Lilith Saintcrow

The snowman my kids built with the neighbors is a congealed lump this morning, since the rain is coming down in sheets. Rain, thank goodness, not snow or freezing stuff. I like snow, don’t get me wrong. But the people around here go mad the instant there’s a flake or two on the road, not to mention the fact that I get freaking cold when the mercury drops below zero. Plus I was cranky, cold, and nauseous yesterday. It was only a mild stomach bug, but still. Dry heaving takes an enormous amount of energy out of one.

My semi-hiatus from blogging did me a lot of good. I got a lot of work done and was able to breathe a bit. Now I’m back in the fight, and it’s a good thing too. Under revision for two books, another book boiling in my brain–the creative muscles are totally different than the revision muscles, thank heavens–a Sekrit Project shaping up, review books coming in the mail, all sorts of Neat Stuff is about to happen. Now that I’ve rested a bit, I’m excited instead of terrified.

Well, maybe excited and terrified is a better way to put it.

The current thing taking most of my brain capacity is a read-through on a series to make sure I’ve tied up the loose ends I want to tie up, and left the ends I want dangling, dangling. Whenever I do this, I am amazed at some details. I remember writing certain passages, and others seem like they just fell out of my head. It’s a weird double-or-triple-or-more-vision to see the final form of something I spent so long soaking in and tweaking. Sometimes my notes (because I do take notes every time I’m forced to do a read-through) hold a smiley face, or a “That day was horrid, but I got some good writing in”, or “I REMEMBER THAT, IT HURT”. (That last one happens more often than you’d think.)

So today while the world drowns itself outside, I’ll be making notes on a legal pad and wincing in sympathy with one of my heroines. This will in all likelihood involve gallons of hot tea and several small snacks, some of which will be left uneaten as I wander away from them because I Have An Idea. I suspect watching me work on these sorts of days would provide a lot of amusement. You’ll have to just imagine it, though, since I refuse to install a webcam.

Over and out.

Today is a day for clothes shopping. No, not for me. I’d rather have my skin peeled off in strips than go clothes shopping for me. But I do like going shopping for the kids. We’re doing the midyear school clothes basics tour today–jeans, T-shirts and solid sweaters, because they keep growing and this will provide a base for them when they Go To School. It’s going to be fun.

Sadly, it must be a banzai run rather than an all-day safari, because I’ve line edits to keep whaling at. Editing makes me cranky. I’m glad someone else has done most of the markup for me and I can just approve it or insert my own changes. This is the last big push before copyedits, so it will set me up for writing Dru 4–which is taking shape quite nicely, to the tune of 2K a day or thereabouts.

So, don’t expect to hear from me a lot for the rest of the week. Unless it’s a moderate amount of bitching on Twitter. That’s about all I have energy for.

Cover me. I’m going in…

The Authorfest last night was a ton of fun. Thanks to everyone who came out–new faces and old! I got to see Aimee A., Marne O., Jay S. and his lovely wife, and Kristin B. (otherwise known as the Bravest Woman In The World) as well as lots of new fans. I got to sit next to the amazing Nina Kiriki Hofman, who was very very kind to the Little Prince. (She also had her Nebula with her, which was awesome to see.) Big thanks to Powell’s for hosting us, to Saint Peter Honigstock for putting the whole thing together, and to Lea D. for helping.

Plus, a special shout out to the 501st–you guys are rad. Especially the nice young man who let the Little Prince put his stormtrooper helmet on. He’s still talking about that, with a dreamy glint in his big eyes.

I was so busy from the moment I got there I was barely able to say hello to my tablemates and grab a quick hug from the Hendees. Fellow Dame Devon Monk was there signing up a storm, as well as the charming Alma Alexander, who I almost accidentally hip-checked. I am clumsy.

I know I’ve missed a bunch of people that were there. I literally didn’t have a free moment the entire event. I was exhausted by the end of it, and had to get home, though I would have loved to go to at least two of the dinners I got invitations for, but I just couldn’t. I got home, made pizza for the kids, and promptly finished a short story, then crawled to bed.

Today is for sliding the revisions on Heaven’s Spite to the front of the queue, so I can have a workable first draft by deadline. No rest for the wicked, right? But I wouldn’t trade this job for the world. At least every time I revise a story I have a chance at getting it closer to what it was in my head. I may not ever get there, mind, but at least I can get closer.

Over and out.

When I am so discombobulated I can’t even remember how to run my coffeemaker…

…you know it’s time for Revisions Deathmarch. The blessed caffeine is going to be hitting my bloodstream during the typing of this short post, so forgive me any irregularities. Oh, and check out Marjorie Liu’s post on the five stages of decline in a writer’s career. It’s well worth reading.

Want to win a signed copy of Betrayals? LiyanaLand has her contest up for one signed copy. She’ll also have interviews with Christophe and Graves later this week. Also, tomorrow is the launch date, so I’ll be running another giveaway. And the newsletter giveaway is still upcoming too.

Right now I’ve got revisions for the third Strange Angels book, Jealousy, on my docket. After that it’s revising Heaven’s Spite into a reasonable first draft. Then I get to dive into writing again, all while keeping my NaNo wordcount up.

Dear God. Eating and washing myself may become of secondary importance if this keeps up. One good thing about it: other stuff has kept me from having the usual pre-release jitters. Still, I’ll take the jitters over personal crisis any day.

Okay. I’ve got to get this opened up and start surgery. This revision looks like it’s going to be blood and guts all over. *rubs hands together with an evil smile*

Wish me luck.

G’morning. The cold has finally retreated under an onslaught of vitamin C, fluids, an air purifier (since we’re cleaning rather extensively here at Casa Saintcrow, the dust is puffing up–what? Look, I have books. LOTS of books. Books get dusty.) and a decent amount of sleep three out of four nights. It’s amazing to be able to smell again. I always feel half-blind when I can’t smell. One realizes how basic that sense is when one loses it. It almost makes me want to read Perfume again, but that book would demand too much of me.

Instead, I’m on a huge Georgette Heyer kick right now. Finished Devil’s Cub two nights ago and am now working on The Quiet Gentleman. I love Heyer’s sly use of dialogue; I just eat it up.

I am also having some website problems. Apparently the server I’m on is buggy and has been buggy for months, and i finally drew the line and insisted on being moved to a new, more reliable server or I would take my hosting dollars elsewhere. Let’s hope the problem gets fixed–this is the first time I’ve been able to post to my blog for a couple days. Grrr. Web stuff always makes me feel like I need to SHE HULK SMASH. Especially when it’s web stuff I cannot fix under my own power.

Add this to the fact that I went grocery shopping yesterday and discovered several people who were the Center of the Universe, and no wonder I am crankily remaining home today. I seriously did loudly say at one point, “STAND RIGHT THERE AND CONTINUE TALKING, MA’AM. I’M FASCINATED TO HEAR WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. I WILL WAIT TO GO PAST YOU IN THIS PASTA AISLE. NO, REALLY, KEEP GOING. WHAT DID HE SAY NEXT?”

If you would have been there, dear Reader, you would have done the same.

It will take an emergency to airlift me out of the house, dammit. I’m just done with the outside world for a bit. (Except for sweet sweet electronic communication, I guess.)

Anyway. I’m hip-deep in copyedits for Betrayals, so this is short today. I just wanted to thank everyone who has been so supportive during the Recent Troubles. You know who you are. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.

Off I go to dig through Track Changes. I really thought I’d get some creating-time in this week. The gods may yet be kind. I remain hopeful.