:

The Liar’s Knot by M.A. Carrick.  Sequel to The Mask of Mirrors.  Almost done.  I’m enjoying very much.  The “knot” in the title has at least a double meaning, probably triple.  I approve.

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch.  Audiobook.  Book five in the series.  I skipped right into a major spoiler, but Aaronovitch is a skilled enough writer that I now want to read book four, as well as one and two.  This is not always the case for me, so praise is due.

Also:

Archeology Magazine with the summary of 2021 discoveries.