Detailing the Arrival of the Contractor and Other News of Note

[rolanni]

The mason and his crew have arrived, a day early, and are already engaged in taking down the old chimney in order to build a new.  The cats have. . .vanished into the safety of the basement.  Trooper did come back upstairs briefly, to ask me if we needed reinforcements.  I assured him that we had this, and he departed again for the depths.

In other news, the last piece has fallen into place and we'll be taking a road trip to New Hampshire later this week in order to pick up Belle and bring her to Maine.  Belle has just recently been retired, and spayed in April. She is Sprite's mom, so we'll have a whole little nuclear feline family with us.

For those interested, you can see Belle's baby pictures here.

Yesterday, Steve celebrated the beginning of summer by hanging twinkle lights back up in the kitchen.  This is a new set of lights; they're purple, where the last string had been clear.  It gives a nice glow of the evening, and I can't begin to tell you how very, very glad I am to have twinkle lights in my kitchen again.

I was occupied for a little while yesterday answering a lengthy email from the cover artist for Alliance of Equals, who had finished reading the manuscript and had many interesting questions to ask.

For those who have been burning to know what I thought of The Martian and why I read "so many" books by CJ Cherryh, someone asked and I answered, here.

And!  A local landmark has made the newspaper.  A very interesting and in-depth article about the Bob In, a Waterville bar with a. . .checkered history, to say the least.  Here's your link.

All that said, I guess I'd better get something going for breakfast, as woman does not live by caffeine alone.

Comments

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

Belle is lovely. She looks like she'll be a fine addition to the family.

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

It'll be exciting to see Belle join the herd troupe! She's quite pretty :)

[gilraen2.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do love the orange tabbies!

Being led by the hand

[star-horse3.livejournal.com]

I read your comment on the 'burning question" and it led me to some comments of my own. You have been leading up to it with things like the "telling detail." Basically what it means to me is the reader needs to pay attention to what's going on in the background as well as the foreground action. I love that way of telling the story. It says the reader is a thinking person who can figure things out. Another point, I have always felt an author must wince when a fan says " I read your book in one afternoon!" A book that the author has spent months or maybe a year working on. I've been guilty of that as well. but then I was happy to find out that I do the same thing you do, go back to the beginning and read it again. Then I put it away for a week or so and read it again. It's a good thing that libraries give you 3 weeks, because I never turn the good books in till they've been read 3-4 times. I just don't understand people who don't re-read books. I couldn't tell you how many times I've read I Dare, for example. By the way, Belle lives up to her name.

Re: Being led by the hand

[star-horse3.livejournal.com]

Oops, I'm not sure I was clear in saying that your books don't lead readers by the hand-with a big hearty thank you very much!

Cover artist

[doccolt.livejournal.com]

Who is the cover artist please? I would love to get another print.

Re: Cover artist

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

David Mattingly is the artist.