Mary Sisson's Blog, page 55

Progress report

We're doing some family time today, but I managed to get in 620 words! Whoo!

What has changed, and what will change

Today was spent talking to lawyer--on the upside, this was the first lengthy lawyer conversation that did not involve metaphorical rat abatement and dangerous tree removal but rather the planning of a metaphorical dream garden, one that I can envision being a pleasure (and not too big a hassle) to take care of.

This is all very good, but the issue remains: No matter how efficient and productive my metaphorical yard becomes, I have taken on a new job. It's not a full-time job, but it is a definite time commitment.

The flip side of this is that I am really, really excited about Trials--quite possibly the most excited I have ever been since I began writing it. When I read over what was written earlier, it was the first time in memory that I really enjoyed reading it and felt like I really wanted to finish it--because it's going to be such a great book when it's done!

(Which makes me grateful I didn't decide to force myself to write it when I was miserable and depressed. Again, Accordion Crimes stands as a warning, and one that I am glad I heeded. I personally believe that you can tell if an author is engaged by a work or if they're just trudging through because they feel they have to finish it, and I really didn't want to do that to the Trang series.)

So I am thinking about ways of making production more efficient when that comes around. I think this will be the book where I pay for real layout software (renting Adobe's, methinks, rather than coughing up $850 for QuarkXPress)--that should make that process less of a drag. (I could pay someone to lay it out for me, but honestly, I think I'm too much of a control freak for that.)

You may have noticed that I abandoned working on the audiobook--it was really dull work, and I just didn't have the stomach for it. I kind of figured that I wouldn't ever finish, but now that I'm feeling more upbeat . . . I don't think I'd do all the books, but maybe just finish the first one? Sometime? I looked at Lindsay Buroker's blog, which I haven't done in a while, and I noticed that she didn't do any audiobooks after her first three--but she still gets readers from Podiobooks. So maybe that's the way to go--just make it another free edition.

When I get around to it, anyway--that's definitely way down the list. . . .

Progress report

970 words of Trials! Whoo! Here we go!

(And of course I set myself up so that I jumped right into something pretty X-rated. Starting out with a bang, I guess.)

Well, today blows

Best-laid plans...I was all excited yesterday, and then I ate a late dinner which kept me awake, and then the cat work me up early, so I got maybe five hours of sleep? The day has largely been spent staring off into space with my mouth open--I plan on turning on the television soon so that at least I'll be staring at something.

Planning on going to bed early tonight. Tomorrow!

Progress report

I got all riled up from my last post, and although I didn't have much time today, I did manage some expansion and editing! Yay!

Getting ready, getting set

So, there's some family stuff going on, but it should be manageable--I think I'll start writing again tomorrow. Actually I noticed that I'm getting into the make-work again, so I'm gonna be firm: Either I write tomorrow, or I tell you what I did instead. Punishment all around!

I just shouldn't make promises during the holiday season, right?

Yeah, I underestimated how much post-Christmas crap I had to do, so sorry about that. I'm getting my shot today instead of tomorrow in hopes of getting started sometime this week (although December is also Birthday Season in my family, and we've got yet another coming up--makes for a LOT of shopping at a time when sensible people try to avoid the mall).

Anyway, I've tidied the Web page a little, and I decided that I'm going to revamp the cover of the YA fantasy novel when I have the chance. I like the general concept, but I think putting a visual reference to video games on the cover sets up the expectation that the book has something to do with video games, which it absolutely does not. So I think I'll do something similar but using a more natural-looking dragon (which I shall probably cobble together from photographs of snakes and lizards, since I still can't draw).

Progress report

Yes! It is Christmas Eve, but I am making a progress report!

Some back story: The allergy shots were chugging along, and I only needed two more to reach the maintenance stage when I had a much more serious reaction to the shots than I'd had before (nothing life-threatening, don't worry). But the dose I reacted to was high enough that they can just put me on maintenance at a slightly lower dose. That means that instead of having a shot every three to four days, I can have a shot every two weeks--which is a much easier schedule.

With recovering from the bad reaction, the holidays, and the fact that I'm just kind of out of practice, I haven't been doing much--but my next shot is Tuesday, and I really wanted to get started before then.

So today I read over the Trials chapters--it's good! I'm looking forward to working on it! Tomorrow will be off for obvious reasons, but then I'm hoping Saturday through Monday will be a productive time....

I receive the third degree

I have two nieces, one seven years old and one ten. Last night, my sister and her husband wanted to go to a concert, so I baby-sat.

Everything was chugging along normally--I was reading in the kitchen--when the younger niece trundled down from upstairs with a copy of Trang in her hands.

NIECE: Who's Mary Sisson? [We're all named Mary, so at home I go by a family nickname.]

ME: That's me.

NIECE: Why is your name on this book?

ME: I wrote it.

NIECE: Do you think it's a good book?

ME: I wrote that book.

NIECE: Why does a curse appear [older niece joins in from the next room] just a few paragraphs into the book!

Le sigh. I went with the younger niece into the next room and explained to both children that a curse word appears on the first page because the soldiers curse a lot, and I wanted people who were bothered by cursing to know what they were getting into sooner rather than later. The older niece is just generally less prudish than the younger, so we spent a few fun-filled minutes imitating people who throw books across the room, shrieking, whenever they encounter a bad word.

I went back to the kitchen and my reading--and the younger niece joined me, opening Trang up on the kitchen table.

NIECE: I can see that bad word right there.

ME: That book is not for kids!

NIECE: Then why is it in the house?

ME: Because I wanted my sister to read it, and she isn't a kid!

NIECE: [Shuts book.] I know that bad word. I know five bad words.

I changed the subject, but when my sister got home she assured me that, had I asked, the niece would have been happy to share those five words with me....

How things are looking

So, a good deal of the things I was having to deal with earlier have been put to bed--there will still be maintenance, and I suspect March/April will be a busy time, but systems are in place, routines are being followed, and these days I almost never find myself fantasizing about tracking down some smooth-talking suit and shooting him in the head.

I'm still doing the allergy shots--there have been a couple of hiccups, but it looks like I will be able to finish the series, so yay. I've discovered I can keep to a two-shot-a-week schedule as long as I don't expect to get anything meaningful done on more than one front: Just one project, plus shots, that's it. I'll be traveling next week (something I look forward to in no small part because it will be a holiday from the shots) and then Thanksgiving comes along, but after that--we're keeping Christmas low-key, so the one project I work on could possibly be writing or editing, no? Maybe? Fingers crossed.

The shots should wind up in late December--early January at the latest---which should be very helpful.