October is crunch time
I’ve been mostly offline, trying to hit Book 5 as hard as possible for the month of October… Thus, mostly radio silence.
If you sent me an email and have had no reply, I’ll probably be catching up on Wednesday October 18th.
Here’s some quickie random news:
Amazon.ca (that’s Canada for those of you who don’t know your URL extensions) now has the paperback of The Steerswoman at a newly non-exorbitant price. Excellent!
My plan is to release the paperback versions of the rest of the series around December 1.  Why no sooner? Because there’s a lot of front-work and grunt-work involved in redesigning the covers to look good on a physical book, to sort out the map files, to set up the appearance of the insides of the books – and to proofread, proofread, proofread. I figure that a couple of weeks at the end of November should cover it.
Today my pal and fellow member of the Fabulous Genrettes, Laurie J. Marks, is hanging with me at my office, working on her next book as I’m working on mine. I’ve got the desk, she’s got the rocking chair, and we’re both typing away.
Of course, we can’t actually see each others’ screens.  For all either of us knows, the other might be doing online crosswords, posting political screeds on Facebook, or composing limericks.
Or writing blog posts.
Oh, right: that would be me.
Shake-up at the billboard company that shares this floor of the building with me: I came in on Wednesday, only to find the doors to their offices open, and the desks cleared of all computers and personal possessions! They are gone — except for the actual owner of the company, who will be hanging on through the transition to the new owners.  Apparently the company was so successful that they became a target for takeover, which speaks well of the current guy’s business skills. He’s assured me that all the employees have found other work (some with the new company), and have landed on their feet. Plus, he now has pots of money.
Upside for me: I no longer have to listen to Bob the Salesman’s conversations on the other side of our shared and very thin wall. Seriously, that wall is so thin that words spoken in a normal tone of voice sound pretty much as if the other person was actually in the same room with you.
When I first took an office in this building, fully half the third floor was completely empty… which got me some lovely solitude! And then, as the billboard business started doing so very well, they began hiring more salespeople. And putting them in the other offices, one by one. Eventually I was surrounded by the sales force. They started having impromptu meetings in the hallway.
Fortunately, I mostly work in the evening and on weekends, by preference –Â but there was a 3-hour overlap with the sales force, during the week.
And now: it’s very, very quiet. So quiet.
Also: Our town seems to have acquired a few of those little free library boxes.
I think these are a great idea! And I’ll be adding a few books — naturally including my own, but also others that I’d like to share.
Later: Just got back from a bit of a walk with Laurie, down to the river and back again. We’ve both been tearing our hair out on our respective projects, and needed some fresh air and a break. We strolled down to the river and back again.
Turns out it was exactly what was needed.
Then back to the office, and back to the grindstone.
October 21st, 2017 at 12:01 am
My neighborhood recently acquired a little-free-library-style box, outside the local kindergarten. When I went down to see if there was anything interesting in it, it was mostly full of picture books and chapter books for young readers — and one lonely copy of Don’t Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I’m a Piano Player in a Whorehouse.
October 21st, 2017 at 9:52 pm
My local box by the dog-park has a decent selection… but alas, the books seem not to be moving very well. No change in the last few days. Which makes me sad. Take a chance! Explore!