Elizabeth Kerner asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Now that I find astounding. I expect to get that sort of nonsense, I have three books out and folk think that I must be desperate for ideas (really not, thanks) - but you must have a reinforced mantlepiece to hold all the Hugos! Or do you keep them in your office? Sorry to be so obvious with the initial question. My publisher is wanting 'more of the same' and I'm finding it a bit of a trial. Cheers, Elizabeth

Lois McMaster Bujold (This refers back to this OP: https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1... If follow-ups aren't in the comments section, they risk getting separated from their context when the Q&A column gets presented in some other order than chronological.)

I think the fan pleas are more in the nature of a wish-list.

Re: publishers, you have to learn to read publisher-speak. What they are really saying is that they want something that will sell as well or better than whatever came before. Strict series work is an economic security blanket for them. To be sure, they presumably bought the earlier work because they liked it and it seemed what they were looking for.

Tor editor Theresa Nielsen Hayden had a classic rant from the editor's side about "writers as otters" on the subject. Short version: when you try to train an otter to do a trick, and reward it hoping for a repeat, the otter doesn't think, "Great! She liked it! I'll do it again!", but rather, "Great! She liked it! Now I'll do something else that's even cooler!"

(Turning in something that sells better, or copping a few major awards, mutes this sort of thing to muffled editorial whimpers, but one can't count on that.)

My award-storage has moved around over the years. For a while I kept my first Nebula on a shelf over my kitchen sink, so I could enjoy it while washing dishes. (No dishwasher in that old kitchen.) My old house had a fireplace with three little stone shelves that stuck out, which held three Hugos very nicely for a while. My current place has some built-in cabinet-shelves in the back of the living room that houses everything now.

Ta, L.

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