Eagles Over the Kennebec

What Went Before:  Last night, as part of the curriculum of Not Writing, I watched a show on PBS Passport called SAFE HARBORS, which is a tour of 65 Maine lighthouses (I note here that this is not all of the lighthouses in Maine, and also that I've been to/seen a surprising number of them).  I urge everyone to find this show and watch it (I'm told it's soon to come to YouTube).  It's not a documentary, there's no narration, only music and these incredible, incredible views of the lighthouses.

Moving on to!

Friday. Chilly, lots of puffy white clouds moving fast across a mostly blue sky.

Tea brewing. Breakfast will be cottage cheese, corn flat (I've forgotten what they're called -- Thomas' Toaster something. As a substitute for corn bread, it's not. Next time, I'll make my own.) -- and grapes. Lunch -- I guess fish and -- something.

I see there are as many as half-a-dozen folks admitting to having read Diviner's Bow -- thank you and I hope you had fun. Do remember the spoiler space, and to drop a review at Goodreads or other venue of your choice.

Regarding the spoiler space, I am going to vary. It has been the authors' policy not to be involved in those discussions, merely releasing messages after a scan for politeness &c. This time, I have a Question Regarding Craft that you, the readers of this particular work, can help me with. So, I'll be posing my question in the spoiler discussion, and I thank all participants in advance for your patience and your assistance.

Today is another No-I-Am-NOT-Writing Day. This is kind of hardcore, but I've got to get my brain back, and the best thing I know to do is Do Other Things. If the weather were more clement, I'd go for a drive, but I think that's off the table. *looks out window at the wind shaking the crab apple tree* Yeah. Off the table.

What I will be doing is taking down the wreath, which has started to lose needles, and changing out the 2024 moon phase calendar for the 2025. Also, there's rumors of the June royalties in the bank, so I'll be doing some cash juggling.

I read an interesting article last night about the Five of Cups, which is typically rendered as a Card of Loss. In traditional decks, the image is of a figure and five cups, three of which are overturned; two remaining upright. The figure is focused on the overturned cups -- thus the loss. However, the two unregarded cups, still full, sitting behind the figure, hint that all, perhaps, is *not* lost.

It will surprise no one here to learn that my favorite tarot deck is not a traditional deck, but the Halloween Tarot, which I find both joyful and accessible. In this deck, the suits are Pumpkins (Pentacles), Ghosts (Cups), Bats (Swords), and Imps (Wands).

The Five of Ghosts, then: a central figure, gazing downward, clearly disconcerted or sad; there is a bucket on the ground directly behind him. Around the figure are five ghosts, hovering in a sky with five stars. The ghosts are also disconcerted, following the central figure's downward gaze. The black cat (which appears in all of the cards in this deck) is in the foreground, looking at the ghosts.

I was at first somewhat alarmed. Playful my deck might be, but it stringently adheres to the Language of the Tarot, and this card varied and not in a good way. It seemed to withhold the promise of those two, unspilled, cups, not only going against the Language, but the spirit of the deck itself.

So, I sat with the card for a while, and it came to me, finally, that one of the ghosts was not focused on the disaster, whatever it was. It was focused on the figure, and its arms were outstretched, as if it would offer comfort. And then, of course, there's the bucket, sitting quietly -- empty or full, but not spilled. The Language remains pure, and the card remains true to itself and the deck.

So, that.

What's surprised you recently?

Wake-up cat census:

For those of you who have read Diviner's Bow and want to talk about it, a Spoiler Discussion space is provided here.  This is done as a service to eARC consumers as well as those who choose to wait for another edition of the novel to be published.

Please remember that the space is moderated and that the moderator -- that would be me -- gets time off to sleep, write, play with the cats, and read, so your message will not necessarily appear immediately.  It will appear eventually, though, so keep the faith.

Happy reading.

"Time is what keeps everything from happening at once."

Hah.

UPDATE:  Finished my tyop read of Diviner's Bow last night.  Received a anonymous gift of Walker's Mince Pies in the mail, and! the Tax Packet in email.  Collapsed in the Command Chair and listened to The Goblin Emperor because my eyes wouldn't focus.  Went to bed early so I could ditto get up, this morning.

Wednesday. Up before the sun. I say this in literal truth. Warm already, going to be warmer.

Breakfast was pumpernickel bread with cream cheese; finishing up the first cup of tea.

Tax Packet printing as I type -- no, I take that back. Paper jam. Print job stalled and restarted. Welcome to the Tax Packet, and the first of many ggggrrrrrrrs.

. . . and another paper jam.

. . . and another.

Finally back in business as Rook has appointed himself Overseer of the Print Job, and has turned his Fell Gaze upon the machinery.

Today's plan is to start the tyop log, go to gym 9:30ish, get my hair cut 10:45ish, go to the grocery and maybe the post office, assuming I can find a place to park, then come home and get back to work.

As I plan, it doesn't have much to recommend it, and I'm still behind on things I WANT to do, some of which I may have to jettison.

All together now -- Adulting is Hard.

Everybody have a good day. Please feel free to talk among yourselves.

Below, the fruits of the hunt, and a candid portrait of Firefly.

Thursday. Calm blue skies, damp surfaces. It was 55F/13C when I went to bed at 10:30 last night. It's now 33F/0ishC and heading for a high of 38F/3C.

We had a pretty fierce windstorm last night, but seem to have done pretty well. I see limbs down at the neighbor's house, and some sticks down hereabouts, but nothing big came down; the windows held, and so did the roof.

Victory.

Diviner's Bow galleys arrived last night after I was in bed, so I ate breakfast at my desk in order to sort them out*. That means breakfast was a Kodiak Bar (chocolate with chocolate chips), and a cup of tea, which is Skirting A Line, but -- needs must. Kettle's on for second cup of tea. Next on my to-do list is picking up so Ashley has clearance in which to work her cleaning magic, while I?

Read Diviner's Bow for the third time in three weeks. Whee.

And that's it from here -- galleys carry all before them.

Everybody get comfy -- you know the drill. I'll poke my head in as can.

________
*Because time is so short, there will not be a General Call for Tyop Hunters.

Today's blog title via JJ Cale, "They Call Me The Breeze"

For those who pay attention to such things, Diviner's Bow has been turned in to Baen, slightly ahead of the (renegotiated) deadline.

Diviner's Bow
A Novel of the Liaden Universe®
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
October 27, 2024
Approximately 130,600 words/131,700 with glossary

Art by David Mattingly

Publication date, hardcover and ebook:  April 1, 2025

When last we saw our Hmbl Narrator, she was about to interview a person to clean her house every other week, the previous occupant of that post having quit due to Pressures of Life.

The first bid was well beyond what I could afford, but the second was on the money, so to speak.  She came by and did her first clean on Thursday, and all went well.  She'll come back Thursday after next.

No sooner had I solved the cleaning problem when the lawn/snowplow guy let me know that he's getting out of the lawn/snowplowing biz.  He'll finish mowing this year, but he won't be doing Fall Cleanup or snowplowing.  Eek.  I made calls; two people answered, both came out to look.  One gave me a quote on the spot, the other promised a quote after thinking about it, but never called back, so -- the first guy gets the job, starting with Fall Cleanup.

In-between all that, I finally tracked down and canceled the last account that needed to call Steve's cellphone for two-factor identification.  This meant that I could take Steve's phone off the account, which I tried to do online, but Verizon insisted that I had to cancel my phone, too, and -- no.

On Wednesday I went to the Verizon store where Josh very efficiently and kindly made all the virtual paperwork disappear, including calling Corporate to tell them why we were doing what we were doing ("The account manager has passed on.").

Josh also found that I was "eligible" for a new Pixel 9 (XL Pro, it says here), so I came home with a new phone, which is a mixed blessing.  On the one hand, my beautiful red Edge was living on borrowed time, and has run through its updates; and you can't beat "free" for a new phone with 7 years of updates guaranteed.  On the other hand, the new phone is a little heavier and broader than the old one, and despite being an Android phone, Google does some things differently than Motorola, which is a little disorienting, but I expect I'll get used to it.  I did order a sparkly case, so all the important details have been taken care of.

My next trick is selling Steve's guitars.  There are only two of them, and I expect I'm stressing about it more than I should. Despite Josh's help, cancelling Steve's cell account was ... kind of exhausting.  Maybe the guitars can wait until next week.

In Coon Cat News, Fans of Trooper will be pleased to learn that the lack of appetite and lethargy that had me taking him to the vet on Thursday morning is diagnosed (after an exam and a "perfect" blood test) as Kitten Exhaustion and allergies.  Fans of Rook will be happy to learn that he has been scheduled for The Operation on September 24.  And! Fans of Firefly will be pleased to know that she seems to have worked through her depression and is wrasslin' the kitten, and playing tag.

In Writing News, Diviner's Bow currently weighs in at 96,600 words, and I am frantically writing the scenes that I know so I can reach An End, and put out a call for beta readers while I take a breather.  I am at the point of being Very Tired of this book -- which is a good sign; it means we're on schedule.

And that's the week that was at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

Looking forward to next week, I see a Stoopid Number of medical appointments, and, at the end of the week! I'll be (virtually) at AlbaCon, doing a reading and two panels.

Everybody stay safe.

Diviner's Bow, the 27th novel set in the Liaden Universe® created by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, is now available for preorder, in hardcover, from the Usual Suspects. The preorder page includes a book description, for the curious.

Long-time readers will of course recall that Baen puts the ebook edition on preorder somewhat closer to the publication date.

I am still writing Diviner's Bow -- it currently weighs in at just a squeak under 72,000 words -- so I guess I'd better hop to it.