A Meerkat's Bolthole

Good morning! (or evening, or tomorrow, depending on where you're coming in from)

I have posted my monthly meanderings over at SF Novelists -- this time on writing in what I call a "timeline" series, and why continuity really matters. Check it out, give me love feedback.
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I realized yesterday that I really miss teaching. It was the part of my editorial job I loved most, bringing people into new knowledge and understanding, and then seeing what they'd do with it. I haven't done enough of that lately. *is sad*

Managed to hit 2000 words for the day, and the end of chapter 6. This is very much "first draft" stuff, where I'm laying markers and establishing build-ups and turning points. To use my usual physical metaphor, I'm stringing muscle and veins along the skeleton, and not even worrying about the flesh just yet. It's ugly, but it lives. And the book is totally living up to its title.

I'm figuring this will eventually come in at around 90,000 words, which looks to be standard for the PSI novels. My goal is to get first draft done by early April. We'll see.

I really should be thinking about Mustang (the next 'Anna Leonard' book), having gotten my preliminary notes back from madame editor, but... the brain, it's just not there. Soon, though. And short fiction. Gods, I want to write short fiction again. Twisty, complicated, layered stuff not tied in to any book or established series...

Universe, I am not ungrateful for my life. I quite like my life. But do you think you could maybe find a way to give me a few extra hours every week, not taken away from anything else, just for short fiction? I promise not to waste it...


Speaking of which, the coffee is done, the cats are fed and complacent... it must be time to open up a file and actually do something.


(Wow, I really am spamming LJ this week, aren't I? Be glad I don't Twitter....)

Ah, Monday. Now that I'm trying to keep schedule with an actual 'regular' work-week again, Mondays are all sorts of filled with ...Mondayness. But I still have a really short commute and a very cool job, so I shan't complain.

For those of you itching for a hint of what's to come, there's an excerpt from Blood From Stone over at the Cosa Nostradamus On-Line. And, to get your lazy fingers clicking, LJers who comment there will be entered for a random drawing of copies of Curse the Dark and Bring it On in mass market form, a month before they're available in stores!


Had dinner last night at B Cafe, on the Upper East Side. Mussels and confit pig belly, and Carbonnade Flamande, oh my. Also, salsifis for the first time. Mmmm. Nice little place, solid food, excellent waitstaff, and they seem to have a courtyard in back for warmer weather.

And since it's been a while since my last wine confession:

The bottle we opened to celebrate the final revisions to FLESH AND FIRE was a 2004 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon, a gift from taikyoyo and the lj-less D. Really all I can say about this wine is that it was everything that is classic and good about a Napa Cabernet, and nothing bad.

I've also been drinking a 2005 Cote de Beaune-Villages from Camille Giroud. I picked this up for purely emotional reasons (Beaune was one of the towns I fell in love with while in Burgundy) and 2005 is an amazing year. My personal preference is for the darker fruit of Cote de Nuits, but this is soft, very classic-strawberry pinot noir, and worked very well as a chat-and-cook wine. I also put some of it into the risotto, to excellent effect. $25.

I was also given a bottle of Louis Jadot Beaujolais 2007 by a neighbor and while -- as close readers of the LJ will remember -- I'm not a fan of beaujolais as a rule, this was pleasant, and has excelled at every recipe it's been added to, including the short ribs mentioned last week. Around $10-15

Remember: don't put any wine you wouldn't drink into your food. Your taste buds will thank you.


and now, back to work, me. What's everyone else doing on this lovely Monday of Mondays?

Yesterday I had an electrical socket blow (killing my beloved popcorn popper), the cat threw up on the mail, had a reader savage a book, two wine glasses got broken (yeah, windrose, a second one),... and yet, not a bad day. Go fig.

Three things of potential interest:

1: The Cosa Nostradamus On-Line has been updated with new info.

2: The December Book Giveaway is still in effect until the 19th-- and be sure to leave a mailing address! (or you can e-mail it to me @ LAG(at)lauraannegilman(dot)net.)

3: If you're still doing holiday shopping for yourself or loved ones, don't forget that Unusual Suspects [Amazon B&N] is on-sale now, with the Cosa Nostradamus short story "Illumination," along with new stories from nobodies named Charlaine Harris and Laurie King....

And now, onward into the day.

Have made an offer over on The Cosa Nostradamus on-line that might make your gift-giving a bit easier this season. Or not. Up to you to decide...

Did my bit for the publishing economy yesterday at B&N, including getting a membership card (I've already made back $5 of the $25 fee). Was somewhat dismayed to stand in front of the racks of books and realize that there were very few books I really wanted to buy... not because they weren't good, but because I'm burnt out on all my favorite genres. So I did what I always do in those situations -- I bought in different genres. In this case, hard SF and non-fiction.

If all goes well and chaos doesn't laugh, I'm going to use the last two weeks of the year to curl up and make a dent in my TBR cache. Mmmm. Pleasure-reading.

So, anyone want to suggest something Good that's not any flavor of fantasy? Just keep in mind that 'cozy' or 'cute' mysteries tend to make my teeth itch...


Cats have come out to join me at the desk, and the coffee's ready. Guess that means the day's begun.

Spent Sunday afternoon hidden in a downtown bar with a bunch of fellow Giants fans, some early-arriving Jets fans, a few random Redskin fans, and a bunch of very rowdy and enthusiastic Detroit fans who got very very quiet as the game ended. Sorry, guys. But I was rooting against you just because your fight song was so damn annoying. For those of you who don't follow such things -- yeah, the Giants won (41-13).

Mass transit to/from the game: $4
A steak-and-eggs brunch and two pints of Bass -- $35
Being carded by the bouncer: priceless.
Being hit on by a 20-something Jets fan: hysterical.

But now it is Monday, the weekend has been rolled up and put to rest, and I'm back to the desk. And I've realized that trying to balance what the Story needs with the Actual Process of wine-making is making me second-guess the readership for Vineart War. The history/geography/politics/religion I have no trouble messing with -- readers understand second world/sidestep fantasy as not-quite-but-like. But how will people respond to something less malleable -- a scientific process, after all -- as being not-quite-but-like? Especially if they too are fans of the process and the results?

EtA: I'm not (hopefully) talking an infodump, but the details of the process as an ongoing thread within the books)

So, to reduce my headache, I'm actually asking the readership (or you guys, anyway):
[Poll #1259845]

In a different Universe, for those who don't want to wait for their news, there was an update to The Cosa Nostradamus OnLine over the weekend...

The Inevitably Incomplete Bibliography has been updated with publication dates, and also posted over at The Cosa Nostradamus On-Line. Just in case anyone was wondering what I've been doing with my life...


(y'know? It's starting to look almost...impressive. Also, having books scheduled through 2012 is... um...scary as hell. In a nice-scary way. Keep buying & reading, people! The kitties need their kibble!)

A teaser/excerpts up at the the cosa nostradamus, for them as might be interested. It's the scene the artist used to create the cover, but shouldn't be spoilery.

And, for those of us who were cranky about missing the Giants/Pats game, the Universe is giving us a New Year's Eve present...

Patriots-Giants Game Now on NBC and CBS
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
The Patriots-Giants game, which was to be broadcast Saturday night to less than half the country by the NFL Network, will be available to the entire nation under an agreement reached Wednesday by NBC and CBS to simulcast it...

Until Wednesday’s deal, the Patriots-Giants game would have been available to the NFL Network’s 43 million satellite and cable subscribers. Another 10.8 million TV households in the New York-New Jersey and Boston-Manchester, N.H., markets were to get it free on local broadcast stations because they live within the teams’ designated home markets."
rest of the article is here

As a Giants fan, and a football fan in general, who lives smack dab in the middle of those two "designated home markets" I'm thrilled with this. And not just because it sticks it to the cable companies. Although that has a lot to do with it, yeah....

Now I have to decide if I want the Giants to win (yea!) or if I want to see history in the making and the Pats go undefeated...

A new excerpt up at The Cosa Nostradamus on-line, for your no-cal Halloween treat.

For those in the neighborhood, there will be cider and sweets available at Ch. Felidae tonight.

And for those of you who celebrate Samhain, may the day (and night) bring you peace, and the warmth of your bonfire (virtual or otherwise) light your way throughout the dark half of the year.

a short excerpt from Free Fall is up at The Cosa Nostradamus.