Hope everybody had a great May Day. It's a bank holiday in the UK today and I also have tomorrow and Wednesday off - Wednesday's my birthday, so I kinda liked having plenty of time off work. I can definitely feel the tension leave me. While, of course, I'm turning into a speed-editing freak to catch up with stuff, as usual. One day I'll run before the wave of work rather than behind it.
Anyway, here's an excellent review of "Lion of Kent" at Speak Its Name.
Great way to start a sunny, bright day (with oddly cold winds).
And whatever I'd have to say about Osama bin Laden being executed would be too controversial, so I'm keeping my gob shut on that count. Some people in the Guardian and various reputable newspapers have said some very intelligent things about it. The repercussions of this can really fall both (or at least three) ways. Two of which would make excellent thriller plot material - and one has a somewhat apocalyptic bent.
Oddly, I think the Vatican has an interesting angle on it. Thankfully, as a writer, I don't have to pretend I have the answer, but today marks a departure from the status quo in several ways, and I'm quite curious what's going to happen next, current affairs nut that I am.
My goal for today is to finish a 37k edit, start another one, and read what I have of my historical novel, and slowly find my way back in, too. Possibly even writing a little, or doing some preparatory work that I should have done, oh, nearly two years ago.
Showing posts with label kate cotoner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kate cotoner. Show all posts
Monday, 2 May 2011
Thursday, 2 September 2010
First reviews and lots of travel
Reviews of Lion of Kent at Goodreads are doing good, - it's on track to be one of the highest-rated I've written/co-written. :)
I knew all the research of medieval boar-hunting would pay off...:)
Yesterday I got the galley of "First Blood", which all looks very solid. At this stage, it's all done and dusted, the main issues here are if the paragraphs look good. The galley stage is not really an editing stage, just a checking stage - are the pages in the right order, are the author names spelled right, that sort of thing. At work, when I do the galley, I end up knowing the magazine by heart... and you always, always miss something.
The secret project is moving apace. The lovers are reunited, now they only need to evade the crushing boot of the law. I'm not quite sure how they'll do that (especially since the law is personified by one of the coolest secondary characters... who wouldn't be stupid or do something without a reason). So, yeah, there's a 70-80k novel coming your way. And its first draft is 90-95% done.
I reckon it can all be wrapped up in the next 2 weeks or thereabouts, then needs editing and I need to finish writing the query and synopsis, which tends to take a week. I'll talk about it some more once it's done. There are some world-building details that need to be filled in, mainly some geography and technology.
Work is gearing up to be mad again - how I love the cyclical nature of magazine editorial work. Not. One relatively calm week, then progressively busy, until the last week is all mad dash and no sleep. But on the positive side, the Russian visa application was really quite straightforward.... compared to what they make my British colleagues go through, my application was fast and easy. I may keep that German citizenship - travel is uniformely easier than on a British passport. (And cheaper... I don't have to pay to enter Turkey, for example).
But right after the mad week I'll be in Moscow and help run a conference, which should be fun. And then Chicago in October. Wonder how many hoops they make me jump through to enter the US of A.
So, yeah, a couple big trips before the year's up. I do expect to catch up with my reading while at the airport/in the queues. I reckon I'll take WWII stuff and review stuff with me to Russia.
I knew all the research of medieval boar-hunting would pay off...:)
Yesterday I got the galley of "First Blood", which all looks very solid. At this stage, it's all done and dusted, the main issues here are if the paragraphs look good. The galley stage is not really an editing stage, just a checking stage - are the pages in the right order, are the author names spelled right, that sort of thing. At work, when I do the galley, I end up knowing the magazine by heart... and you always, always miss something.
The secret project is moving apace. The lovers are reunited, now they only need to evade the crushing boot of the law. I'm not quite sure how they'll do that (especially since the law is personified by one of the coolest secondary characters... who wouldn't be stupid or do something without a reason). So, yeah, there's a 70-80k novel coming your way. And its first draft is 90-95% done.
I reckon it can all be wrapped up in the next 2 weeks or thereabouts, then needs editing and I need to finish writing the query and synopsis, which tends to take a week. I'll talk about it some more once it's done. There are some world-building details that need to be filled in, mainly some geography and technology.
Work is gearing up to be mad again - how I love the cyclical nature of magazine editorial work. Not. One relatively calm week, then progressively busy, until the last week is all mad dash and no sleep. But on the positive side, the Russian visa application was really quite straightforward.... compared to what they make my British colleagues go through, my application was fast and easy. I may keep that German citizenship - travel is uniformely easier than on a British passport. (And cheaper... I don't have to pay to enter Turkey, for example).
But right after the mad week I'll be in Moscow and help run a conference, which should be fun. And then Chicago in October. Wonder how many hoops they make me jump through to enter the US of A.
So, yeah, a couple big trips before the year's up. I do expect to catch up with my reading while at the airport/in the queues. I reckon I'll take WWII stuff and review stuff with me to Russia.
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
"Lion of Kent" - background blog posts
Today's the day that Carina Press blogs about "Lion of Kent" - there are fun entries over at Facebook, and three entries over at the official Carina blog.
Finding the Story in History talk about the inspiration of my professor - Professor H (I may have mentioned his book-buying habit).
Then Aiming for a Sense of Place - where Kate blogs about the locations, namely Medieval English castles here.
Finally, "The Lion of Kent" is some background on how it all happened.
Hope to see you there!
Finding the Story in History talk about the inspiration of my professor - Professor H (I may have mentioned his book-buying habit).
Then Aiming for a Sense of Place - where Kate blogs about the locations, namely Medieval English castles here.
Finally, "The Lion of Kent" is some background on how it all happened.
Hope to see you there!
Monday, 30 August 2010
"Lion of Kent" is out
Today is the release date for "Lion of Kent".
Squire William Raven has only one goal—to finally receive his spurs and become a knight. When his lord, Sir Robert de Cantilou, returns from a five-year crusade in the Holy Land, William wants nothing more than to impress him.
After Sir Robert's return, noble guests arrive from France, bringing intrigue to the castle. William is oblivious to the politics, as he's distracted by nightly visits from a faceless lover—a man who pleasures him in the dark and then leaves—a man he soon discovers is none other than his master, Sir Robert.
But William can't ignore the scheming around him when he overhears a plot to murder Robert. He becomes intent on saving his lord and lover from those who would see him killed...
Find an excerpt and the buy link here.
During the day, there will be "favourite sentences" over at Carina Press's account on Facebook, and Carina Press's blog.
Would be great to see you there.
Squire William Raven has only one goal—to finally receive his spurs and become a knight. When his lord, Sir Robert de Cantilou, returns from a five-year crusade in the Holy Land, William wants nothing more than to impress him.
After Sir Robert's return, noble guests arrive from France, bringing intrigue to the castle. William is oblivious to the politics, as he's distracted by nightly visits from a faceless lover—a man who pleasures him in the dark and then leaves—a man he soon discovers is none other than his master, Sir Robert.
But William can't ignore the scheming around him when he overhears a plot to murder Robert. He becomes intent on saving his lord and lover from those who would see him killed...
Find an excerpt and the buy link here.
During the day, there will be "favourite sentences" over at Carina Press's account on Facebook, and Carina Press's blog.
Would be great to see you there.
Friday, 14 May 2010
Post interview comedown
I've been told that crashing feeling of ebbing adrenaline can be called comedown, so that's what I had yesterday evening. Got home, chatted to my partner, was chatting a little with friends about the interview/job/magazine, and suddenly my energy level just went through the floor.
That's five days of stress crashing all at the same time. Woah. I went to bed, had 9 hrs of badly-needed sleep, and awoke, feeling much saner.
To recap yesterday, I went to the second interview and rocked it for about 90 minutes. I just had fun, really. The Publisher dude said "just in case if you don't get this, please keep applying for jobs here, because you're a perfect fit for the company as an editor", and if I shouldn't get that job, I'll give him a call and ask him for leads. It's a great company which offers really good opportunities. And the commute would be much faster, too. :)
So apparently I'm up against two others, one of whom seems to be weaker than me and the other person. It's a close race. Depending on the interview with the other person, they might offer at the beginning of next week, or they might do a third round of interviews, or, as they said "make you jump through another hoop". But they also kept asking about my notice period and "who will replace me." A good answer there: "I think they'll struggle."
I kinda want them to struggle. After the way they've demoralised, dismantled and plain abused my team, I want my old employer to struggle with replacing me. I want them to look at the mess they created with a feeling of "oh shit." Not that I seriously believe they'll learn from it, but at the very least, I want them to look at their utter failure and that they made thing worse, not better.
Call me vengeful, but after 4 months of this shit, I've had it.
So, after rocking that interview, I had to return to work, but I also had a sudden urge to get ice cream, so I got off at Leicester Square and went into the local Haagen Dasz shop. Then I realised that if I stroll into the office munching ice-cream, while my team holds the fort and does my work, too, I'd get likely crucified, so I bagged seven cups instead of one and went to the office, handing them out to the editorial team (leaving out research and sales - I have enemies there, and I'm not spending £40 instead of £20 on a whim... I'm not making that kinda money. Also didn't want to feed the fat bastard from research who backstabbed me by telling my boss about a "negative" remark I've made AFTER HOURS).
So, munching icecream, I checked my email and saw a contract offer for "First Blood" from Dreamspinner. I'll sign the contract and shoot it over to Barbara today or tomorrow. It'll likely be published in the third quarter of 2010, both print and ebook.
In other positive news - I did the line edits of "Lion of Kent" and now waiting for Kate to approve a name change.
Writing, job hunt, and house move are all on track. If I get the job, the writing may suffer a little, but I don't think so, but it'll be a *lot* easier paying off that house. It'll mean, in effect, that I can almost double my mortgage repayments. Every buck I make more than what I make now is disposable income, and I'd love a tight schedule to improve the house, insulate the roof, get fitted wardrobe and study furniture, the lot.
So. Whew. Much going on. I hope to be back to writing today. I'll also have to prepare my financial thriller for submission to a publisher, but I might do that next week rather than this weekend.
That's five days of stress crashing all at the same time. Woah. I went to bed, had 9 hrs of badly-needed sleep, and awoke, feeling much saner.
To recap yesterday, I went to the second interview and rocked it for about 90 minutes. I just had fun, really. The Publisher dude said "just in case if you don't get this, please keep applying for jobs here, because you're a perfect fit for the company as an editor", and if I shouldn't get that job, I'll give him a call and ask him for leads. It's a great company which offers really good opportunities. And the commute would be much faster, too. :)
So apparently I'm up against two others, one of whom seems to be weaker than me and the other person. It's a close race. Depending on the interview with the other person, they might offer at the beginning of next week, or they might do a third round of interviews, or, as they said "make you jump through another hoop". But they also kept asking about my notice period and "who will replace me." A good answer there: "I think they'll struggle."
I kinda want them to struggle. After the way they've demoralised, dismantled and plain abused my team, I want my old employer to struggle with replacing me. I want them to look at the mess they created with a feeling of "oh shit." Not that I seriously believe they'll learn from it, but at the very least, I want them to look at their utter failure and that they made thing worse, not better.
Call me vengeful, but after 4 months of this shit, I've had it.
So, after rocking that interview, I had to return to work, but I also had a sudden urge to get ice cream, so I got off at Leicester Square and went into the local Haagen Dasz shop. Then I realised that if I stroll into the office munching ice-cream, while my team holds the fort and does my work, too, I'd get likely crucified, so I bagged seven cups instead of one and went to the office, handing them out to the editorial team (leaving out research and sales - I have enemies there, and I'm not spending £40 instead of £20 on a whim... I'm not making that kinda money. Also didn't want to feed the fat bastard from research who backstabbed me by telling my boss about a "negative" remark I've made AFTER HOURS).
So, munching icecream, I checked my email and saw a contract offer for "First Blood" from Dreamspinner. I'll sign the contract and shoot it over to Barbara today or tomorrow. It'll likely be published in the third quarter of 2010, both print and ebook.
In other positive news - I did the line edits of "Lion of Kent" and now waiting for Kate to approve a name change.
Writing, job hunt, and house move are all on track. If I get the job, the writing may suffer a little, but I don't think so, but it'll be a *lot* easier paying off that house. It'll mean, in effect, that I can almost double my mortgage repayments. Every buck I make more than what I make now is disposable income, and I'd love a tight schedule to improve the house, insulate the roof, get fitted wardrobe and study furniture, the lot.
So. Whew. Much going on. I hope to be back to writing today. I'll also have to prepare my financial thriller for submission to a publisher, but I might do that next week rather than this weekend.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Working in da coal mine
First half of the first day of the week is done and I'm ready for my weekend. Sock boy has already made me laugh twice today with his funny little I'm A MANAGER NOW antics. Well, you got the customary abuse and ignorance down pat, my boy, well done. You'll fit in well with middle management here.
Still learning about derivatives and beginning to understand the global meltdown much better now. Also understanding that the financial crisis will take at least another 2-3 years of clean up. We're not nearly done. This stuff is "weapons of mass destruction", no kidding.
At the same time, I'm fascinated by that market which can bring banks, countries, never mind multinationals to its knees and has already done so, often. I want that job to learn more about it... get as close as possible to the dark heart of finance. I'd love that. Stories galore, plenty of inspiration. I might, ten years from now, write a really funny tell-all book, too.
On the other front, "Lion of Kent" is back at Carina and is being edited in the second round, which frees up a little time for ongoing projects, but I think the main focus of this week is to NOT take a baseball bat to sock boy's kneecaps and prepare for the interview I have lined up and arrange the move. I'm currently surfing websites to buy a washing machine and a fridge - or at least get an idea about the market.
Saturday, I want to go out and measure the walls in the Casa Voinov to get an idea where to put all the books and stuff we own. Maybe this time round we'll even get a dish washer, which would be nice.
Also going to look into remortgaging, but that comes in step 2. But I'm pretty sure we're overpaying on the mortgage compared to the value of the house. Tehehe. I've learnt stuff in finances.
Still learning about derivatives and beginning to understand the global meltdown much better now. Also understanding that the financial crisis will take at least another 2-3 years of clean up. We're not nearly done. This stuff is "weapons of mass destruction", no kidding.
At the same time, I'm fascinated by that market which can bring banks, countries, never mind multinationals to its knees and has already done so, often. I want that job to learn more about it... get as close as possible to the dark heart of finance. I'd love that. Stories galore, plenty of inspiration. I might, ten years from now, write a really funny tell-all book, too.
On the other front, "Lion of Kent" is back at Carina and is being edited in the second round, which frees up a little time for ongoing projects, but I think the main focus of this week is to NOT take a baseball bat to sock boy's kneecaps and prepare for the interview I have lined up and arrange the move. I'm currently surfing websites to buy a washing machine and a fridge - or at least get an idea about the market.
Saturday, I want to go out and measure the walls in the Casa Voinov to get an idea where to put all the books and stuff we own. Maybe this time round we'll even get a dish washer, which would be nice.
Also going to look into remortgaging, but that comes in step 2. But I'm pretty sure we're overpaying on the mortgage compared to the value of the house. Tehehe. I've learnt stuff in finances.
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Kidnapped by derivatives
If I'm mostly invisible in the next days, that's due to having been kidnapped by derivatives. I have to prepare for a second interview at Huge Financial Information Provider (the kinda place that could crush my current place into dust if they wanted), and the guy I talked to in the first interview said: "Next time we meet, we'll talk derivatives."
It sounded like a challenge.
Since I only know the bare basics of equities (say, public equity like stocks and private equity like the stuff I've been dealing with the last 2.5 years), this opens up a field of finance I have no clue about, but the first glimpses of the field are tantalizing.
It's also enormous. Way, way larger than anything I've ever dealt with before. So, yeah, I'm off to town to get a book on futures. I have a book on options here, and will begin eating it. Soy sauce should add a little taste.
The last three days kicked my writing around like an abused puppy, but I'll get back to it hopefully tomorrow. Also expecting edits for "Lion of Kent" tonight. If all goes well, "Lion" comes out in July from Carina Press (we've agreed to the contract offer, contracts will be soon in the post, we're editing, so I guess I'm allowed to talk about it). Pretty excited about it all, but most of all, the house.
I'm still not sure whether I can/should relax about it all - what can go wrong now? Is there anything that can go wrong now? I'm not sure I want to ask the estate agent, those people probably hate me by now. But in any case, I've begun to start compiling a list of what needs doing and when and in what order.
I think I'll just pop into the estate agent and ask them how stuff proceeds from now on. Possibly get some flowers/chocolates for the ladies, too. This was one hard transaction.
It sounded like a challenge.
Since I only know the bare basics of equities (say, public equity like stocks and private equity like the stuff I've been dealing with the last 2.5 years), this opens up a field of finance I have no clue about, but the first glimpses of the field are tantalizing.
It's also enormous. Way, way larger than anything I've ever dealt with before. So, yeah, I'm off to town to get a book on futures. I have a book on options here, and will begin eating it. Soy sauce should add a little taste.
The last three days kicked my writing around like an abused puppy, but I'll get back to it hopefully tomorrow. Also expecting edits for "Lion of Kent" tonight. If all goes well, "Lion" comes out in July from Carina Press (we've agreed to the contract offer, contracts will be soon in the post, we're editing, so I guess I'm allowed to talk about it). Pretty excited about it all, but most of all, the house.
I'm still not sure whether I can/should relax about it all - what can go wrong now? Is there anything that can go wrong now? I'm not sure I want to ask the estate agent, those people probably hate me by now. But in any case, I've begun to start compiling a list of what needs doing and when and in what order.
I think I'll just pop into the estate agent and ask them how stuff proceeds from now on. Possibly get some flowers/chocolates for the ladies, too. This was one hard transaction.
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