P.C. Hodgell's Blog, page 24

Insight, sort of

A reader said that I'm one of the few authors who are accessible to my public. Really? If so, it's part of having been a teacher whose capitol was one's personality and personal experience. All fiction is a form of self-exposure. I try not to think about that as I write, but it's true. I can't help but think that part of my purpose still is to teach, if only by example. What you get out of it is your affair.

Criticisms Part Deux

Many thanks for all the words of encouragement. I'll print them out to remind myself that I can in fact do something(s) right.

Sorry for the uproar. When only a few people responded to the critiques, being in a black mood already I assumed that everyone agreed with them. Now I realize that only a few people read them. My fault for not realizing exactly how LJ works.

It's true, self-doubt can maim if not kill. Lots of creative people suffer from it. We don't live in a society that values cr...

Criticisms

I suppose, with two people having spoken up, that there are probably others with similar criticisms. To address a few of the points made:

1. I'm sorry to say that you're going to find some more references and quotes from the short stories in the first chapters of BiB. I did this because a) casual and new readers aren't likely to have read these stories, b)it's really hard to fit in background material when there are no surviving witnesses, and c) the plot points are so complicated that I t...

Sale!

I just heard from my agent that Baen is indeed going to buy the next Jame novel, the one I'm working on now. We haven't decided yet on a due date. Toni at Baen also says she wants it to contain at least one complete story. Am waiting for clarification on that since this is, after all, a series. I do try to finish at least one story arc per novel, though. Things could get tricky if she wants more than that. Anyway, this one will finish Jame's year at the college with suitable fireworks.

A...

Tidbit

Okay. Now to try it with the whole section. An edited version of this is what I read a worldcon, by the way

The Brandan and Caineron compounds occupied the northernmost halls of the Women's World. Both were large by its standards, but dwarfed by the empty halls beyond that extended to the far eastern walls and the Ghost Walks, former home of the Knorth.


Jame paused at a fountain in a courtyard between the two compounds, the last public source of water before the wastes beyond, and sank down ...

Help!

I'd like to publish a tidbit, but have lost the email that told me how to ... print below the fold, was it? To be continued elsewhere? Read more? I don't even know how to ask the question properly. Help!

Pirated Copies

Thanks for the heads-up about the pirated ebooks, everyone. I've forwarded the information to Jim Minz at Baen. Especially in light of "Bill's" extensive use of Baen's catalog, I should thing Baen would want to do something about it.

Post-Portland

Yes, I was out on the west coast again, again helping my friend Melinda with her two year old twins. The only day I took off (for a riding lesson with Joanne), Christopher fell, bit his lip, and nearly strangled on the blood. Meanwhile Catherine, feeling left out in the crisis, started hitting Melinda and screaming, "Bad mommy, bad mommy!" After that, I stayed on hand. It was horrendous. Dealing with the twins has given me some insight into Jame and Tori as toddlers, though. Jame probabl...

Post-worldcon

Yes, it's taken this long for me to get my breath back. They had me running around like mad to workshops, panels, readings, etc.

I also met with my agent Jennifer who tells me that things are going about as expected at Baen except that one of the main people in the front office has had a heart attack, thus slowing down everything. Bound in Blood is in production, though, so I guess my revisions were acceptable.

And I had dinner with Jim Minz of Baen, a nice chap, who asked me what I thought o...

Worldcon

I finally have my Montreal worldcon schedule.

Fri 12:30-2:00pm Knitting Circle
Fri 6:00-8pm Supper with publisher
Sat 11-noon Reading (with two others)
Sat 3-3:00 Autographing
Sat 7-8:30pm Beginning Crochet (kids' track)
Sun 11-1 pm workshop critique
Sun 5-6 pm Baen Traveling Slideshow
Sun 10-11pm Cross Genre hard SF (I may drop this one, not being a hard sf reader)
Mon 12:30-1:30 Koffeeklatch

So that gives you some idea where to find me if you're so inclined.

And now a question: have I ever est...