State of the Caitlin
Crossposted from my website.
Time becomes very fluid and hard to grasp when you have none of it, between deadlines, real-life projects (like the kitchen, which is at least over with now except for things I have no control over, like plumbers) and social obligations. I've sprouted a surprising crop of friends in the last year or so, between Team Seattle and various other folks of my acquaintance who are the results of me finally stepping out of my shell a bit. (That shell was starting to become really claustrophobic. And it had an odd smell when the wind came from the east.) The result of all this is parties. Lots of parties. Three parties over three days. Well, one was a signing for Cherie's novel Fathom and my novel Pure Blood.
In the midst of remodeling fun and parties, I also have four major projects due at varying degrees of Defcon Ohnoes! Page proofs for Black & White (not so bad) deadlines for Witch's Alphabet and Shades of Gray (mild concern) and line edits for Street Magic (Ohnoes!)
The edit letter from St. Martin's was very light, five bullet items that needed minor fixes. Me being me, I kept finding more to fix, mostly awkward prose that seemed fine the last time I cracked the draft. I really have gotten better at this since I first set fingers to keyboard and typed out the first line of what would become Street Magic. The realization was heartening but also problematic, since I now had a manuscript crouched on my desk crying "Fix me!" in its little manuscript voice. So I did, and it ate my life for five days. On the bright side, my lovely editor Rose informs me that the book is now "100,000% more awesome." This is why she's my editor.
Work on Witch continues apace. I get so happy every time I sit down to work on the book. It's a fun novel, one that strips bare its secrets slowly and doesn't tip its hand all at once. The world is new, no rules set in stone, and I can go wherever I want in it. I'm enjoying mostly creating my monsters from whole cloth, except for the Lovecraftian background noise of elder gods and tentacle crawlies. I'm enjoying referencings 50's pop culture. I'm really enjoying Dean, the ostensible "hero" of the story. I always like my heroines, respect them even if I don't want to go shoe shopping any time soon, but it's my male characters that I find a spot in my heart for. I couldn't say why, exactly. And I always tend to leave the actual problem solving up to the women, so there is balance in the Force.
That's where I've been. Where are you?
Time becomes very fluid and hard to grasp when you have none of it, between deadlines, real-life projects (like the kitchen, which is at least over with now except for things I have no control over, like plumbers) and social obligations. I've sprouted a surprising crop of friends in the last year or so, between Team Seattle and various other folks of my acquaintance who are the results of me finally stepping out of my shell a bit. (That shell was starting to become really claustrophobic. And it had an odd smell when the wind came from the east.) The result of all this is parties. Lots of parties. Three parties over three days. Well, one was a signing for Cherie's novel Fathom and my novel Pure Blood.
In the midst of remodeling fun and parties, I also have four major projects due at varying degrees of Defcon Ohnoes! Page proofs for Black & White (not so bad) deadlines for Witch's Alphabet and Shades of Gray (mild concern) and line edits for Street Magic (Ohnoes!)
The edit letter from St. Martin's was very light, five bullet items that needed minor fixes. Me being me, I kept finding more to fix, mostly awkward prose that seemed fine the last time I cracked the draft. I really have gotten better at this since I first set fingers to keyboard and typed out the first line of what would become Street Magic. The realization was heartening but also problematic, since I now had a manuscript crouched on my desk crying "Fix me!" in its little manuscript voice. So I did, and it ate my life for five days. On the bright side, my lovely editor Rose informs me that the book is now "100,000% more awesome." This is why she's my editor.
Work on Witch continues apace. I get so happy every time I sit down to work on the book. It's a fun novel, one that strips bare its secrets slowly and doesn't tip its hand all at once. The world is new, no rules set in stone, and I can go wherever I want in it. I'm enjoying mostly creating my monsters from whole cloth, except for the Lovecraftian background noise of elder gods and tentacle crawlies. I'm enjoying referencings 50's pop culture. I'm really enjoying Dean, the ostensible "hero" of the story. I always like my heroines, respect them even if I don't want to go shoe shopping any time soon, but it's my male characters that I find a spot in my heart for. I couldn't say why, exactly. And I always tend to leave the actual problem solving up to the women, so there is balance in the Force.
That's where I've been. Where are you?
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