C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 220
June 7, 2009
We’re pushing the 300 mark…and let me do a restatement of Closed Circle’s purpose…
Just in case it’s so deeply buried nobody can find it.
We’re nearly to a new milestone, people. So glad to welcome the new members.
Here’s what we’re about. We’re 3 writers, myself, Jane Fancher, and Lynn Abbey, each one of which has a particular take on what’s going on in New York. I’m a science fiction writer who started in the 1970’s, with a long backlist, much of which is not in issue, and is being offered second-hand for exorbitant prices because New York isn’t handling backlist any longer. J
June 6, 2009
ok, my friends, we need new members…
We’ve usually gotten a few new people a day, but we’ve hit the doldrums of summer, new things to do, places to go—and our membership list is stuck at 262.
So if you have friends that would possibly be interested, slip them the URL. We can also use some younger folk: teens of the readerly persuasion would be helpful. If you know any, get them online. Youthful enthusiam is welcome here, and people won’t talk down to them.
And if anybody is lurking out there, aw, go ahead and register. You don’t get
June 5, 2009
38980 after erasure; and putting together the garden seating…
Freddy Myers was kind enough to put on drastic sale the garden seating set we’ve been eyeing and sighing over for 3 months now. Half price, and they would honor a 10% off coupon we had, plus other coupons for 5, 10, and whatever dollars all at once.
We got it in the Subaru (”You want to load it in a what?”) And tied the hatchdown and got it home without a ticket…being just a little smarter than the chap with the plywood load who’s making the rounds of the internet now.
It’s 2 park benches facing e
June 4, 2009
38296: we went skating, and I did pretty well getting my balance back…
pretty small group. We skated with Lisa, who’s a competitive skater, pretty to watch; and with one hockey guy who’s ok, and with our self-taught pairs couple; other than us, that was that. Pretty good ice. I got off a little early, when I began to get fatigued, but I was practicing for speed, and also doing some backward edge work.. It’s straightening up.
The book is coming along now. I’m hoping it’s about to turn a corner toward the direction I want it to go, but this crew is capable of surprisi
June 3, 2009
37303—we skated this morning, finally got our feet on the ice after 2 weeks…
It felt pretty good after the first 15 minutes. I’m working on my speed, and was pretty happy, except I’m just a little out of shape—over the last month, we’ve been much too sedentary.
Jane tried to fix that this afternoon: we went out to get some dirt, and a simple little tool called a ‘push drill.’ Two stores later we found one. But it has one of those easy-on collets, that doesn’t work: doesn’t go down properly.
The idea of this tool is simple mechanics: a drill bit sits on the end of a stick t
June 2, 2009
36416…erasing outline and writing forward…
Our accountant is being very unreasonable with us. He insists our year end account match the start of this fiscal year and we absolutely cannot figure out why it doesn’t. Jane is in the office, and only a fool would go in there and ask her how she’s doing.
I’m too muddle-headed with allergies to be any help at all.
It’s a balmy temperature outside, the birds are singing, the fish are swimming, and we’re in here battling the accounting hydra.
I am learning to use Paint Shop Pro. I actually got it t
June 1, 2009
36103 on Bren’s story, and I’m back at work, with energy, plus…
doing yet one more reformat on my mine canary book, The Writing Life, volume 1, aka, the first year of the venerable old Progress report, which I am preparing to put up on Closed Circle as a slicker and more amplified version of what is still online on the website. This one—I swear, all my learning curves are visible on it: you know, mine canaries, the birds that fall over if the mine isn’t safe—or the files don’t work in download. It’s going to be a free download. And I realize now the cover fi
May 31, 2009
10517 on the s/s story, and finished! some thoughts on sword and sorcery…
Sword & sorcery is fun to write, and D&D pretty well killed it. The anthology I talked about, Conquering Swords: the New Sword and Sorcery, is coming out from Prometheus Press, maybe from its Pyr imprint—details as I get them, and since their deadline is July, I’ll figure they’ll be out in December or January.
How did D&D kill sword & sorcery? They decided they were going into fiction writing and did it with all-rights purchase of books by novice writers—insisting, apparently, that they use the b
May 30, 2009
You’ll notice a new Page on the blog—up there ^^^ or over there
It’s a page called Writing for Fun and Profit…
Those of you who do may find it helpful; those of you who’ve not been bitten by the bug may find it illuminating, at least.
May 29, 2009
5912 words on the s/s piece, and we had a day…
Jane’s exhausted and has a sunburn because she got involved in trying to fix the sprinkler system—along with nasty sinusitis, now she has a feverish burn, a cough, and general exhaustion. She finally declared, after I had to break the news this morning that the sprinkler system is hitting cars traveling down the arterial, that she had to fix it—again. She got out there and dug it up again, made adjustments, nearly killed her hands trying to rotate that little top-thingie, and then—then did I men
