Jules Jones's Blog, page 69
September 30, 2011
a warm late summer's day, spoilt only by party conference season
It was for the third day running a lovely warm day more suited to mid-summer than a week after the equinox. So much so that our lunchtime expedition to have drinkies to celebrate a colleague's promotion had to abandon our original target and head for a pub with a bigger beer garden to sit in, because everyone else in the city centre had had the same idea about it would be nice to sit outside and drink beer at lunchtime.
It probably didn't help that the city centre population is somewhat swollen owing to an infestation of politicians. The Tories are having their party conference here, and while the extra business is doubtless very nice for the assorted sellers of beer and other comestibles, the rest of us get to pay for it in the form of the temporary security cordon and its accompanying traffic jams. I suppose it could be worse -- a couple of years ago we had a party conference while the gas people were busy digging up Deansgate. That was a seriously impressive traffic jam...
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/154859.html, where it has received
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It probably didn't help that the city centre population is somewhat swollen owing to an infestation of politicians. The Tories are having their party conference here, and while the extra business is doubtless very nice for the assorted sellers of beer and other comestibles, the rest of us get to pay for it in the form of the temporary security cordon and its accompanying traffic jams. I suppose it could be worse -- a couple of years ago we had a party conference while the gas people were busy digging up Deansgate. That was a seriously impressive traffic jam...
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/154859.html, where it has received
comments.
September 29, 2011
market for further consideration
To remind myself to think about it at the weekend, Pink Narcissus Press have a call for submissions for the second volume of Queer Fish: http://pinknarc.com/submissions.htm
It might be a good fit for "And if I Offered Thee a Bargain" if I want to go print for 1c a word rather than muck about with self-publishing. Yes, this does mean that I'm still not enthralled with the idea of working out how to do layout and the like in electronic format, let alone wrestling with the horrors that lie in wait in the "be your own Publisher" contracts.
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/154287.html, where it has received
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It might be a good fit for "And if I Offered Thee a Bargain" if I want to go print for 1c a word rather than muck about with self-publishing. Yes, this does mean that I'm still not enthralled with the idea of working out how to do layout and the like in electronic format, let alone wrestling with the horrors that lie in wait in the "be your own Publisher" contracts.
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/154287.html, where it has received
comments.
September 28, 2011
LibraryThing Early Reviewer gloating
I have just got home from the day job to find an email notifying me that I have won an LTER review copy of Edward Gorey's "The Lions". This will doubtless make one or two of my flist rather jealous. Of course, if it gets eaten by the Post Office on its way to me you can all point and laugh.
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Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/153714.html, where it has received
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September 27, 2011
Disapora...
...I have one: https://diasp.org/people/36298
Whether I'll use it is another matter, but given that this is where the G+ refuseniks and exiles in my social circles are heading, I thought I'd grab one.
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Whether I'll use it is another matter, but given that this is where the G+ refuseniks and exiles in my social circles are heading, I thought I'd grab one.
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/153516.html, where it has received
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September 26, 2011
wordage...
...happened. As noted earlier, yesterday 330 words of rough notes, to bring the file to 18031 total, and today 413, for a total of 18444.
There is still no actual sex scene, which may be an issue. :-) I thought I'd get to the first sex scene before 20 kwords, but I'm starting to doubt it now. Of course, some of the current wordage may get trimmed on second pass, but I've no idea how much yet. I do hope this one isn't going to go DD on me and be over 100k even after the trimming pass. I get enough comments as it is about that book spending a great deal of time talking about nothing much without adding another wordy book, especially one that's supposed to be action adventure.
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There is still no actual sex scene, which may be an issue. :-) I thought I'd get to the first sex scene before 20 kwords, but I'm starting to doubt it now. Of course, some of the current wordage may get trimmed on second pass, but I've no idea how much yet. I do hope this one isn't going to go DD on me and be over 100k even after the trimming pass. I get enough comments as it is about that book spending a great deal of time talking about nothing much without adding another wordy book, especially one that's supposed to be action adventure.
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/153316.html, where it has received
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on RSS feeds
I've just discovered that someone has put the RSS feed of my LiveJournal on my author page at GoodReads, and furthermore discovered that I'm not comfortable with this.
I deliberately chose not to put the feed on my Amazon author page. The public posts on this LJ/DW are public -- anyone who wants to read them is welcome to do so. But it seems to me that there's a difference between people coming here to read them, and people reading them on what purports to be an Official Author Page. My LiveJournal/DreamWidth is just that, a journal and ongoing context-is-for-the-weak conversation with a bunch of my friends, and it explicitly says that on my profile page. Even without that, it's fairly obvious from context when you read the comments that this is what's going on. I think that having the posts scraped to some other site makes it look as if it's my Official Author Blog done for publicity purposes. Which given the whining about medical problems, and wittering about cybermats -- yeah. Not so much.
This was always a risk with having my LJ open other than some fairly specific posts, but it's the first time it's really become an issue. I suspect that a higher percentage of posts are going to be locked in future.
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/152885.html, where it has received
comments.
I deliberately chose not to put the feed on my Amazon author page. The public posts on this LJ/DW are public -- anyone who wants to read them is welcome to do so. But it seems to me that there's a difference between people coming here to read them, and people reading them on what purports to be an Official Author Page. My LiveJournal/DreamWidth is just that, a journal and ongoing context-is-for-the-weak conversation with a bunch of my friends, and it explicitly says that on my profile page. Even without that, it's fairly obvious from context when you read the comments that this is what's going on. I think that having the posts scraped to some other site makes it look as if it's my Official Author Blog done for publicity purposes. Which given the whining about medical problems, and wittering about cybermats -- yeah. Not so much.
This was always a risk with having my LJ open other than some fairly specific posts, but it's the first time it's really become an issue. I suspect that a higher percentage of posts are going to be locked in future.
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/152885.html, where it has received
comments.
writing decisions...
I've taken a day's holiday today, and amongst other things am trying to do a bit of writing, being actually capable of it for the first time in weeks. Yesterday morning I bashed out 330 words of notes for a scene much later in the book, so that I don't forget them, but now I'm thrashing out the next in-sequence scene. And wondering exactly how much Anglican neepery I ought to put into it. Church of England neepery is important to the book's structure, but some of the underpinning goes beyond my casual knowledge. Most of it is the sort of thing that is easy to do some basic research online without having to even go pester the local vicar, because we are an online church, oh yes indeed, but I'm going to have to watch that I don't then succumb to a case of "my research, let me show you it". Particularly as my publisher and most of my readership is American. Also, that way lies cat-vacuuming...
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Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/152596.html, where it has received
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September 24, 2011
Doctor Who
Cybermats! Whee!
But since when have cybermats had *teeth* like that? Scary, scary teeth?
Oh, and trailer for next week? I have been wondering about someone for quite some time, wondering if it's going to play out the way that trailer implies. And even so I'm still not sure if it's a double bluff...
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/152207.html, where it has received
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But since when have cybermats had *teeth* like that? Scary, scary teeth?
Oh, and trailer for next week? I have been wondering about someone for quite some time, wondering if it's going to play out the way that trailer implies. And even so I'm still not sure if it's a double bluff...
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/152207.html, where it has received
comments.
August 2011 book log
I actually had this ready to go two weeks ago, but I've had fun and games with medication side-effects all month and haven't felt up to posting much. You can find the detailed notes for each book by looking at LibraryThing or my blog entries for the dates noted.
74) Alexander McCall Smith -- Corduroy Mansions
Good-natured and enjoyable, but about two-thirds of the way through I found that it simply wasn't holding my interest any longer. Logged 28 August.
LibraryThing entry
75) Reginald Hill -- A Pinch of Snuff
Previously reviewed when I read it in 2006, at LiveJournal and at LibraryThing
LibraryThing entry
76) Colin Kapp -- Patterns of Chaos
This is a solid piece of 1970s space opera, with a plot on the grand scale combined with some fascinating details to flesh out the universe, and some well-realised characters. Logged 3 September.
LibraryThing entry
77) Bernard Knight -- the Witch Hunter
The eighth in a crime fiction series set in the twelfth century, following the cases of Crowner John, a knight who has been appointed as the first coroner of Devon by Richard the Lionheart. This was the first I'd read, and will be the last even though I have another in the TBR pile, because it was a Did Not Finish for me. Logged 3 September.
LibraryThing entry
78) Jacqueline Rayner -- Doctor Who: The Stone Rose
Seventh of the tie-in novels to go with New Who, and the first featuring the Tenth Doctor. Logged 11 September.
LibraryThing entry
79) Pati Nagle - Pet Noir
Short fix-up novel about a genetically engineered cat whose creation is commissioned by the security chief of a large space station. The chief wants an undercover agent who'll be overlooked by criminals who might be suspicious of humanoids. Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers on September 11.
LibraryThing entry
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/151870.html, where it has received
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74) Alexander McCall Smith -- Corduroy Mansions
Good-natured and enjoyable, but about two-thirds of the way through I found that it simply wasn't holding my interest any longer. Logged 28 August.
LibraryThing entry
75) Reginald Hill -- A Pinch of Snuff
Previously reviewed when I read it in 2006, at LiveJournal and at LibraryThing
LibraryThing entry
76) Colin Kapp -- Patterns of Chaos
This is a solid piece of 1970s space opera, with a plot on the grand scale combined with some fascinating details to flesh out the universe, and some well-realised characters. Logged 3 September.
LibraryThing entry
77) Bernard Knight -- the Witch Hunter
The eighth in a crime fiction series set in the twelfth century, following the cases of Crowner John, a knight who has been appointed as the first coroner of Devon by Richard the Lionheart. This was the first I'd read, and will be the last even though I have another in the TBR pile, because it was a Did Not Finish for me. Logged 3 September.
LibraryThing entry
78) Jacqueline Rayner -- Doctor Who: The Stone Rose
Seventh of the tie-in novels to go with New Who, and the first featuring the Tenth Doctor. Logged 11 September.
LibraryThing entry
79) Pati Nagle - Pet Noir
Short fix-up novel about a genetically engineered cat whose creation is commissioned by the security chief of a large space station. The chief wants an undercover agent who'll be overlooked by criminals who might be suspicious of humanoids. Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers on September 11.
LibraryThing entry
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September 21, 2011
contract renewal time...
...on Promises To Keep. Which is a reminder that it's 7 years since it was acquired by Loose Id for their first slate of Halloween stories. Where has the time gone?
It still sells a handful of copies each month -- I will be interested to see if there is any boost this month, as it got a good review from Brief Encounters a couple of weeks ago.
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/151682.html, where it has received
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It still sells a handful of copies each month -- I will be interested to see if there is any boost this month, as it got a good review from Brief Encounters a couple of weeks ago.
Mirror of http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org/151682.html, where it has received
comments.
