Judith Tarr's Blog, page 10

Wow, that got interesting

In a good way. It seems people as knows what they're talking about think I should try a Kickstarter with the YA novel revision. I am seriously considering it. Introductory video would have fat white ponies in it.

This would be a rewrite of a completely new novel, which editors have wanted but sales departments have not known how to sell. And now there is Book View Cafe, and sartorias with absolutely kickass editorial notes that mean a solid rewrite. And the price of hay is not (oh god, not) going down.

So. I'm studying up on how this works, having big wibbles about what if nobody comes to the party, and all that. As one does. But it could be so. much. Fun. to rewrite this puppy, and come up with cool rewards, and try something that's very much the wave of the now.

Meanwhile there is this month's hay bill. So, between now and Presidents' Day in the US (February 20th for the rest of the world), I am having a sale. Mentoring 5 hours/$180 (a $20 saving) and Camp Lipizzan book 4 nights or more, get 1 night free (4 nights = $475). Help feed ponies! Come write and do yoga and play with ponies! Email capriole at gmail dot com for available dates and possibilities. Please feel free to pass the word.

Mentoring and Camp details are here. Hourly rate is 'way outdated, and the person who could fix it is sunning herself in sunny LA this weekend because she works for a label that got a nomination and she's going to the Grammys (proud-sister moment here)--it's really $40. But the rest more or less makes sense.

And while I'm on the writing thing, I got carried away yesterday. I read Nora Jemisin's devastating and brilliant blog entry on the unrelenting white-maleness of the sf future, and my brain went sprrrroiiiinnnnggggg! and lo! flash story (it's all la_marquise_de_ 's fault). We'll see if someone wants to buy it. It's out to a market now.

I love when that happens.

In Fat White Ones news, Pooka is recovering from his latest adventure. His cannon is still a bit swollen but the tendon is OK, and he has a big knot on the opposite side of his withers, which is an exacerbation of a side effect of the original injury. We are gently helping him to work through this. He is already in Spring Hormones and is not as cooperative as he might be, but he's taking it like a gentleman.

Mostly.

Yesterday for some reason they all, mares included, wanted me to work on their necks. Tia was particularly interested, and Pandora was insistent. I don't know exactly what that was about; I just work here. But that's the way it was.

I do not know where January went

but it pretty definitely did go...somewhere. I was away for a couple of days, being birthdayed, which included a very nice lunch at the Desert Museum. The hummingbirds were nesting in their aviary (and there were wild ones humming around outside). Best moment was when we were standing in the path and a very tiny, very indignant green mama bird buzz-bombed me at hip height. I looked up and she had a nest right above my head. Oops, I said, and got out of the way. She perched on a branch at chest height, visibly pleased with herself. Got rid of that intruder, by gummy. Or hummy.

I've never seen the hummers quite this interactive. A beautiful little male with an iridescent purple frill let us spend quite a bit of time watching his feathers shimmer.

Pooka has injured himself Yet Again. This time it was purely my fault. I was in Writer Brainspace, autopiloting through morning chores, and did not fasten a crucial gate. Came out of the shower to find the horse in Pooka's usual snooze spot at that time of the morning to be several inches taller, with a mane on the wrong side. Ephiny. And masses of big white butts all over his daytime stalls and paddock. No Pooka.

I beat feet out there and found him behind Pandora, in the middle of a pile of downed fence panels, with his forefoot caught in between two of them. She was keeping the others away and making sure he didn't freak out. Which was a good thing because it was not a good position for him to be in.

I extricated him. I got the horses out. I determined that there was no serious or permanent damage (and he hadn't got at the mares after bringing down the panels in his attempt to get at the very much in heat Pandora--who at 25 is well past anything coming of it, though believe me if anything could, we would be thrilled), and it was the diagonal leg to the one he caught in the fence (Not through my fault) in October and reinjured (on stall rest, no less) ten days later. Did not need vet. Did need to be wrapped for a couple of days, and he's still in Pooka Jail at night, aka the stallion stall, though he's notably quieter if I let him have his daytime turnout (with gates carefully and scrupulously secured).

Oy. Writer brain and horsecare brain do not work well together. It's also not good for rider brain or trainer brain. I'm trying to get them sorted out, and really trying not to get absentminded. Oy.

Some of what I've been doing has been, with the help of idiomagic and her lovely partner, getting the Hound&Falcon books scanned and ready to e-publish through Book View Cafe. Pub dates are May 1st, June 5th, and July 3rd. They'll get kindlenooked after they've been BVC'ed for a couple of weeks. Also, working on short stuff, and casting a very hairy eyeball at a YA novel that BVC will publish when it's been revised to its editor's strict specifications. Perfect BVC project: too far off the wall for the big guys (it got to "editor loves it, marketing couldn't make sense of it at all" a number of times before the agents and I agreed it would be better off with our very experimental and well-respected co-op), but we all still want to see it out and about and finding readers. Some things about the new publishing landscape are rough--I really really miss getting paid before I write the book--but the ability to cut loose and do what I really want to do, versus what I'm told to do in hopes that it will sell in an increasingly constricted and difficult market, is a very nice thing.

We've also been finding out what all the rocks around here are. Need more examination, but my friend the archaeologist thinks, based on the evidence, that they're Cienega Period--preceramic, 2-3000 years. Hear me squee. Lately I've been getting lots of arrowheads in various stages of completion. Lots. Also, learning (slowly) to recognize the signs of proto-agriculture, which miraculously did not get bladed or built over when the property was developed. I want to learn more. More more more. MOAR!

And then, you know, write stories. Because that's what I do. When I'm not leaving gates open and getting in trouble with fat white ponies.

Signs of Life

I owe you all a nice, long, chewy post. In the meantime, have a pooka.

Monday Morning, with Mother Stones

...which turned up all over the place this morning. Create! Make! Write write write!

But as always, Life wants to interveneth. We are emerging from an unusually busy (in a predominantly good way) holiday, and I spent last week recharging and rebooting. December was a long rush of work, family, Camp, and Weather. The last meant much rain, much cold, much mud, and nonstop Blanket Brigade. Some days they never got out of blankets at all, and when they did, there were many pounds of muddy, sloppy fabric to haul and hang and clean. Riding got very short shrift, and even groundwork fell off the radar for days at a time.

I did try to keep up with Pooka's PT. He's still not up to being ridden; whatever he tweaked in there was deep, and is taking a long time to resolve. He had another massage session, which made him very happy, and S called him a "brave little pony," which he was. Now he gets PT in some form every day: groundwork, in-hand work, and exercises to help him get his back end back in gear. He seems to be at a standstill, but I have noticed a slow return of muscle tone here and there.

In the meantime Capria is demanding the bulk of my time. So is Ephiny, who will go back under saddle very shortly, and Gabriella, who is quite insistent. And Tia, of course. Tia is starting to think she should get serious about this, now she's worn a saddle and everything.

Everybody got a chance to show off at December Camp, which happened very quickly; I had basically ten days to put it together, but the Campers have been here many times before and it was simply a matter of making up a grocery list, cleaning the heck out of the house, and letting it happen.

It was a yoga intensive this time, with S clinic in addition (when Pooka got his massage). Very interesting. Good time for all.

As soon as the Campers left--same day, later in the day-- smoemeth arrived for the holidays. And that began the family part of the adventure. I spent nearly a week at my mom's, sleeping in and being social, and it was a very good break from the farm. Highlights of the holiday lootfest were the Star Wars cook's apron, complete with appliqued Storm Trooper helmet, and the package of S lessons, which I will be using as soon as Ephiny is ready to get back to saddle work.

Also during all this, through the good offices of the co-op at Book View Cafe, we brought out Lord of the Two Lands as an ebook (which I put on Kindle and the Nook thereafter). And I kept doing the Horseblog--have one today, in fact. The current line of discussion--worldbuilding with horses--seems to be turning into a blog series, which means it will end up being another ebook.

Now all that is done and we're on the long road down through another year. I don't do resolutions, but I do have goals. I want to ride more. Write more. Use my time more wisely. I'm hoping to get more ebooks up from the backlist--I have a promise to keep to several fans--and am working with BVC on an actual, new, original book. It got to the "editors love it, sales force can't make sense of it" stage several times, and YA agent finally gave me her blessing to take it indie.

Because, when I'm loose on the world and not being smacked into compliance by agents or editors with contracts in hand, I have this...little issue with boundaries. Genre boundaries, to be precise. The book is sf. And fantasy. And contemporary. And historical. Also, YA.

In short--a perfect project for Book View Cafe, which lives to experiment. So I've got my editorial letter, and am at the stalking warily around the ms., sniffing, occasionally nipping, and snarling to myself stage. Which soon will become the typing frantically (and still snarling) stage.

Which goes along with Sekrit Projekt. Also, a podcast at Escape Pod this week, which I found about last week. Should go up later in the week.

I manage to keep busy.

Oh, and Camp? Have openings for February, and for March which will be part of a week-long yoga-horses-writing retreat with Desert Horse Yoga and the Inn at Civano. April's booked. June's booked. Latter half of May is open. If you've been thinking about trying it, now's the time. The weather is usually lovely in the winter and spring. All the rain in the fall and early winter should give us spectacular wildflowers starting late in February. And besides, Lipizzans. And all the other Cool Stuff.

Drive-By Blogging

I've been trying to post for a week or two, but manage to time my posting attempts to the latest round of DDoS attacks. You think it's something I said?

We are all alive. Pooka is still healing--it's slow. Now he's in blankets (plural) as we go through an early onslaught of Real Winter. Cold days, frosty nights. Hard freeze tonight. We are testing the heated water tub. Will see how that looks in the morning.

Without Pooka to ride, I'm totally unfocused on the riding front. Capria is getting disgusted. Must try to do better, though the arena is underwater and it's cooooold. As in, highs in the 40sF. Even in New England, for early December that's brisk.

We've had much rain, as well--supposedly a La Nina year, but so far it's been a lovely wet fall and early winter. If we get any rain at all in January and February, the spring wildflower season will be off the charts. Autumn rains trigger the seeds to germinate. Winter rains help them along.

Now we're in the Holiday Black Hole Cluster. This year will be more interesting than most: we're having a Yoga/Horse/Writing retreat starting a week from Friday, and Camp Lipizzan in and around that. Much cleaning and prepping to do there.

And! I have a book coming. My World Fantasy Award nominee, working-titled "Alexander the Great in Egypt," is coming out in ebook form from Book View Cafe basically, now. It's called Lord of the Two Lands, and it's here. It's DRM-free, and has mobi/Kindle and epub versions.

Just for pretty, here's the cover:

Early-Winter Randomness

Last week was Manic Week. Dinner out with alfreda89 , and much good book talk and Book View talk and writer talk. Visit from the lady who belongs to Pooka's dad, who lives near Seattle, with much good horse talk. Much yardwork and barn work. Much Arranging to get moved over from Big Evil Bank to local credit union. First big winter storm of the season--half an inch of rain, always badly needed in these parts, and accompanying rounds of Blanket Brigade. Today was Me Go Thud Day. Much wrangling of blankets and rain sheets--more rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow--and I did a Mind Meld for SF Signal (comes out on Tuesday). But otherwise I was horizontal a lot.

Pooka is getting better. He's not holding his sore leg up weirdly when he walks any more. The cuts (all superficial) are solidly scabbed over. He's getting a blanket at night, both because it's brisk out there and because it keeps the torn muscles warm. He gets Imperious if I'm too slow to get it on him as the sun drops and the temperature drops with it.

I have been seriously frustrated about not riding enough. So am making a point of it, even if for just 15 minutes. Capria yesterday. Pandora today. Both out and about the property (if you've seen the trailer for HOUSE OF THE STAR, you've seen what we've been doing). Tomorrow we'll see what the weather and the footing are like. I have plenty of volunteers. Had to take some time to groom and handle Ephiny tonight after she grabbed the halter I had for Pandora and put it on herself. I can take a hint. Groundwork in saddle next. I'll be getting back on her within a week or two.

After all the fuss and disappointment, I wasn't so sorry to miss the Roundup after all--we had a wet, wild, windy night and it was a cold and raw morning. Pooka would Not have had a good time. He's having trouble enough dealing with cold, owies, and his personal private human riding EVERYBODY ELSE BUT HIM GODDAMMIT.

Now that it's abruptly winter--it was 80F on Friday and barely cracked 60 today--the cats are very, very, verrrrry friendly. I sit down and there's a pile. When they're not mobbing me, they're bouncing off walls. Even Hillary, now the elder statesman, has been reprising his youthful superhero act: The Flying Fluffball.

When we have Weather, we get spectacular cloud effects. Yesterday was one I'd never seen before.


That's muddy!Gabriella in the foreground.

And in closeup:



It looks rather like the prow of a dragon ship.

Then there was a familiar (and fitting) configuration--mares' tails!


This week I hope will be less crazed and more with the writing and the riding. I'm almost done with the Great Bank Transfer--hope to close my account ca. Wednesday. And there will be White Horse Yoga on Friday, for 11/11/11. Because. You know.

Plots and Reversals

Pooka has not been having a good month. After putting his foot through the fence hollering at mares and needing the vet, he proceeded to get well quickly--then late last week he had a spectacular meltdown over Pandora being in fall heat (the last volcanic eruption of hormones before the winter shutdown) and sprained himself but good. S came to give him a massage on Tuesday and opined that this is going to take a while. As in, "let him just hang out for a couple of weeks, don't give him too much turnout, and try to keep him quiet. Then we'll see."

In the meantime the truck needs major work (sale going on through Monday if you've been thinking about mentoring, Camp, or other things), and we've been completely unable to find transport, so we won't be able to make it to the Roundup. We kind of get the message, Universe. No idea why that was waved in front of us. Maybe it's a setup for something bigger and better later?

Mr. Studly is not keeping very quiet. At all. But he does seem to be, very slowly, getting less sore.

Today we had yoga, which had been scheduled to help get ready for the Roundup, but turned into a very interesting, quiet hour and a half of psoas and balance work. Gabriella, who usually will have nothing to do with it, was front-row center. Camilla was telling stories to everybody.

Tia had much thinking to do. She's working on being a grownup horse instead of a baby, has grown and filled out noticeably, and has mellowed out a fair bit. At the end of the session, we noticed she was over by the fence, practicing for herself the psoas exercises we'd been doing earlier, wearing the horse equivalent of a frown of concentration (ears slanted back and sideways). She was shifting her back legs one at a time, and stretching and rebalancing and experimenting. The Self-Training Horse(tm) at work.

Very strange interlude: Gabriella getting massage/energy work from Yoga-J. Eyes half shut, ears intent. Carrma comes over, and inch by inch lines herself up until she's nose to nose, about eight feet apart. Ears pricked, then relaxed as Gabriella relaxes.

No idea what that was, but they were seriously into it. Energy transfer?

Pooka was all hormones and snorting and chasing his tail, but he calmed down a great deal as the session went on. He seemed a bit less sore at the end.

Amid this we plotted some awesomeness. We've booked the Inn at Civano, which is just a few minutes away, from December 16th-18th for a Solstice Retreat with White Horses and Writing and Yoga. Yoga/herd yoga/writing workshop. I could be persuaded to combine that with a one- or two-person Camp earlier on in the week and leading up to the weekend, if anyone is interested. Normally I don't do Camp in December, but for this, I would make an exception.

The idea of the weekend is that people get together, some stay at Civano and possibly a couple here, and we do Camp Lipizzan things and yoga things and spa things, and have a communal dinner on Saturday at Civano. There's a big one planned for March around the Equinox. This is the beta for that. The theme for the Solstice will be opening up your writer mind, working through writer's block (and body block and any other kind of block) and looking ahead to the new year. Long Dance! Sunreturn! And nine white horses.

And you heard it here first.

I'm looking forward to it, a lot. Also to trying for more writing time and less general farp and frustration in between now and then. Trying for my own de-blocking and de-stressing. Wish me luck?

Monday Morning Starts with a Bang (of hungry horses' hooves on stall bars)

Now that everybody's back online after the weekend, here's a reminder that we are having a Sale. Mentoring, Camp Lipizzan, and dragons' teeth. Through Halloween. Grab it now while it's fresh.

Full details here.

In other news, Pooka has reinjured himself. Major sprain of the entire right rear quadrant. We're looking at the long rehab now. Grrrr. No Roundup for him. Probably not for us, either, since all our usual haulage suspects are unavailable.

It's Pandora's fault. He hurt himself originally showing off for her, and she teased him so badly late last week, he melted down completely and made it all worse. Naughty, naughty Pandora.

Times like this, I tend to retreat into fiction (writing, not reading). My downcycle is readers' gain. So not all is lost here in Mondayland.

Also, we have Cute Kitties. Minnow appreciates all the worship and the adoration. It's only right, of course, but she's a well-brought-up Regal Kitty. Thank you all, she says, and when you visit you may pet Me.

Sunday Cat Fix

Minnow arrives just as I start to get up and feed the horses.

"Of course you don't need to go out and feed those humongous gooshy-fuds on the hoof. You must stay and worship Me."

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The Late Great Baby Needs New Brakes Sale

In the past ten days we've had a veterinary emergency, four bad vaccine reactions out of nine (everybody is recovering), and this morning I dropped Le Truck off for a $250 service and at noon was told it needs ten times that. That's three ZOMG's, right? We're done now, right? Right?

I'm taking the Sears card tomorrow and getting the tires. The brakes are not anywhere in the budget. Not Even Close.

So. Free-enterprise time. I normally do this sale over the holidays, but this year we'll celebrate Samhain instead. I've even got something new to offer, for them as appreciates such things.

Mentoring and Editing

Detailed description of services here. Short form: Personally tailored instruction, editing, copyediting, whatever you need. I can work with you from the very beginning or run line edits on your completed ms., and a wide range in between.

For this sale, I'm offering a 5-hour block for $175, which is a $25 saving over the regular rate. This is enough time for review and discussion of a submission package, review and development of a plot or synopsis, or full-on line editing of about 25 pages (double-spaced, 250 words per page). I can run an individualized short course in one aspect of craft--plotting, for example, or worldbuilding, or prose style. This would be a great lead-in to NaNoWriMo, or a great way to get a professional beta read on the opening of your NaNo ms. come early December.

Previous clients are more than welcome to apply. I bank hours--you don't have to use yours immediately. Just keep in touch and let me know when you'll be needing them.

Horse Camp for Writers

This is Camp Lipizzan, famed in song and story. Details here. Three to five days or more in sunny Arizona, with Lipizzans. And lessons in riding and in equine body language. And White Horse Herd Yoga, which we believe is the first of its kind.

Our normal rate ranges from $350 per person for two nights/three days, third night $75, and $50 per night thereafter. Rate includes room with shared bath (one with double bed, the other with a double plus a single), large family room/library for writing and gathering, meals, free wi-fi, airport pickup and delivery (Tucson International is 25 minutes away), room cat and farm dog if desired, and hot and cold running Lipizzans. Riding lessons and yoga additional. You can have a workshop with me, or enjoy a writer's retreat, or use the farm as a base for sightseeing around Southern Arizona--the possibilities are endless.

For the Baby Needs New Brakes Sale, I'm offering a deal: Book four or more nights and pay in full by October 31st, and I'll add a fifth (or sixth or...) night free. That's $475 per person for six days/five nights.

I have openings in these ranges of dates:

November 12-18

November 25-December 10

January 2-March 9 (the Tucson Festival of Books is March 10th and 11th--if you come for the week, I can add another two nights for $75, though the meals option disappears as I'll be at the Festival)

April 1-15

May 7-30

And from July 1, 2012 onward (with some exceptions), but for now we're booking what adds up to the rest of the current school year.

Gifts from the Old Ones

And now the new thing: a box of prehistoric stone tools and projectiles, found by me on my private land. As lithics and as tools or points found on the surface of my own land, they are legal. The objects range from tiny (half an inch or smaller) to middle-sized (two to three inches--I have larger pieces, but those run in three or four figures on the pros' sites). Some are carved from fossilized bones (dinosaurs, mostly). There are arrowheads, spearheads, axeheads, knives or razors, and various tools. From the evidence, this was a manufacturing site, so many of the pieces may have been made right here.

I will ship you, with signed provenance, a box of selected items, like so:

6 items: $30

12 items: $50

US shipping $5 per box.

I can send you a photo of what you're getting before I pack it. If you have preferences (fossils, pointy things, tools, odd-shaped bits) let me know.


Here's an example of what I've been finding--this batch was heavy on the spearpoints and the fossils:


Questions? Email me at capriole at that gmail thing. Payment by check or Paypal (add 5% for Paypal fees).

Please feel free to boost the signal. And thank you.