On the road again

Today it's your turn, Skowhegan!  We're off for the long-delayed eye exams, and to run various errands, probably including new glasses (sigh).

For those wondering What On Earth the Woman is Doing, I offer the following notes on progress:

1.  Reviewed and signed contracts for seven novels and one novella.  Steve put them all in the mail yesterday evening.

2.  Threw away 2300-ish words on the commissioned short story and started again, this time with an outline and a break-out of POV for each scene.  The new iteration stands at 839 words, and feels much better.

3.  Regarding yesterday's report of piracy, someone asked how books get pirated.  Short answer is that someone buys a legitimate copy and decides that it is their right, and their duty, to make it available to as many people as possible, for free.  Before ebooks were as common as they are now, some people spent what I can only imagine was days, scanning books and uploading them to pirate sites.  I'd say you have to admire that kind of dedication, but, honestly?  I don't.

As to why they do it...some justify their behavior by saying that they can't find the books through legal channels (obviously untrue in the case of Necessity's Child).  Others will say that they're working to throw off the tyranny of copyright/the big publishers/millionaire authors; that they are in fact, vanguards of The Revolution.

In the end, it really doesn't matter why they do it; they're still stealing.  Not only that, they know they're stealing and they know it's wrong, which is why they make with the justifications.

4.  As reported elsewhere, I am currently somewhat short of spoons (see Spoon Theory).   This means that I may be scarce on The Intertubes; I promise to check in when I can.

...I think that catches everything up.

Everybody play nice.

Books read in 2012

Pistols for Two, Georgette Heyer (read aloud with Steve)
A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny (annual read-one-chapter-per-night aloud with Steve re-re-re-&c-read)
Timeless, Gail Carriger (e)
The New Gypsies (if one can be said to "have read" a picture book)
The Great Steel Pier: An Illustrated History of the Old Orchard Ocean Pier, Peter Dow Bachelder
What Angels Fear, C.S. Harris (e)
River Marked, Patricia Briggs (e)
Althea, Madeleine Robins (e)
Heartless, Gail Carriger (e)
Powers, James A. Burton (e)
A Geisha's Journey, Komomo, photographs by Naoyuki Ogino
Geisha, Liza Dalby
The Kimono of the Geisha-Diva Ichimaru, Barry Till, Michiko Warkentyne, Judith Patt
Partials, Dan Wells
Starters, Lissa Price
A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs (read aloud w/Steve)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Grace Lin
From Whence You Came, Laura Anne Gilman (e)
Frederica, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
No Dominion, C.E. Murphy (e)
The Prestige, Christopher Priest
Cuttlefish, Dave Freer
Intruder, C.J. Cherryh (read aloud w/Steve)
Blameless, Gail Carriger (e)
Changeless, Gail Carriger (e)
The Quiet Gentleman, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Unbroken, Rachel Caine
The Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Sylvester / OR, The Wicked Uncle, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Death and Resurrection, R. A. MacAvoy
The Unknown Ajax, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Black Sheep, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses, Diane Duane (e)
The Reluctant Widow, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Friday’s Child, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Dragon Ship manuscript, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
Kim, Rudyard Kipling (e)
Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Pollyanna, Eleanor H. Porter (e)
Chimera, Rob Thurman (e)