In Which The Writer Has A Whitlow

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

So, yesterday I stayed up really late, because after writing I decided it was absolutely imperative for me to figure out how to do covers – I mean to put the learning of the cover workshop in place.

As is normal around here, when I get absorbed in something, particularly when I’m learning a skill, I completely forget the time.  Normally Dan reminds me but unfortunately he was doing the books for NRP, which also absorbs him completely.

Next thing you know, we had dinner at 10 pm, and at two am the kids told us to go to bed.

We honestly have this notion that when the boys leave, if Dan is working from home (which is our long term plan.  If it will come to fruition, who knows?) we’ll totally lose touch with normal human scheduling and hours, and our days will be “whenever one of us is done and reminds the other it’s time to go to bed.”

Anyway, so I woke up ridiculously late, and then of course, I forgot that I had to do blog posts.  (Just sue me, okay?)

So I figured I’ll do one of my “status” posts here, and yes, and I’m sorry, forego MGC chapter.  I just can’t.  I was hoping to wake up enough, but it ain’t happening.  I need to write on Through Fire.

I’ll also put up the next story I’m going to release (and which I’m editing) in the subscriber space.  And we’re working on a series of Huns T-shirts so those who subscribed at that level can have a choice.

Meanwhile, if you’ve donated more than $30 for this year and I haven’t sent your password, send me a ping on goldportpress at gmail dot com.

And I’m sorry I haven’t kept up the subscriber space.  Things are getting better, but there’s an awful lot of catch up to do.

Okay, first the cover workshop – if you’re doing indie publishing and you can afford to take it with WGM DO SO.  I can’t tell you the difference it has made, though I’ll do an article about it for PJM lifestyle, complete with before and after samples, and link it here.  I don’t want to do it here, yet, because I need to upload the covers first, so I can link them all and I haven’t done that yet (usually do it late at night, because otherwise I lose sales, particularly on the weekend.)

Anyway – let’s say before this I was “talented amateur” (at least on the better covers) and I’m now “beginning professional” (at least I think so.)  Unfortunately this means a lot of covers to re-do, and I’ll learn when I do them, of course, so in a year I’ll think these are trash, but I think this time they’re good enough to leave.  At least I hope so, because I plan to have them printed.  And good thing I hadn’t, before I took this workshop.  Again, it applies that I get nothing from this endorsement, etc, except that I want to promote people helping the indie community.

I am now taking the interior text one, and I will not bring anything out in paper till I do, because if it’s the same thing, I’ll just have to redo it afterwards.

On sales – at least those are picking up.  Nothing spectacular, but I’m hitting the same point I was at at the end of last year.  Short stories are still not doing massively well.  Not sure why, or whether I need to take the price up or down.  We’ll see.

I hope to bring The Musketeer’s Apprentice out this next week, and once the new covers are up and all, I’ll send ebooks to those subscribing (I THINK, I’ll have to check) for 100 or more.

I also hope to finish Through Fire this week.  Yes, it should have been this last week, but my mind has been divided between graphic-thought and writing-thought which is WAY distracting.  I’ll have to figure out times and different locations for those, which is how keep one thing from invading the other.

BUT Through Fire must be finished.  I now can see the end, which is good.  (I hate to write blind.)

I find it funny/odd that at fifty I have to learn a new profession.  This is not unusual these days, of course, and I always enjoy learning and have three or four hobbies (all sadly neglected this year because of my health) including carpentry and sewing, and art, and… you know?  BUT what’s different about this, is that I have to learn a new job in order to continue doing my old job.

Okay, this is not strictly true.  I could continue JUST writing for Baen.  But it seems such a waste to have the books that came out with the other houses doing nothing in a drawer, when they could be making their upkeep money.  (Strutting the streets in their skimpy new covers.  Doing the novel slut walk.  Yes, I am a bad woman.)

Also frankly, I’m paranoid, and what if my next book didn’t sell enough for Baen to continue publishing me?  I like to have a backup plan.

Anyway, so I’m learning all this stuff and I keep thinking “my lord, why am I doing this?  I’m FIFTY.  I should be getting set in a rut, or something.”

But apparently that’s not my destiny.  I’m supposed to keep up with the young whipper snappers for the rest of my life.  Or something.

Okay, I think that’s it.  I’ll now sashay off to get more coffee so I can write.

Before you go, don’t forget to vote for Heinlein.

(No, this is not the beginning of the Zombie Heinlein 2016 campaign.  You only wish it were.)  And I’m truly sorry not to do a more substantive post and not to do Elf Blood today, but really, I’m not up to it.  I’m just accumulating make-up chapters, aren’t I?

105 thoughts on “In Which The Writer Has A Whitlow”

  3. The head of the FDA has proposed that hydrocodone been put on schedule II. He has also proposed that a paper prescription hand carried to a pharmacy be the only way to get meds. They say that it’s to combat meth abuse but I think it’s the first step to tying us to a particular piece of land. If you can’t get a ‘scrip called or faxed in, that means that you can’t work out of town for an extended period of time. Both hubby and I refilled meds twice while we were in Portland. It was a red curtain of blood moment I was so angry. If this get made into law my husband might lose his job. His is traveling and sometimes staying in a city which isn’t his for months at a time.

    I myself take hydrocodone twice a day for osteoarthritis pain. Because my hubby’s pancreas is no longer functional, he takes insulin and creon–the pancreatic digestion enzyme.

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    1. It’s almost funny… they make it hard to get most pain killers, make it too expensive to fix a lot of the stuff that is wrong, then are shocked that use of painkillers that do work go up.

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            1. Nearly pure alcohol.

              With painkillers, a rather effective way to kill yourself.

              People that aren’t perfect– IE, exactly like themselves, or less of a bother– shouldn’t be, you see. Thus the wholesale slaughter of those who might be disabled, let alone those who actually are.

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            2. 190 proof grain alcohol. Illegal in some states. I recall* being at a party about the time I graduated high school, a kid had a fifth of it with 2-3 drinks gone out of it and was claiming you couldn’t take a straight shot of it without puking. Me and another guy killed the bottle taking straight shots with Everclear and 7-up chasers; the rest of the night was pretty fuzzy, but I didn’t throw up. :) Being older and wiser now I wouldn’t recommend following my example.

              *For certain values of recalling.

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              1. OMG. I have a friend who chugged 3/4 fifth of vodka when he was in HS. They left him on the front porch of his home. I am glad he never tried this again.

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        1. He’s almost qualified to be a Navy corpsman.

          “Broken arm? Here’s 500mg Motrin. Don’t forget to hydrate.”

          Oddly enough, the only time they didn’t offer me Motrin was when I dropped a deckplate on my hand. He checked WebMD (no kidding), had me move my fingers, and gave me an “ice pack” (a cheap zip-top baggie that I could fill with ice from the mess deck).

          Why am I opposed to socialized healthcare? Because I’ve already lived through it. I know how much it sucks.

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      2. I have chronic pain, and I can guarantee you it’s real. It exists in my muscles, joints, and brain — daily! That’s WITH the painkillers. Osteoarthritis is a REAL bear, because the pain from it can affect everything, including your mental activity. That’s why I’m now such a sluggish thinker…

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        2. I sympathize. Degenerative Disk Disease from T11-L5, means I take enough painkillers to stun a horse, just so I can function. I also have “moderate” osteoarthritis in both knees.
          What’s happening is another form of the 1920’s Eugenics movement. “Get rid of the ‘inferior,’ and less than perfect.” What they “forget” is that it can happen to them, as easily as it happened to us. That precious limousine they ride in, gets rammed hard enough by a distracted/drunken/texting driver, and they have similar problems. Let’s see how much they like their policies then.

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          1. “Rammed hard enough” I like that. They need to REALLY “feel our pain”. Can we start getting these peoples names, addresses and license plate numbers? Actually, I’ll bet the “Choom gang” and friends don’t have any trouble getting whatever they want.

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            1. It’s amazing– criminals and Hollywood stars have no problem getting tons of prescription meds, but normal people? Pulling teeth is easier.

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          2. Even then they won’t be exposed to their policies. The politburo never had to stand in line for toilet paper.

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        3. That’s scary. I have it, but mine is just starting. Knees, but they don’t hurt much yet (they do creak and make other noises though), and finger joints ache sometimes and have started to thicken a bit.

          How long did it take for you, between about the stage I’m in now when it’s just starting to become noticeable, and where you are now?

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        4. I’m sorry, that sucks.

          In DC, there are some good folks who have treated mine and my wife’s chronic pain to significant (imperfect) improvement, but most doctors have been unhelpful. Mine’s due to Lyme (etc) followed by injury, but there is a physiatrist here who is really a wonder to behold at actually making things better.

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          1. Far too many docs I’ve gone too just scribble down ‘medication seeking’ and think I’ll never be able to read my own medical records.

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            1. Oh, yeah. This is what I hate about the electronic records — like, you know, when I fell and gave myself concussion that changed my prescription up one diopeter on the right eye, left me with fugue states for months, and which my GP noted in my speech month later? What is on my file for that emergency room visit? that I blanked out while blowing my nose and panicked.
              Why? THEY COULDN’T FIND ANYTHING TO CAUSE ME TO PASS OUT, so it must not have happened. And though ANYONE who knew me knew I was slurring my speech and speaking very slowly, I have an accent and emergency twits decided that must be normal. No scan, nothing, but that’s on my record. How likely am I to be taken seriously when I go in?

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              1. Oh yes– when I first went to the Landstuhl hospital and I was vomiting and diarrhea at a week by then, the ER doctors told my hubby that it was ALL in my head. My kidneys were failing and they were trying to get me an appointment with a psychiatrist. This btw is a normal story from every chronic disease patient with a hard to diagnose disease. They can’t find it so we have mental problems.

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              2. I think I mentioned it a few days ago… but my e-record has me down as having early menopause. Why? Because at three months pregnant, I didn’t have a cycle….

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                2. Godson’s mother was diagnosed with severe strain of the flu- throwing up every morning, nauseous most of the day, cycle disrupted, major headaches… Lost her job because she had to stay out one day sick, next day doc, was coming to work third day she was fired.

                  At this point she was just beginning her third month pregnant with Godson. Bog only knows what is in her medical file for that.

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      4. Or, the people who say silly things like “pain is weakness leaving the body” or “pain lets you know you’re alive” as a serious statement that have obviously never been in pain day after day after day (like me, in more or less pain for 22 years)

        I swaerm, when someone tells me that i want to take a hard heavy object and smack their tibiae until the bone statrts to crack… then come back in a week and do it again… and again… until the bones won’t heal and ache constantly.

        Then ask them “HAS THE WEAKNESS LEFT YOUR BODY YET???”

        (and yeah doing the above would be the beginning of a way to reproduce the state of both my tibiae…)

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        1. Some types of pain — f’rinstance, muscle soreness from exercise — are indeed “weakness leaving your body.” Other types of pain — joint pain, back spasms, migraine headaches — are pain kicking weakness out and setting up residence in your life. If you are lucky it is just camping while doing an initial survey but eventually it will be building condos, shopping malls and light rail systems.

          As Nietzsche meant to say: That which does not kill me leaves me at reduced capacity and prey to the lesser predators of life.

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    3. Here we go again. I personally live with two knee replacements and a shoulder resurfacing, plus osteoarthritis of the neck and lower spine etc.. Naproxin helps, but if the PTB take away norco, my production will go way down and I won’t pay any taxes at all.

      Does this sound familiar?

      “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

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    4. One of my wife’s pain medicines is supposed to be Schedule III, but Kentucky recently passed a Bill making it effectively a Schedule II, and we have to actually visit the doctor every month to GET the prescription. Talk about the red curtain of blood.

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        2. medical device surcharge + death of medical savings accounts means my roomate will have to spend cash out of pocket for wheelchair tires and more than double the time between new chairs…

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  4. Learning new stuff all your life? Sounds like the software world … dh is being laid off in 6 weeks and is spending the remaining time learning a new area to make himself more marketable … and he’s older than both of us … so yah, I hear that … do you also plan to work until you drop? Cause that’s our retirement plan …

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      1. Didn’t Barbara Cartland spend her last years dictating her novels to a secretary, and I don’t remember how many but I have the impression it may have been well over ten per year? Well, none of us may have the money to hire somebody to help with that, but some sort of voice recognition software will probably be available. So if hands too bend by arthritis or something like that will make typing impossible…

        Or that may happen anyway, keyboards will become obsolete and it will be just your voice (I’d rather type, I don’t like talking *that* much).

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        1. Since I’m not a very fast typist, I tried using dictation software. It did *not* work for me at all. Story brain doesn’t have a proper connection to my mouth, it seems. I can outline or summarize out loud, but I cannot narrate at all. I was quite disappointed.

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          2. I tried it, I found that a) I can dictate nonfiction, but not fiction. I can tell a real story, particularly one I have told many times, to a mic the same as if I was telling it to a friend over coffee (except for the gestures, I tend to speak with my hands and use such descriptors as, “about as far away as the door there”) but I have to think when doing fiction. I might be able to picture the story fine in my head, and can kinda-sorta dictate action scenes, but the rest I have to think how to word it and it just doesn’t come out verbally. b) You need a much higher quality mic than I am willing to spring for, you would have to seriously plan on using it a lot to drop the money on a mic that truly works without a ton of errors that need edited out.

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        2. I think that when Barbara Cartland was doing that, manuscripts were still written out long hand and then *perhaps* typed by someone who probably was a professional typist anyway. But, I could be making that up.

          I remember hearing that she dictated her books and thinking about how very hard it would be to write that way. Reading the words on the page is so much part of writing for me. Also, I’ve never been able to so much as spell a word “by voice” so the idea was sort of horrible to me.

          OTOH, I imagine a person would become accustomed with practice. And now there are those great voice to text apps.

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          1. Voice dictation software normally (I am told) interfaces with a word processor program and will display your words as they are spoken, and they should allow you to edit as you go.

            I believe MS Office has that capability after Office 2000, or 2003. Windows 7 (don’t know about earlier versions) has what appears to be fairly decent voice recognition. I set it up in the middle of writing this comment, and I don’t have a desktop or headset mic, just the one that is built into the laptop I’m using. Background noise is a bit of a problem for it that way, though.

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            1. I found the Windows version actually had many fewer errors than Dragonspeaksfreely, but doesn’t have the options like auto punctuation. And I just can’t think punctuation verbally worth a dang. I have used it to dictate stuff I have handwritten however.

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              1. After testing it, I’d either have to invest in that expensive mic that you mentioned above, so that I could speak softly at home, or else get an moderately good one and record myself in the car, then see if I could find a way to feed that through the voice software. Not being in a writing-friendly home, I couldn’t talk loud enough for people to overhear me, and get anything done.

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          2. I believe Ayn Rand dictated her novels. I don’t know whether she typed them, wrote them out longhand or communicated them to typing minions by naught more than the pure, raw power of her mind. But those of her novels that I have read clearly indicate she dictated those tales. I can think of NO Rand character who would dare refuse to follow her orders.

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  5. When I went ot vote for RAH from this computer, I noticed he is now #1 on the list. Good. New subject: remember if you like what you are doing, you don’t work a day in your life.

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          1. The cat took off with mine, right through a door into summer. It shut before I could get there…

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    2. Unless you voted from each browser on each computer you haven’t properly voted.

      RES, Chief Assistant Stickler to the Assistant Stickler in Chief.

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  7. You get your sales on week ends? Most of mine are week days. We must have non-overlap of readers. Or maybe it’s because you’re mostly shorts and I’m mostly novels? We could probably plot all this up and come up with nothing very useful. ;)

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    1. I’m not making any more claims of being able to find time to do anything myself, but I wonder if someone could get permissions from Amazon to aggregate such data from multiple sources and do data analysis on it, and offer such info for sale.

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  9. Learning (another) new profession at this point is interesting. But I guess it beats the stagnant alternative. And you meet such interesting people along the way.

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  10. I’d say, “Don’t feel bad, Sarah,” but I know just because somebody else’s pain is (subjectively) worse than yours doesn’t lessen yours. Thus the need for effective pain killing drugs. I’d go for single malt.

    At 60, I’m finding myself in the position of learning an entirely new occupation (independent author-publisher) that I never before knew existed, but also RE-learning skills I had let atrophy. Not sure which is harder, learning new, or relearning old. I’ll let you know — given I survive.

    I expect, if I live, I have another whole career ahead of me — at least as many years as are behind me in my “old” career.

    M

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  11. Hmm, sounds like your brain was full of processing things on the back burner and decided the memory was too full for blogs this morning. No worries – this probably means something will come up in the “Oh, this was easier than expected / makes sense now” next time you tackle it.

    I’m afraid I never had any expectations for a settled career – but this many years in, this many jobs and fields behind me, I’m still sometimes wondering when that “grown-up” life with its twenty years at a job at the same location will kick in. Growing up, that was held as the “of course you’ll get this after you get your college degree”, and so I’m still waiting for that ideal, even as I know my prince will never come and I’m left finding good designers for the defensive fortifications and leading the teams that are drafting the citizens, while they’re complaining that the invading army is still five countries away, and why am I worried?

    Glad to see the musketeers books are getting out there, even if they’re clutching their little coffee cups and looking around going “Hey, didn’t we used to be here? Where did everybody else go? Who are all these new folks?” instead really getting into the strut walk just yet.

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  12. I’ll just add a vote for WMG courses. I took the “Pitches and Blurbs” class (which covers more than just that), and learned a whole bunch. I’d had some experience writing pitches and blurb-like pieces, but fiction’s demands are rather different.

    I got two miles and 3200 words done yesterday, and a bunch of stuff pulled out of the storage unit to swap out (winter coats vs. summer whites, et al). The cat is now walking around in a little gas mask, possibly because of the moth-ball scent emanating from my closet and dresser. If she starts asking if people are her mommy, I’m going to run.

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  13. Sarah (and anyone else who’s taken Dean’s covers class), my niece is a solid and creative artist, and I’ve recommended that she look into book cover design. Do you think Dean’s class would be good for her, or do you know of any others that might be better for someone wanting to do this for a living (or at least consistently part time)? She can only afford one workshop at this point.

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  14. My favorite SF short, Piper’s “Omnilingual” touches on learning new careers. The senior archaeologist on Mars is an expert on the Hittites and is only there to start the excavations off, saying he’s too old to learn a whole new technological culture when he previously only had to know bronze-age tech. Then at the end and he’s all excited about learning about the Martians, talking about sending off for a child’s primer on physics and chemistry so he can be a Martiologist too ;-) (and another, rather more insecure character reveals he had been hoping the older researcher would give up so the insecure one could have a chance at being the best Martiologist). I wonder how much wailing about indie publishing is also really saying “I’m afraid you will succeed.”

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  15. Off topic crosspost from Sarah’s Diner on FB:
    We’ve finally passed the word to blood family, so I wanted to let my Hunnish family know that the Oysterhaus will be adding a new minion in early June. I believe we have sufficient storage space for the additional inventory, but for the right price I may consider making more room by selling off one of the legacy models.

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    1. The mind wants to make comments about a pearl of great price, or perhaps pearls before swine, but I need to prepare two classes, so I’ll just congratulations!

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    2. Mazel tov I hope you’ve sprung for the latest software updates but be careful about adding sub-routines to the programming. Many apparent bugs eventually prove to be poorly documented features. Choose your data installation packages carefully and be sure to upload such critical programs as the K.I.Pling dynamic link library early in the process to prevent their corruption by government mandated core programs.

      I also recommend the RAH Antivirus package as soon as the basic program is able to accept it.

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    6. Conga Rats, just remember to keep your legacy models properly updated. Even after the new one has arrived. If kept properly updated they hold their value for many years, but if you don’t stay on top of it they can quickly become so dated that it is more economically feasible to raise more than to attempt to add all the updates necessary.

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    8. Whee! Mazel Tov, and don’t forget to make sure you get the sleep mode updates. Sib and Spouse managed to develop Red 2.1 that went into nightly 12 hour sleep mode after only two months of ownership.

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      1. Robert. Eight hours at three months. Younger brother too, but he had respiratory/heart trouble, so he kept me awake for other reasons. Standing over the crib going “breathe, breathe, breathe” for nights on end takes it out of you.

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      2. You should probably have them write that code down. Plug n’ play 12 hour sleep mode would sell enough to shame Apple.

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        1. I don’t know about all models, but with mine the battery didn’t keep a charge that long.
          It really depends on individual models; with Minion 1.0 (Princess) she had the six hours at a time optimum recharge setting; with 2.0 (Duchess) it was far more dynamic– depending heavily on what was going on, but has a “calm” mode that minimizes energy drain without actually entering sleep mode; 3.0 (Baron) is on a standard four hour maximum sleep mode before he needs fuel, but can do three or even four sleep modes in a row if the refueling goes smoothly enough.

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      3. Previous models have had convenient sleep mode updates early on. It helps that we tend to produce large minions – heck, Minion 2 was lifting his head and looking around five minutes after coming out of production. 10-10, that one was, and the only Apgar 10 the nurses had ever seen or heard of. Fun times. :)

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    9. Bravo! Just be sure to read, understand, and follow all the safety rules that come with your new minion. Knowing how to use your minion properly will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury. And there is no more important safety rule than to wear safety glasses!

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  16. Anyway, so I’m learning all this stuff and I keep thinking “my lord, why am I doing this? I’m FIFTY. I should be getting set in a rut, or something.

    Fifty pfi just a kid. Fifty is the new 30.

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