What on earth is the woman DOING?

[rolanni]

Writing, pretty much.  With a side order of interviews/pr in support of Salvage Right, which debuted as the Bookscan Number Two new sf book -- everybody give yourselves a hand!  Good work.

We are officially On Deadline for Ribbon Dance -- Steve is reading the first +/- 106,000 words, while I'm finishing up the Thrilling Conclusion.  Just this morning, I made the Command Decision to remove a scene of about 6,000 words.  Said scene has been rewritten three times; it still doesn't work; and it's time to stop deluding myself that it actually belongs in this book.

A bit of background on Ribbon Dance -- it's based on an unpublished short story, which, being a short story, had a far simpler trajectory than a novel will inevitably have (short stories are Roman Candles; novels are Chrysanthemums -- everybody clear now? Good.).

I rather liked the short story, and wanted to preserve the centerpiece scene, but -- the novel wanted to talk about other things, like when does protection become oppression; who gets to decide who is Civilized and who is not; ghost routes; what's love got to do with it; and so on.

Thus, the hard decision to excise 6,000 words from a book that's due Realsoonnow.

What will probably happen is that Splinter Universe will  publish the origin story, and the pulled scene, after Ribbon Dance publishes.  So!  Something to look forward to.

For those who may have missed them, below is a list of  interviews in support of Salvage Right (yes, we're still building the Big List of All Interviews Ever, but compiling it is going to have to wait until after Ribbon Dance leaves Maine for Madame's desk in the south).

Writers Drinking Coffee (audio)

Annie's Book Stop of Worcester (video)

Baen Free Radio Hour (video)

Speculative Fiction Showcase (text)

Paul Semel Interviews Lee and Miller (text)

We've got a couple more interviews upcoming; I'll post links when they go live.

In Real Life, we did take a day off last week to visit Stonington, and of course there was the gala celebration of Sprite's 11th birthday, the week before that. Oh, and I got fitted for a heart monitor -- about the size of thumb-drive, with attendant phone -- that I'll be wearing into the middle of August.  Steve's birthday is coming up at the end of this month, and we hope to steal another day away from the keyboards to have a proper celebration.

Here's a picture from the Stonington adventure.