It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I apologize for that. I have, on the other hand, been writing.
I finished Grave and sent it to my editor, and she sent it back with revision notes (when I say notes, I mean phone call), and one of those revisions is a single sentence long and…not so small.
And Cast in Flight was not finished, so I set Grave aside to percolate and finished Cast in Flight. And then, because it was — I know this will shock you all — way too long, I then spent the time cutting 11k words, and sent the book to my editor.
And then I read books, and wrote a review column for F&SF.
During that time, I continued to plug away on War, the only book that is not somehow killing me. That will come later, when I’m near the end and realize it’s … too long.
I am now working through Grave.
In the mean-time, I am mostly off-line. I kind of hate it, because it does make me feel like I’m working in a tunnel, and I miss the friendly icons and the encouragement of interaction. But when focus is shaky, I find everything more interesting than work — and I can lose a lot of time just reading things on the internet. Or becoming hugely anxious about them when I can’t do anything. And then I have used up all the writing time, without actually writing, and I can only do that once in a long while.
My current daydream is: I finish the revisions for Grave, finish War, and start writing when a deadline is not so close it looms above me like the sword of Damocles.
If your’e being productive writing that’s awesome (although its also great to hear from you, totally understand about the focus issue)! Also … _I_ like that your books are on the long side. Seriously, who wants to leave a journey with Jewel early (except possibly Jewel?)