Run Away!

Me, that is. Yes, my lovelies (but not, we hope “Delicate UnderLovelies”*) I’m off to England in a few hours. Of course, I won’t arrive there until Thursday, but that’s just part of the fun of International Datelines.

I am very excited, but, being me, I’m also kind of trepid about it. I am supposed to be doing research and I originally intended to go for 3-4 weeks, but at this point I’m going for a mere 12 days and one third of that will be family stuff. Don’t get me wrong: I am just as excited about the family stuff, since it’s Mr. Kat’s family and extended friends-of-family from Norfolk and I’ve never met most of them or seen the village he grew up in and all that is Very Cool to me, too. And I’m sure I’ll come up with no end of evil ideas (perhaps even Eeeeebil ideas) to use in Greywalker #4 whether I’m hanging out in the country or dashing around in the Town, but I am not, in fact, good at improvising and, being a freaky, anxious person I’m worried that I won’t find Neat Things to write into the book. I’d considered extending the trip, but not only is my birthday right after we return to Seattle (and Jim wouldn’t be entirely happy about not being able to spend it with me) but I promised the Daring and Amazing Dana Fredsti and Jess Lourey I’d run around Seattle with them when they come up around Memorial Day on their whirlwind West Coast Tour. Can’t not do that!

O Woe Is I!

On the other hand, it’s freakin England! At last! And it’s my first trip off the North American continent. EVER! Yeah, yeah… I’m a hermit. Even if it is only 12 days, it’s still Twelve Whole Days In England!!! W00t!

Yes, yes, of course I’ll take pictures and as per normal I’ll probably forget to post them, and I’ll try to blog, but I make no guarantees, because, well… it’s England! and I hope to be happily exhausted from my investigations and adventures.

And–oh yes–lunch with my Editorial Team from Piatkus/Little Brown and my agent and a few others, and of course Signing books at Murder One on Thursday May 15 from 5-6.

And oh, Kaz… (or other Londoners) any ideas what evil things I should investigate this Friday? Wheeeeeee!

–
*”Delicate UnderLovlies was a brand of ladies lingerie which my friend Marci Dehm re-discovered while writing a local history book about Everett, WA.

Before I Go: Fab Authors on Tour!

As I’m finishing up the prep for England, I am reminded that you guys need someone to love while I’m out of town. So my advice is: get yourselves to Portland!

Yup, my fabulous friends Richelle Mead and Caitlin Kittredge are going to be at Powell’s in Beaverton Oregon on Thursday! Yes, this Thursday, May 8th, starting at 7 p.m. Trust me: these two together are a special treat. Go, go, go: to Powell’s!

‘Cause I’ll be in England and my teleporter isn’t working.

Holy Good News, Batman!

What a very good morning it is! I was up until 02:30 finishing the novella (at 30,856 words total) and sending it to my editor and agent for review. The last stretch was 6,800 words over 14 hours–not a record for me but pretty hefty nonetheless, so I am stoked! While it’s not as smooth as I might have wanted, it went in some interesting directions and is the least bleak Harper Blaine story to date–actually, it’s down right upbeat! Is it good? I don’t know–I’m too tired, but it’s done and that’s enough for me.

Meanwhile, the amazing folks at Little Brown–my UK Publisher–have pulled a big, delightfully fluffy bunny out of their hats for me and got me booked for a signing during my stay at the prestigious Murder One in central London (which is London’s top crime, sci-fi and romance bookshop) on Thurs 15th May from 5-6pm. Many, many kudos to the fabulous team of Paola, Donna, and Emma! I’m still working on a more casual drinks-and-chat get together, but this is a huge slice of Happiness Pie for me!

Today is not unleavened with “ugh,” though: Dexter is still having skin problems and a friend is headed for surgery (what is with the cancer surgeries, people?) and I have Yet Another Appointment at the periodontist today, but none of these look to be tragic (you listening to me, Hawaiian shirt dude? get well soon!)

So, the good and the bad, the W00t and the Waahhh! all in one big bundle this morning. Kind of like life in general: messy but mostly promising.

Stuff You Must Have

OK, yeah… they aren’t my publisher, but they are my beloved friend Cherie Priest’s publisher and they are giving Cool Books Away for Free! Want neato-keen Tor stuff including an electronic copy of Cherie’s fab first novel Four and Twenty Blackbirds, fabulous computer wallpaper (like incredible Boris Vallejo designs!), other peachy-cool stuff? Then haul your virtual ass to Tor.com and Sign up for Neat Stuff! It is free, free, free, and they don’t spam you with junk, just cool book stuff.

And did I mention it’s all free?

Go. Now.

I Wish to Return This Head….

Flargh… I got through the revision of the front 19,000 words, which then had become 21,500. Go me. But today is “start writing new bits day” and I have… yes, The Headache.

The Sinus Headache is my bane. Damn those fluffy bits of bone in my skull. When we have fluctuating pressure–as we’ve had quite a bit lately–especially coupled with pollen or Kat not drinking enough water and other stupidities, I get the headache. It’s not mind-bending, like it used to be, but it’s persistent and annoying and it makes reading very tiring. So of course while trying to read back through the novella I find it difficult to find the places I marked for expansion, new scenes, adjustment, hooks, etc. Ugh.

So I am cat-vacuuming while waiting for the headache to subside enough to make reading and writing less uncomfortable. I am taking out the trash and doing the laundry instead.

Hrm… Ow… back to vacuuming the non-existent feline….

The Last of the Guest Blog

Today is my last day blogging for Penguin. Here’s the beginning of the final Kat-Blog (click the excerpt to read the whole thing):

“Where do you get your ideas?” There’s a question many writers dread. Not because they order them wholesale from a warehouse in Schenectady, as a famous SF writer once quipped, but because ideas aren’t the hard part. Not really. Ideas are like breakfast cereal; there’re more than I can possibly consume in a lifetime, but the real trick is finding the ones that don’t go soggy and getting my procrastinating backside into a chair and my fingers on the keyboard often enough and long enough to turn them into a story-meal worth serving up.

And today has already been interesting. I’m within a few thousand revision words, plus 3-6k new words of plot wrap-up, climax, and punch-out on the Novella, and since Jim’s going to be shooting things that go “boom” in Idaho this weekend, I expect to be done by Tuesday (including the spell-check, clean-read-through and proof.) Maybe overly ambitious, but it’s better than the alternative–considering I’ve asked for extensions on this one twice. Usually I don’t.

Happy, happy!

So Very Busy!

Good heavens I’ve been busy the past 24 hours! Lemme see:

1. Ran an errand for the fabulous Richelle while she’s out of town–props to Express Mail and Ballard mail-guru, Guy (that’s his name, not his variety.)
2. Took ferrets to the vet and discovered all sorts of little problems that need meds–many thanks to the incredible staff at Eastside Avian and Exotic!
3. Went to look at a slip at new marina–looks like we’ll be moving!
4. Had dinner with the hubby.
5. Worked on the novella.
6. Discovered the Amazon pre-order link to Wolfsbane and Mistletoe.
7. Did massive updates to my website including:
   • My book page
   • The Greywalker Cover gallery
   • The Other Cover gallery–which has the Wolfsbane and Mistletoe cover on it
   • An Excerpt from Underground
   • All the images and other bits to go with those
   • (unfortunately, still not fixed the contact page… alas!)
8. Another Pengui-Blog (#4) and had them fix the link on yesterday’s.
   

   Jim Butcher once said that he modeled Harry Dresden on the hardboiled detectives of Mystery’s Golden Age–guys who had two common traits: they got the snot beaten out of them regularly; and they knew how to cut up with the quips–to “lip off” as Mr. Butcher put it….

9. Medicated ferrets.
10. Talked to doctors before we head to England.
11. Got a look at the cover copy for Mean Streets–the novella antholgy–which is now tentively on the publishing schedule for Winter 2009!

Kind of crazy, yes?

Again With the Pengui-Blog

“There is a saying that if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Which is very embarassing if you’re the parent of a small child with a plastic duck bill squeaker. If the child in question were a book, he’d be relegated to the “duck” shelves in short order and nothing his mother could say would get him moved back to homo sapiens….”

And that’s the beginning of Penguin Blog Post #3. Just click the link to read the whole thing.

So far I’ve been enjoying the blogs more than I expected to. The only downside being, they take time I usually put into the books and so on. Oh… to blog further or not to blog….

Many Conga-rats!

Holy Macaroni! Three of my friends on NYT Bestseller lists this week (that I know of)! Congratulations to Jim Butcher (Hardcover #5), Richelle Mead (Children’s Chapter paperbacks #7) and Pat Rothfuss (mass-market paperback #11–nearly tied with The Other Bolyen Girl for #10)! Such fabulousity!

Pengui-blog #2

A couple of my writer friends really hate used bookstores. Some of them even hate libraries….

And so begins my second day blogging at the Roc/Ace blog. Read the whole entry, if you can stand it.

Happy Ferretness!

I’m so pleased to discover that the cause of California Ferret Legalization now has a non-profit-status education group ready to go do the sort of work LegalizeFerrets.org and Ferrets Anonymous have been trying to get rolling for a while now. Now I can give them money without having to argue with the tax-monster about whether it’s a legit donation or not….

First Pengui-blog Post

Thus begins my first guest-blogger post at the Roc/Ace SFF blog:

I never would have expected it, but the most common question I get about Harper’s world is “why doesn’t she have a cell phone in Greywalker?”

To read the whole thing, go here.