throw another bear in the canoe

Today has been after the spirit of an adventure.

The whole world is blowing down outside. But I got 1561 words on Grail and got through a scene. I think I more or less know how the book goes now, although I don't have a good innate sense of its structure and spin, so I will be doing this one by pure intellectualization. Which is much harder than doing them by feel, but thanks to my own stubborn that I have developed the skills to bull through on brains and brawn when instinct fails. We're still on target to have this sucker done by the deadline, for which I feel an enormous sense of relief.

In other news:

Bad news: I think the washer as well as the dryer is kaput. It's started making fairly dramatic banging noises on the spin cycle. Which means it's unusable, and we'll have to have somebody out to look at them and see if they can be fixed, but:

Good news: I just heard from arcaedia that my signing payment for The Steles of the Sky is in house, which will come in exceedingly handy given (a) above. Also, I need to get the fan in my car fixed before it comes through the dashboard, and I have a whole bunch of bills to pay, which means:

Bad news: most of the paycheck is going to that. Alas! However:

Good news: Chill will be coming out soon, which means I will get paid for that, and for delivering Grail, and for Bone and Jewel Creatures, and The White City, so the long lean time of 2009 is finally coming to an end (I hope). Unfortunately, this means that:

Bad news: I really need to get off my ass and talk to an accountant. Add another thing to the to-do list. (I really, really wish I could afford to hire a part-time personal assistant. I badly need one, currently, for about three tasks that keep getting away from me. One of which is updating my *&^(&%^* website, since my Web Ghoul ran off and got other work.) However, in

Good news: Initial reviews of Chill are very good, thank you! From Publishers Weekly (pnh, no apostrophe, just for you)

Chill (available February 23, according to Amazon. Yes, this is how I find out these things. Oh, the glamour!)
Elizabeth Bear Spectra, $7.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-553-59108-8

Having survived the events of 2007’s Dust, the crew of the generation starship Jacob’s Ladder, marooned for centuries, find themselves once more racing though space. Unfortunately, the ship is badly damaged, large sections are out of communication with the central computer, and the highly augmented Exalt who rule the ship and its merely human occupants have lost the knowledge of how to select a destination. Antagonist Arianrhod is still alive, free, and a potential threat. Dealing with these problems involves epic journeys across a massive, poorly mapped spacecraft and confrontations with forgotten and suppressed relics of the past. Bear enhances the usual generation ship themes—social amnesia, decaying infrastructure, and mission-threatening grand calamities—with enough new flourishes, including a biotechnology-based class system and cruel experiments based on misapprehensions of Darwin, to keep readers happily engaged. (Mar.)

And then, this isn't about me, but--

Bad news indeed: Dressage mare Blue Hors Matinee has been euthanized after a paddock accident. That breaks my heart.

However, for countervaling good news, I bring you John Barrowman pogoing in heels. 

Tags: jacob's ladder, link salad, progress notes, the glamour!, the writer at work