What I’ve Been Doing … Or of Glossaries, Catch-Up, Contracts, Gardens & TV Viewing!
A funny mish-mash of things, is the answer …
Last week I finished off the glossary for The Gathering of the Lost (The Heir of Night Book Two)–or “gross-ary” as I prefer to call it, both because it is large (i.e. ‘gross’—get it?!) and full of monsters. 😉 Although not so-o-o many monsters as in The Heir of Night … Or not new monsters … Anyway, it’s done and away to my publishers. And then, “of course”, I have had to start playing catch-up on all those jobs that piled up in the intray while the big writing push was on.
Most of the catch-up is what I call “writing administration”: memberships and renewals, sales statements, responding to correspondence about events coming up, updating my website—all that sort of thing. I also had a contract, with Luitingh-Sitjhoff in the Netherlands for the Dutch translation rights, to go through, which is something that always takes bit of time. I remember when I read my first publishing contract—for Thornspell—which comprised fourteen foolscape pages of legalese: I think it would be fair to say that my hair stood on end. And as I have quite a lot of hair, I leave it to you to imagine what a scary sight that must have been! Almost as scary as the contract! But I’m getting more used to reading them now, so generally the hair stays in place (as much as it ever does!)
Mind you, another writer friend said that he resolves that dilemma by simply not reading his contracts at all: ‘sign and send back’ is his motto. Sometimes I think he might be very wise, but unfortunately I’m just not that kind of a gal—I feel compelled to read them through ‘cover to cover.’ 🙁
Interesting things do come in the catch-up pile though (and yes, no matter how necessary contracts may be, I don’t think anyone of sound mind would describe them as “interesting”), like the brochure for this year’s World Fantasy Convention, Sailing the Seas of Imagination, October 27-30 in San Diego. As one who sails those self-same seas, I would so love to “be there”, especially as the guest list includes authors of the calibre of Neil Gaiman and Connie Willis. But as with Worldcon, I shall at least be taking out a Supporting Membership …
And then, when the inbox is clearish, there’s the garden. (First time round, ‘garden’ accidentally came out in capitals, which may in fact be appropriate …) I do have a garden, largely of the wild, rambunctious, woodland-y kind—as opposed to sedate herbaceous borders—that has some ability to look after itself (if you don’t mind a lot of self-seeding), which is a Very Good Thing when a big writing push is on. Winter in particular is good, because not a lot grows in winter and you can fool yourself that really, it doesn’t matter so much if you put off those winter maintenance jobs this year—but when this year becomes every year, well then things get a little tricky … And no matter what, come spring, all those stealth weeds that have been creeping up beneath the camouflage of more stablished plants suddenly put on a surge and are stealthy no longer, but rampaging everywhere.
Spring is long gone now, so since finishing Gathering I have been working my way around the perimeter dealing to the most rampage-y of the weeds and those showing imminent signs of seeding everywhere. It is quite a lot of work and the weather has been so hot that the only practical time to work is in the very early morning; i.e. it’s up at ‘crack of doom’ (not to be confused with the ‘butt-crack of doom’, which is something entirely else again) and into the great outdoors—and over the the past few weeks, even when stepping out at 6 am the air is already warm. (If this keeps up, I might have to try for 5 am …) But all that aside, I do enjoy gardening: I find it relaxing (so long as I don’t let myself think about how much there is to do, or how far behind I’ve got with it all) and it provides a great contrast to the writing.
In the evenings I’ve been having a bit of time out and watching a great BBC period drama from early 1980s, called By the Sword Divided, which is set during the English Civil War. I caught a few eps at the time it was made and have remembered it ever since, so was very pleased to get both the first and second seasons in my Christmas stocking. We have just finished watching the first season and it has not disappointed. Something else I noticed: a great deal of the violence—and it was a very violent time—is not shown in gruesome, graphic detail and yet it is still compelling viewing. Perhaps something to reflect on given the need our film and tv makers, and so one must assume, by extension, we as an audience, feel for ever-increasing levels of violence, and graphic depiction thereof, in our viewing. Realism? Maybe. But By the Sword Divided feels very real and yet it did not take that path.
So there you are, that’s my mish-mash!
My favorites sort of garden is the type that looks a bit wild and natural. I especially like the sort that doesn’t require a whole lot of hard work! Even better 😀
Wild and natural does tend to cut down on the hard work a little, but I think all gardens require some input if they are not to graduate from ‘wild’ to ‘wilderness’ … 🙂