Yesterday afternoon, right as I was opening my front door to leave for Jim Butcher’s appearance at the bookstore … my glasses broke. Yes, my lovely little Vera Wang frames which I have deeply loved. Yes, the very same frames which I have only owned since late last July. I. Was. Irate. But I ran back and hastily installed my contacts, then headed off for the festivities.
Jim’s presentation was less a traditional reading than a Q&A — which was equally entertaining — and afterwards Team Seattle hung around until Duane finally permitted the visiting author put down his signing pen and head for the hills. It would seem that much, much stock was signed; and very, very late did the evening run. But eventually we all retired to a bar that was willing to serve us food at an ungodly hour, and Jim regaled us with tales of his upcoming comic book adventure. All in all, it was a most excellent night filled with gossip, coffee, and hamburgers as big as hats. Alas, I didn’t think to take any pictures.
Anyway, this morning I got up early and ran to the optometrist’s office from whence I purchased the glasses. On the upshot, the glasses are still under warranty. On the downshot, the frames were out of stock and I have to wait 4-5 business days before I get my darlings back. Meanwhile, I’m switching back and forth between the Itchy Contacts That Make Me Intensely Farsighted … and the Back-Up Glasses That Aren’t Strong Enough and Have Embarrassingly Purple Earpieces.*
Oh well. I’ll survive.
In other news, Fathom’s copyedits have arrived! In a somewhat astonishing turn of events, this book is nearly 500 pages long, which I totally didn’t realize until I opened the envelope and hoisted the suitcase-sized stack of paper into my lap. I freely admit that my flabber has been gasted (to borrow a phrase from Andrea). Holy shit, but I can be long-winded.
Now all I have to do is sift through these copious pages with my little blue pencil and kick it back into the mail … by … um … this weekend. Well, here goes. If I’m a little scarce, and my word count progress bars remain a little weak, now you know why.
As you might expect (if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time), Spain the Cat is quite pleased by the influx of fresh Tor packaging. She’s so pleased, in fact, that she tried to push the manuscript off the envelope and onto the floor so that she could turn the envelope into her own personal La-Z-Boy. In the interest of (a). keeping all the pages in order and therefore (b). continuing to allow this cat to live, I moved the text and let her have it.
As you can see, she is quite smug about this victory.
Yes. Well. Moving right along. Today’s progress on the west coast steampunk Victoriana book with zombies, air ships, toxic gas clouds, mad scientists, dead folk heroes, secret criminal societies, and Bonus! extended deleted scenes from the Civil War:
Project: The Boneshaker
Resolution revised: Still writing every day, as planned.
New Words: 2115 (fair to middling)
Present Total Word Count: 57,423 words
Goal: 100,000 words by July 1
Things Accomplished in Fiction: Established some of Lucy O’Gunning’s back-story; explained how she lost her arms, and how she was fitted with the mechanical prosthetic. Also, Briar did some creative misdirection to keep from answering questions about how she knows for certain she’s a widow (despite the fact that her husband’s body was never found).
Excerpt du Jour: “People fool you. And I was a fool.”
“You were only a girl.”
“Same difference. Same result.”
Things Accomplished in Real Life: Walked down to the bank and deposited checks, acquired roll of quarters; went to optometrist and was promised new glasses in a few days; did laundry; wrote parts 3 & 4 of four-part freelance assignment — which must be edited like hell and polished up to a gleaming finish tomorrow.
Reason for Stopping: I need to unload the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen; and following that, copyedits await.
Total Fiction Words Composed in 2008: 126,023
* I’ve been wearing my back-up glasses when I dye my hair.
