Eagles Over the Kennebec

You ever notice that the problem with year-end wrap-ups is that years don't actually wrap-up?  I mean, for bookkeeping purposes, it's fine to pretend that the year has a beginning, a middle, and an end, all of which can be tidied away into that box over there, while from the box over here, the pristine first month folder is removed and opened.

In fact, our first month calendar already has things in it that were put in motion by events that took place in the year being "wrapped-up."

On January 1, around noon, we'll entertain the Catastrophe Team, who will look at the places where the downed trees had been. (Oh!  The broken trees have been removed.  The big spruce was something of a challenge, but the arborist was able to remove it without inciting the root ball into a frenzy that would have done all the damage to the house that it missed doing when it came down.  So, that's all good news.)  We also have several doctor's appointments, directly related to Steve's medical adventure in late November, and another appointment with the arborist, to take down the other big spruce that's too close to the house, and which was seen dancing on its roots during the windstorm.

On the writing side of life, Steve and I are wrapping up the year-long celebration of the publication of Salvage Right, the 25th Liaden novel, coincidentally our 100th collaboration.  Which isn't too bad for a universe that was several times declared dead, and we thank everyone who participated.  The ripples continue into next year, with Ribbon Dance (the 104th Lee-and-Miller collaboration, 26th novel set in the Liaden Universe®) scheduled for a June release.  Steve is currently working on short story "Familiarity," which was commissioned last year, and I'm working on the 27th Liaden novel (which has a name, but it's a Sekrit), which was contracted for in 2022, and is due in September 2024.

This year was not a good one, cashflow-wise.  Publishing in general is in one of its Moods; the way books are dealt into bookstores has been readjusted to, as far as I can see, no one's benefit, which personally meant diminished royalties in a year of increased expense (because that's always the way it works), combined with other things both disappointing, but I suppose inevitable, with roots almost a decade deep.

Steve and I are planning to publish some new chapbooks next year, in order to increase cashflow.  In Olden Times, I would have been looking for a part-time job to fill in the gaps, but I think that ship has sailed.  (No, please -- no one suggest that I hang out my shingle as an editor.  I'm a lousy editor.)

Regarding travel . . . we will not (NOT) be attending Boskone -- that's the ripples from Steve's health adventure reaching out into February.  We had talked about going to World Fantasy, but that really depends on cashflow.  Watch this space for updates.

For the rest of it -- Larger Real Life is too damn' scary even to try to talk about -- ref years not wrapping up, but ringing their changes far out into the future. . .  I'm trying to walk the fine line between being informed, and being able to function as a decent human being within my own very small sphere of influence.

. . . and that's the year-end wrap-up from the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.  Our wish to you in the new year is health, comfort, and peace.

See you next year.

Sharon, Steve, Trooper, Sprite, and Firefly

So, there are the tasks that one does at Year-End -- filing away the old year, opening the accounting for the new year.  To the best of my ability, these things have been done for the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.  Which gives a nice feeling of accomplishment, without, yanno, actually having accomplished anything.

Peering forward into the first week of the new month and new year, I see that Tuesday is!

Book Day!

I, for one, am looking forward to receiving my copy of Emergence by CJ Cherryh, as I know many who read here are.

I am also looking forward to the release of the hardcover, ebook, and audio editions of Neogenesis by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.  It's a well-known fact that time runs oddly around writers, and so it simultaneously feels like it's been a long time since we handed in Neogenesis and hardly any time at all.

Sometime next week -- possibly Monday -- I'll be putting Degrees of Separation: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 27 up for pre-order at various online outlets.  Official publication date is January 15.  I anticipate no problems with hung releases, as Degrees is an all-original, never-before-published, never-posted-ANYwhere-else-even-for-a-day, story.  It will also be available as a paper book from Amazon on January 15.

Let's see...Steve and I will be doing a podcast interview for the Baen Free Radio Hour on Wednesday; those are always fun...

On Thursday, Sprite has an appointment with her vet, for the ever-popular annual check-up.  Unfortunately, it's also supposed to snow 3-5/4-6 inches on Thursday, so we may have to swap that out.  Honestly, if it's really bad, I may have to swap out my doctor's appointment on Friday.  Winter in Maine, ayuh.

Looking backward for a moment, we have finished and turned in "Revolutionist" to the Razor's Edge anthology to be published in August by Zombies Need Brains.  And I had an epiphany recording Fifth of Five, which, in the way of epiphanies everywhere, meant the manuscript got busted back under 60,000 words again.

Today, I will write, and do laundry, skritch cats, spend time with Steve.  Possibly, we will see the New Year in -- we're often up that late, just as a usual thing -- but if we don't, it will arrive just fine without us.

Everybody stay safe; see you in the new year.