Sharon Lee's Blog

PR first:  Open for Business!

What went before ONE: And I’ve just figured out the best part of having a studio with a door — I can leave everything as it is, where it is, so next time I go down to do some work, I can just — work.

I’m feeling somewhat better after an hour of working at my own pace and figuring stuff out by myself. Not that I’ve made Strides — no, I have made at least one stride. I successfully cut a strip of “sand” out of that awful glass and it broke along the scores! Even the blasted point. So, yay. Progress.

I also cut four or five pieces out of clear colored glass, which behaved like rational silicone dioxide, broke where it was scored and didn’t give me no lip. I do, however, foresee days at the grinder in my future…

Work so far:

What went before TWO: So, today I pulled a scene, completely rewrote it, and! The WIP wordcount is exactly the same as it was before I did all that. So! 98,770. ish.

Spent an hour in My! Studio! playing with glass.

It was such a nice day that I think I’ll try to do it again tomorrow.

Next week is looking a little complex — book club on Monday (Oh. I need to get a copy of our next book, The Women), driving to and from the hospital in Rockport with a nerve conduction test in-between on Tuesday, and! needlework (I really don’t want to miss two weeks in a row); glasswork on Thursday; and Aztec Two Step on Saturday. So, that will be a good week to use the cut-up time for the Sekrit Project (remember that?) and putting together the paper edition of Civilized Behavior (ebook at all the bookstores for preorder!), and finishing my glass homework, too.

Yeah, I’ve got a little too much on my plate, still, but I’m working through it. By the end of November, I should be past the worst of it.

Question for my glassworking folks! Must you have a grinder to go forward in the hobby?

The cats wish me to know that it is Happy Hour and technically, they’re not wrong. And yanno? I could use a glass of wine my own self.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.
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Saturday. Sunny and going to be slightly warmer than the last couple days.

Breakfast was an enormous scramble — two eggs, leftover veggies, half a said-to-be apple fritter which was, frankly, disappointing. The Caterteria has been replenished. The cats are in various sunspots throughout the house. I will very shortly be going back to Steve’s Office to write the scene the Boys Belowstairs so kindly provided upon waking.

The plan for the day is, yes, writing, and glassworking; one’s duty to the cats, and a walk. That’s enough for one day.

I’m remembering a story about Steve’s grandmother, who traveled by bus and by subway, but had never, and by design, learned how to drive. Her reasoning being: “But what if I was driving and I thought of a poem? I wouldn’t be able to stop and write it down!”

I know a bunch of you are going/have gone to No Kings assemblies in your little pieces of America. Strength to your sign-carrying arms.

And thank you.

Today’s blog post title comes from Men at Work, “Down Under,” which actually got me to sing yesterday.  Well done, Men at Work.

Good morning:

What went before ONE: The lost has been found.

I looked in the closet in Steve’s office that the cats like to bat springs under, and there were four springs — one each of red, yellow, green, and blue — and one somewhat furry wrist brace.

So! I now have a dedicated glassworking brace. Go, me.
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What went before TWO: So that’s 1,140ish new words, bringing the WIP to 98,770ish. Now, I need to do some picking up for Sara, who arrives V. Early tomorrow, eat a lateish lunch, and do as many picky little tasks as I can before it’s time to leave for glassworking class.
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What went before THREE: Always a shock, when years later you reread a story you had written that you had thought was . . . not up to standard — and realize that it’s a good story, after all, despite it wasn’t the story you had, perhaps, intended to write.

“Our Lady of Benevolence,” by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
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What went before FOUR: Wow, am I bad at cutting glass. Though, in my own defense, even the teacher thought there was a reason the glass I’d bought for sand was on sale. I am significantly better at cutting clear and pebbled glass, so — though it’s a poor workman and all like that — I’m blaming the glass.

Onward…
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Friday. Up earlier than I’d like, but the payoff is that Sara will be here in and in a couple hours I’ll have a clean house.

It is currently chilly down here in the shadowland, though sunny at treetop level.

Sigh.

The tea is really good this morning. Barkeep! Set me up another!

So, homework is to finish cutting out my glass, so the pieces are ready to be ground and — I dunno — next week. I’m having a lot of I Dunno moments, and while I recognize that this is in fact what learning a new thing is, it’s still … disconcerting. It probably doesn’t help that our teacher, who is very skilled and has been doing and teaching glass for A Long Time, occasionally forgets to articulate a step.

It was, for instance, only last night that I was finally able to understand why I needed “half a ceiling tile” and in fact, caught a glimmer of What Kind of ceiling tile. ANSWER: It’s to build the pattern on, after you’ve cut your glass. So! That would be a hard, as opposed to a fluffy asbestos, ceiling tile. Or perhaps a thin piece of board of the appropriate size. I’ll poke around downstairs and see what I have.

As I said last night, I have several kinds of glass to work with, and the … opaque glass is murder to cut. The several pieces of colored glass cut like a dream, and I suppose it’s a good thing that I started with the sky — which is clear orange glass — and cut my pieces with no problem.

Trouble started with the ocean — also opaque, swirls of blue and white that I had thought myself very fortunate to have found on sale — when I did a credible job of cutting several small pieces, but managed to break a bigger piece. Still, I have glass left over, so that can probably be salvaged.

Then I got to the swirly yellow, beige, tan part that was to be the sand. There are six? smallish pieces, and no matter how I leaned on my cutter, I couldn’t get a score deep enough to break properly. The instructor finally came by, looked at the carnage on my table and asked what my plan was. I said that I still did have several large pieces of the same glass leftover and that my plan was to start over. She took my cutter and a scrap, tried a score, shook her head and said, “Do you have the pattern pieces for all of this?” I handed them over. She fished the bigger pieces out of my scrap box and said, “I’ll do these. This glass isn’t easy.”

She didn’t have time to cut them before class let out, but she told me to bring them back next time and she’d cut them for me. So there’s that. And — lesson learned. I shall be working with clear glasses until I have something approaching a skill level there.

I suspect that my work was not made easier by having a cutter that leaks oil all over.

So! Not exactly a success, my first attempts. I thought I had prepared for screwing up, but, honestly? Largely due to ignorance regarding how many ways there were to screw up, I surprised myself.

Sara just texted to say that she’ll be a half-hour late, which gives me time to drink this cup and tea and make another before I retire to Steve’s office and open the WIP.

How’re y’all doing this morning?

Business first:  Today is Feral Cat Day and also Book Day for two charity anthologies to benefit Feral Cats.  Lots of good reading here, and!  You can donate to a worthy cause.  Read all about it
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I did sit with the WIP a bit this afternoon after lunch; wrote +/-560 new words, bringing total wordage to somewhere around 97,600.

Today’s deliveries included Calling: Selected Poems by Dorothea Neale.

Some of you may have heard Steve speak of his grandmother, the poet — and this would be her. She was the founder and director of the New York Poetry Forum for 30 years; taught drama and music, and wrote, directed, and produced the Children’s Play Shop, which aired on Saturday mornings on WBAL TV in Baltimore, for years. And she was also a prolific poet.

Steve was immensely proud of her, and often cited her example and support as the reason he became a writer.

After she died, Steve and his cousin Leith ter Meulen had talked about ways to make sure their grandmother’s work and legacy did not fade away, and Leith went on to see Calling published, featuring nearly 200 poems by Dorothea Neale.

Here’s a picture of Steve with his grandmother. The stamp on the back of the photo says MAR 78.

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Sigh. Files under Life With Cats.

So my right wrist has been painful and I’ve been wearing a wrist brace. I leave the braces, as a pair on the dining room table when I’m not wearing them, and did so last night. This morning, one is missing — the right one is missing. Of course. And if I have any hope of being able to cut glass tonight, it lies in having my right wrist braced.

I’ve looked in all the Cat Stash Places, and … nope. So I’ll be going to CVS after breakfast, which is only a couple blocks away, but not what I had planned to be doing this morning.
First cup of tea is brewed, and I’m thinking toast and cream cheese, with a side of grapes for breakfast.

How’s Thursday treating you?
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Back from CVS and heating milk for cocoa. What a terrible day outside. Grey and damp and cold. Ick.

The Good News is that I got two braces — a stretchy one to sleep in, which may help Current Conditions, and a working brace — and the “wellness wallet” paid for both, so — small victories. And somebody finally got a Clue and put a soft layer between skin and itchy velcro fasteners — upgrade!

In Cute Cat News, This is like the third time I’ve come home and seen Tali in the front window, Watching, and her eyes widen when she sees the car pull in. Apparently, she does miss me.

Speaking of Watching…a policeman?! Who could have been so careless? Or was it A Plan?

So! Off to drink my cocoa and then belatedly get to work.

Didn’t take long to look lived in.

New project, for those who may be interested

Wednesday. Cloudy and damp.

Cleaning up my office before it’s time to go out for my haircut, and running a couple more errands while I’m out and about.

I have some more RL catchup to do after I get back home — or maybe I can push them onto tomorrow, and get some writing done. That would be nice.

I’m riding the edge of a lot of nervous energy and writing does help. Also, I really want to get a Compleat Draft by the end of November, so I can let it sit and cool before I have to go back in and Make Decisions. Yes, the book isn’t due until April. Yes, I have no co-author to do the cold read for me.

I think that’s all I’ve got this morning, with the exception of Rook being grumpy because I wouldn’t give him my cottage cheese this morning.

Hoping your cats aren’t grumpy this morning.

Woeful Rookie:

Tuesday. Cloudy and damp. Trash and recycling at the curb. Heaters engaged in The Studio, and! I can move the dehumidifier from the big, heated part of the basement into The Studio — all I have to do is push it with the handtruck. So that will be my project after breakfast.

I think I’ll also take my boombox and a handful of CDs down, too. Might as well be comfortable.

Also on the after-breakfast list is finishing with the stained glass pattern.

Today my electronics are revolting. I put my phone to charge last night, but apparently didn’t make a solid connection, because it was down to 5% this morning. And the little timer cube, which I continue to adore, needed its batteries recharged.

I? need to make a phone call, and then rustle up some breakfast.

How’s Tuesday looking for you?
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So I’ve moved the dehumidifier from the heated and dry side of the basement into The Studio, where it immediately Leapt Into Action.

I’m still going to need another dehumidifier, come spring rains, for the other side of the basement, but at least I don’t have another immediate expense, and can look about me for someplace that will deliver, by which I mean, take the damn’ thing down the cellar steps.

The heaters in the meantime have been doing their job, and the thermometer/humidity gauge, which this morning read at 61F/61% is now reading 64F/55%. Progress.

In a couple minutes, I’ll be taking some tea and some water and going downstairs to My Studio. Yes, I am gong to milk this for all it’s worth. I’ve never had a studio before. Office, yes. I think every house I’ve ever written has included at least one office. Steve and I used to bemuse real estate agents by going through a house, and saying things like — “OK, this could be your office, and I’ll take little room at the top of the stairs,” or, damningly, “No, this won’t do; there’s only one office.”

And off I go.

So that’s 1,387 “new” words, that aren’t actually “new” but a scene that I’d pulled for Not Fitting In. What I did was rewrite it slightly and now? It fits. WIP now weighs in at 97,060. More or less.

I’m stopping for the moment, because — gotta think now. And also I need to find the Winter Runner, which — the old woman who lives with me put it somewhere, I’m sure, logical and safe. And damned if I can find it. None of the cats remember where it went, either. (SPOILER: Found it!)

Well. While I’m up, I should do my duty to those same cats and warm up the last of the soup (with cornbread!) for lunch.
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Went out just before it started to rain. Bought a cheap non-skid rug for the studio* (oh, how swanky is that? “THE STUDIO.” buffs nails on shirt), then stopped at Shaw’s for milk, butter, bread, wine, cheese. You know — the basics.

I should prolly get a dehumidifier for The Studio, too, but I’m running out of the ready for this project — ref “the basics” above.

The guys in the basement inform me that they’re still thinking, and also out of beer, so I’m guessing that’s my cue to take myself and my book over to the couch until it’s time to serve up Happy Hour.

Hope everybody had a goodish-to-good day.

Take care; I’ll check in tomorrow.
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*Yes, I did hear all the arguments against a rug. Thank you.

What went before ONE: A smol break to eat lunch (in fact, a ham sandwich, the ham heated up), make a pot of rice, and do my duty to the cats.

The writing’s going really well, After I finish up in the front of the house, I’ll go back and see if there’s anything else cooking.

The cats of course, have all joined me in my office, so I can feel guilty about my eventual desertion to the writing room.

Which reminds me that some folks had wanted to see where I had put the bats. Here they are:

By reader request, the “story” of the poster: Steve used to work in a video store, and when a new batch of posters came in, he adopted this one.

It is worth noting that Steve also had a Close Personal Relationship with Disney’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice. When I met him, one of his favorite shirts was a silky dark blue with a Sorcerer’s Apprentice print.

What went before TWO: So, that was +/-1,530 new words today, which brings the WIP Entire right around 95,600, as the end of the book keeps getting further away. I also updated the Chapter-by-Chapter.

Tomorrow, I have some phone calls to make, and I’ll need to do them early. Also, I need to clear off my “business desk,” because even though I’m hardly here, it’s a wreck. Well. Because writing at the moment is far more entertaining than Real Life, I do just tend to toss stuff onto a “I’ll deal with it later,” pile.

Happy Hour has been served. I need to put away my socks, now that they’re clean and dry and all, and update the to-do list.

So, that was my day, and hoping yours was as peaceful.

Everybody have a good evening; stay safe. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Monday. Dim and cool. Rain predicted.

I had forgotten that today is a holiday. Files under The Perils of Freelancing. Crossfiles under The Perils of Living Alone. No mail today. Gummint offices closed. Oh. Wait.

One of the offices I needed to call this morning was closed. However! The hospital at Rockport was on the case, and able to reschedule my Dark O’Clock Appointment for 11am two days earlier in the same week.

I’m calling this a success on the day.

Today, I am still giving my hands a break, for values of “a break” that does not include fine work such as cutting out teensy pattern pieces, or embroidery, so I guess I’m writing. After breakfast and girding mine loins and all like that.

Who else has had an early success?

Today’s blog post title brought to you by The Other Steve Miller, “Wild Mountain Honey“

Oh, dear, dearie me…

For those who have not read it, Be Warned. We are told by a Concerned Reader that Diviner’s Bow is the second Liaden book that was “written for LBGYQ” instead of “staying true to the storyline and characters.”

Well. That’s me told.

In other news — and what I actually stopped by to say — between cutting out teensy pieces of paper, followed by driving for sevenish hours, followed by chores, I have managed to scrod my hands, which means I need to change the shape of the next few days, to wit!

Today and Monday I shall write; Tuesday, I shall finish cutting out my glass pattern and taping said teensy pieces to the appropriate pieces of glass (which means I’ll be missing needlework, but there are only so many hours in the day — and what’s with that exactly?). Wednesday, I have a haircut scheduled, and also some writing to do; Thursday evening is glasswork, I may need to hit the grocery during the day; Sarah comes by on Friday morning.

Also, I need to get a tattoo across my forehead that says, YOU ARE NOT 40.

So! Breakfast was oatmeal with cranberries and walnuts. Lunch will be a ham sandwich, or something else including ham, because leftovers, and!

Time to go to work.

What’s your upcoming week looking like?

Today’s blog post title brought to you by The Kinks, “Lola” because — obviously.  Released in 1970.

Here, have a picture of Tali:

49 Black Tie & Tails (Black Wolves of Boston #2), Wen Spencer (e)
48 Shards of Earth, Adrian Tchaikovsky(The Final Architecture #1)e)
47  Hemlock and Silver, T. Kingfisher (e)
46  Outcrossing, Celia Lake (Mysterious Charm #1) (e)
45  Outfoxing Fate, Zoe Chant/Murphy Lawless (Virtue Shifters)(e)
44  Atonement Sky, Nalini Singh (Psy-Changeling Trinity #9) (e)
43  Stone and Sky, Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London #10) (e)
42  Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer (re-re-re-&c-read)
41  I Dare, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Liaden Universe #7) (page proofs)
40  To Hive and to Hold, Amy Crook (The Future of Magic #1) (e)
39  These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer, narrated by Sarah Nichols (re-re-re-&c-read, 1st time audio)
38  Faking it (Dempsey Family #2), Jennifer Crusie, narrated by Aasne Vigesaa (re-re-re-&c-read, 1st time audio)
37  Copper Script, K.J. Charles (e)
36  The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer, narrated by Eleanor Yates (re-re-re-&c-read; 1st time audio)
35  Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard, Nora Ellen Groce (e)
34  Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Winifred Watson, narrated by Frances McDormand (re-re-re-&c-read; 1st time audio)
33  The Wings upon Her Back, Samantha Mills (e)
32  Death on the Green (Dublin Driver #2), Catie Murphy (e)
31  The Elusive Earl (Bad Heir Days #3), Grace Burrowes (e)
30  The Mysterious Marquess (Bad Heir Days #2), Grace Burrowes (e)
29  Who Will Remember (Sebastian St. Cyr #20), C.S. Harris (e)
28  The Teller of Small Fortunes, Julie Leong (e)
27  Check and Mate, Ali Hazelwood (e)
26  The Dangerous Duke (Bad Heir Days #1), Grace Burrowes (e)
25  Night’s Master (Flat Earth #1) (re-read), Tanith Lee (e)
24  The Honey Pot Plot (Rocky Start #3), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
23  Very Nice Funerals (Rocky Start #2), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
22  The Orb of Cairado, Katherine Addison (e)
21  The Tomb of Dragons, (The Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy, Book 3), Katherine Addison (e)
20  A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes (Lord Julian #8), Grace Burrowes (e)
19  The Thirteen Clocks (re-re-re-&c read), James Thurber (e)
18  A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17  All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&c read) (audio 1st time)
16  Destiny’s Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15  The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14  A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13  Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12  Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea (e)
11  Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10  Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9    House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8    Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7    Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6    Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5    The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4    The House in the Cerulean Sea,  TJ Klune (e)
3    A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2    A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)

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*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.

Saturday. Sunny and warmer than I had expected.

Many chores have been accomplished, including doing the preliminary set up for my glass working space. I had a moment of despair when I realized that none of the many outlets in the Foosball Room, err, worked. Then I remembered my fusebox lessons from Steve Symonds, crossed the basement, flipped a switch, and hey, presto! Power, we haz it.

I have two oil radiators, and also the old electric heater that I replaced not because it didn’t work, but because it was old. So, it, too may join me and I’m thinking that room will be toasty as heck, even in winter.

The library cart (sorry, Steve) will be put into use to hold my glass and tools where I can see everything, and Archie’s stool (I bought a nasty old wooden stool at a flea market back in nineteen-seventy-ought two, I guess, all over splotches of paint, and — oh it was a mess. But for fifty cents, who could say no. Took it home, did the sanding and the priming and painted it Chinese Red. When I brought Archie in to run the place, that was his favorite seat.) is just the right height to park my fundament (why does spellcheck not know fundament?) on while I glare at the pattern, which I have no doubt I will be doing a lot of.

There was a big old warped piece of wood leaning against the wall, which I have put down, so I’ll have something besides a concrete floor between me and the permafrost, and I should probably get a cheap rug, for another layer. Right not, All The Things are on top of the board, because I’m hoping to flatten out the bow.

Now! I need to rustle lunch, and then, oh, go out to TJMaxx.

Yes, yes, I’m supposed to be getting rid of stuff so it will be easier for those who have to clean up after me, and instead, I’m getting new stuff.

How’s Saturday treating you?

Oh, hey, my work-area-in-process:

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Hmmph. Did another exploratory round of Stuff I Already Have. Identified a glass keeper, known to those of us who had administrative/secretarial jobs as a desk-top file organizer, which will do fine. It is metal, but easy enough to soften each section by taping in a manila folder or two.

Steve used to have these … big foam tiles that he used in the SRM office (another basement location). They interlocked, so you could make your space as big as you needed, and they were soft, which was easier on your back and legs. I went looking for them, but no luck. And — I have a really hard time remembering where I last saw what. It could be they never even made the move to this house. So now I’m trying to remember where he got them. Maybe Staples? Back when Staples actually had things in their store instead of offering to order it online for you?

mooches off to Staples online

SPOILER: As suggested by several Facebook friends, Home Depot had them, aka “single sided gym tile”

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And that’s enough fun for one day.

I went to TJ Maxx and unexpectedly came upon a wooden plate holder, which will handily hold the glass I’m working with now. I can foresee a time when I’ll need to bring the other holder into play but for now, I’ve put it aside.

I put together some “gym” tiles, and put them directly on the floor in front of my work bench. All The Things are still piled on top of the warped board, but I’m not having to walk on the warped board, so that’s a win.

For a change, we are not under a freeze warning tonight, so that’s a change. And now that I’ve had my fun, I need to finish up washing cat bowls, by which time, it will be Happy Hour.

How time does fly.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe.

I’ll check in tomorrow.

The work space as now configured:

Tonight’s blog post title brought to you by Mr. Robert Seger, who is pretty damned sure of himself, so there is that:  “You’ll Accomp’ny Me“