rolanni | In which Rolanni is death, warmed over

Boring health/illness stuff follows. You have been warned.

Well, I was supposed to get a haircut today, but I’ll be going to see the doctor, instead. Six of one, half-dozen of the other, I guess.

The cold has gotten worse, unfortunately. I’ve been coughing so much and so hard my stomach hurts, I have no voice, and nothing in the Big Box o’Home Remedies seems to be touching any of it. I’d be a little less aggravated if I’d at least had the grace to cast out a fever…

On second thought, no, I wouldn’t.

Woke up coughing last night, as the night before, and retired to the couch, so that Steve at least could get some sleep. Read about two-thirds of Bertie MacAvoy’s Death and Resurrection before Mozart managed to conjure enough sleep rays to fell me. So, in all, I guess I got about four hours sleep, and am thereby even crankier and less focused than usual.

This is annoying not only for all the reasons you’d suppose, but also because I have hit a point in the story where I need one of the characters to be Clever, and another to be Plucky — and it would just help a lot if their author was currently either, or, ideally, both.

Speaking of Necessity’s Child, I have, alas, missed my mark. This is not a YA novel, though it does still stand as a Liaden portal novel, so that’s all good.

Some of you may know that Amazon has this handy feature where authors can check sales of their books through Bookscan, and sync their blog posts with their AmazonAuthor page, and other such things. They just added a “feature” that shows authors the newest reader reviews received.

So yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I was over there in the backroom of my AmazonAuthor page, and here pops up a new review — it’s for The Crystal Variation, which includes Crystal Soldier, Crystal Dragon and Balance of Trade. And the reader explains that this is the first Liaden book they have ever read; they’re only partway through the first book; already they can tell the publisher why these books won’t sell; and if they could give the book minus stars, they would.

Turns out the proofreading and the editing sucks large rocks. Yes! The reviewer has identified many grammatical and word-choice errors that ought to have been fixed! Also? The world-building is completely whacked. Who could possibly believe in a world where cellphones, smart body armor, and slavery co-exist?

I laughed so hard I had tears running my face, and then of course I started coughing again, and Mozart had to Get Stern with me.

Anyhow, that’s the news from the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory. Everybody take care, stay healthy, and happy.

Progress on Necessity’s Child (tbfkaG)
94,011/100,000 words OR 94%

“Bespeak tea, and a plate of mixed sweets, for two,” the luthia said to him in their own tongue. “Ask to have it brought to this table when I am joined by my guest, and no sooner than that. Pay fairly, in local coin. When you have done this, please return and stand behind my chair. Listen, watch, but do not speak. Should danger come, I know that you will act in the best interest of the kompani.”

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.