Fingers Crossed for the New Year

Happy New Year!

It's the last day of Holidailies! Or rather, it would be, but I think the website is in a different timezone so the entries are already locked.

I got some writing done today. Not that I have resolutions, but I would like to prioritize writing more. It's easy to put it off by working on the other endless tasks associated with publishing, but the writing needs to be first. I've been avoiding word count goals for burnout reasons, but I think 500 words per day is reasonable. Most days I should be over that, but even on days when I'm having a hard time concentrating, 500 words is doable.

So there. That's my plan.

Way Too Much Cozy for Me

I listened to more of The Spellshop, and the problems I noted yesterday are coming back to bite the author in the ass. Characters are now arguing that of course they can't do the magic thing, but since there's no cost or downside to using magic, it leaves the reader wondering why not. The plot has been heading that way for the last half of the book, so obviously they are going to do the magic thing, on the first try with no difficulty. Just get on with it.

Also, the main character and her love interest get interrupted every time they have a moment alone. Usually, I'd be irritated by such heavy-handed plot interference, but honestly, I don't care about them being together and I really don't want to listen to this author attempt a sex scene, so in this case I'm making an exception to my rule about limiting convenient interruptions.

I think I'd like this book better if about a third of it were cut out. That's fine. I'm sure other people will enjoy it.

Obligatory Kitten Picture

Have I used this one before? Probably. But Sabot was adorable.

I'm one full day into the new year with no kittens yet...

Too Cozy?

It's the last day of the year, which means absolutely nothing other than a bunch of people agreed the calendar should start around this time of winter. Whole swaths of people have agreed on other times and seasons, so clearly this has no mystical significance.

All that is to say that instead of, I don't know, reflecting on the year or some such nonsense, I spent the day not talking to anyone and listening to audiobooks.

Firestorms

I finished The Hunter by Tana French, and other than a somewhat unrealistic forest fire climax, it was good. (As someone who has gone through a number of fire seasons in California, I'll just say this: if you're close enough to the fire that you have burning embers falling on you and you somehow survive, you're going to spend the next week coughing. Having a wet towel over your mouth isn't going to help much. We've had days where it hurts to breathe and we were 100+ miles from the fire.)

But no really, it was fine. You should read it. The author does amazing work with her characters.

If I Ruled the (Genre Fiction) World

After that, I started The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. I'm nearly halfway through, and I'm enjoying it, but if I'd been the developmental editor, I would have suggested three changes.

(Absolutely conceited of me, I know. This is the point where I put on my "International award winning local author" t-shirt. And then I laugh, because even I can't take myself seriously.)

The book is a cozy fantasy, and there are some points where it really leans on the cozy part. The main character and her library assistant (a sentient spider plant) flee the library that is being sacked by the revolutionaries who have overthrown the emperor. They leave with a bunch of books on magic and end up at her old island home that the former emperor has starved of magic. Things progress.

My complaints:

1. In the beginning, the main character loves books and only books. She has no friends (other than the plant assistant), to the point that all the other librarians fled a week before and nobody thought to warn her. I get that loving books makes a character relatable, but if an adult has no friends — and doesn't notice the lack — despite apparently having been brought up in a loving home and possessing social skills, it just feels like the author was too lazy to flesh out the character.
   
   
2. She eventually starts using the forbidden magic in the books for good things. That's great. But there's absolutely no cost to using the magic. And it almost always works on the first or second try. This character is a librarian, not a trained mage. It just feels too easy to me, but maybe that's what cozy mystery readers want?
   
   
3. Again with the cozy part — we get extended scenes of the main character learning to do simple chores for the first time. And again, everything works on the first or second try. Also, why does every book showing characters moving into a long-abandoned house have them sweep the floor and call it done? In reality, houses are spiteful piles of rock and wood that are just waiting to disintegrate when you aren't paying attention.
   
   What I'm trying to say is that I would have cut the scenes where the main character sweeps the house and immediately notices how cozy and welcoming it is. Spare me with that nonsense, and show me a scene where the main character sweeps the house and discovers the unfixable water damage and a fire ant nest.

Despite all that, the book is pretty enjoyable. Give it a try if you're into cozy fantasy. I think I may just be too much of a bitter homeowner to really be the target audience.

Obligatory Kitten Picture

Happy New Year!

Home Again, Home Again, Lickety Split

I'm back home and no longer in the hotel with no drawer pulls. This is my own dresser. Sure, pieces are falling off, but at least it has drawer pulls!

I spent seven hours in the car listening to a big chunk of The Hunter by Tana French. Weirdly, I'm fourteen hours in and the title still doesn't make sense (there really isn't anybody hunting in this novel), but it has kept my interest, so that's good.

I still have a few cookies left, which is a rarity after that journey. At some point, I'm eating just to keep awake. Not great, but at least I don't fall asleep and crash.

Down south they were having Santa Ana winds and it was close to 80F. Here it is currently 42F.

My feral cat did not miss me. At all.

Obligatory Kitten Picture

I was trying to pick up so I could start a load of laundry. The Snack Pack had other ideas...

Shoes

The gathering is rebounding off to other places (Mexico and then New York, Legoland and then SF, Sacramento, SF bay area, and one mile away from my mom's house), but here's evidence of what it was like today:

Question of the Day

I swapped newsletter space with another author, and a bunch of her readers bought All Gremlins Great & Small (currently $0.99), which is great! Some also bought All Basilisks Wild & Sparking, which is also great! But nobody bought the book in between (All Rocs Wise & Wonderful), which means that something has gone wrong. Either the books aren't properly added to the series at the retailer or I have the wrong link in the back of the book. I need to track that down later this week. This is the stuff they don't warn you about when you become your own publisher.

Obligatory Kitten Picture

Hi, Cheese Puff and Pringles!

Should Have Given Them a Box

My youngest niece & nephew (3 & 5) got all kinds of toys for Christmas, and they have been making things with Play-Doh and LEGO, coloring, and reading. Perfectly normal stuff.

But my sister-in-law found these plastic dinosaur chopstick holders at a flea market, and sure, why not? I suspect they will get incorporated into adventures at some point, because my niece has a whole world going on with unicorns and dogs.

But the most popular toy for both the kids? The cheap pack of chopsticks that came with the dinosaurs. They can''t get enough of them. Nobody understands, but it's pretty funny.

Quote of the Day

"Just like everything in life, there's no point."

1000 Pieces

This is what I spent a significant part of the day working on. It's better to do big puzzles with a bunch of people so you can dip in and out and still have progress.

Obligatory Kitten Picture

I interrupted Pringles while she was playing.

Measure with your Heart

It is Saturday and the hotel room with no drawer pulls is an oasis of calm. When I checked in, they gave me three key cards, and I have offered to auction off the remaining two key cards to my siblings if they want to sit in a quiet room for two hours. Honestly, I could probably fund my entire stay that way if we just had another couple little kids running around.

We had the big family dinner this evening, and I was at the three-person vegetarians table with my nephew and his partner. The food was excellent and we got to catch up, so it was fun. I'm always responsible for bringing the almond-rice stuffed peppers, and every year they taste slightly different because I measure ingredients with my heart, as they say. I'm not a great chef, but this is a recipe that can't really be screwed up.

How do people with small children survive until the children are grown? I don't understand it, but I'm glad most parents seem to enjoy it (or at least pretend they do).

Obligatory Kitten Picture

Fosters from last year! Clockwise from top: Witch Hazel, Tweetie, and Taz. What an adorable bunch!

No More Beeping

It's Friday and I'm still in the hotel room with no drawer pulls. The good news is that my house is no longer beeping — two of my friends offered to go deal with the smoke detectors, and Teresa got their first. Have I ever mentioned that I have great friends? 'Cause I do.

The hotel was conducting tests of the fire alarms this morning. It really feels like the beeping has been following me around. Hopefully it's all over now.

Gin the feral cat, who would have had to deal with another couple days of complaining smoke detectors at home, is undoubtedly relieved. I have yet to catch her on the kitten cam, but I'm sure she's there somewhere. Wait, I take it back! I just looked and she is eating. Excellent. Proof of life!

Quote of the Day:

(From my 5-year-old nephew after roughhousing with his cousins): "My armpits are leaking."

Obligatory Kitten Picture:

Tarquin & Merrick! You can see Tarquin's wonky left eye a little in this photo — most of the damage looked like it was from the third eyelid adhering to the cornea, so I think the plan was to fix that when he was anesthetized for neutering. Hopefully he ended up with two good eyes. I thought for a while that he might end up with zero eyes, so I'm pleased with his progress in any case.