The random number generator has spoken, and the winners of an ARC of Discount Armageddon are...

From the US, druidspell and fae_of_the_rose!

Internationally, hiyokonojinsei!

Congratulations! And now...THE RULES.

1. You must contact me within 24 hours of this announcement to claim your prize. Otherwise, a new winner will be chosen, and while I will be sorry, I will not recant.

2. You must contact me through my website contact page. LJ messages will not be acknowledged.

3. You must include a valid shipping address for me to send your prize to.

If you do all these things, joy and wonder will be yours! Thanks to everyone for playing, and there should be a few more giveaways before release day.

Okay, I want to lead off here by saying thank you. Thank you for caring about where book sales will be best for me, thank you for wanting to buy my books, and thank you for asking. I am so excited about Discount Armageddon, and I really want it to do well. I also want to note that I am making this post because I was asked, not because I'm trying to tell you "buy it like I want you to or it's butts to you, sir." Honestly, as long as you buy the book, I'm happy.

That said, here are the best ways to get a copy of Discount Armageddon while also helping my week one sales:

1. Do not buy the book until March 6th. If you see a copy on a shelf somewhere early, don't pick it up. Wait until the actual release date, because that's when sales will start to count against my first week. Anything before then will count toward my overall sales, but will vanish into the ether when it comes to calculating best seller lists. I know, it's weird.

2. Buy brick and mortar. If you possibly can, walk into a bookstore and take a copy off the shelf. Not sure your local store is going to carry it? Now would be the time to contact them and remind them that you'll be wanting to buy, since this way, they have time to place an order (they won't if you come in the day before release). There are a lot of reasons for this, but the two big ones are a) if they sell, they re-order, and that's good for me, and b) most brick and mortar stores report to the NYT list. And I'd love to get onto the list again.

3. If you need to order on the internet, consider Borderlands Books (physical only). Borderlands is my local store; they take international orders, as well as orders within the United States; I will be dropping by on release day to sign books for them, so you can not only get a copy of your very own, you can get it signed. That doubles the awesome factor, and makes up for needing to wait for the postal mail to reach you, right? Plus, well. My book events are big and chaotic, so I like driving business their way. Again, sooner is better than later, as they're going to be hosting my book release party, and need to know how many copies to get.

4. All eBooks are created equal. Sadly, right now, electronic and internet sales don't count against the NYT list, which is why this comes in so far down that list. That said, a sale is a sale, and my royalty rate is the same for all electronic editions, everywhere. So buy from whatever retailer best suits you, in whatever format best suits you.

5. Buy the book. This is the most important thing. My sales, especially in the first week, will tell my publisher what kind of a market they're looking at for the adventures of Verity and company. So please, if you can, buy the book. I want to stay in this world for a long, long time to come.

Thank you.

One month from today (give or take a few days, given shipping times and shelving patterns), Discount Armageddon will be officially released into the wild. People will be able to buy it, not just pre-order it. Reviews will hopefully become more common, without becoming dramatically meaner. My teetering pile of ARCs will be replaced by a teetering pile of author copies. The beat, as they say, will go on.

This is the first new series I've launched under my own name since 2009, when Rosemary and Rue came out. Feed was released in 2010, and I was a nervous wreck about it, but at the end of the day, Mira Grant was another person; if she failed, I would cry a lot, because Feed was a book I really, really loved, but it wouldn't crush me. But this...

I've had some people email me to sadly ask whether I'm tired of Toby. I'm not, and the sixth book comes out this fall (Ashes of Honor). She's just emotionally exhausting, and it's hard for new readers to get into the series without feeling daunted. Whereas InCryptid is something I've really wanted to write for a long time, with characters and situations that I really love, and it's a series and world I've put together with more experience under my belt, allowing me to avoid some of the flaws in Toby's world. Yes, flaws: Toby's world, for all that I adore it, is innately Eurocentric, and can be confusing sometimes, even though the only type of supernatural creatures to exist are the fae. There's a lot of history, and I sort of assumed everyone understood feudalism. It's my world, I made it, and I love it, but there's something amazing about starting from scratch.

A month before Rosemary and Rue came out, I was vomiting with terror. I'm calmer this time, although I'm still anxious as all hell. Will people like my baby? Will it do okay? Will the other new releases beat it up and call it names? Will sales be strong enough that I'm allowed to continue past the second book? It would make a tidy duology, but you've met me: two is never enough. I want to go much, much further in this world, and whether I get to do that will depend partially on book one. I am a bundle of anxiety and neurosis.

But it's almost here. No matter what else happens, no matter what comes next, Discount Armageddon is almost here.

That's pretty much amazing.

It's time to give away more ARCs of Discount Armageddon. Do you want a Discount Armageddon ARC? Well, here's what you need to do:

To enter, simply leave a comment on this entry. The comment must be ON THE ENTRY, and not on another comment; threaded comments cannot win. I will draw the winners on Wednesday morning, February 8th.

I will be choosing three winners this time, two for US addresses (not necessarily residents, just mailing addresses), one for an international address. Please identify your country when commenting. I will post the day I draw the winners, telling you who won; winners will have twenty-four hours to contact me before I draw again. And them's the rules.

Comment, be blessed by the random number gods, profit! Game on!

ETA: Comments which do not identify the poster's shipping status (USA/non-USA) cannot win. This is because I will be selecting winners based on both the RNG and their stated location. So if you comment without telling me where you are, you cannot win unless you update that comment to include a country.

I still need addresses for the following:

jhyanmar
thebluerose

If you're one of these two people, I need to hear from you ASAP. I would normally have drawn new winners by now, but have been too busy...which could work in your favor if you contact me, via my website's contact link, within the next twenty-four hours! After that, I will need to put your ARCs back into the pile to be given away.

Come on, help me give you things!

First up, sorry for the delay: I decided that I hadn't spent enough quality time with the exciting stomach bug that's touring around the country and became vilely ill to make up for it. Details are not forthcoming. You're welcome. Technically, I'm still ill, but I can at least sit up and type now, which is more than I could manage yesterday.

Because so many people had great "why I should win a copy of Discount Armageddon" answers, and because I am still sick, I gave up on being arbitrary and leaned on the random number generator instead. Our winners are...

jhyanmar
kalenodonnell

But because I did say I was going to be arbitrary, and because I found a few extra ARCs in my mailbox yesterday, I am also going to send a copy to...

thebluerose

Because New Zealand needs cryptids.

If you're one of our winners, please send me your mailing address via my website contact form within the next twenty-four hours. If I don't have your contact info by then, I'll choose a new winner. (thebluerose, you and I will also need to work out shipping; we can do that after you contact me.)

For everybody else: what kind of giveaway should we do next? LOLcryptids? Poetry? Art? Cookies? The sky's the limit, and I want to know what you think.

And now I'm gonna go lie down.

Who wants an ARC of Discount Armageddon? No, really: who really wants it?

For this giveaway, we're going to mix and match effort with laziness. Comment on this entry with why you—yes, you—should receive an ARC of the first InCryptid adventure. Be creative. Be insane. Whatever makes you happy. On Friday, at noon PST, I will use our friend the Random Number Generator to select a winner. I will then read through the entries and select my favorite as a second winner. Yes, it's totally arbitrary. But it's also stated right up front, so I don't feel bad.

This contest is open to all North American residents without any restrictions, and to non-North American residents who either a) have a North American mailing address or b) are willing to pay me postage. I do apologize for that, it's just that I can't afford to ship a lot of stuff overseas right now. And now...

Game on!

So yeah, I currently live in a cloud of existential doubt, waiting for Discount Armageddon to hit the shelves and all hell to break loose. This is pretty normal for me. And then lo and behold, Publishers Weekly decided to soothe my nerves with an awesome review. I quote:

"McGuire (the October Daye series) launches a new series with a fast, funny adventure involving cryptids (semimythical entities like Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster) and the researchers who love them. Cryptozoologist Verity Price belongs to a legendary clan of monster hunters who turned their back on the genocidal Covenant generations ago and now work to maintain a safe ecosystem for both cryptids and humans. Verity moves to New York to follow her other passion, ballroom dancing, but the arrival of a sexy Covenant agent—just as cryptids go missing across the city—disrupts her carefully balanced routine. Verity must join forces with her ancestral enemy to prevent Manhattan from being destroyed by the ancient power sleeping beneath it. Verity is a winning protagonist, and her snarky but loving observations on her world of bogeyman strip club owners, Japanese demon badger bartenders, and dragon princess waitresses make for a delightful read. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary. (Mar.)"

Verity's a winning protagonist? Yeah, I'll take that. Also, I am crazy-excited to see this book on shelves, you have no idea.

It's almost real.

And the winner of the random number generator drawing is...

bookgirlr!

Please contact me with your mailing address via my website contact form by 8am PST on Wednesday, December 14th. If I have not received your contact information by this time, I will be forced to select another winner.

And speaking of other winners...

it_aint_easy also wins an ARC, for making me laugh so hard with his entry comment that Diet Dr Pepper came out of my nose. This isn't something I've done before, and it's not likely to be something I do again, but seriously. You make me laugh until I can't breathe, you deserve a little recognition.

Again, please contact me with your mailing address via my website contact form by 8am PST on Wednesday, December 14th. If I have not received your contact information by this time, I will not be sending your ARC. (I also won't be choosing another winner, as this was Crazy Bonus Prize.)

More giveaways and excitement to come!

1. I'm currently running an ARC giveaway for Discount Armageddon, and will be choosing a winner via random number generator tomorrow morning. US addresses only for this particular giveaway. I'm leaving the state very shortly, and I don't have any customs forms, so I have to limit the entries if I want to be sure of mailing out the book.

2. Speaking of mailing things...I sent a massive batch of shirts this weekend, and will be preparing another batch to go out at the end of this week. The "I do not have any customs forms, and neither does my local post office" issue means I'm only sending US orders right now, but hopefully they'll have more customs forms soon. The shirt shop finally sent me the last of the shirts, so if your order was skipped before due to me not having your actual shirt, I should now be able to package it. (Yes, this is taking a long time. I can only send what I can hand-deliver, and that sort of complicates things.)

3. Why am I leaving the state? Because I am going to DISNEY WORLD!!!! More specifically, I'm going with my mother, my youngest sister, and vixyish, who has been drafted into the role of "person who keeps Seanan from killing her family." We're meeting up with hsifyppah and sweetmusic_27 in Florida, along with Amy's friend Patty, and then we're going to spend NINE DAYS enjoying the glories of Orlando. I'm the only person in my group of four that's ever been before, and I can't wait.

4. This does mean, however, that I won't be online for over a week. No email, no LJ, nothing but Twitter from my phone. So please don't email me and then get upset if I don't answer. (I mean really, don't do that anyway, I beg of you. I am unable to promise a swift reply for anything sent in my email. I'm even retooling my website in a vain attempt to reduce the amount of email coming my way. Have mercy.)

5. Which brings us to release dates. All books and stories with confirmed release dates that I can say "yes, it comes out on that day" about are listed on my bibliography page. Please check there before you ask me when something is coming out. It's unfair, I know, but I get asked that question so often that it makes me cranky, and I hate being cranky at people who don't deserve it.

6. I am currently trying to either write or revise ALL THE THINGS, and will be doing another inchworm post shortly, because that has turned out to be a distressingly good way of staying on top of things. Thanks, Bear.

7. So The Agent returned her editorial notes on Ashes of Honor, and as always, has proven to be incredibly good at identifying the major structural flaws that all the rest of us mysteriously missed. I'm currently fourteen chapters in on the editorial rewrite, after which the book can go off to The Editor, and I can forget about it for a little while. And by "forget about it," I really mean "start The Chimes at Midnight." I think there's something wrong with the way my brain works.

8. I am now on season four of Criminal Minds. I'm sorry I started watching so late, because damn. I'm also glad I started watching so late, because it means I've had lots to enjoy. Also, Penelope Garcia for the win.

9. Jean Grey is still dead.

10. Happy holidays! Try not to freak out and bludgeon anyone to death with a fruitcake, okay? Because that would be a horrible way to go.

I have the Discount Armageddon ARCs, and they are GORGEOUS OMG GORGEOUS. Beyond gorgeous. They are perfect in every conceivable way, and all other books weep with the knowledge that they are not my Discount Armageddon ARCs.

Do you want a Discount Armageddon ARC?

Welcome to giveaway number one! To enter, simply leave a comment on this entry. The comment must be ON THE ENTRY, and not on another comment; threaded comments cannot win. I will draw a winner on Tuesday morning, December 13th.

This giveaway is open only to occupants of the United States, because the post office near me has been out of customs forms for a week, and I can't promise to mail anything internationally before I leave for Disney World. I will do a more widely-open giveaway in a few weeks.

Comment, be blessed by the random number gods, profit! Game on!

ETA: A winner has been chosen! All hail to the RNG.

As of today, it is ninety-nine days to the release of Discount Armageddon. This is the first book in the InCryptid series; it's my first new series since 2010 (and wow, does that feel like a weird thing to say). It's the introduction to my huge, crazy, wonderful family of cryptozoologists and happy eccentrics, who think that taxidermy and talking mice are perfectly normal things to have around the house.

I am excited. I am terrified.

See, when A Local Habitation came out, some people compared it to the latest Dresden files book and said that Toby lacked the emotional resonance of Harry Dresden. This was sort of understandable, given that I had two books to build my character, and Butcher had like eleven, but it also awoke in me a deep existential dread. Which is now back, full-force, since following One Salt Sea with the start of a new series is a really good way to invoke that same critique. I don't borrow trouble. I rent it, and yes, I am an insecure blonde sometimes.

I am also mad happy, because I love this series so much, and I love this family so much, and I'm writing nine books to make you care enough to let me write book ten, Spelunking Through Hell: A Visitor's Guide to the Underworld and have you really really care and WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT. You know I was an alien pod plant when you picked me up.

While I'm loving on things, I love my cover (and so do some other people, which is mad awesome, much like the cover itself). I love my subject matter experts. I love my Machete Squad. I love my publisher. I love my editor. I love The Agent. And I love everyone who has been involved, no matter how tangentially, in making this series a reality. It's had a long, weird genesis, and I am excited beyond words.

It's gonna be a book.

So we survived another iteration of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show (always a risky proposition, what with all those snakes), and now it's time to get back to normal, everyday life. Naturally, for me, this means "now it's time to start packing for Michigan." Because nothing says "restful" like jetting straight off to another convention, right? Right?!

Ahem. A few snapshot statuses, for the interested and alert:

"Wicked Girls" shirts.
Yes! They have arrived! Well...mostly. It turns out the shirt shop was out of certain size/style combinations, so my order was short about fifty shirts, which will be coming along later. How are we finding out which size/style combinations are missing? By trying to pack orders and being unable to find the associated shirts. Naturally. So shipping is being a little bit odd at the moment, and I'm filling as many complete orders as I possibly can. Feel free to email the merchandise address (the Gmail.com account that contacted you for shipping and payment) if you have questions about your specific order, or need to update your address in any way.

Ashes of Honor progress.
I now have approximately 86,000 words written on Ashes of Honor, which means I'm on target to finish my first, deeply flawed draft of the book by the end of October. At which point, the flensing will begin. The flensing has already begun, on a localized level, but the deep flense requires a wider audience. I'm actually pretty happy with the shape of this book. I finally got to bring back a lot of the cast from A Local Habitation, some questions are getting answered, and Toby eats Pop-Tarts. Life is good.

Discount Armageddon approaches.
According to my planner countdown, Discount Armageddon will be released in one hundred and fifty-five days. But, you know. No pressure or anything. I am deeply excited and deeply terrified, and getting ready to rearrange things on my website to make the InCryptid section easier to find and navigate. This means the Field Guide will also be going totally live. You, too, can live in fear of the Apraxis Wasps.

Zombies.
Are love.

Albino banana slug.
ALBINO BANANA SLUG!!!!!! He's like vanilla soft serve with eyes, and I want to love him forever, even though this picture was taken a year ago and so he's probably been eaten by an owl by now. (I know slugs are hermaphrodites. I don't care. I want to name this particular slug "Geoff," and have grand adventures with him. He is my beloved squishy friend.)

HAIL FROGLORD!
This Questionable Content strip speaks to the depths of my soul.

And that's me. What's new with you?

I am so crazy excited about my new book, and my new series. I mean, of course, Discount Armageddon, the book that kicks off the InCryptid series. Well. Excited and scared. But things like this help with the fear a little bit. You wanna see something really pretty?

Go ahead. Take a peek.

( Cut-tagged for the protection of your friends' list, which really doesn't need something this huge suddenly showing up without warning. But trust me, you should totally click.Collapse )

Welcome to the September 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving, and time is the gift that keeps on taking. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Blackout). 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 horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

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

Wow, it's been a while since we've had one of these, hasn't it? The proofer spotlight is my way of publicly of thanking the tireless workers in the Machete Squad, who go through endless reams of bad prose and bizarre typos so that you won't have to. Seriously. I would have a lot more problems on the publisher end if I didn't travel with a trained squad of comma-killing, modifier-munching bad-asses. Hail to the Machete Squad!

It used to be a lot easier to get new proofreaders, because I didn't need to find people with the time, appropriate skill set, interest, and proven ability to keep their mouths shut until publication. I could literally just throw thirty people at a project, let them winnow themselves out, and keep whoever survived. Now I need to practice care and...gulp...discretion. But once in a while, someone new comes along.*

Enter Lauren and Priscilla.

Lauren has an amazing eye for time. She actually catches flow and logical progression in a way that none of the other currently active Machete Squad members tends to manage, which makes her invaluable to our cause. She also does line edits and presents herself with a dry, entertaining wit (I like funny in my critique). She's worked on Blackout, One Salt Sea, and Ashes of Honor, and she's amazing.

Priscilla is great with dialogue, flow, and detail work. She's one of my Manhattan-area subject matter experts, which is good; she's also a keen eye applied to general editorial matters, which is great. She's fun, she's funny, she's accessible, and she's enthusiastic, which is not something to be overlooked in measuring the value of a proofreader. She's worked on Discount Armageddon and Midnight Blue-Light Special.

And those are my newest proofers. Look upon their works, oh ye mighty, and rejoice!

(*Please do not comment here volunteering to read for me. I just wind up feeling awkward when I have to turn you down. I don't solicit readers in public, and I don't currently have any openings in need of filling. Thanks for understanding.)

I am leaving for the WorldCon in Reno tomorrow, and a little bit horrified by how quickly this year has gone by. Maybe if I started sleeping, time would slow down. Do you think? Yeah, probably not. Oh, well. A girl can dream. Anyway:

Welcome to the August 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (One Salt Sea, Blackout). 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 horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

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

Right: this is officially NOT OKAY. I did not sign up for a year that went by so fast that I would blink and be missing a year. I did not approve of the theft of the entire first half of 2011. I would like it back now. I would like it back right now, if you would be so kind. Now gimme.

Please?

...oh, fine. As the universe is not bending itself to my will, welcome to the July 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (One Salt Sea). 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 horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

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

It wasn't until I went to my "current projects" tag to pull the format for this entry that I realized just how hectic and insane May really was: I didn't do a current projects post. That's like, earth-shaking busyness, and sort of terrifying. Almost as terrifying as the fact that it's June now, meaning that the year is officially half over. Already. Who the hell authorized this?

Anyway. Since I don't control time and hence can't reset us to February, welcome to the June 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (One Salt Sea). 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 horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

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

Back to New York!

Tuesday morning found me oversleeping, since all that puking the night before had left me totally exhausted. I eventually staggered out of bed and made my way downtown to the convention center where BEA was being held. Luckily, it was in the same convention center as New York Comicon, so I was able to find my way with relative ease, and did not wind up wandering lost through Manhattan for the rest of time. It could happen!

Alex at Orbit had already given me my badge, so I swung by registration to pick up a lanyard (v. important, lanyards) and called The Agent to let her know I was on-site. She promptly swooped in, grabbed me, and whisked me hither and yon to see people that needed seeing—including Toni and Charlaine, which was a wonderful way to begin the convention. Hugging and happiness followed, and then they settled in to do a signing while The Agent and I ran over to the Orbit booth to acquire copies of Deadline for their enjoyment. Happiness is giving early copies of books to your friends.

With the hauling about portion of our program complete, The Agent freed me to wander where I would. So I wandered.

Book Expo America is a lot like New York Comicon, scale-wise, which probably explains why they fit in the same convention center. Only instead of toys, you have books. And instead of media goodies, you have books. And instead of scantily-clad booth babes, you have booth librarians, which is kinda more awesome. And did I mention the books? It's like lit-geek Disneyland, only without the teacup ride.

Which is sort of a pity.

All too soon, I had to leave the convention center and head for DAW. Because I was running late, I cleverly decided to take a taxi. Unfortunately, my streak of "always pick the taxi with the driver you have no languages in common with" continued, and my request for the PATH station resulted in my being dropped at Penn Station. Argh. I found my way to the PATH (only about three blocks away) and hopped on a train, which delivered me promptly and without fuss to the correct locale. Hooray for trains!

Better yet, hooray for DAW, which was exactly as welcoming and familiar and wonderful as I hoped it would be. DAW is one of my favorite places to spend a day, and not just because I can usually cadge someone into taking me to visit the "take" shelves of free books scattered around the building. I love everyone there, and I'm comfortable there, which is rare for someone as twitchy as I am.

I had a nice talk with The Editor, and got my revision notes for Discount Armageddon, which is next on my agenda for working on. Eventually, The Agent showed up, and we all went out for delicious Indian food dinner, where I ate goat and chicken and mushrooms and fish and naan and om nom nom Indian. Seriously, we ate so much Indian food it ached. I wanted to go home and collapse.

...which was naturally the cue for me to be hauled through half a dozen BEA after-hours parties. Good: I saw (and hugged) Cat and John Scalzi, who looked as terrified of the noisy crowds as I did. I also saw (and hugged) Tempest, who had a fan, and looked totally at ease. And I met Scott Westerfeld! Serious awesomeness.

Eventually, The Agent noticed that I was wilting, and I was loaded into a cab with a driver who understood where I wanted to go and took me to the PATH station. I returned to Jersey City, staggered home, and collapsed into bed too tired to die. Which meant, of course, that Wednesday was going to be the big day in town...

Next: Wednesday at BEA, mojitos in my eye, and signing Deadline.

April: Short story, "Riddles," in the anthology Human Tales from Dark Quest Books. This is a fairly small press, so you may need to buy the book online or ask your local bookstore to special-order a copy if you want one.

Short story, "Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box," through the Orbit electronic fiction program. This story is being released on April 18th, as a Kindle download. It's a Mira Grant story, but is not set in the Newsflesh universe.

May: Novel, Deadline, from Orbit/Orbit UK, under the name Mira Grant. This is the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy. I do not have ARCs. Please do not ask me for ARCs. Deadline is e-ARC only, and I do not have download codes or physical copies. All asking does is add stress to an already stressful time, and then I have to go hide under the bed for a little while.

September: Novel, One Salt Sea, from DAW. This is the fifth of the October Daye books, and was preceded by Late Eclipses. It will be followed by Ashes of Honor, probably in September 2012.

March 2012: Novel, Discount Armageddon, from DAW. This is the first of the InCryptid books, and will be followed by Midnight Blue-Light Special, probably in March 2013. Yes, InCryptid is taking the March slot in my year. Yes, I consider this a good thing. Doing two Toby books a year is fun, but I need to diversify sometimes.

That's the schedule!

Dear Great Pumpkin;

Another harvest season has come and gone, rich with tricks, treats, and unexplained disappearances in the haunted cornfield. I hope you have been well. Since my last letter to you, I have not wiped out mankind with a genetically engineered pandemic, or challenged any major religious figures to duels to the death in the public square. I have loved my friends and refrained from destroying my enemies. I have given out hugs, cupcakes, and cuddles with kittens freely and without hesitation. I have offered support when I could, and comfort when it was needed. I have not unleashed my scarecrow army to devastate North America. I have continued to make all my deadlines, even the ones I most wanted to avoid. I have not "accidentally" put tapeworm eggs in anyone's food. So as you can see, I've pretty much been a saint, by our somewhat lax local standards.

Today, Great Pumpkin, I am asking for the following gifts:

* A smooth and successful release for Late Eclipses, with books shipping when they're meant to ship, stores putting them out when they're supposed to put them out, and reviews that are accurate, insightful, and capable of steering people who will enjoy my book to read it. Please, Great Pumpkin, show mercy on your loving Pumpkin Princess of the West, and let it all be wonderful. I'm not asking you to make it easy, Great Pumpkin, but I'm asking you to make it good.

* Please let me make the revisions to One Salt Sea and Discount Armageddon smoothly, satisfyingly, and in a timely fashion, hopefully including a minimum of typographical and factual errors, plus a maximum level of awesome and win. If this request seems familiar, Great Pumpkin, it's because I make it just about every time I have a new book on the table, and this time is doubly important. One Salt Sea concludes a major arc in Toby's story, and Discount Armageddon kicks off a whole new series. I want them both to be amazing. Pretty please with candy corn on top?

* While I'm at it, please let the next books in their respective series be up to my admittedly nearly-impossible standards for myself. Let Ashes of Honor be exciting and worth the commitment, let Midnight Blue-Light Special be peppy and perfect in its insanity, and let Blackout seal the deal on the Newsflesh universe. It's wonderful to be working on three totally new books. It's also terrifying. There's a period at the start of a novel, where I'm trying to chip the shape of the story out of nothing, that's just scary as hell, and I'm there times three right now. Please show mercy, and let this work.

* I thank you for Alice's return to health, Great Pumpkin, and ask for your blessings as she continues her recovery. I thought I was going to lose her. I'm still shaky when I think about it. Please let her keep getting better, and please let her be exactly the same goofy, graceless cat that she's always been. While you're at it, please make sure Lilly and Thomas stay healthy, and that Thomas continues his incredible, faintly frightening growth. I think he doubles in size once a week. It's awesome. Look out for my cats, Great Pumpkin. They mean the world to me.

* As I approach the 2011 convention season, I ask for your blessings. Let things be smooth when they can, and let me take that which is not smooth with good humor, good grace, and a good sense of restraint. Let me be clever when I need to be, calm when I need to be, and a good guest for everyone who has been kind enough to invite me to their convention. Let me be the kind of guest that is remembered with joy, not the kind who is remembered with glum "and then there was the year of the great tragedy" stories.

* Thank you, thank you, thank you again for shining your holy candle upon the Campbell Award, Great Pumpkin. I hope only that I did you proud with my acceptance speech, and that you are pleased with my endeavors. It may be a little forward of me to point this out, but Feed is eligible for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards this year, and, well...any assistance you wanted to throw my way would be very much appreciated. I think my mother would catch fire if I came home with either award, and that would be fun to watch.

I remain your faithful Halloween girl,
Seanan.

PS: While you're at it, can you please make Oasis get back to me? I'd really like to be done with Wicked Girls before I'm done with 2010.

It is with extreme pleasure and with no small degree of squeaky joy that I announce that the first two InCryptid books have been acquired by DAW Books. These urban fantasy adventures focus on the Price family of cryptozoologists as they seek to protect the cryptids of the world from humanity...and humanity from the cryptids of the world. The first two volumes are:

Discount Armageddon
Midnight Blue-Light Special

Cryptids and cuckoos and field guides, oh my! Words really can't express how insanely happy I am right now. I'm going to be working with the same team at DAW, which means I know I will have great editorial, fantastic in-house support, and a whole lot of sheer bonus fun. I'm so excited that you're all going to get the chance to meet these people. They're some of my favorites. And now, in the words of the Aeslin mice...

CHEESE! AND! CAKE!

Current stats:

Words: 11,360.
Total words: 101,678.
Reason for stopping: I sort of, well, ran out of book.
Music: the Discount Armageddon play list.
Lilly and Alice: my lap and the orange cat tree, respectively.

First draft stats:

Pages: 353
Chapters: twenty-five, plus a prologue and an epilogue
Started: August 22, 2008
Finished: November 28, 2009

Given how much time this book spent being "lower priority" than things with actual deadlines, fourteen months is a very respectable time to get from beginning to end. Midnight Blue-Light Special should go a lot faster, if only because I completely understand my world now, and what it's supposed to be like. I know the rhythm, I know the beat, and I can dance to it. I am...I'm staggered right now. I've been saying for a few weeks now that I was probably going to finish the book this month, but there's a huge difference between saying and doing. I've done. Draft one is done.

Draft two is going to involve smoothing out the continuity, fixing the pacing, and generally book-doctoring like whoa...but it'll probably be done by the end of January at the very latest, and that's with taking a backseat to Blackout, which gets to take over as my primary book now. Discount Armageddon is done.

I'm amazed and a little off-balance. I am now going to go eat ice cream and watch TV.

1. I'm taking entries for the pet photography ARC giveaway through the end of the weekend. No horses, snakes, or hermit crabs yet, but I'm holding out hope!

2. There's a shiny new interview with me over at Book Love Affair, discussing the next two Toby books, the first of my books as Mira Grant (Feed), how I keep myself from spontaneously combusting, and various other topics of interest. I'm answering questions throughout the day, so please, swing by, and see if anything sparks your curiosity!

3. I'm going to be appearing December 12th in San Francisco as part of the Writers With Drinks series. To quote the website, "Writers With Drinks combines erotica with literature, stand-up comedy with science fiction and poetry with essays." The show is at The Make-Out Room (3225 22nd. St., San Francisco), from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM. The doors open at 7 PM. I don't know yet just how many drinks this writer will have, but if I have enough, my piece for the evening will probably be the full stand-up version of The Microwave Story. Be there!

4. In case that's not good for you (and it may not be, as not everyone is local to me), I'm also going to be doing a book reading/concert at the Wayward Coffeehouse in Seattle, on December 26th. Vixy and Tony are going to be there to help me blow the roof off, and there will be lots of other exciting goodies throughout the night. It's gonna be awesome.

5. I'm going to go finish Discount Armageddon now.

Current stats:

Words: 5,017.
Total words: 90,318.
Reason for stopping: in the middle of the big boom in chapter twenty-three. BOOM.
Music: this week's episodes of NCIS and Dexter.
Lilly and Alice: taking up a physically improbable amount of space on my feet.

I...um...yeah. So I have this thing where every day, I put any specific writing goals for the day on my to do list. Because the to do list is my lord and master. Right now, every day, I'm putting "2,000 words, DA" on the list, and every day, I'm checking it off before plowing onward for another few thousand words. Why? Because I have hit the point where I literally can't stop. I eat, sleep, breathe, and dream this book. I inhabit this book even when I'm not working on it. I'm spending half my time (or more) in a fictional reality full of madness and monsters and manic dance numbers breaking out in the middle of nowhere. This is normal for me as I approach the end of a first draft. It really is. But it's been a while since I did this part, and it's making my fingers hurt.

90,000 words means that I'm 15,000 words, give or take, from the end of draft one. I realize I've been hitting that data point a lot, but um, holy crap, end of draft one. This is the book I started on a whim. The book I never lost enthusiasm for, but shelved repeatedly while I worked on things that had actual deadlines. The book that, let's be serious here, kicks off a new series. I needed three of those, right? They're like cats. You're not a crazy cat lady until you have more than four (even if Margaret says that by 2014, mathematics prove that 80% of all books will be written by me).

Also, at my current rate of speed, you won't be getting these updates for all that much longer. So there's that.

Soon, I hope to explain to the people who've only read Toby why, exactly, I felt the need to spend my time in a universe filled with cryptozoologists in skimpy outfits, asbestos blondes, ketchup milkshakes, ballroom dancing, high heeled shoes, and, of course, talking mice. And my answer to them will be, in no uncertain terms...CHEESE AND CAKE!

Current stats:

Words: 7,137.
Total words: 85,301.
Reason for stopping: about midway through chapter twenty-two, totally exhausted.
Music: my evolving Discount Armageddon mix.
Lilly and Alice: asleep in my tank top drawer, being a puddle of blue and white fur.

The speed with which this draft is suddenly materializing is a little scary, and is making me feel faintly hag-ridden. Seriously, there's "my normal writing speed," and then there's "writing to make a deadline," and then there's "holy Great Pumpkin in the sacred patch, where the hell did the day go?" Assuming this book comes out at exactly the estimate, I have fewer than 20,000 words left to go. Second draft will cut ten percent of that. (Actually second draft will cut twenty percent, but half of what I cut will be replaced by clarification, necessary bridgework, and general textual repairs. That's what second draft is for.)

After this draft is done, I have to focus fully on Blackout and The Brightest Fell while my proofreading pool crawls all over the text and rips it into tiny bleeding shreds. (For Christmas this year, I'm getting a bloodbath! Just what I always wanted.) I figure I should have space on the docket to get into Midnight Blue-light Special sometime around May...you know, when I have the Guest of Honor slot and the book coming out. Gosh, it's fun to live inside my head sometimes, in the sense that apparently even I don't think I need to sleep. Sleep is for the weak and sickly, right?

I am so in love with this book right now. I am so in love with this series right now. I am so in love with this world right now, with its reality shows and its cryptid-owned strip clubs and its many, many expeditions into the sewers of Manhattan. I can see where a second draft is going to be absolutely necessary, but right now? Right now, I am just enjoying the hell out of the ride.

I can't wait for you to meet these people.

Current stats:

Words: 5,227.
Total words: 78,264.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter twenty, taking a break before chapter twenty-one.
Music: my Sarah Zellaby mix.
Lilly and Alice: sitting in the bedroom window, raptly watching the kitty cable.

Day by day and word by word, I get closer to the end of the first draft of Discount Armageddon. I'm really excited, and I've hit that point where anything but writing is difficult to maintain for more than fifteen or twenty minutes. I have to take breaks from time to time, but they're just that; breaks between bouts of frantic typing, rather than the things I have to break myself away from. This is awesome. This is especially awesome because I know the way my brain works, and if it's currently this fixated on InCryptid, it's because I'm getting ready for a massive run on another project. Judging by the things that have started creeping around the edges of my mind, I'm going to guess that the "other woman" in this equation is Blackout, the sequel to Feed, which was already on my holiday docket.

This book has been fun and surprising and silly and snappy and a few dozen things I really wasn't expecting when I kicked it off. Better still, it's been the doorway to a brand new series. I need those from time to time. Part of what I love as a writer is the act of creating a world, stepping inside it, and shutting the doors behind me. (This doesn't explain my seeming inability to write completely stand-alone books, but as long as the series keep making sense, I'm not going to whine about it overly much.) I love the things it's forced me to learn in order to write it, and the things I got to just sort of...stumble over. Like some of the freaky things Mother Nature has done in the real world.

25,000 words to go, give or take, and then it's time to make my exit and make my way into other drafts and other disasters. I can barely believe I'm this far along. I can barely believe it's taken me this long.

CHEESE AND CAKE!

Current stats:

Words: 5,183.
Total words: 73,047.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter nineteen (and started chapter twenty).
Music: my Rose Marshall mix.
Lilly and Alice: flopped on the floor, being deeply endearing.

It's weird and a little scary to think about, but I'm about 30,000 words from the end of the first draft of Discount Armageddon. After I finish the first draft, I'll take about six weeks to let my proofreaders argue about commas, another six weeks to finish a second draft, and then...the book is done. The silly, head-smashing, ass-kicking, ballroom dancing, talking mouse extravaganza that kicks off the adventures of the Price family is almost done. I'm speechless. I'm stunned. And I'm deeply delighted, because finishing this book means setting it free for all of you to read.

The thing about living inside my head is that it's very weird in here, and very cluttered. I sometimes liken my writing habits to my television viewing habits; I sometimes change channels and watch something else for a little while, because some days are Masters of Horror days, and others are So You Think You Can Dance days. Both are totally valid, and totally necessary. Working with Verity and the rest of her wacky, wonderful family recharges me when I'm exhausted from other projects, and vice-versa. They all feed into each other.

Soon all the world will understand the glory of the Aeslin mice, the importance of religious ritual, how difficult it is to dance a good tango, and why gorgons hate wigs. But in the meanwhile, I shall continue to be a little stunned at how far I've come from deciding that Verity Alice Price, daughter of Kevin Price and Evelyn Price-Baker, needed a book of her very own.

Current stats:

Words: 7,773.
Total words: 67,864.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter eighteen.
Music: the new mix Merav made for me.
Lilly and Alice: back in California. I miss my kitties.

Discount Armageddon—the first of the InCryptid books, chronicling the adventures of the Price family as they try to study the cryptids of the world without getting eaten by them—is now two hundred and thirty-seven pages long, featuring action, adventure, snarking, and talking pantheistic demon mice with a fondness for religious ritual. It's ballroom dancing as a combat style, it's asbestos blondes and gorgon barmaids, and it's more fun to write than should really be legal. It's also sad, because at this point, I have somewhere between 30,000 and 36,000 words to go, and that doesn't seem like enough.

On the plus side, once I finish this, I get to start digging my teeth into the sequels. And believe me, Midnight Blue-light Special is going to be a hoot and a half, once I get there. And after that...hoo-boy. I really think I like this roller coaster.

What's really interesting is that this is the first series I've started knowing from the starting gate that it was a series, and more, that it was more than just a few books long. Feed was a stand-alone; Rosemary and Rue was an adventure that I didn't quite understand. This time, I know what I'm getting into.

Oddly, I couldn't be happier.

Current stats:

Words: 3,620.
Total words: 60,091.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter sixteen, bedtime.
Music: my soppy love songs and angry punk scramble.
Lilly and Alice: asleep on the bed and begging for attention, respectively.

When last we left our intrepid manuscript, it was four pages shy of two hundred pages (one of my big personal milestones for any book). Well, now it's two hundred and eleven pages in length, complete with the whole of chapter sixteen, which was, um, exciting to work on in so many ways. I love anything that involves Holy Feasts and fried chicken, and this book gives me the opportunity to mix-and-match the two with wild aplomb. Besides which, we are now officially at the high point of that big hill, and it's all bang-bang-boom from here, baby. Bang-bang-boom.

Sadly, while I understand that I'm currently busting pages on this book primarily because my hindbrain is occupied, stegosaurus-like, with the contemplation of the big science questions for Blackout (and this book will hence shortly be tabled again, in favor of things which have current deadlines), I could not be more pleased with how things are going. Oh, there are bits to fix and errors to catch, but on the whole, it's clean, it's quick, and it's just fun, in a way that so very few things are.

CHEESE AND CAKE!

As it is now the fifteenth of October, it is once again time for me to make my monthly current projects post. Some people measure out their lives with coffee spoons; I seem to have taken a slightly more masochistic approach. This post and its kin, by the by, are the reason that I burst into tears and flail around like a squid on an electrified floor every time someone asks me "What are you working on?" The answer just takes too long to actually deliver. Anyway, this is the October list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that the first four Toby books are off this list, because they have been finished and turned in. You can purchase Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] now. You can pre-order A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] now. An Artificial Night and Late Eclipses are off the list until The Editor tells me otherwise.

The first Newsflesh book, Feed (formerly Newsflesh), is off the list because it has been turned in to The Other Editor, and I won't see it again until the page proofs. Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching.

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 horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

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

Current stats:

Words: 5,811.
Total words: 56,471.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter fifteen, bedtime.
Music: show tunes and the cats being crazy.
Lilly and Alice: finally exhausted, now that they can't bother me anymore.

I literally stopped just shy of two hundred pages—just shy! I could taste that milestone, dammit—because the chapter was over, and I couldn't bring myself to mess around with my word count just for the sake of a little extra length. Besides, with the book now more than halfway to 60,000 words, we're going to be ringing that particular bell any day now...and yes, I am now past the halfway mark, which is supported by the plot arc, the behavior of the characters, and the place where the chapter breaks. I am giddy.

The best thing about this universe is that it's completely silly in some ways, yet takes itself completely seriously, much like the horror movies of the early 1980s. This is life or death, people, even when the "or death" part of the equation is being represented by hopping, screaming yams (the yams hunger for the taste of human blood). And whenever things get slow, Verity just kicks somebody else in the head, thus speeding them right back up again. I have a fight scene coming up that's going to make me giggle for days. Days.

Life is good.

Current stats:

Words: 3,674.
Total words: 50,660.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter fourteen.
Music: a lot of angry goth-punk. I'm in a mood.
Lilly and Alice: sprawling atop high things, dozing.

Progress continues! Discount Armageddon has now shattered the 50,000 word mark, which is always a milestone for me, since by that point, I'm so fully committed that it isn't even funny. Also, under my current estimate of length, I'm within 3,000 words—or one more day of really solid writing—from being to the halfway point. That makes me incredibly happy. Since I have three books going right now (by which I mean "three books I'm really actively writing, as opposed to just plinking at"), anything that makes it seem like one of my babies is preparing for bed is just delightful.

Things that this book contains: ballroom dance. Cryptozoology. Snark. Free running. A strip club with a funny name. Mixed drinks. High heels. Snares. Throwing knives. Talking mice. Illegal sub-lets. Coffee shops. Math. Things this book does not contain: vampires. All told, I'm pretty happy with my "have" to "have not" ratio, especially since Verity keeps kicking people in the head.

Life is good.

Current stats:

Words: 4,385.
Total words: 46,986.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter thirteen.
Music: the Counting Crows, mostly. Because that's a shock.
Lilly and Alice: home from the vet and totally healthy. Yay, annual exams.

Apparently, officially becoming a novel was what it took to make me really start busting pages on Discount Armageddon, which has just gained another chapter and nearly 5,000 more words. Said chapter includes snark, combat, snark, sewers, snark, Land of the Lost jokes, snark, ballroom dancing applied to a field situation, and snark. Also, Sarah Zellaby—arguably one of my favorite characters in this series—has finally made her full-scale appearance, and she's just as awesome to write as I've been anticipating.

I'm starting to see the shape of the rest of the book more clearly as I near the halfway point. I now anticipate the full manuscript as coming in somewhere around 102,000 words, for the first pass, and reducing to approximately 99,000 words after I go through and do the obligate clean-and-jerk of all those little unnecessary bits that always creep in during the writing process. What's more fun is that I'm starting to see the shape of the series more clearly at the same time, and this is never not going to be fun to write.

Especially if Verity keeps kicking people in the head.

Current stats:

Words: 3,972.
Total words: 42,601.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter twelve.
Music: a lot of university competition acapella and stuff from Glee.
Lilly and Alice: sleeping peacefully, because they are cats, and hence evil.

YES! YES! WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY A NOVEL! SUCK IT, SHORT FORM!!!!!

Ahem. Sorry about that. Anyway, with this installment, Discount Armageddon officially crosses the 40,000 word mark, moving solidly into "novel" territory. My little baby book is all grown up! It's been a slower process than is normal for me, largely because it's managed to collide with so many rewrites and deadlines for other projects, but it's finally there; it's finally an actual novel. Because it's awesome.

I'm now through chapter twelve. The plot is on the table, the major players are all solidly in place, and I've had the opportunity to get geeky about several really horrific cryptid races, along with the little scraps of trivia that always make me so happy. (Nothing is more fun than going "but we don't need that, we're not on the jackalope migration routes here" in the middle of an otherwise unrelated statement.) The manuscript has passed the hundred and fifty page mark, and the end is finally in sight. Very, very far ahead, but still, in sight.

Beware the ides of...well, every month around here, since that's when I make my monthly current projects post. Since it is now September 15th, it's time for me to demonstrate once again that George R.R. Martin may not be your bitch, but I just may be. (This is also the post that explains why the question "What are you working on?" sometimes causes me to burst into tears and point vaguely toward my Livejournal, as if actually saying it out loud would break the spell, wake the princess, and call down the demons.) Anyway, this is the September list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that the first three Toby books are currently off this list, because they have been finished and turned in. You can purchase Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies] now. A Local Habitation will be returning to the list briefly in the near future, when my page proofs arrive, but will then be disappearing again to prepare for publication. The fourth Toby book, Late Eclipses, is off the list because it has been finished, and is in the hands of The Editor, having been formally sent the hell away.

The first Mason book, Feed (formerly Newsflesh), is off the list because it has been revised and turned in to The Other Editor. Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching.

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 horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

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

Dear Great Pumpkin;

With Halloween fast approaching, I felt it important to write and let you know that I have continued to be a very good girl. I have offered advice to people who asked for it, and not offered advice to people who didn't want it. I have allowed others to sample my candy corn without removing their fingers. I have hugged my friends and told my loved ones that I love them. I have not invoked any ancient evils to rise from their graves in the great corn maze and destroy an unsuspecting populace. I have made all my deadlines, even the ones I wanted to miss. And the swine flu still isn't my fault. So you see, I have been a very good girl, especially by my standards.

Today, Great Pumpkin, I am asking for the following gifts:

* Wonderful, easy, successful book release parties during which no one sets anybody else on fire. Please, Great Pumpkin, grant me two glorious nights, filled with wonder and joy and lots and lots and lots of book sales, because it turns out that I'm very nervous about this whole thing. Please let me be a Halloweentown Cinderella at the October Ball, only without the glass slippers, and let it all be wonderful. Also, please let there be lots of cookies. I'm a big fan of cookies.

* An easy, or at least not insanely painful, editing process on The Brightest Fell, which is definitely going to need a lot of editing before I hand it over to The Agent, much less The Editor. My first drafts are always excitingly messy, so I'm not particularly worried—the fact that it's book five, and book one just came out, means I have some breathing room—but I really would like breeze through the rewrites, just this once, so that I can get on to Ashes of Honor, preferably before A Local Habitation hits shelves. I will find it much easier to sleep once books four through six are put safely down, and when I sleep, I'm not destroying the world. You like the world, don't you, Great Pumpkin?

* Once again, I must request continued health for my cats, without whom the entire universe would be at risk from my unstoppable wrath. Alice is growing up gloriously beautiful, Great Pumpkin, although I continue to suspect that you may be her actual father (it's either you or an otter, and I oddly find you substantially more plausible). Lilly is continuing to do well with her new "sibling," and seeing the two of them rampaging through my house, destroying things at random, fills my heart with joy.

* Clean, timely page proofs for A Local Habitation and Feed, since right now, I am a blonde without deadlines. I do remember that I promised you three short stories with the Fighting Pumpkins cheerleading squad, as well as the origin stories for Hailey and Scaredy, in exchange for the trilogy sale. I keep my promises. Watch this space for further developments, Great Pumpkin, and thank you again.

* A beautiful fall season. You like the autumn as much as I do, Great Pumpkin, because it is in the autumn that the world truly honors and appreciates your glory. So please, talk to the weather, and make sure that this autumn is one that we'll remember for years to come. And not because the entire state falls into the ocean, or catches fire, or is invaded by flesh-eating locusts from beyond the veil of time. Make this a beautiful, wonderful season, Great Pumpkin, and make it a treat without any tricks. Please.

* Please help me to finish Discount Armageddon in a satisfying, respectful, ass-kicking way, hopefully involving lots of explosions and snappy one-liners. I really want Verity and her family to find a home (and not just so Alice can finally find Thomas), and that means I need to get past the first chapter of their story. What I have so far is actually pretty solid. Please make it amazing.

I remain your faithful Halloween girl,
Seanan.

PS: You really did amazingly with the house for the Newsflesh trilogy. Thank you so much. You da squash.

It's the ides of August, which means it's time for my monthly current projects post, the post where I demonstrate that George R.R. Martin may not be your bitch, but I just may be. (Also the post that explains why the question "What are you working on?" sometimes causes me to burst into tears and point vaguely toward my Livejournal, as if actually saying it out loud would break the spell, wake the princess, and call down the demons.) Anyway, this is the August list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that the first three Toby books are currently off this list, as they have been fully turned-in to DAW. You can purchase Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies] on September 1st, 2009 (or pre-order it today). You can purchase A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies] on March 2nd, 2010 (or pre-order it today). Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching.

Late Eclipses is off the list because it has been finished, and is in the hands of The Editor, having been formally sent the hell away. Feed (formerly Newsflesh) is off the list because I somehow managed to do a full revision in the space of a month, and now just need to process some technical edits before sending it off to The Other Editor.

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 horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

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

Current stats:

Words: 4,051.
Total words: 38,629.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter eleven.
Music: mostly the Counting Crows and random selections from Verity's playlist.
Lilly and Alice: really interested in the bedroom window.

Well, we're still a novella by SWFA rules, since we're still shy of that magical 40,000 word mark...but we're getting closer every step of the way, and best of all, I don't feel like any of it is padding. Yes, I'll probably lose the standard 10% in the final revisions, but right now, everything that's in the text is there because it needs to be there. It's got a good beat, and you can dance to it.

Welcome to chapter eleven, where Verity and Dominic meet more of the family, Sarah is creepy, and I get to go more in-depth on the cuckoos, aka "my favorite horribly creepy and upsetting cryptid race (now with bonus central characters)." I love it when my creepy is actually integral, rather than being sort of like parasitic mistletoe: interesting to look at, gradually killing the tree. But dude, it's up to a hundred and thirty-seven pages of gooey cryptid goodness, and I am a happy, happy girl.

I have become deeply grateful for my current projects posts. They may be an example of just how Type-A I really am, but they're incredibly easy to point people toward when they ask what I've been doing with myself, and they allow me to keep convincing myself that yes, in fact, I am making progress. Progress tastes like flailing. Flailing, and candy corn. Anyway, this is the July edition of my monthly list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that the first three Toby books are currently off this list, as they have been fully turned-in to DAW. You can purchase Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies] on September 1st, 2009 (or pre-order it today). You can purchase A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies] on March 2nd, 2010 (or pre-order it today). Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching.

Late Eclipses is off the list because it has been finished, and is in the hands of The Agent, who won't give it back. Feed (formerly Newsflesh) is off the list because it is currently under review with my editor. It should be back on the list next month, now with bonus things I need to work 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 horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

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

Current stats:

Words: 3,562.
Total words: 34,578.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter ten.
Music: Sand Serpents, a Science Fiction Channel Original Movie of insane badness.
Lilly and Alice: bedroom floor and bed, respectively.

It seems that "I will sit down for a few minutes and clear my head by producing a few hundred words of InCryptid goodness" is another way of saying "I will spend three hours knocking out all of chapter ten, now with added al-Nahl goodness." (Thanks to Sunil, by the way, for being insanely good about random requests for the loan of his character naming powers.) But oh, that was fun, and oh, it's good to spend some time with Verity, however accidentally.

Blackout only made the transition from "novella" to "novel" earlier today, and now Discount Armageddon is inching up on that same beautiful benchmark. Which is a good thing, because if I can't finish one little novel, I don't know what I'm going to do about all those sequels...

Do you want to know how tired I am? I am so tired that I wrote a paragraph apologizing for not making this post on the fifteenth, like I normally do...before I checked the date and realized that it was the fifteenth of June right now. Isn't jet-lag awesome? In that way which is completely, totally, and utterly not even a tiny little bit? Anyway, this is the June edition of my monthly list of current projects, because I am your cat toy.

To quote myself, being too tired to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that the first three Toby books are currently off this list, as they have been fully turned-in to DAW. You can purchase Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies]on September 1st, 2009 (or pre-order it today). Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching. Newsflesh is off the list because it's being shopped, and that means I essentially can't have any contact with it until the process is done and editorial revisions begin. I miss you, baby!

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 )

Current stats:

Words: 4,506.
Total words: 31,016.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter nine.
Music: the DVR's kind presentation of the first part of the So You Think You Can Dance
Lilly and Alice: sprawled on the floor.

So it turns out that what I thought was the end of chapter nine wasn't actually the end of chapter nine. What I just wrote, that was the end of chapter nine. All that other stuff is in chapter nine, too; it's just a longer chapter than originally believed.

In other news, Verity is presently stark-ass naked.

I love this book.

Hooray, hooray, the month of May—a month which has, thus far, seen me dash across the country to Michigan, finish a book, start revising two more, knock out a bunch of short fiction, and eat more tomatoes than anyone wants to believe. And now it's time for the May edition of my monthly list of current projects, because I like to make it obvious what I'm doing. These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing.

Please note that the first three Toby books are currently off this list, as they have been fully turned-in to DAW; more, the page proofs for Rosemary and Rue have been reviewed and returned, and I will never be allowed to change it again. You can purchase Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies]on September 1st, 2009 (or pre-order it today). Ah, progress. It smells like fear and uncontrollable twitching. Late Eclipses is off the list because it's under review with my agent. Newsflesh is off the list because it's being shopped, and that means I essentially can't have any contact with it until the process is done. I miss you, baby!

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 )

1. The Rosemary and Rue ARC giveaway is still running, from now through Whenever I Happen To Get Up Tomorrow Morning. So assume that I'll be announcing the winner sometime between five and eight AM PST (which is when I'll be coherent enough to deal with complex things like "the random number generator" and "counting").

2. Because I'm doing the drawing so early in the day, if you win, and you're able to get me your mailing address with reasonable alacrity, your ARC may actually go out in tomorrow's mail. I'm just saying.

3. Late Eclipses continues to be finished, which has me rather at lost ends. I figure I'll finish this zombie short story that I'm working on, and then crack open Discount Armageddon, see what Verity and the gang have been up to while I was away. Nothing says "relaxation" like "getting straight to work on a different book."

4. I am officially sick. Thank you, coughing people on my plane and annoying small child whose parents refused to make you stop kicking the back of my seat. Thank you so much.

5. My play list consisting of nothing but versions of the song "Rain King" by the Counting Crows is now two hours long, and incredibly soothing. If you've ever wondered why that song was my current music so much of the time, well...this is why.

6. Zombies are still love.

It's the fifteenth of March and I've just staggered home after a cross-country plane trip, which makes it the absolutely perfect time for the March edition of my monthly current projects listing. Again, these are labeled with the month and year, just in case somebody wants to find a specific post later on. Anyway, this is the post where I make it cheerfully apparent that I do not actually ever sleep.

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, and you'll be able to buy Rosemary and Rue on September 1st, 2009. 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. Newsflesh is off the list because it's being shopped, and that means I essentially can't have any contact with it until the process is done. I miss you, baby!

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 am currently engaged in a truly fascinating dance of projects. I'm writing The Mourning Edition (sequel to Newsflesh) and Discount Armageddon (first of the Incryptid books). I'm doing a full revamp and revision of Late Eclipses of the Sun (October Daye, book four) at the same time, preparatory to getting back to work on The Brightest Fell (October Daye, book five). Each of these projects is filling an important niche in my mental ecosystem, since they're different enough that I don't get them confused, and they refresh me in different ways.

Right now, my writing regiment looks like this:

* Day one, revise/rewrite a chapter of Late Eclipses.
* Day two, start a chapter of The Mourning Edition.
* Day three, finish the chapter of The Mourning Edition, process edits on Late Eclipses.
* Day four, revise/rewrite a chapter of Late Eclipses.
* Day five, start a chapter of Discount Armageddon, process edits on The Mourning Edition.
* Day six, finish the chapter of Discount Armageddon, process edits on Late Eclipses.
* Day seven, revise/rewrite a chapter of Late Eclipses...

...and I bet you can catch the pattern from there. In amidst all this madness, I'm answering email, writing blog entries, finishing essays, doing book reviews, working on my website, detailing art cards, finishing comic strips, doing random pieces of promotional art, and, of course, sleeping. I've also been watching an average of twenty hours of television per week.

Yes, we think I steal time from a parallel dimension.

Writing something new is always exciting, but right now, it's the revision of Late Eclipses that really fascinates me. I have the shape of things entirely in place; I know who's where, when they get there, and what they need to do. Now I'm patching the logic problems, fixing the bits that seem out of character or don't make sense, and generally having a lovely time wading through my own world. (If it seems odd that I'd be having logic problems, consider the fact that by book four, I have roughly twelve hundred pages of continuity that needs to be acknowledged and worked with in order for things to make sense. It's both freeing and confining. Much like a really good corset, which gives you excellent support, but makes eating a big lunch a bad idea.)

A lot of things are coming clear to me as I work on this book, and I'm really starting to think that my second trilogy is going to be made of awesome. Which is good. I sort of lose the ability to gauge the quality of my own work after a certain number of revisions -- I don't see the clever, I just see the commas -- so I really enjoy these moments where I stop, and blink, and go 'hey, wait, this is good!'

Busy blonde is busy, but busy blonde is happy, and that helps a lot.

Current stats:

Words: 6,075.
Total words: 30,086.
Reason for stopping: finished chapter eight.
Music: my ass-kicking Verity dance music play list.
Lilly: dead to the world.

Behold! For now I wear the human pants! Cryptid pants. Whatever. Now with extra ballroom dance, thanks to subject-matter expert Betsy Tinney.

I love my creepy cryptozoologists so hard.

It's the fifteenth of February, which means it's both the Feast of St. Markdown's, and time for the February edition of my monthly current projects listing. I've decided to actually start labeling these with the month and year, just in case somebody wants to find a specific post later on. Anyway, this is the post where I make it cheerfully apparent that I do not actually ever sleep.

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. Newsflesh is off the list because it's being shopped, and that means I essentially can't have any contact with it until the process is done. I miss you, baby!

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 )