Monday, August 28, 2006
Thanks for your patience: a note about what's been going on
So, something like a return to normal procedures around here...but not for long.
First thing: Peter's mum is OK. But she's about to turn 90: and when her health suddenly goes weird, our place is near her, not at Worldcon. We were intensely sorry not to be there, but there are times when family takes priority.
Re: Chapter 5 of "The Big Meow": it too got caught up in the delays, alarums and excursions of the past week. I'm getting caught up now and am intending to post it on August 31st.
Onward...
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Hardcover subscriptions to "The Big Meow" now available: also, hardcover upgrades for those already subscribed
Some of the people who've subscribed to "The Big Meow" have been asking about the possibility of hardcover editions being made available.
I've done the costings, and the price isn't too horrible, so I've put up buttons on the main "Big Meow" page so that people can purchase them if they prefer them to the paperback edition. (There are upgrades available, too, for those who already have subscriptions: they cost either USD $10 or USD $11, depending on whether you want a dustcover or not. Click here if you're already subscribed and want a hardcover.)
A first-time subscription to the hardcover edition of the novel, without a dustcover, will cost USD $32.50: with a dustcover, you pay $33.50. If you use the following link, it'll take you right to the subscription buttons --
http://www.the-big-meow.com/#hardcoversubs
The cover artwork will be by Ursula Vernon. I hope to have some sketches sometime late in September.
I've done the costings, and the price isn't too horrible, so I've put up buttons on the main "Big Meow" page so that people can purchase them if they prefer them to the paperback edition. (There are upgrades available, too, for those who already have subscriptions: they cost either USD $10 or USD $11, depending on whether you want a dustcover or not. Click here if you're already subscribed and want a hardcover.)
A first-time subscription to the hardcover edition of the novel, without a dustcover, will cost USD $32.50: with a dustcover, you pay $33.50. If you use the following link, it'll take you right to the subscription buttons --
http://www.the-big-meow.com/#hardcoversubs
The cover artwork will be by Ursula Vernon. I hope to have some sketches sometime late in September.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Revised "The Big Meow" chapter release schedule
Folks,
First of all, let me apologize profoundly for the long time in which you haven't heard anything about what's going on here. This has been a most peculiar summer, and the peculiarity isn't over yet, but at least things are quieting down somewhat.
When chapter 4 of The Big Meow went up in June after a month's delay, I was hoping that things would shortly settle down: but they got more insane instead, with other projects interfering to a point where I had to put the book aside for a little while. Now, however, it looks as if the other projects have been finally quieted down to the point where writing can resume. Maybe this delay has been a blessing in disguise, as some plot points I was wondering how to handle have had time to refine themselves. We'll see.
However, my life is now to be made interesting by business travel, which means that the revised schedule for chapters 5 through 10 is going to look slightly different from the original one, in which a new chapter would pop out approximately every three weeks. In a perfect world, I would have been finished with the book this week, with only one or two more chapters to release over the course of the month. I had always planned to be done by now, as between now and mid-October, Peter and I have four science fiction or SF/media conventions to attend -- three of them in the US -- with all the concomitant schedule disruption that normally accompanies transatlantic travel. However, as we see, things have been running late. But in the new schedule I'm going to try to keep the flow of the remaining chapters as steady as possible.
Here's the revised schedule:
The long gaps between chapters 5 and 6 and between 7 and 8 are due specifically to those convention commitments. In particular, we'll be away from home for the three weeks between August 18 and September 8th, and it's just not realistic to expect any serious writing will get done during that period (though I'll be trying anyway). After we get home from the final convention in October, things should calm down again.
I want to thank you individually and collectively for your patience -- which has been heroic, and a great comfort to me during a period when I couldn't do anything about all the junk that was going on.
Now then: onward.
All the best --
Diane
First of all, let me apologize profoundly for the long time in which you haven't heard anything about what's going on here. This has been a most peculiar summer, and the peculiarity isn't over yet, but at least things are quieting down somewhat.
When chapter 4 of The Big Meow went up in June after a month's delay, I was hoping that things would shortly settle down: but they got more insane instead, with other projects interfering to a point where I had to put the book aside for a little while. Now, however, it looks as if the other projects have been finally quieted down to the point where writing can resume. Maybe this delay has been a blessing in disguise, as some plot points I was wondering how to handle have had time to refine themselves. We'll see.
However, my life is now to be made interesting by business travel, which means that the revised schedule for chapters 5 through 10 is going to look slightly different from the original one, in which a new chapter would pop out approximately every three weeks. In a perfect world, I would have been finished with the book this week, with only one or two more chapters to release over the course of the month. I had always planned to be done by now, as between now and mid-October, Peter and I have four science fiction or SF/media conventions to attend -- three of them in the US -- with all the concomitant schedule disruption that normally accompanies transatlantic travel. However, as we see, things have been running late. But in the new schedule I'm going to try to keep the flow of the remaining chapters as steady as possible.
Here's the revised schedule:
- Chapter Five: August 15, 2006
- Chapter Six: September 22, 2006
- Chapter Seven: October 6, 2006
- Chapter Eight: October 23, 2006
- Chapter Nine: November 6, 2006
- Chapter Ten: November 20, 2006
The long gaps between chapters 5 and 6 and between 7 and 8 are due specifically to those convention commitments. In particular, we'll be away from home for the three weeks between August 18 and September 8th, and it's just not realistic to expect any serious writing will get done during that period (though I'll be trying anyway). After we get home from the final convention in October, things should calm down again.
I want to thank you individually and collectively for your patience -- which has been heroic, and a great comfort to me during a period when I couldn't do anything about all the junk that was going on.
Now then: onward.
All the best --
Diane
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