Hey, folks. So...

1. I am still in Seattle, land of weather that is entirely alien to me.

2. I'm not dead. I'm just experiencing some rather awesome technical difficulties when it comes to accessing Livejournal. Seriously, it's like my data is being delivered by carrier pigeon. I can post -- barely -- but answering comments is a task akin to stumping the Sphinx at Trivial Pursuit. So posting will remain infrequent until a) this problem is resolved, or b) I go home.

3. The house concert on the 3rd is still on, for all you local folks. The set list is smoking, and we're going to be doing a variety of songs that most of you won't have heard before. Including, terrifyingly enough, 'Dear Gina.' (I love this song like burning, it's creepy as hell, and it's always creepier live. That's just how this stuff works.) Be there or be, I don't know, elsewhere.

4. Voodoo Doughnut is quite possibly the place where good pastry gets to go when it dies. I mean, I ate a Captain Crunch doughnut. How often do you get to say things like that, in this world or in any other?

5. I've finished the latest 'Velveteen vs.' story, which will be going up here soon, and have mapped out the next six or so. My poor little superhero, she never gets any breaks. But she does occasionally get broken. Coming soon, 'Velveteen vs. the Eternal Halloween.'

6. I've also finished doing the base inks for the Conflikt II program book cover, and I'll be doing the zip-a-tone over the next few days. It's essentially made of awesome. Awesome, and tentacles. Which are essentially the same thing, so hey.

7. I've finished through chapter twenty of The Brightest Fell, also known as 'Toby Daye, book five.' My 'write far enough ahead that even if you get hit by a bus, the series can continue for years' plan is definitely working. Memo to self: avoid the bus.

8. Interpretive dance of the bacon on John Scalzi's cat = totally fun, and totally funny.

9. I do, however, miss my own cat, and expect her to start trying to destroy Oregon in her maddened rampage any day now. Which, well, would be amusing, if nothing else.

10. I don't really have a tenth thing. The list just looked incomplete and a little bit lonely when I tried to leave it off at nine, so I figured I'd come up with something. What I have come up with is, apparently, the fact that I got nothin'.

How's with all of you?

It's time for the December installment of 'Seanan's current projects,' the post where I cheerfully make it clear that I actually exist inside a quantum singularity that adds extra hours to my day. Please note that the first three Toby books are currently off this list, as they have been fully turned-in to DAW; the next input I'm gonna have will come with the ARCs. Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching. Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues is also off the list; it's under review with my agent, and is thus not being actively worked on. (Amusingly enough, Newsflesh was off November's list because it was under review, and is off December's list because it's now ready to begin the shop process.)

The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have dinosaurs and zombies to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

* Several people have told me that they used my turkey recipe, either as-written or slightly modified, and that their turkeys went over well. One person even said that their turkey was praised by their entire family as the best turkey ever. Ha! Behold my mastery of poultry and its many potential abuses. No one has yet said anything about using my cranberry sauce recipe, which leads me to believe that no one was willing to risk a recipe that came from me and involved boiling sugar. Wimps.

* Speaking of which, my mother had my cranberry sauce for the first time this year, and revealed that she actually hadn't ever had homemade cranberry sauce before. Wow. So that was an awesome experience to be able to give her, especially since my cranberry sauce is amazing.

* I am now almost a hundred pages into The Brightest Fell, aka, 'October Daye, book five.' I have been rewarded for all my hard work with no fewer than six continuity errors that must now be mowed down like ergot-ridden rye. I like mowing things down. I don't like continuity errors. Let the suffering BEGIN.

* Oh, and on the topic of letting things begin, Bolt -- the new computer-animated film from Disney -- is absolutely fantastic. There are some scenes near the end that may be a little too intense for children under six or so, but on the whole, the movie was fantastic, and layered enough to appeal to all age ranges. I started crying at one point, which is always the sign of an awesome cartoon.

* Facebook continues to be amusing in that daunting 'I fell out of touch with you after high school for a reason, you know' and 'I don't hang out with you after work, why would I want to hang out with you on the Internet' sort of a way. It's also helped me find some people whom I love dearly, but aren't on Livejournal. So you win some, you lose some.

* My new website design should be going live tonight or tomorrow. Watch this space for details.

Current stats, The Mourning Edition:

Words: 2,440.
Total words: 31,010.
Reason for stopping: the cold medication says writing is hard now.
Music: mostly show tunes.
Lilly: really wishing I'd stop coughing.

I am now solidly into chapter six of The Mourning Edition. It was a bit rocky at first; it's always rocky going from one Book into another. (Remember that, in this context, a 'Book' is an internal division within the greater novel. Newsflesh was five Books and a Coda. The Mourning Edition will probably be something similar.) I'm still inside the general word count region that I consider to be '20% of the way there.' This is good. This is very, very good, when you compare it to the speed with which Newsflesh was written (see also 'glacial,' at least by local standards).

It makes me happy to realize that I have one full book finished, about one-fifth of another book in first draft, and an outline for the entire series. I feel very much like a real author when I can say things like that. Of course, I also feel very much like a real author when I give myself concussions to get more sleep at conventions, so hey.

And now, as a special bonus treat before it splinters off into its own recurring entry...

Current stats, The Brightest Fell:

Total words: 20,305.
Reason for stopping: again, the cold medicine is king right now.
Music: mostly show tunes.
Lilly: probably afraid of cross-species transmission.

Yes, this is Toby Daye, book five, and yes, I'm almost as far into it as I am into the second Mason book. Don't judge me! I'm a compulsive sequel-writer, it's what makes me happy, and besides, I want to have as much done as humanly possible before Rosemary and Rue hits shelves. Some people don't want to commit to long series, and I realize that. Others don't want to commit to book one unless they know for sure that books two and three are really and truly going to happen. Since I can't conceal the fact that this is a long series, I'm going to do my best to provide proof that honest, the whole thing is going to happen. Really. I'm writing the rest right now.

Since I am now nicely cushioned on a backlog of lovely words with which to pacify my various editors, I'm going to return to my sick day.

Step one: Wake up. This is the least pleasing step. I was having a very pleasant dream about attending a convention in England with my agent and most of my crew of rotating musicians. Vixy and I got to raid a Tesco's. It was nice. Waking up was so not on the agenda.

Step two: Lilly realizes that I have woken up. On weekends, I tend to stay in bed long enough for Lilly to come over and spend some time on my chest, getting heavy-duty affection directed her way. This is because I foolishly believe that if I adore her enough before I start trying to do things, she might leave me alone to do them.

Step three: Check email. Hello, email. Yes, there certainly is a lot of you, and no, none of you really appears to matter. That's always a pleasant discovery on a Saturday morning, as the last thing I want is an emergency or for an unexpected deadline to pop up and wave to me.

Step four: Stare blankly at The Brightest Fell for about three minutes. After that, decide that I am not yet in the necessary head-space to struggle with navigating those particular waters, and close the file again. (Toby Daye, book five. Because finishing four of them in a year just wasn't enough.)

Step five: Copy-edit two chapters of the manuscript I'm currently copy-editing for a friend of mine. It's on today's to-do, even: 'edit chapters 10 and 11.' I am, at this point, sufficiently engrossed by the story that I wouldn't be surprised if that turned into 'and 12 and 13 and just keep going already,' but since I also have to finish the next Velveteen vs. today, it won't go on forever.

...and now, pants, and the ceremonial Saturday morning stroll to the 7-11, hence to obtain a soda whose volume is slightly more than the volume of my skull. Because that will make me feel better.

How's your Saturday?

And now, the November installment of 'Seanan's current projects,' the post where I explain why I have no social life to speak of right now! Please note that the first three Toby books are currently off this list, as they have been fully turned-in to DAW; the next input I'm gonna have will come with the ARCs. Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching. Newsflesh and Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues are also off the list; they're under review with my agent, and are thus not being actively worked on.

The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have dinosaurs and zombies to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

I'm currently marooned in the Denver International Airport, due to fun wackiness with my flight back to the Bay Area. (Apparently, the gods of travel thought that Chris and I had too many dinner plans for tonight. Ah, well.) Since I am relatively self-amusing -- I'm the authorial equivalent of Tom Sawyer, I can almost always find a dead rat and a string to swing it with -- I settled down on a power outlet, and have just finished the first chapter of The Brightest Fell, also known as 'Toby Daye, book five.'

(I swear, there really is a method to my madness. A lot of that method centers on the fact that I'm going to be a lot more curtailed in my writing once Rosemary and Rue comes out and book promotion eats my life. So this is sort of a 'start walking early because you know it's the only way to get yourself even remotely close to your destination before the army of frogs attacks.)

(And yes, Jennifer, I've also been working on my GP story this trip. I just hit the point where all the talk of plague was making my neck itch, and since I have a mild cold, that was not a good thing. Work will resume after medication.)

I'm not done with Late Eclipses of the Sun -- there are more edits to be received and crunched through, and I haven't even reached the 'give it to your agent and see if it inspires projectile vomiting stage of things -- but I'm sufficiently finished that working on the next book is the logical thing to do. At least if you're me.

Whee.

And now, the October installment of 'Seanan's current projects,' the post where I explain why I have no social life to speak of right now! (Says the woman who's about to go to Alabama for a weej.) Please note that the first three Toby books are currently off this list, as they have been fully turned-in to DAW; the next input I'm gonna have will come with the ARCs. Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching. Newsflesh and Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues are also currently off the list; they're under review with my agent, and are thus not being actively worked on.

The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. Because, I have dinosaurs and zombies to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

Yesterday, I...

...got official sign-off to turn in An Artificial Night to my publisher. This means that the entire first trilogy has now been turned in, and I can focus (at least for a few days) on the process of prepping the second trilogy, starting with Late Eclipses of the Sun. I'm deeply excited about this. I have a finished rough draft of Late Eclipses, and about half of The Brightest Fell, but Ashes of Honor is an entirely unfamiliar country. I hope my passport photo doesn't make me look like an idiot.

...finished processing some full-body machete-shot edits to Late Eclipses of the Sun, resulting in my needing a cold shower and the book needing some serious medical attention (the big baby). There's still a lot of work to be done, but the overall shape and structure of things is getting cleaner by the day, and by the draft. I'd estimate that I have maybe two or three passes through left to go before I can file it and get to work on book five. Book five lives in fear. Book five has every reason to be afraid.

...finished the next Velma Martinez installment, 'Velveteen vs. The Flashback Sequence, Part I.' (Technically, that means I need to write the second part of the story still, and I'm direly afraid that it's going to develop a third part, but we take what accomplishments we can get.) I've finally had the opportunity to fully introduce The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division. Velma 'Velveteen' Martinez, David 'The Claw' Mickelstein, Yelena 'Sparkle Bright' (no last name released by her handlers), and Aaron 'Action Dude' Frank. As a lifetime comic book girl, it's incredibly awesome to have the excuse to taunt the things I love.

...fully outlined my story for Grants Pass, after realizing that I was trying to write it from the wrong point of view. Yes, again. Only this time, I was in first when I really needed to be in third. (It seems that my novel default is first, and my short story default is third. I do not know why this is, only that it is.) I am a happy girl, full of pep and the love of horrible pathogens.

...watched an enormous amount of television.

Now we shall have victory cake and Diet Dr Pepper, for no other libation could properly match this victory. VICTORY!

It's time for the September installment of 'Seanan's current projects,' the post where I explain what I'm working on and what its status happens to be! Please note that Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation have once again vanished from this list, as they have finished another stage in the revision process and been returned to DAW. The next input I'm gonna have will come with the ARCs. Ah, progress. It smells like fear. Newsflesh and An Artificial Night are also currently off the list; they're under review with my agent, and are thus not being actively worked on.

The cut-tag endures, because this list is getting slowly longer and longer. This is a natural consequence of living inside my head, where the darkness is. The darkness and the pumpkin pie and the bats. The bats have plague, by the way.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

It's time for the August installment of 'Seanan's current projects,' the post where I explain what I'm working on and what its status happens to be! Please note that Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation have once again vanished from this list, as they have finished another stage in the revision process and been returned to DAW. The next input I'm gonna have will come with the ARCs. Ah, progress. It smells like fear.

The cut-tag endures, because this list is getting slowly longer and longer. This is a natural consequence of living inside my head, where the darkness is. The darkness and the pumpkin pie and the bats. The bats have plague, by the way.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

So here's the skinny on the first four books:

Rosemary and Rue. First-pass editorial is done, and the book has been sent off to DAW to get cuddly with my editor, who will hopefully find it to be an amazing construction of chocolate chips and chainsaws, and thus be able to pass it straight on to the line-editors. While I'm wishing for impossible things, I'd also like a zombie pony full of money.

A Local Habitation. I have my editorial notes from The Editor and The Agent, and I'm about to start processing them. This should be a lot of fun. I find that every book improves immensely as it goes through the editorial process, even if, occasionally, it comes out the other side looking extremely different than it looked going in. This hasn't been officially 'turned in' yet, but it's getting very close.

An Artificial Night. We're still in 'game preserve' edits on this one -- I've been working industriously, and The Agent has seen it, but it hasn't gone to DAW yet. I'm planning to finish the home-team editing before the end of July, and I'm shooting to have the book turned in on an official basis by the end of the first week in August. This will be awesome, as it will free up a lot of my brain for working on...

Late Eclipses of the Sun. Book four! Book one of the second set of three, since almost everyone seems to think in trilogies these days! I'm in the middle of rewriting this one, and by 'the middle,' I mean 'currently, I'm on page 277 of 375, and things are rocking like a cruise ship in a tsunami.' I haven't turned the lions loose on it yet, but dude, the improvements are vast and epic as it is, and I can't wait to move on to the next stage.

After I finish with the LE revisions, I'm going to focus on The Brightest Fell, aka, 'book five,' and then move on to other projects. Because standing still is for other people. Also because I really enjoy having several books written past the point of 'current' in the series, since that means I have the luxury of changing my mind before the deadline.

It probably says something that my reward for finishing book four is going to be quality OCD-girl time with my brand-new continuity Wiki, but I'm trying not to think about that overly-hard.

Whee!