Bloomsbury UK has a Writer’s Digest-like Interwebs site called Writers & Artists. A few weeks ago, they asked me for an interview about my Great! Self-Publishing! Success!, and I agreed to share my experiences in return for a first-class ticket to the UK and a box of Aero Mint bars with all the chocolate removed….
back from nerd prom.
Readercon was great, but I racked up a serious sleep deficit while partying and going out to breakfast, lunch, and dinner with my friends. I’m not complaining, though–it was a lot of fun, and I’d been looking forward to it all year. On Saturday, I managed to run over to the mall with my friend…
social week: it’s like shark week, only with more bourbon.
I turned in some on-schedule edits on Saturday, so I rewarded myself by drinking Cuba Libres and playing the truly excellent The Last Of Us on the PS3 for the rest of the weekend. This week will be the highlight of the year, socially speaking (at least for this work-from-home hermit). That’s because it’s Readercon week. I…
carputer.
I used a dedicated Magellan car GPS in the Grand Caravan (a.k.a. Frostbite One) for years, until I got a new iPhone and found that it made a better GPS than the dedicated unit. That worked pretty well for a while, until I upgraded my iPad mini to a 3G/LTE version and figured that a…
meanwhile, over at kat’s place.
My friend Katrina does a recurring blog feature called Prime Writing, and the latest installment features some dorky dude who wrote a novel about spaceships and stuff: http://www.katrinaarcher.com/journal/2013/06/24/prime-writing-marko-kloos/ You may want to check it out. Said dorky dude talks a bit about his novel and how it came about.
my kingdom for a backup generator.
Spring has totally sprung, y’all. Yesterday, the thermometer at Castle Frostbite recorded 88 degrees. Unfortunately, we lost power in the short but intense thunderstorm front that moved through the area in the evening, so it was also 88 degrees under the roof where the grown-ups sleep. We were in the middle of cooking dinner when…
strange foreign customs, part XIV.
Lyra will be in first grade in the fall, which reminded me of a German tradition I had forgotten about: the Schultüte. Since about the beginning of the 19th century, German school kids get a Schultüte on the first day of first grade. It’s a big cone made out of heavy paper, decorations on the outside…
ham and cheese.
The goober on the left has her last day of Kindergarten today. The goober on the right has his last day of second grade. Kids in Upper Cryogenica have to make up lots of snow days, which in some years can mean they won’t graduate until late July. These kids? They’re freaks of nature….
from the desk &etc.
Being a writer is an awful lot like having a lot of homework every single day of your life. Yesterday I delivered the manuscript for Lines of Departure, the sequel to Terms of Enlistment, to my editor at 47North. It’s 28 chapters and 95,000 words, but I ‘m sure those numbers will change before publication…
random bullet points.
–I’m still hunkered down in my writing dungeon here at Castle Frostbite. I have to deliver the manuscript for Lines of Departure by the 31st, so I’m busy putting the final touches on it. If you’ve sent me email and I haven’t yet responded, I’m sorry. I’ll get to the essentials like email, showers, and…