Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: thankful
  • Music: Pink, "Funhouse."

On authors and our crazy.

Well, we're two days out from official release, and I'm sleeping a little better at night, which is nice, especially since being two days out from A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] means I'm now fifty-eight days away from Feed [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy]. This is basically guaranteed to be a fun year, if you consider the distant sound of chainsaws and hysterical giggling to be the soundtrack of fun. I...kinda do, really. So that's all right.

As an author, it's natural and expected that I'll go a little crazy right around release day. I tell people it's less like having a baby and more like planning a wedding. You sink your heart and soul and resources and time and energy into this one day, and you just pray it'll be perfect, and that you haven't slipped into a horror movie (since weddings are basically catnip for demon serial killers). And then, whether it's perfect or not, you go to bed, you get up, and you carry on.

As a professional, it's also expected that I'll do my best to keep the majority of my crazy off the Internet. I'll twitch and flail and make little gasping noises about the pandemic, but at the end of the day, I won't scream at people, throw things, or threaten to have you all tracked down by my elite army of dinosaur commandos. (Well. Maybe the dinosaur commandos. They get so bored when they just sit around the barracks all day...) The Internet, as I have said before, is forever, and the fact that I'm having the release day crazies right now doesn't mean you won't be able to find my hysterical meltdown in black-and-white (or whatever your screen is set to) six months from now. As I do not want my crazy preserved for all time like fossilized mosquitoes in amber, I try to have more sense than that.

So if I've been overly crazy in the march toward release, I apologize, and hope that you'll forgive me. If I haven't been overly crazy, then, in the words of London Tipton, "Yay me!" You have all been wonderful, and I appreciate you all being here. I'll be running a few more contests in the weeks to come—as a hint, if you've already purchased A Local Habitation, you may want to say your receipt. I'll also be continuing to wind back down to my usual levels of madness, which has more pandemic, and less panic.

Life is good.
Tags: contemplation, freaking out, gratitude, state of the blonde
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  • 56 comments

batwrangler

March 4 2010, 16:06:06 UTC 7 years ago

My pre-ordered copies (apparently I bought two) arrived yesterday!

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 16:38:28 UTC 7 years ago

Hooray!

xjenavivex

March 4 2010, 16:12:57 UTC 7 years ago

I can't wait for mine to get you. You haven't been overly crazy in my book!

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 16:38:37 UTC 7 years ago

Awesome. :)

xjenavivex

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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xjenavivex

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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xjenavivex

7 years ago

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ladymondegreen

March 4 2010, 16:31:27 UTC 7 years ago

*is trying to imagine the training exercises for the dinosaur commandos*

It's very ... colorful.

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 16:38:51 UTC 7 years ago

Also hard on the furniture, but that's beside the point.

admnaismith

March 4 2010, 16:37:25 UTC 7 years ago


But...but...but...your craziness is a Thing Of Beauty, a wicked-girl source of pride that is never allowed to be forgotten. Like the temper of Leslie Fish, or the trashiness of Mad Magazine. Um...right?

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 16:39:31 UTC 7 years ago

There's standard wicked girl crazy, which occasionally destroys mankind but is generally amiable about it, and then there's the bad, scary, upsetting crazy, which causes The Agent to send men with tranquilizer guns to my house.

bearhand

March 4 2010, 16:41:57 UTC 7 years ago

I'm hoping i get mine today, tomorrow, or Saturday.

woooooooooo

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 16:46:18 UTC 7 years ago

Hooray!

I hope you like it.

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seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 16:47:13 UTC 7 years ago

I'm more of a Wizards of Waverly Place girl, it's true, but Suite Life is unavoidable in both its forms if you watch a lot of Disney Channel.

I do prefer Suite Life on Deck, although I miss Maddie.

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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tikiera

7 years ago

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ebartley

March 4 2010, 16:51:48 UTC 7 years ago

My copy got shipped to Mom's address. (I guess I hadn't properly updated Amazon with the default when I deleted my apartment.) The bookstore near work doesn't have it in stock yet (I assume it will eventually -- it's got a copy of Rosemary & Rue.) At this point I'd eat the DRM and get it for Kindle, except it's not out till 3/9, by which point I should have my copy from Mom's.

I envy you the release jitters. I still owe my (deceased) father a rejection letter for a short story....

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 17:34:45 UTC 7 years ago

Woo shipping!

Release jitters are interesting, if nothing else.

vixyish

March 4 2010, 16:53:25 UTC 7 years ago

You better let me be *IN* the elite army of dinosaur commandos, or else... or else... or else SOMETHING.

Raar. RAAR, I say.

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 17:35:06 UTC 7 years ago

You are a GENERAL in my army of the reptilian damned.

desperance

March 4 2010, 17:12:28 UTC 7 years ago

Marginally off-topic, but did you see this?

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 17:35:22 UTC 7 years ago

I did! I went "squee."

tigertoy

March 4 2010, 17:12:49 UTC 7 years ago

Wednesday is my normal day for being right next door to the Borders in Champaign, so stopping in there this week has been in my plan for quite some time.

I am pleased to report that they had it (it took them weeks after the official release date to get copies of R&R due to an internal shipping snafu). No sign of the cool three-author publicity display, which is a bummer, because I was thinking of trying one of the other authors, but I didn't actually remember his name. I was planning on having the display jog my memory.

bercilakslady

March 4 2010, 17:35:58 UTC 7 years ago

The display is a Barnes and Noble thing.

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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tigertoy

7 years ago

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cleothyla

March 4 2010, 17:27:10 UTC 7 years ago

I can understand you having the crazies waiting for your books to be released. Anticipation always drives me nuts, too. You want everything to be awesome and once the day is over, then you can relax. Still haven't gotten my copy yet (Darn Amazon) but I have gone to my local Barnes and Nobel and petted the book and looked at the back. When we're not on such a limited budget, I'll get another copy of the book and then I'll send it to a certain friend who wants it.

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 17:36:52 UTC 7 years ago

Yay!

cleothyla

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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rdmaughan

March 4 2010, 17:44:46 UTC 7 years ago

Do you have a date for the UK release? Amazon.co.uk still has it as available for pre-order.

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 23:25:30 UTC 7 years ago

Sadly, not yet. :( I'm sorry.

signy1

March 4 2010, 18:30:57 UTC 7 years ago

Just as a cheerful little progress report for you-- I work at a bookshop, and as of Tuesday we'd already sold half of our original shipment of ALH and had had to reorder a stash of R&R. The spiffy three-author display might have helped some, but the other two authors haven't moved as well, so the display probably isn't the main draw. :)

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 23:26:02 UTC 7 years ago

OMG YAY!

You make my day. :)

nimitzbrood

March 4 2010, 18:42:34 UTC 7 years ago

*hugs his pre-ordered copy that arrived yesterday*

Just finished it this morning. Awesome! :-) _Totally_ immersive story.

And I will likely buy a copy of both R&R and ALH to addic^hgive a friend of mine as well.

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 23:26:15 UTC 7 years ago

YAY!

Thank you thank you thank you.

ladyfox7oaks

March 4 2010, 20:12:51 UTC 7 years ago

Finished ALH last night... OMG!!! How could you do ...?! *TWIST* And then!!!... And THAT!!?? (*Turn!*) Aww, the poor little car, AGAIN!?!?! OUCH. Oh No! Not him- !!! (*Twist again!*) No WAY YOU DID NOT JUST... But, wait, but,... AAAAGH!!!

Yeah, lotsa fun, but I can't write a review to save my life without serious spoilers, so I'll leave it at this. >:D

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 23:26:23 UTC 7 years ago

Hee hee hee.

spectralbovine

March 4 2010, 20:22:29 UTC 7 years ago

Here, have a comic about a fairy.

seanan_mcguire

March 4 2010, 23:27:04 UTC 7 years ago

Toby...

...approves.

batyatoon

7 years ago

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archangelbeth

March 5 2010, 00:10:02 UTC 7 years ago

Amazon delivered my copy today! *schlurp*

*figured it (mostly) out before Toby, muwhahaha*

Go, go, Tybalt!

...what do you mean the series isn't about Tybalt? Of course it's about Tybalt. He's the King of the Cats. Duh. I mean, it's not like the Holmes books were about Watson, who narrated them, right? The last one was about him, too. Obviously.

*innocent look*

seanan_mcguire

March 10 2010, 22:00:05 UTC 7 years ago

Check out what s00j did to support your argument...

archangelbeth

7 years ago

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*hoping these aren't spoilers*

threeparts

March 5 2010, 00:41:45 UTC 7 years ago

I finished A Local Habitation at about 2am this morning, after reading for eight hours straight and being harassed by my cats who wanted me to turn the damn light off already. I enjoyed it very much, especially the pacing and the dynamic between Toby and the Luideag. The part with the night-haunts was fascinating. I'm really hoping that one day we'll be able to have an illustrated guide to the races and families in Toby's world. A big, shiny hardback one.
However, I must say that if this is the death toll in a regular McGuire urban fantasy novel, the body count in Feed is already scaring me. In a good way.

Thank you for the sleep-destroying entertainment!

Re: *hoping these aren't spoilers*

seanan_mcguire

March 10 2010, 22:00:19 UTC 7 years ago

Awesome!

I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

batyatoon

March 5 2010, 02:25:48 UTC 7 years ago

I has my copy. *hugs it*

seanan_mcguire

March 10 2010, 22:00:27 UTC 7 years ago

AWESOME. *hugs you*

wendyzski

March 5 2010, 04:23:18 UTC 7 years ago

My copy of ALH arrived today! I anticipate a very sleepy morning tomorrow....

seanan_mcguire

March 10 2010, 22:00:35 UTC 7 years ago

Awesome.

wendyzski

7 years ago

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tikiera

March 5 2010, 20:08:49 UTC 7 years ago

Wedneday night, far too late, I found a copy at the local (for definitions of that world that involve spending 30 minutes in a car) big chain store. I had to get help, 'cause there was Rosemary and Rue on the shelf under your name, but not ALH. But I went to ask, and they pointed me to the 'new arrivals' section where they now have paperbacks. Your book was half gone. This was on Wed, 1 day after release.

Got my copy, was very good and did not start right after my normal bedtime (sleep is necessary for work, sadly), and then started it on the train on the way home Thursday.

I was very angry with the train when it stopped and I had to negotiate elevators and such where I can't read. I went back to reading as soon as I was home, and wow, it was good.

I am loving the lore, I love the world, and Tybalt is now my favorite character. It used to be the pooka from War of the Oaks, but you have a perfect king of cats.

And now I know who to recommend the series to. I flailed the first time, but I think with this one, I have it classified right...

seanan_mcguire

March 11 2010, 23:14:17 UTC 7 years ago

Ahem:

Squee.

And also, yay.