Miscellaneous Updating

 First things first: a bit over two weeks ago, our own Michelle Wood emailed me that she's done a wonderful video trailer for the Frontier Magic series. I've been planning to put a link to it on the website, but I'm in the downhill rush to finish the book and updating the web page is low, low priority. So I finally decided to mention it here, so people can start enjoying it. There'll be links on the website eventually, I promise.

Second, one of my cousins is taking a marketing class and needs a variety of people from all over to answer a survey. It's only two questions, so if you have a minute to pop over, it would be much appreciated.

And speaking of the book, I thought maybe folks would like an update. I'm supposed to be finished by next Monday. I'm not completely sure I'll make it; it took me 17 chapters to get them out of town this time, and the outbound leg of their trip is taking a lot longer than I expected, mainly because it has suddenly dawned on me that I have a trilogy's worth of plot lines to bring together in the last ten or so chapters, and I'd better get started.

For those who are interested: there will be quite a bit more of the mammoth in The Far West than there was in either Thirteenth Child or Across the Great Barrier, and I apologize for making you wait so long for it. Also, I finally talked my Cathayan Master Adept character into paying a visit to Mill City (she was supposed to show up in Across the Great Barrier, but she absolutely refused to waste her time that way). It's a very short visit, unfortunately, but it means that there will be at least a little more about Hijero-Cathayan style magic and the Cathayan Confederacy.

Once the first draft is done and turned in, I get to take a short break (emphasis on "short"). I'm planning to be at Wiscon this year, though I'm not on any programming, and Elizabeth Bear, Lois Bujold, and I will be giving a pre-convention writing workshop for Fourth Street Fantasy convention in June. Somewhere in there, I'll have to have a talk with my agent about the perennial What To Write Next question. I'll probably get the editorial revision requests in July or early August, which means odds are good that they'll overlap with the release of Across the Great Barrier, and since I really don't want to wait until September to start Whatever The Next Book Is, I'll probably be too busy to think straight for a couple of weeks.

Minor miscellaneous jobs include the aforementioned update of the web page, reviewing the spring royalty statements (which are due at the end of April and May) and finishing the update to the royalty tracking database, a long skull session with my agent regarding all sorts of subrights, and swapping out the research materials for the last three books from the shelves near my computer to the main reference shelves (which are farther away). I also will probably need to do a fair amount of research for Whatever The Next Book Is, one way or another. Oh, and updating my Quicken categories to make next year's taxes easier, because they changed some of the lines again.

And that's just the writing stuff. There are dust T. Rexes under the bed, I have about eight loads of laundry stacked up, and there are still at least four large boxes of my mother's fabric stash to sort through and perhaps turn into something wearable. I have ongoing paperwork to do for my mother's estate, and I really ought to plan something for my Dad's 91st birthday besides a phone call! If I'm going to plant basil this year, I need to get the seeds started now, and dig over the garden as soon as it stops raining. The cats need vet appointments for their annual shots. I am at least 400 books behind on my To Read shelf. And let's not even talk about the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) that are my knitting and cross-stitch projects.

In other words, my life is pretty much like everyone else's - full to bursting with Stuff To Do, and unlikely to change any time soon. But right now, I have a hot cup of tea, one cat on my lap (who is purring loudly because she is making me sit sideways to type, which always pleases her greatly) and another cat perched on top of the computer pillar in Standard Cat Meatloaf Position #3, and I'm going back to finish up Chapter 22. Life is good.