Rosemary Kirstein

During all last week, that is. It was the first week back on the DayJob after surgery, and so I had to start digging in to the backlog of work undone while I was gone, which is to say, most of it, whilst simultaneously accomplishing my usual weekly cycle of tasks. Whilst also simultaneously trying not to overwork the hand.

Sigh. My plans for brilliant blog posts have been pushed forward, of necessity.

Plus: Visiting Laurie & Deb this weekend, so also no blogging. But I might find time to actually, say, work on writing. Seeing as Laurie (Laurie J. Marks) is also a writer, and not averse to a suggestion of, “Hey, let’s go to a coffeeshop with our laptop and pad and not speak a word for, like, two hours. It’ll be cool!”

In other news: Fingers still a bit tingly, but it’s less every day. So I’m definitely on the mend. I can do everything except hang on to really heavy objects, grip things that I also have to yank really hard, or grab things and then press down on them (like scrub sponges).

More later, promise.

I’m devoting the 3-day weekend to writing — which means no blog posting (except this).

No sign of the Lawnmower Man yet — perhaps he’s taken his family to the beach. Or to the park for a cookout.

I had feared that everyone would be in their back yards (it’s a condo complex, with one continuous back yard for all), hootin’ and hollerin’ and barbequeing. But no. Nice and quiet. Not too hot. Nice for writing al fresco.

Just to let people know: the auction for Laurie & Deb went swimmingly, and the total has come to more than $10,000. If YOU participated, you are wonderful, and we all love you.

The book, and the book plus artifact, are now winging their way to their respective new owners (Australia? Did you say AUSTRALIA??).

I had tried to make a couple of other things to auction, but the cool tote bag with map of Rowan’s world (as of The Lost Steersman) got burned in the center while I was ironing on the transfer, so: not good enough for the auction.

On the upside, I now have a cool tote bag with a map of Rowan’s world, slightly burned in the center, in which to tote my totables.

There’s some great stuff out there, folks. Remember, this is an auction by SF and Fantasy pros and fans, to raise money to help my friend Deb Mensinger, wife of fantasy author Laurie J Marks. Deb needs a liver transplant, and there are extra expenses not paid by insurance.

SO I put another item up: a copy of the Brit edition of The Steerswoman PLUS an actual example of the jewel (so-called, heh) from the book. The photo here is not so hot, I have no actual digital camera, just a webcam… But trust me, this looks cool.

The “jewel” is in a black frame, against a miniature of the map from the book.

No, you can’t buy it here! Go to the auction! There’s only a week left!

Deb Mensinger, the wife of fantasy author Laurie J Marks needs a new liver, and it looks like the whole fan-and-pro community is jumping in to her out.

You can help, too! There’s an online auction to raise money for the incidental expenses involved. Go, there, buy some cool stuff — there are cookies made by a lawyer, voice lessions from a professional singer, a personal monthly letter from your very own Finnish correspondent! Plus any number of rare and autographed items. Jewelery, books — even someone offering to write a blog post for you!

Am I contributing items? You bet. I’ll be offering two things:

Item Number 1. an autographed copy of the British edition of The Steerswoman,. Ever since Del Rey combined The Steerswoman with The Outskirter’s Secret into one volume (The Steerswoman’s Road) it’s been hard to find a stand-alone copy of just one or the other. But I have some copies of the British edition of the first book. This is good for introducing friends to the series, when they might balk at investing the time to read a double-sized trade paperback. Plus: different cover art, and all exclamation points removed from the back-cover blurb (hey, they’re Brits).

Item Number 2. Ha! I’m not telling. Yet. You’ll have to go to the auction site to find out! (In a day or so… it’s not up there yet, but go ahead and look at the other things offered.)

It’s all for a good cause. These are two people who are very dear to me.