mcahogarth

Caturday, with Working Weekend

MY WHAT ENORMOUS EYES YOU HAVE

I usually try to do a "I'm not working" post on Saturdays but... I am working this weekend. Mostly by accident this time (as opposed to on purpose, as usual) because all the new tools I've been buying to change/streamline workflow have been showing up, and of course once they show up they must be set up and tested. In the past week, I've had a drafting surface, microphone, a box for the microphone, a webcam, drafting light, and several new pieces of software show...

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 23: A Gradient of Confusion

“Oh, now I’ve stepped into it.”

I grinned at her.

Drawing in a breath seemed to settle Emma. “Look, this is… this conversation might become… personal.”

“I feel as if it already is?” I said.

“Ruben’s gonna kill me,” Emma muttered.

“There is a great deal of metaphorical killing in this settlement,” I said. “Is Correction always so extreme that you compare it to death?”

“And now I sound hyperbolic—”

“Actually,” I said, ...

November News and Progress Post: Zoom

Well, y’all, another month has gone by and we’re now staring down the end of the year! Let’s talk about what I accomplished last month, and what’s ahead of us for the remainder of 2018.

As you know, in October I started writing “the wedding novella,” which quickly became “the wedding novel” and then, painfully, “the wedding duology.” I finished Book 1 in October by writing 100K words on a battered and inappropriate keyboard that did a number on my wrists. As we went into No...

Action Caturday: Get the Moth!

We mocked him for not realizing that magnet wasn't a real moth and attacking it over and over, but then again... we stared at him for over half an hour while he did it, and we had better things to do. *amused*

We have reached December, and it is time for the festal season! Over here, anyway. I've got lots of exciting things planned for the beginning of 2019: business ventures, new books, new processes. I can't wait to dig my fingers into it and tell you all about it! But now is the time of wra...

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 22: Stepping in It

I was aiming the device at the text near the back of one of Lenore’s notebooks when Emma exploded into the room. “Laurence Serapis! I can’t believe him!”

The translation scrawled over the top of the document I was trying to examine, and it was nonsensical. Had he said something to her she found incredible? Something else? Her tone, at least, indicated her outrage. Looking up, I said, “Ah… hello?”

“Did he insult you? He insulted you, didn’t he. That boy! I want ...

Caturday: Purrito

Once again, Cat finds all the softest places in the house.

***

We are barreling toward the end of the year and all I can think is, "wait, what happened to 2018" o_o

I think I might take a few days off before December. Get my condition up for the grand rush for Christmas, which is my FAVORITE PART OF THE YEAR. (Seriously, I caught a cold earlier this week and my daughter's been encouraging me to get better by saying, "Just think, Mommy, when you beat this cold you can PREPARE for CH...

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 21: Yelling at the Sky

I went through the device’s translation, mouthing the words under my breath, asking the device to repeat certain sentences and trying to make the vowels sound crisper: an unexpectedly difficult task, because while I could mimic them while listening, when I tried to form fresh phrases or sentences, I lost track of how they were supposed to sound. But the device was a great help in that, and I pored over the stored conversation…. Until I reached the word ‘bitch.’ When I looked it up, I dis...

Caturday: Windowcat

Yes, in mid-November in Florida, we still have blooming heather.

***

So, midway through November and... what, how is it almost the end of the year. *copious sweating* 

Anyway, for a lot of us the big eating holidays are coming! I was thinking about this because one of our local open air markets attracts a marshmallow-maker who sells this ginger spice marshmallow that she recommended toasting on a sweet potato. I don't usually like adding sugar to my sweet potatoes, but I broke...

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 20: Power

I apologize, that was probably harsh. Let me tell you what happened, after I breakfasted and walked—very far away from center—to Lenore’s office to resume my efforts. That was my plan, of course… to sit again in the place where she had sat so frequently and see if an aunerai place can foster domiyev, which is… I have tried three times to explain this and hated all three explanations. We believe places shape the mind? That’s why we like beautiful spaces. Or spaces ap...

Action Caturday: LEMME IN

🎵 "I'm always on the wrong side... of every doooooor...." 🎵

It is the second Saturday of November!

oh my gosh it's the second saturday of november

*sweats more*

Um, anyway. I found a great new band! It reminds me of 90s Depeche Mode before they started getting grim and weird and bluesy and blamey. (Seriously that last album. 'Kay, guys, if you want to accuse me of enabling all the oppression and injustice of the world, that's your call, but it's not going to make me wan...

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 19: Inexactitude

Your pronouns, aunera, are weak.

Or at least, the ones in this language I’m learning are. (It took me a while to truly internalize how many languages you have. And also to find it hypocritical that you disdain us for our single tongue but confess to using a common tongue on your planet. If functionally you must speak a single language to be understood by other aunera on your single world, then why are you so proud of having more than one? It’s as if you have a reflexive n...

October Progress Post

It’s once again time for the monthly progress post! I notice I skipped September—whoops. I can summarize September by saying I got very little accomplished because of the conference, various family emergencies (minor and handled, but time-consuming), and the need to finish up the Girl on Fire launch. Alas, September, how you disappointed!

October, though, y’all. *shakes head*

The project I’d labeled in my head as ‘the wedding novella’ was intended to bridge ...

Caturday Cave

When I opened the door that pillow was on top of him. I propped it up, but I think he preferred it on him. Weirdo cat. -_-

We've hit November! Goodness gracious! The holiday gifting season is around the corner, and I am already finishing up my shopping. What about you all? Have you found any killer gifts? Neat ideas for presents? Share all!

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 18: Doors

The colony world’s afternoon aged into a cool evening when I finally decided I was done. I packed the device with a selection of Lenore’s books and let myself out of her office. Where I stopped, curious, staring at the door. It had a door. Did aunera treat spaces the same way we did? We don’t put doors on our rooms unless they’re meant to keep people out, and this makes a statement about the sorts of activities we think require privacy—or concentration. Did Lenore’s office h...

Caturday Once More

Cats. Masters of sleeping. 

I hope it's been a good week for y'all! I got lots done, and have lots of plans as well, but I'll save that for next week and the monthly progress post.

Down here it's finally getting nice! By which I mean the temperature sometimes dips into the 80s instead of staying pegged to the 90s. I've been doing more of my daily exercise outside, particularly since they just opened a new park next to me.

2018-10-27 14:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post

End of the Year Kickstarters

We only have two more months. Should I do one more this year? Opine, my many and faithful and awesome!

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 17:

“Right, sorry. What made your Emperor decide to send you? To do this?”

That… was a good question. One I hadn’t bothered to ask Him. Why would I question Civilization about His motives? They seemed obvious enough to me. The aunera had tumbled a noble House, disordered its Gate-complex, and required the exile of a notable lord. Who wouldn’t turn a more careful eye on them afterwards? “You require study,” I said. “Because you affect us.”

“I like that,” Emma sa...

We're Just Shocked That It Is Caturday

I mean really, look at that face.

What a week! I have been insanely busy, but very productive. Like "I think I wrote 25% of a novel this week" productive. Spouse has encouraged me to spend an entire day not working, so I am going to continue trying to teach my child to ride a bicycle... and cook!

A dutch baby in the morning, recipe courtesy of Alton Brown: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipe...

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 16: Emma

When I look back on my life, I return again and again to that moment. To those words. To what they implied, so innocently, so brazenly. Do you know that sentence can’t be translated into Ai-Naidari? ‘You’ is never ambiguous. We either address strangers or we address people we slot into their places in society, but the careless intimacy of your pronouns… I was an alien, and yet her first words to me were as to someone expected.

That was Emma. 

In the weeks that followed, she ...

Caturday: Lord of All He Surveys

Alternate title: "Catrear."

It is Saturday! I hope you've had a great week. The weather's changing down here and my head is a precision barometer, but despite the headaches I've gotten a lot done. And that's in addition to stumbling into an adorable fascination in the form of a game called Long Live the Queen:

The mechanic is really fascinating: it's a turn-based story game, and you use...

Now Available: Girl on Fire, Young Sediryl's Story

A coming-of-age story in the style of Mercedes Lackey, set in a galaxy full of aliens and adventures….

The Eldritch live hundreds of years, which means Sediryl Nuera Galare isn’t going to inherit the management of her family’s noble house–and all its rich farmland–anytime soon. So when she discovers that her world is only one among many, she doesn’t hesitate to kick off t...

2018-10-11 14:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 15: Puzzles

But I was who I was, so I smoothed my sleeves down over my forearms and walked to the table, there to sit and make an attempt at understanding my… predecessor. I suppose.

Do you love words, aunera? I do. I love listening to people talk, to their word choices and the music and rhythm of their voices, to the way they pause and the way they rush into pauses. One of the most attractive parts of being fathrikedi was my silence, because it freed me to listen. Maybe this is why I ...

Lunchbag Art: Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro came to theaters for a limited screen re-showing, so we took daughter to see it (her first time). Predictably, love at first sight.

I'd forgotten how lovely a movie it is, too. I wish Americans would remember that children don't need constant stimulation to stay interested in things. They are intrigued by mystery, and silences, if you talk to them the right way.

Caturday JUMP!

Huzzah! At last, an action shot!

Quick news:

• I am *done* with Sediryl edits! (If you helped with proofreading and want a name in the acknowledgments, now's the time to tell me!) Expect that to hit retailers sometime next week.
• Next week we get sales and progress posts for the month, so watch for them!
• The last book of 2018, the wedding story, is up to 12K already and going strong. I wasn't anticipating having some...
  2018-10-06 13:52:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 14: Esse Quam Videri

      Falzon said something, coming to a halt beside a door. I glanced at my borrowed device. He’d said, “This is it.”
      I peered inside, expecting… what, I didn’t know. The austerity of Shame’s study, or the meticulous order of Farren’s studio. The cleanliness of my parents’ offices. Something tidy. But Lenore’s office was anything but tidy. The walls were covered in papers, some as small as a single word, others the...

Caturday, with Conference

As those of you eyeing my twitter are aware, this end-of-week/weekend I'm at the Novelists Inc. conference in Saint Petersburg, so I am head down in many, many lectures/sessions about the business of book selling! It is fantastic. I am eating so much food, plus catching up with industry news, and friends like the folks from Draft2Digital. Plus I met Leah Cutter, who wrote Paper Mage! I love that book. <3

Also, I've been painting the Sediyrl cover and it's almost done, so I should b...

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 13: Ruben

       Confused looks. One of them unhooked a device from his shoulder harness and glanced at it intently, then said something interrogative while staring at my face. I repeated myself, and he looked at the device again, then said something to his companion.
      Then, laboriously, reading off the device, he pointed at his companion, who was talking quietly… to himself? “It… handle… beast.”
      “...

Caturday with Flop

Honestly I tried to get an action shot, but he chased the mouse once and was done. Right there with you, Ron. -_-

Anyway, we're heading into the last week of September, and things look good from my end! Quick news:

• Sediryl edits should be done by first week of October! I'll be starting on the cover painting next week. Tentatively, thus, I'm scheduling that book to launch at the end of that month. (I also want the print edition to be done at the same time, which is ...
  2018-09-22 14:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Serial, Kherishdar's Exception, Episode 12: An Ai-Naidari Universe

      The following morning, leading the jevi out of the stable…that was when I felt the Gate wind for the first time on this particular journey, cooling the fur on my face and ruffling the edges of my robes. I glanced toward the Gate, squinting into the sun. It was easily visible, of course; one could see it from the capital on a clear day. I think Farren must have told you its size? That each of its pylons was the length of several city blocks? And that it r...

Sediryl First-Readers, Report!

I finished a day early. Lucky us! :D

If you want to volunteer, wave a hand!

Discord users, the link to the draft is in the #vault, if you'd like to hop on!