Eagles Over the Kennebec

What went before ONE: This just in, Diviner's Bow, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is still in the top 50 of Bookscan's new book releases in SF. Number 39.

That's ... a surprise. A pleasant surprise, mind.

Thank you all!

What went before TWO: With the handwritten scene (I had misremembered; I didn't have two scenes; I had one scene and Copious Notes), the WIP Entire now weighs in at +/-29,400 words.

I am now going to do a Lightning Review of my ASL homework and? Go to school.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Friday. Sunny, warm, and breezy. The wind chimes are humming to themselves outside my office window.

Breakfast was bialy with cream cheese and a side of strawberries.  Lunch will be turkey cutlet (now fully defrosted) and spinach.

I have been up for hours. However, much of that time has been trying to figure out who's calling me from Northern Light Medical Center. I answer the phone, the person on the other end says, "This is Rachel calling from North--" and the signal drops. I try to call back, and get a recording telling me that I've reached a trunk line and there ain't no humans here.

So! Since the local hospital is going poof! and my cancer team is in Bangor and affiliated with Northern Light Health, I've spent an hour trying to find out if one of them has been trying to get in touch. My last hope is Theresa in Oncology, but her phone has been solidly busy for the last two hours.

Fun times. I'm supposing that I won't answer the phone the next time it shows that ID, and see if Rachel is able to leave voice mail.

Today is Arts 'n Crafts. Since I have never myself ever put on window film -- no, that's not true. I put window film in one of my day-job offices. So! Since I myself have Not Recently installed window film, I am going to do a Practice installation on the window in my office door. After I've learned what I can from that process, I'll move on to the bathroom.

Tomorrow, there's a free intergenerational dance class at the Greene Block, downtown, which I may try to make. I'm expecting lots of grandkids spinning in circles and yelling, which may make this a short-lived experiment, but, hey, Wild Clover's right around the corner in case I need to bail.

Or even if I don't.

I've been thinking of committing a chapbook. This one would include "Core Values," now available to be read for free on splinteruniverse.com, "Neutral Ground," which is a story that contains story nuggets that were then (more) fully realized in Ribbon Dance and Diviner's Bow, and! an outtake from Ribbon Dance. I don't know how many words that would be. "Core Values" and "Neutral Ground" combined are 21,495 words. I don't have a word count on the outtake.

So, that may be coming down the pike, if there's interest.

ASL class last night was fun. We seem to be down to 6 students, which encourages the social aspect of the group, so it's part gossip and part learning new vocab. Several people now have noted that one day a week is too little to attain fluency. We really ought to form a coffee club, but we haven't gotten to that step yet.

Tali is coming to terms with the fact that I am the sole source of cuddles, treats, and throwing things for her to chase, and is making modest attempts to jolly me along. She and Rook are in direct competition for my lap, and this morning she actually did curl up for about 2.5 seconds and purred. Then she saw that Rook was eating and had to jump down to join him.

Rook remains unshakeable in his certainty that he is the center of the universe. Firefly is pleased to read with me and is more often deliberately coming into the space I'm occupying. She does still visit Steve often. Trooper -- sleeps a lot. The crying seems to be less, and I'm inclined to just let him be. He's still playing, and eating, and seeking me out for company; he occasionally forgets what he's doing but, hey, who doesn't?

So, today is Good Friday, according to some traditions, and Sunday is Easter. Who has Plans?

Blast from the Past:  Steve and Sharon visiting the Augusta Barnes & Noble to check out our poster:

What went before ONE: This just in, Diviner's Bow, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is still in the top 50 of Bookscan's new book releases in SF. Number 39.

That's ... a surprise. A pleasant surprise, mind.

Thank you all!

What went before TWO: With the handwritten scene (I had misremembered; I didn't have two scenes; I had one scene and Copious Notes), the WIP Entire now weighs in at +/-29,400 words.

I am now going to do a Lightning Review of my ASL homework and? Go to school.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Friday. Sunny, warm, and breezy. The wind chimes are humming to themselves outside my office window.

Breakfast was bialy with cream cheese and a side of strawberries.  Lunch will be turkey cutlet (now fully defrosted) and spinach.

I have been up for hours. However, much of that time has been trying to figure out who's calling me from Northern Light Medical Center. I answer the phone, the person on the other end says, "This is Rachel calling from North--" and the signal drops. I try to call back, and get a recording telling me that I've reached a trunk line and there ain't no humans here.

So! Since the local hospital is going poof! and my cancer team is in Bangor and affiliated with Northern Light Health, I've spent an hour trying to find out if one of them has been trying to get in touch. My last hope is Theresa in Oncology, but her phone has been solidly busy for the last two hours.

Fun times. I'm supposing that I won't answer the phone the next time it shows that ID, and see if Rachel is able to leave voice mail.

Today is Arts 'n Crafts. Since I have never myself ever put on window film -- no, that's not true. I put window film in one of my day-job offices. So! Since I myself have Not Recently installed window film, I am going to do a Practice installation on the window in my office door. After I've learned what I can from that process, I'll move on to the bathroom.

Tomorrow, there's a free intergenerational dance class at the Greene Block, downtown, which I may try to make. I'm expecting lots of grandkids spinning in circles and yelling, which may make this a short-lived experiment, but, hey, Wild Clover's right around the corner in case I need to bail.

Or even if I don't.

I've been thinking of committing a chapbook. This one would include "Core Values," now available to be read for free on splinteruniverse.com, "Neutral Ground," which is a story that contains story nuggets that were then (more) fully realized in Ribbon Dance and Diviner's Bow, and! an outtake from Ribbon Dance. I don't know how many words that would be. "Core Values" and "Neutral Ground" combined are 21,495 words. I don't have a word count on the outtake.

So, that may be coming down the pike, if there's interest.

ASL class last night was fun. We seem to be down to 6 students, which encourages the social aspect of the group, so it's part gossip and part learning new vocab. Several people now have noted that one day a week is too little to attain fluency. We really ought to form a coffee club, but we haven't gotten to that step yet.

Tali is coming to terms with the fact that I am the sole source of cuddles, treats, and throwing things for her to chase, and is making modest attempts to jolly me along. She and Rook are in direct competition for my lap, and this morning she actually did curl up for about 2.5 seconds and purred. Then she saw that Rook was eating and had to jump down to join him.

Rook remains unshakeable in his certainty that he is the center of the universe. Firefly is pleased to read with me and is more often deliberately coming into the space I'm occupying. She does still visit Steve often. Trooper -- sleeps a lot. The crying seems to be less, and I'm inclined to just let him be. He's still playing, and eating, and seeking me out for company; he occasionally forgets what he's doing but, hey, who doesn't?

So, today is Good Friday, according to some traditions, and Sunday is Easter. Who has Plans?

Blast from the Past:  Steve and Sharon visiting the Augusta Barnes & Noble to check out our poster:

Friday. Sun trying to break through the clouds. I've been up for a while, but the day's starting slow. In Garmin-speak, yesterday was very stressful and though I slept well, it was insufficient to renew my body battery.

Whatever.

Breakfast was rice-and-quinoa cakes with cream cheese and the penultimate orange. The name of my next band will be Penultimate Orange. Lunch will be ... prolly a leftover salmon cake sandwich with whatever veggies come to hand when I open the freezer.

So! Diviner's Bow -- is it "bow" as in archery, or "bow" as in Liadens are always bowing? Here's the history, one! more! time!

Because the Padi arc is basically an internal trilogy, I/we decided to give the titles a sequence, to, yanno, Clue People In? Thus we have: Trader's LEAP, Ribbon DANCE, Diviner's BOW.

I know, I know -- too opaque. I'm reminded of That Time Steve wanted to title a novel Writ of Replevin, and Toni said, "Err. No."

This afternoon, I have an interview with Griffin Barber for the Baen Free Radio Hour. Which means I have to find my invitation email. Which is why I'm on my third mug of tea. I had Soft Plans to go to First Friday downtown this evening, so I'll see where I am when we get there.

Last night's ASL class was short a few people and we kinda flew through the lesson, and had time for side excursions. It was fun. I haven't yet paid my money for the follow-on course. I will have to miss the last lesson by reason of BaltiCon, but I'll be able to attend the rest.

What else?

Honestly? I think that's it.

Who has Friday night plans?

Today's blog post title brought to you by Messers Jagger and Bowie, riffing off of Martha and the Vandellas' 1964 hit, "Dancing in the Street"

What went before (late morning edition): Have foraged. Came home, put away the perishables, made myself a cup of cocoa, and retired to the Command Chair to finish reading The Tomb of Dragons. I may need to go back to Witness for the Dead and reread all three in one go, but not right now. Right now, I believe I'll move on to The Orb of Cairado.

I'm presently waiting for prospective lawn guy to show up to view the Long Back Yard and give me a price and a plan.

After that I'll have lunch and see what I feel like doing.

I note that Informed Delivery tells me I have a personal letter from the SSA unit here in the city. Which isn't terrifying at all.

Fans of the The Rookie will be pleased to know that he continues to come when he's called, which is fine by me and convenient for him as well. I inadvertently shut him in the hall closet. A little later, as I was giving out treats, I noticed that there was no Rook present, which is highly unusual. I called out, as one does, "Rook? Where is that Rookie?" heard a loud AaaRW! from the foyer and went to let him out.

What went before (evening edition): So, I got involved in trying to update korval.com, which is one of those tasks that will never end, but I got some stuff brought into this year, and some other stuff brought into the current decade.

I also made a rough start on my acceptance speech, and added a little bit to a scene, so the WIP can't complain that it's been ignored.

Prospective lawn guy came, toured the Long Back Yard, and promises to send me a couple of plans with prices.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting a friend for lunch, and I should probably bake a loaf of bread either before or after. I still need to tinker with the directories on korval.com, but that may be all I'm up for.

The letter from the local SSA office that I was worried about was only the annual reminder that I have filed an Advanced Designation of Representation with them, so that was a relief.

Coon cat happy hour happened early so I could finish updating the webpage I was working on, and now it's time for me to review my homework again (see what happens?), and then segue into the evening.

. . . onward . . .

Wednesday. Sunny and warm.

Breakfast was rice crackers and cream cheese and one of Those Little Oranges. Lunching at Portland Pie Company with a friend. Need to make a pot of rice so I'll have it on-hand.

Tali and Rook are Working Something Out. The entails a lot of Tali smacking Rook in the head, lashing tails, and face-making. Occasionally, Rook will throw himself at Tali, using his extra weight to knock her over, but that's not a Winning Strategy. Tali just wraps herself around him, latches into his sides with her front claws and kicks the heck out of him with her hind feet.

. . . I think she's done this before.

Anyhow, this will either teach Rook Science, or not to mess with Tali. Or possibly both. I haven't heard any bad words, so I am assuming that this has to do with the Feline Organizational Chart, and the eventual deployment of contractual tasks regarding the care and keeping of the thumbs, whose well-being is necessary to the comfort of cats.

Trooper is lazing in the sun. Firefly was on the back of the sofa, and available to receive pets and soft words of admiration, which were of course forthcoming.

I figured out that one of the reasons I like the Garmin watch is because it's not ... cute. Frequent readers will recall that I have a Limited Capacity for cute, most of which is used up by the birb and his adventures. The Garmin is friendly; it explains itself, but it's not ... huggy. Our relationship is well within my comfort zone.

Last night I read the teaser for Ministry of Time, which was -- all right? I mean, if I had had the whole book, I would have kept on reading, but I don't know that I'm motivated to go out and buy the rest of the story.

And that's all I've got here in my very small and insular corner of the world.

What's going on in your corner of the world?

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.

It's been a busy month for us, what with Trader's Leap taking its first steps into the world.  We've done a total of three interviews in support of it and the Liaden Universe® in general.

For those interested, here is a comprehensive list:

Baen editor Tony Daniel interviews Lee and Miller (your choice of audio or video.  Princess Jasmine Sprite makes a special guest appearance in the video)

Mysterious Galaxy reading and Q&A (video)

Paul Semel Interviews Lee and Miller (written)

Have fun!

So, I did jinx my free time, a little.  Wednesday did not take the shape I had envisioned, and I devoted the remaining time to writing (attempting to write, more like) sell copy for "Degrees of Separation"

Thursday morning, having carried my second cup of tea to my office so I could start reading Fifth of Five, and stopping at my desk to check the mail queue -- I changed my day-plans on the spot, because UPS was pleased to tell me that the 200 copies of Neogenesis ordered by Uncle Hugo, long delayed at the warehouse for reasons the warehouse chooses not to share, were abruptly arriving THIS AFTERNOON.

Which they did.

Our challenge at that point became getting the personalized/signed books to the Uncle by the middle of next week, so there would be sufficient time to pack them and put them in the mail before the January 2 pub-date.  Normally we would have taken the weekend to do the signing-and-personalizing, but! Monday is Christmas Day, and there is neither mail delivery nor FedEx pickups on Christmas Day.

That meant that all the books needed to be signed last night, and shipped out today, arriving in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

Which we did; and the books got onto Fast Eddie's FedEx truck barely a half-hour ago, bundled up in racoon coats; some of them waving Minneapolis! pennants.

This morning, I went to town to run the Last Errands BC (Before Christmas), and this afternoon, after lunch, I am, byerlady, reading this damn' manuscript and getting on with doing Work.

In other news, with the outdoor thermometer reporting a brisk 14F-Feels Like-12F (aka -10C-feels-like-minus 11C) it is snowing in Beautiful Central Maine.  It's a rather determined looking little snow, and the weatherbeans are calling 1-3 inches this afternoon, with an additional 1-3 inches to fall overnight.

So, among the weird habits I'm trying to adopt so as to make the next fall into the Slough of Despond less. . .all-consuming, is keeping a Grateful Book, as one friend styles it, or a White Stones Book, as I think of it.  The idea is that every evening, you write down one thing that you were grateful for during the day.

Last evening's entry was the arrival of those 200 books and the necessity to sign them, and turn them around fast.  Why? you ask, when it disrupted your whole schedule?

Well, because very few writers get to the point of having a shipment of books to sign for their fans, arriving to disrupt best-laid plans.  It's rare, and it's a blessing.

And, thank you.

So, we took the car in for the 10,000 mile check-up and tire rotation thingy, then went to IHOP for breakfast and a test drive of the hearphones.

The hearphones...are problematical on two fronts.

Front One:  I can't keep the damned things charged.  Admittedly, this files under Operator Error, but I'm not usually an idiot about keeping the toys charged, so there's some subtlety I'm missing.  And it doesn't lessen Operator Aggravation to arrive at the Test Location and find that the 'phones are, ahem, critically low on power.

Front Two:  Hearing my own voice in my ears is gonna drive me bugs.  And this may actually be a deal-breaker.  Steve urges me to give it another run, to see if I get used to it, which is fair, but at the moment what I'm doing is whispering in an attempt not to hear my own voice, which is...not really much better than sitting like a stump at a group dinner because I can't hear what anyone else is saying.

The plaque (and check) which together comprise "Wise Child's" Readers Choice award arrived yesterday.  The check we deposited in the bank today while we were out and about.  Here is a photograph of the plaque, being modeled by the delightful Mr. Miller.

So, my next order of business is to read another 50ish pages of the Neogenesis page proofs.  Lunch is on the schedule, and, very possibly, a nap, because we not only got up at stoopid o'clock to take the car in, but we got flu shots (the high-test flu shots reserved for those of us who are temporally elongated), too.

Everybody be good.

There's an article in the Lifestyle Section of today's (Sunday) Portland Press Herald about a couple of sci-fi writers named Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

Here's your link.  Please do feel free to share it.

"Cutting Corners," by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is now up and ready for you -- yes, you! -- to read at baen.com.

The story starts on the first page, and then jumps.  Feel free to spread the word of "Cutting Corners" Across the Length and Breadth of the Internets.  And, also?

Enjoy.

A.  The EBOOK edition of The Gathering Edge is now available for PREORDER from Amazon.  Here's the link.

B.  We have a new goal at Patreon, and a promise of goodies in the (very near) future.  Check it out here.

C.  Eagles Over the Kennebec is now completely installed in its new home at Dreamwidth, and the previous account at LiveJournal has been deleted.  Here's the link to the new journal.

C1.  Here's a link to an article explaining the mass exodus from LJ, for those who are interested.

D.  As previously advertised, Year's Best Military and Adventure SF Volume 3 will be published in June.  A Special Feature of this book is that it serves as a ballot for an award given at Dragoncon.  Readers may vote for the best story in the volume; the winner of that vote will receive a plaque and a check for $500.

E. Steve and I will be doing a Pre-Release Party/AMA at Reddit on May 1.  Why not stop by and see us?  Bring a friend, in fact.  There will be enough virtual brownies for everybody.  Here's a link to more information.

F.  Steve and I will be having a Real Life Meet and Greet/Book Signing at the Barnes and Noble at 9 Market Place Drive, Augusta, Maine, on Saturday, May 13, from 1 - 3pm.  Hope to see you there.

G.  I will be intermittently about this weekend.  The pace of doctor/dentist appointments has taken its toll, and I've gotta take advantage of two days in a row to write.

Everybody have a great weekend.
 

In case you missed the news, earlier this week, the nice folks at Baen sent Belle a box:

After a little while, she let us open it. This is what was inside: