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Just a tiny speck, but. . . .

2009-08-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

I just saw Neptune with my own eyes. Through binoculars, but still. :)

*bliss*

It's just to the left or west (in the Northern Hemisphere) of Jupiter, which is very bright and, in North America, conveniently high in the sky. You can't see it without binoculars under ordinary seeing conditions. If your binoculars let you see the moons of Jupiter, you can definitely see Neptune if you swivel to the left along the ecliptic.

Sorry. I'm geeking out. I never saw it with my own eyes before, despite writing a novel mostly set there.

The more things change. . . .

2009-06-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

I’m told I have a book coming out tomorrow. . . .

This is the oddest release day so far, for me; I am off on a family vacation at the beach, and I haven’t even seen a published copy of The Dark Reaches yet. The vacation is a bit more relaxing as a result; two years ago my entire family was reading The Hidden Worlds while I twisted slowly, slowly in the wind, unable to read anything. Oh, they all liked it, but having family read my work was an oddly unnerving experience. Perhaps it’s because I respect their opinions so much—my parents and brother are all published writers, and though I’m the first to publish a novel, I still came late to the party.

But, that didn’t happen this year. This year The Dark Reaches is getting some attention that makes me very happy indeed.

Heather Massey at her excellent blog The Galaxy Express is profiling my books for her "Catch a Rising Star" feature. The first part, a look at the trilogy and some links to past reviews and interviews, went up yesterday. The second part, an interview and a giveaway of two signed copies of the trilogy, is coming soon. I can’t wait.

Also, a fun interview about The Dark Reaches has been posted on the SF/fantasy page at the Penguin website. The questions were posed by my editor, Anne Sowards, and she zeroed in on some interesting points!

And that isn’t all that’s coming. . . .

But enough for now. I'm posting from a balcony overlooking the beach, it's a bright, sunny morning, and there's coffee. Virtuous writerly tasks will just have to wait!

Here we go again

2009-06-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

I'm back, and to stay this time.

It's been a short year and a long one, both at once: so full of hard work it seemed to flash by, but so intensely involving that I feel as if I've been gone for ten years.

The Dark Reaches will be released a week from today, on Tuesday, June 30th. I've spent the last year and more writing it, finishing it, revising it, and recovering (which includes diving back into my freelance work).

Since turning Dark Reaches in, I've been fighting a battle most writers probably know too well: trying to balance life so that it includes writing without stinting spouse and children, a house, my "day job" (which often runs into weekends and evenings if I let it) . . . oh, and since late last December, a Cavalier King Charles puppy named Lucy. It's been an interesting process—difficult and infuriating and satisfying and mystifying in turns. And it's not done yet. Thirty-hour days would help, or maybe a nine-day week.

Or perhaps just adjusting my expectations. . . .

But here we are, and here I am, and I'm going to stick around. Not because I have a book coming out, though I'm proud of The Dark Reaches. But because I'm in this for the long haul. I have a lot more to write. And a lot to read—not just the pile of books on the shelf next to my reading chair, but online, too—blogs and communities where I've lurked and hovered on the edges but never quite dived in. It's time to dive in. There's so much to discover, so many people to talk to about writing and reading and science fiction and science and, and, and.

And, I'm realizing, I've got things to say. I'm excited about a couple of interviews that will be coming up online soon—I'll be linking to them here. I was also profiled in the January issue of The Writer magazine, on the "How I Write" page—the first science fiction writer they've ever featured there. To boldly go, etc., etc.

So . . . let's just see what happens. That's most of the fun in life, after all.

It's good to be back.

A discreet little meltdown

2008-06-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

The Cold Minds is out, in bookstores and online; it's even a Kindle book on Amazon. And I'm thrilled! Or so my friends keep reminding me.

And actually I am. A second novel published—that always seemed like an even more distant dream than the first. And to make it even better, book 3 of the Hidden Worlds series, The Dark Reaches, is well underway.

But . . . it's happening again. Something I never expected, and nobody warned me about.

A few days after The Hidden Worlds was published, I went over to the Oregon coast for a week of vacation with my family, my parents, and my brother and his girlfriend. And just about all of them were reading The Hidden Worlds for the first time. I found that even on a sunny balcony with a breathtaking view of the ocean, it was completely impossible to relax while everyone else out there was reading my book.

In fact, it was a little hard to breathe properly at times. (Not to mention the razzing I got over page 138. Hoo boy.)

I worked for years to write a saleable novel, worked for months with my editor's help to revise and polish it after it was sold, enjoyed the whole production process, exulted the first time I saw the book on the "New in Paperback" rack at Borders. But I never realized what it would mean until that moment on the balcony. People who knew me in contexts very far removed from SF adventure fiction. Relatives, friends, my husband's co-workers, my children's friends and their parents—people were reading my book. And I knew that when they finished, they'd tell me what they thought.

And . . . that was a very naked feeling.

But, to be honest—I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Denying the rumors

2008-06-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Cold Minds arrives in bookstores on June 24th. My first advance copy arrived yesterday. And I was immensely cool about it.

I so did not rip the envelope open and wave the book in front of my kids. Nor did I do any dancing around, nor did I riffle through the pages and sniff the fresh paper-and-ink new-book smell.

And it is completely untrue that I then bolted upstairs to my office and lined it up on my bookshelf spine out next to The Hidden Worlds. Nor did I grin at seeing two different novels with my name on the spine, side by side.

You see, I'm a professional.

A quick update

2008-06-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

Coming briefly up for air, I'll take this chance to post that there will indeed be a sequel to The Cold Minds in 2009. I've signed the contract (a happy moment) and am writing hard.

The working title is The Dark Reaches. It takes Iain and Linnea far beyond where they've ever been before. Working on it is completely engrossing—and enormous fun. I can't wait to see how it comes out!

Taking that first step

2008-04-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today I'm thinking a lot about the first time I sent off a manuscript to a publisher, something like fifteen years ago. What's the line from Dune—"beginnings are such delicate times"? Beginnings are also full of mistakes. That novel (never published) was 180,000 words long, in first person, from the viewpoint of a naive young woman exiled on another world. Fresh and new and riveting stuff—I thought. The publisher disagreed.

Today I'm thinking a lot about the first time I queried an agent. What a trembling letter I wrote. I think she felt a bit sorry for me; I've read rejections that were less kind.

Today I'm also thinking about the day I opened a padded envelope from Ace Books, and the first copy of The Hidden Worlds slid out into my hand. Beginnings are hard, but getting through them can get you where you want to go.

So here's another beginning. I've been on the Web in various communities for many years, but I'd never considered blogging—until this past year.

For years, writing was something I did for myself and my critique group—always with the idea of marketing and eventually being published, of course, but that was safely remote. My life was so busy, with work and family and house and yard—and whatever else I could come up with. Surely nobody would expect me to do more, to try harder, to take that next step. To face up to, you know . . . the scary part.

Then through an odd series of events, I did take that step: I sold two novels. The Hidden Worlds was published last year; The Cold Minds comes out on June 24. There will be a third book in the series in 2009.

When Hidden Worlds was published, I discovered that writing actually is communication. I had readers! I had reviews, opinions, mentions in blogs, puzzled comments from older relatives, indulgent approval from my teenaged children.

But something was missing; a door was still closed. Readers couldn't talk to me. I couldn't answer back.

This blog is meant to open that door. I don't know whether anyone will walk through, but here it is.

Once a week or so (I'm on a deadline, and happy to be, but it does use up the days!) I will post something new. Maybe I'll start with that odd series of events I just mentioned. . . .

Welcome to Otherspace!