lauraanne_gilman | Entries tagged with the writing life

Random playlist generator has decided that this is the hour-of-gutting-LAG. Thanks, RPG. Currently up: "Don't Talk to Her At Night."

Burn the blanket
Shoot the light
But don't talk to her at night

And oh, followed up with "Desperado Under the Eaves." We're going to be like that, are we? All right, some Huey Lewis an the News as a chaser, that's better.

I have made it to the halfway point in SOUL OF FIRE revisions, moving slow but steady, and cursing a lot when we have another timeline tangle. Some book I will learn not to run concurrent threads with different characters in different locations impacting each others' discoveries. This, once again, is not that book.

I think I'll make deadline without death (mine or anyone else's*), but no promises.

Meanwhile, it's pizza and RTEs until further notice. Bartender, the glass appears empty. Refuel, svp!

*except them as already dead in the manuscript

For Gin&Tonic #3, I needed to name a puppy in the outline. The name I chose was Parsifal. No, I have no idea why I chose that name, except it seemed 'right.'

Fast forward months later, when I'm writing the actual scene wherein the puppy is found. I have the main character checking out what the owner of the house is reading. A Ludlum title, I think. The missing person seems like a Ludlum reader. So... not a Bourne title, something else, less obvious.

I go to Ludlum's bibliography, and halfway down the list, I see this:

The Parsifal Mosaic (1982)

Okay, you can't make this shit up and get away with it. But so help me, it's true. I named a dog for the book his owner was reading, before I even knew the owner had been reading it. :-)

So I have sent off my bio and photo, and will, I am assured, soon be up on the Client Board . Weirdly, even though we've signed a contract, and New Agent has already negotiated a new deal for me, that will be the moment I feel like I'm really Part of the Pack.

Soon enough, I'll be able to feel that way in person, too. My new agency, it turns out, has an Agency Retreat, where clients gather for the weekend and listen to our agents ~~blither~~ talk in an educated manner about the industry, and generally Get To Shmooze With Everyone. And, I presume, knowing writers (and agents) as I do, we all bond over much booze.

This is very cool, and I am very much looking forward to the experience. Hopefully, there's no New Kid Hazing....

*is suddenly nervous*

Some days, the Internet allows me to connect with people, to see another side, to experience outside my own comfort zone. And some days, it makes me think a good hard Flood is overdue.

(seriously: a little compassion, a little perspective, and a little less ego should not be so difficult, humanity...)

In other, I guess happier news, it is officially into March, which means my work schedule has kind of exploded. Some of that (writing the new G&T novel, working on the new proposal) I CAN talk about, some I CAN'T talk about, and some I can't talk about YET. (yes, I know, I'm a tease).

So far, the once-a-week-on-the-coworking-space office seems to be doing what it needed to do: shaking up my habits and giving me a different perspective on what I'm doing. I may up the time-split eventually...we'll see. I've never been a "working in my PJs type" anyway. I am going to try to keep the "less work on weekends" trend, but also reserve the right to go into full-on manic meerkat mode, as needed. You'll know when. :-)

So, relevant to the first bit of work, a question for those of you with household animals and technology:

do your animals ever pay the slightest bit of attention to the screen when you're skyping/otherwise involved in digital conversations? And if so, what form does that attention take?

1) Did you see my happy cover reveals for HEART OF BRIAR and SOUL OF FIRE? If not, checkit! http://www.lauraannegilman.net/first-look-heart-of-briar-and-soul-of-fire/

2) The Skiffy Internet is in an uproar because some white male readers got ewwwww!cooties from all the female and non-white (and non-white females!) on the Nebula ballot. All I can say is: cootie-fearing fandom, grow the FUCK up already. And if you can't, then stay in your own cootie-free playpens and leave the adults alone. Sometimes there are more guys than women on the ballot(s). Sometimes there are more women than men. Genders and nationalities and skin tones shift. This? Is all GOOD. It means we have a vibrant and expanding genre with lots of good work to choose from. If you think this is something to moan about, please see above re: playpens.

3. There are a lot of new books out from Book View Cafe this week! Go checkit.

4. 2013, in addition to being the year of Being Really Damn Busy, is also the year I let myself work ALL the hours... M-F. And very few hours S-S. So far, this is... working extremely well. Workaholicism With Limits. It's the hot new ~~religion~~ ~~cult~~ philosophy.

Status Report:

Today I: wrote 2k words. Edited someone else's story. Signed on for a long-term freelance project. Mended a coat.

All four of those things filled me with the same level of competent accomplishment. Or accomplished competence. Whatever.

The daily darling:

The boss never forbade them anything stronger, but Marie frowned on the girls drinking while they were working, saying men could make themselves foolish, but a woman never should.

I'm not even sure that they're the right 700 words, either. But considering I was sitting in the middle of a hospital waiting room*, low on caffeine, surrounded by a man speaking Russian (loudly) on his cell phone, an a doctor talking in Spanish to a woman about someone else's condition, and someone else watching soaps on the big-ass tv at the end of the room, I figure I did okay.

Some days, you have to accept that there will be pitfalls and roadblocks, and just be thankful you have good breaks. Or something like that.

darling of the day:

The prick against her fingertip was a sharp pinch, the nib cold as it drank its fill, and then she was signing her name on the creamy paper next to the X, all the lessons coming back to her, leaving a smooth, almost-familiar line when she was done.

Tomorrow, I throw my heroine under a wagon, and unpeel someone's psyche. Should be fun.

*my dad was having surgery. He's home now, comfortably grumpy.

I'm stil waiting on revision notes for SOUL OF FIRE, and I'm not scheduled to start on G&T #3 until 1 March, so I've been working on New Project #2, also known for now as The Left Hand. (or, "the book NOT called TDW")

So today I pulled up my Big Writer Pants and sent the first three chapters (rough draft) of the TLH to my alpha reader, aka "the willing victim."

TWV came back with amazing speed (bless her) with some pointed comments about what wasn't working, some useful advice that made me wail but nod, and overall the response that it did not make her weep the bad tears, and in fact might not suck*. And she GOT what I was trying to do, which is tell a different kind of coming-of-age story, with a notably different judgment-of-society.

So yeah, I think I might be on the right track with this one. Onward!

darlings of the day:

He waited, his hat in his lap, heels on the floor, conscious of the pistol at his side and how utterly useless it would be, if the judgement went against him.

and

There were no windows in his office, but she thought sunlight might pick out a few more silver strands in his hair, now. His shirt was open at the neck, vest undone and no cravat around his neck, so she could see his Adam’s apple move when he spoke.

*or, in non-writer terms, she liked it.

http://www.lauraannegilman.net/todays-lesson-is-zen/

Along with the occasional joys and successes, into every writer's life come the things that fall through. The options that are never picked up, the movie deals that stall, the projects that are cancelled, and endless variations through every year and day of your career. They're not even things that you can maybe use later: it's dead, Jim.

You learn to roll with it, because the only other option is to throw yourself onto your sofa, sobbing at the Unfairness of the World, and that gets boring the fifth or sixth time (trust me on this).

This morning, I finally, sadly, accepted the probability that a project I'd been really excited about isn't going to happen. The checks are cashed, so I can't even say I've been hard done by...but after a few years of saying "well, maybe..." I've put the project on the shelf of "someday" and closed the cabinet door. If the project is revived at some point I'll be thrilled, but I'm not looking for it any more.

My point is that this happens to everyone. Everyone. Newbies, famous folk, and the rest of us in-between. Not everything is Midas-touched. Sometimes, you get the Gorgon. And it's not even a dread Learning Experience. It's just something that happens.

Don't linger over it, don't hold a wake. Let go.

http://www.lauraannegilman.net/a-reminder-for-you-and-for-them-and-for-me/

"How do I do this? How do YOU do this? How does it get done, this book-writing, storytelling thing? I keep starting and stopping, getting distracted, getting bored, getting broken.... what's the secret?"

The following paragraph has long resided in the sidebar of my Livejournal blog. Some days (weeks, months, years) it's useful to shake it out and look at it again.

You sit down. You tell a story. You do it any damn way it comes out that works consistently for you. You hope people like it. You hope people pay you for it. You do it again. And again. That's all I got. Zen and the Art of Writer Maintenance. You can cheer me on and I can cheer you on, but in the end? In the end it's down to how you get your getting done, done. So get it done.

You still need specifics? Ass in chair (or feet planted on the ground). Fingers on the letters (or wrapped around a pen). Small goals over and over again until you're done. Everything else is personal, and subject to change as the writer changes. Stop looking at me. Write.

The revisions to FIXED are off for one last read before going back to Madame Micki. The production matter for MILES TO GO is ready and waiting only for cover art. All of my editorial client files are up to date (one response still waiting to be sent), and the one last bit of freelance writing I need to do is underway. One might think that everything was totally under control...

Still in queue:

looking over a possible collaborative project file, to see if it gels.
revision notes for PROMISES TO KEEP
revision notes from M. Agent on two different projects
sample pages to go with a new project
sample pages to go with another project
the "outtake" stories for the Kickstarter readers
oh yeah right start writing G&T #3!
get the pending short stories off the hard drive an into the marketplace mix
getting website 3.0 up and running (also: the new dymk site)

Still waiting to hear back on:

the artwork for MILES TO GO
a possible new project that could shift my schedule AGAIN
my travel schedule for the rest of the year

Meanwhile, after years of that side being very quiet, I've been headhunted not once but twice this month. We Shall See....

So yeah, when I said that February was shaping up to be considerably busier than January? Also, March. Maybe all of 2013.

What, you mean other than snow? (and sledding. Sledding was fun, although I am now bruised in certain places I should have been expecting)

Well, having finished off everything else I had pending, and only having client-work to keep me occupied until Monday, I have turned my attention to a New Project. Which means, I did a hell of a lot of research-reading, talked to someone who qualifies as an expert in one of the things I need to research, and generally poked at the first chapter until I wasn't embarrassed to be seen in public with it. I mean, I still dress it funny, but I'm okay with that, it will grow into its own fashion sense, eventually.

"There was a handprint in the door. Just the handprint, nothing else. No skin, no blood." If a hand had been hot enough to leave a char-mark, it would have been terribly damaged, the person in intense pain. Assuming it was a person at all. "Did you do that?"

Fee is badass. She might even be as badass as she thinks she is. But Nur is way more badass than that.

I also worked on other things that are not spoken of yet (if ever), started some freelance copy-writing, arranged for transport for next weekend's rally in D.C., met with a client via the wonders of Skype, and told a few people about the NEWS. What NEWS, you ask? Oh, the NEWS I'll tell you on Monday.....

I have a world, and a set-up, that Joe (aka New Agent) LOVES. I have a very specific voice for the book. I have two absolutely perfect characters to carry the POV, and several secondary characters just waiting for their lines. I even have a Scenario off which to base the dangerous hijinks and dark magics, derring-don't and foolish heroics.

What I bloody well DON'T have, is a plot. I've got the thinkings of a plot, the the trappings of a plot, but no actual plot on which to put said damned trappings.

I know it's in there, somewhere. It just hasn't come OUT yet.

*shakes brain, impatiently, waiting for something to fall out*

Hah, Plot! I was falling for my own story-sneakery, and looking in the wrong direction.

Gotcha now.

*worked up and submitted a proposal for a project in a new-to-me side of publishing.

*was interviewed for DOGTALK (a radio show) and was introduced solely by my pseudonym for the first time. That was... kind of surreal.

*was unexpectedly submitted (and got preliminary approval) for a project that could be a very fun fun, if time-intense, project.

*was headhunted for the first time in 5+ years for an editing job.

*spoke with several people about something (not related to the headhunting) that could change the direction of my career.

*chose the cover artist/designer for the Sylvan Investigations novellas (after several false starts).

*worked with editorial clients.

*started revisions for FIXED (G&T #2).

*did not do anywhere near enough writing.

That doesn't seem like enough to wear me out, but it did. Looking back, the proposal took rather more time than I'd been expecting. Hopefully it will pan out, but if not, at least I have the material to recycle/reuse at some later date. Because no writing is ever wasted, even if it's never used.

This weekend, rather than being at Arisia *sads* I will be finishing the revisions for PROMISES TO KEEP, doing some housekeeping of both house- and writing sorts, and Thinking Very Hard About Thinks. And, hopefully, sleeping. More than 6 hours of sleep in one stretch would be a loverly thing....

"Let me get this right: you're worried because your editor really liked the book, and didn't find any major broken things you need to fix?"

"Yes!....*pause*...That's not normal?"

"...*sigh*..."

So maybe it's just me, I don't know. My editor's a smart, experienced woman, but I'm SURE the book has some major whoopsie in it... maybe the copyeditor will find it for me. Or, yeah, maybe I did sweep the table, this time. Maybe. *peers suspiciously at manuscript, which may or may not be peering back*

And that pretty much sums up this week for me. Working on the writer-edits for PROMISES TO KEEP. Working on the editor-edits for FIXED. Working on the cover(s) for both Sylvan Investigation novellas. Working with d.y.m.k. clients. There's other stuff going on too, some of which has required me to dress up in my adult person clothing and take lunch meetings, but it's nothing to be spoken of in public yet.

Oh, and waiting on one, two, three different checks from publishers, while I shuffle my budget to get through the month. I hate January.

Last week, I got an email from Madame Editrix, saying she had read the manuscript for FIXED (Gin & Tonic #2) and loved it. And that I should prepare for incoming notes.

(Because no book is so good that a good editor can't show you how to make it better. That's me saying that, not her. Although she totally would, too.)

In these Modern Times, usually an announcement like that would lead to checking my email for the above-referenced editorial letter. Hell, even when I was back at Penguin in the early 2000s, we were doing it that way, and all the editing work I do for d.y.m.k now is digital....

But Madame Editrix, she is Old School. She sends me a marked-up manuscript. Yes, actual paper (a printout of the file I'd sent her). With an actual pencil.

0-0

It's...kind of adorable. And weirdly reassuring. A reminder that for all that's changed in this industry, all the long-term and overnight disruptions, it really does still come down to this: words. On a page. Marked up and moved around, until they're perfect.

And, if I'm very good, little smiley faces in the margins, where I made her laugh.

So today I will be taking my printout and walking away from the computer screen for a while, to read her comments and see what she's scrawled, and think about murder, mayhem and misdirection in a calm, off-screen manner.

(there will still be caffeine, of course. Caffeine is a constant, no matter what tech you use)

I confess, I'm still not quite sure i feel like a mystery writer. Maybe that's because it's Ms. Kornetsky, not me? Or maybe it will take two or three books to settle into that skin. But this, the editing and being edited side? It always feels right.

Oh, and for those of you who've somehow missed out on COLLARED, the first book in the series? Click Here.

The Year-End Project has been...not exactly put to rest, but it's on a back burner, 40,000 words prepped and waiting for Discussions.

So, what's up, what's on deck?

Right now, the main priority is getting "Miles to Go" into final shipping shape for the Kickstarter backers. They're also due a few stories (I haven't forgotten, guys!). Plus, working with the good folk at PlusOne to get the second novella done, etc etc. That's January/February.

I also owe some other folk stories in the next six weeks. That's front-burner for January. Also, revisions to the books I handed in to my editors in, respectively, October and December. And there's February/March, sorted.

After that? I don't know. A lot of possibles. If the reaction was good, more Sylvan Investigations. The short story e-collection. Possibly another Gin & Tonic mystery or two. Hopefully, another fantasy or three. Waiting on callbacks.

Also, A Project I Can't Talk About Yet, but that has me really excited.

I do know that in the second half of this year I have three novels coming out - the next Gin & Tonic mystery, FIXED, and the Portals fantasy duology, HEART OF BRIAR and SOUL OF FIRE. So it's going to be a busy 2013 no matter what....

And that's how I like it. :-)

The State of the Meerkat (2Q) report

BLOOD FROM STONE -- in stores
FLESH AND FIRE proofs -- done/back to publisher

new Luna proposals -- to Madame Agent for feedback
new Nocturne proposal -- to Madame Agent for feedback
new historical fantasy material -- to Madame Agent for feedback

PACK OF LIES -- draft revision in progress. Original deadline was Monday, but since it's not scheduled until
Winter 2010, I have an officially-sanctioned extension of (woo) a month.

MUSTANG -- two chapters shy of a first draft, at which point it will be set in the cave to turn blue (cheese reference, for reasons obvious to Word War participants -- due July)

Cosa Nostradamus short story -- draft done, aging (due August)
Untitled Fantasy story -- draft in-progress
Untitled Fantasy story #2 -- draft in-progress

Pending Freelance #1 -- due 18 May
Pending Freelance #2 -- due June

VINEART #2 -- file open, outline and research files ready... (due November)

Upcoming Public Appearances:

Pandemonium Books, 8 May 7pm (Cambridge, MA)
Library of Congress luncheon Presentation (as part of BookView Cafe), 22 May
Balticon, 22-25 May (Baltimore, MD)
BookExpos America, 29 May (NYC)
East Coast Genre Mafia* mass signing @ the Waldenbooks at the Oakdale Mall, 20 June (Binghamton, NY)

* Joshua Palmatier, S.C. Butler, Patricia Bray, Barbara Campbell, Anton Strout, Laura Anne Gilman, Jackie Kessler. Can you afford to miss that? Dog knows what's going to happen....

Current Mood: busy

Because someone asked me last week and I swear, I couldn't remember...

Tie-in novels: 3 (2 Buffy, 1 Poltergeist: the Legacy)
YA Fiction: 3 (the GRAIL QUEST trilogy)
YA non-fiction: 3 (Coping with CP; The Yeti, Intro to Finance)
Paranormal Romance: 3 (NIGHT SERPENT, DAUGHTER OF THE SEA [in production], MUSTANG [in progress]
Urban Fantasy: 8 (the six Retriever books, HARD MAGIC [in production], PACK OF LIES [in progress]
Fantasy: 1 (FLESH & FIRE [in production])

So. Fifteen original novels, 3 media tie-ins, and 3 non-fiction works, since 1999?

Plus, of course, there's still the third PSI novel to be written, and the next two Vineart books to be written [one of them Right Now Hurry Up!], that are all under contract, so call that another three....

No fkcuing wonder I'm tired. Maaaaaaaan.

(this also explains why my short story production has fallen off so drastically. Taking steps to correct that, now)

Current Mood: busy

Other than a quick hit at word war this morning, haven't been at my desk much today. Lots of page proof work, and some light housework, and, um, a lot of napping. I'm in the ( possible TMI ) stage, which means I have to be verrrrrry careful right now. Back when I was 16 I had a serious case of mono and thought I was getting better and overdid it and ended up with pneumonia as a nifty parting gift. Not this time, thanks. If my body says 'sleep' than I shall by dog sleep.

Thankfully the weather broke last night, and we're back to seasonable. It's pretty and crisp and slightly breezy...excellent napping weather.

This means my deadlines have slipped slightly, and there are things that I should have done that I haven't yet. Oh well. The world will not end. I think.

For those of you in the Boston area, in addition to my signing at Pandemonium Books in Cambridge, MA on Friday May 8th, I will be doing a vague 'something' (either a formal signing or a drop-in) at the Cambridge Borders on Saturday the 9th. Please come by either locale, if you're in the area. There are vague plans for post-signing dinner/drinking on Friday night.... let me know if you're interested!

Current Mood: zen coughing

In the winter, I don't use my main living room much, unless I have company. It's a lovely room, with a great sofa and chairs, and books within reach...but it's also the only room that doesn't have natural light streaming in. So I tend to gravitate to the rooms (bedroom, office, kitchen, dining nook) that do.

That dynamic changes come warmer weather, though. Unlike the source of my nickname, I am NOT a warm weather critter. I like indirect sunlight and highs in the low 70's. Warmer than that [like, ugh, today], and headaches and crankiness ensue. So I head for the shadows. As in... my living room. There's a cross-breeze from the windows, but the sunlight is diffuse by the time it reaches the sofa -- which means I can leave the shades up, which the cats and the plants and probably my subconscious mood appreciates, and not feel like I'm being broiled.

So yeah, the netbook and the manuscript and my pens and my feline companions are all scattered around me as I work from the sofa, which is why, when someone asks me how much of my living space is set aside as an office, I laugh and shrug helplessly. All of it? [since I get story inspiration and plot breakthrough in the shower, I can even claim the bathroom as work-space]

The change in venue seems to be working: I hope to wrap up the first pass on the very rough draft of PACK OF LIES today. I think I've caught most of the 'OMG how stupid were you when you wrote that?' moments, plus found places where I could make the storyline stronger. Second pass should go a little easier... (why is it the seemingly simplest of plot-tangles make the biggest writing messes? And why did I decide to write caper novels? A straightforward murder mystery is so much easier to plot....)

Page proofs still await, as does the short story and the freelance that has to get done, um, tonight. MUSTANG is on the back burner for a while, since it's the least-urgent deadline. See? I can too have a midway point between 'all-out' and 'comatose!'

EtA: Jules, the Phile Cabinet pillow makes a perfect netbook lapdesk. Yay for useful repurposing and multitasking!

Current Mood: productive

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A Meerkat's Bolthole

where personal and professional lives collide

Entries tagged with the writing life

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State of the meerkat, Saturday edition

Truth. Fiction. Weird Intersections

New Kid on the Block

Spring is coming in, but keep the scarf wrapped round your throat...

Four Things and a Status Update makes Five Things

Today I wrote 700 words

Occasionally, The Writer Writes

Today's Lesson is Zen

A Reminder (for you, and for them, and for me)

Clearly, the downtime is up again.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was your weekend?

c'mon, damn it, brain. this is what we DO, remember?

this week I...

The State of the Meerkat, with bonus #writerbrain

My Editor Is Old School

Into the New Year

no, there is too much, let me sum up

a ten year restrospective, sort of

wednesday rewind and return

not quite a lazy Sunday, but I'm giving it my best shot...