We are now seventy-five days out from the release of Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies]. We're thirty-five days out from the San Diego International Comic Convention, aka "Geek Prom," aka "Seanan makes her first appearance in a public place as a professional author, rather than as a musician who occasionally writes things and says flaily stuff about a book that's coming out sometime in the far, misty future." If I had a penny for every day between now and my book hitting shelves, I couldn't even buy a cup of coffee.

Who has a ticket on the crazy train? Is it me? Why, yes, I do believe that it is. (Although my crazy is somewhat alleviated by the fact that a new Mersenne prime has been discovered. It's thirteen million digits long. I would post it here, but the text file is seventeen MB, which means it's roughly 3,500 pages of single-spaced twelve-point text. I'm not that crazy. Yet.)

We had a brief question-and-answer session at the end of my reading at DucKon, and people asked how they could make their book purchases count the most. I love these people. I love them like burning. That said...

* If you have a brick-and-mortar store, buy there. Buying a physical book from a physical store forces the store to restock, which gets more copies into circulation. Book sales are calculated using a bizarre algorithm of "copies shipped" and "copies returned." We want the first number to be enormous, and the second number to be nonexistent.

* Online orders definitely count as sales, and if you don't have a brick-and-mortar store, that's an awesome route. (Also, if you've already pre-ordered, canceling your order is probably not very nice.) Even if you don't place your order online, remember that a lot of people do, and that reviews and rankings help to inform decisions.

...which brings me to a note on reviews: please review the book honestly, and don't worry that I'll be coming for you in the night with a bucket full of bloodworms. I won't be reading Amazon reviews, remember? But please do review the book. Reviews will help get people who have no idea who I am to take a chance on me, which increases my numbers, which increases the odds of the trilogy doing well enough that we can sell the next three. Which increases the odds of my being entertainingly crazy forever.

Seventy-five days.

Great Pumpkin preserve us.

As has become the tradition around here, I present the set list for my latest concert. Complete with annotation and lyric links. Because I'm kind like that.

The DucKon set list, with arrangement notes, was as follows:

1. "I Am." (Seanan, lead vocals; Tony Fabris, guitar.)
2. "Counting Crows." (Seanan, lead vocals; Michelle 'Vixy' Dockrey, backing vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy McNally, electric fiddle.)
3. "Fox Hunt." (Seanan, lead vocals; Vixy, backing vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy, acoustic fiddle.)
4. "Mama Said." (Seanan, lead vocals; Vixy, backing vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy, acoustic fiddle.)
5. "Take Advantage (of Me)." (Seanan, lead vocals; Vixy, backing vocals; Tony, guitar.)
6. "In This Sea." (Seanan, Vixy, lead vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy, fiddle.)
7. "Oh, Michelle." (Seanan, lead vocals; Vixy, backing vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy, fiddle; Brooke Lunderville, BANJO!)
8. "What A Woman's For." (Seanan, Vixy, Amy, lead vocals; Tony, guitar.)
9. "The Black Death." (Seanan, epidemiology; Vixy, Amy, lab assistants; Tony, guitar.)
10. "Dear Gina." (Seanan, lead vocals; Vixy, backing vocals; Tony, guitar.)
11. "Carnival Glass." (Seanan, lead vocals; Vixy, backing vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy, fiddle.)
12. "Evil Laugh." (Seanan, lead vocals; Vixy, Amy, primordial ooohs; Tony, guitar; Brooke, banjo.)
13. "Tanglewood Tree." (Seanan, Vixy, lead vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy, fiddle.)
14. "Sycamore Tree." (Seanan, Vixy, Tony, lead vocals; Tony, guitar.)
15. "Wicked Girls." (Seanan, Vixy, lead vocals; SJ Tucker, backing vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy, acoustic fiddle; SJ Tucker, djembe.)

Fortunately, we'd prepared an encore. So I also give you...

16. "Still Catch the Tide." (Seanan, lead vocals; Vixy, backing vocals; Tony, guitar; Amy, acoustic fiddle; SJ Tucker, djembe.)

Almost all arrangements were done in that bizarre, organic, 'how does this sound?' sort of way, but it's important to note that the chords for "I Am," "Counting Crows," "Fox Hunt," "Mama Said," "Take Advantage," "Oh, Michelle," "The Black Death" and "Dear Gina" were originally worked out by Paul Kwinn, before being tinkered with by Tony Fabris and Jeff Bohnhoff (depending on the song). "In This Sea" and "Wicked Girls" were chorded by Kristoph Klover. "Evil Laugh" was chorded by Tony Fabris.

"Tanglewood Tree" was written by Dave Carter. "Still Catch the Tide" was written by Talis Kimberley.

As always: "I Am" is on Pretty Little Dead Girl. "Take Advantage (of Me)," "In This Sea," "Evil Laugh," and "Still Catch the Tide" are on Stars Fall Home. "Sycamore Tree" is on Stars Fall Home (studio) and Pretty Little Dead Girl (live). "Oh, Michelle," "What A Woman's For," "The Black Death," and "Dear Gina" are on Red Roses and Dead Things.

"Tanglewood Tree" appears on Tanglewood Tree, by Dave and Tracy, and on Abesailing for Beginners, by Playing Rapunzel.

It was a good show.

Welcome to the thirty-second essay in my ongoing series of essays on the art and craft of writing. All these essays are based around my original fifty thoughts on writing, and are working their way in a disorganized manner through a variety of aspects of the art, craft, and excuse for antisocial behavior that is the life of the writer. Not necessarily the professional writer; just the writer, period. Here's our thought for the day:

Thoughts on Writing #32: Deadlines.

That's even less helpful than our normal short-form thoughts, so here's our expanded thought for the day:

Deadlines are your friends. Learn how to work to them. If you ever start publishing, you're going to be getting a lot of deadlines, and you won't necessarily have any real say in the matter. It's best if it's not a shock to the system.

Love 'em or hate 'em, the world is full of deadlines, and the world of the writer is doubly full of deadlines. There are deadlines dictating when you need to get the words onto the page, when you need to finish processing editorial changes, when you need to correct any typos, and when you turn in your manuscript. So how do you maintain your sanity in the face of a seemingly endless list due dates? How do you meet your deadlines, how do you handle it when you miss a deadline, and how do you cope? Let's talk setting deadlines, meeting deadlines, and living with deadlines. Ready? Good. Let's begin.

( My thoughts are not your thoughts; my process is not your process; my ideas are not your ideas; my method is not your method. All these things are totally right for me, and may be just as totally wrong for you. So please don't stress if the things I'm saying don't apply to you -- I promise, there is no One True Way. This way for my thoughts on deadlines.Collapse )