on a calmer note

[swan_tower]

Dear Book,

Don't think you're safe just because I'm not using the angry kitten icon anymore. That's Hel up there, and she will cut you.

But we may -- may -- have resolved the problem. By dint of doing . . . not a lot, actually. Going back to a plan that fell by the wayside, and trying to find some way to insert more downtime at a particular point. Easy enough on Eliza's side; I just have to find some justification for why Dead Rick's plot can skip over a month or so. If I can do that, everything else is fine; I don't have to redate two-thirds of the book or work around historical events or anything of the sort. Just a bit of downtime, and I'm set.

So long as I can find a way to do that. Don't ask me how; that's a problem I'll tackle tomorrow.

You're still in the doghouse, though. I knew you were going to be the biggest bastard of the series -- and that's saying something, after the difficulties I had writing Ashes and Star -- but you've been outdoing yourself, really. Any time you want to start being cooperative, feel free.


Slightly less inclined to light you on fire, but still thinking about it,
Your Writer

Comments

[cepetit.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Dear Book:

You're acting like a bad draft. You know what happens to bad drafts? They end up getting a choice between jail and the military. Now down and give me 25 pages — that's 20 for me and 5 for the slush pile. Yes, you, Book. You keep acting like a bad draft, and you'll get treated like a bad draftee!

Sincerely,
Maj. Jaws

[aulus-poliutos.livejournal.com]

Lol, I wish I could send my crappy draft to the Roman army. Get some drill centurion wipe the sucker into shape. :)

[cepetit.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

I don't think I can handle Roman; my classical education did not extend past the very rudiments of Latin. Das Buch muss nach Landeswehrparadeboden märschen und übungen. (Please excuse the regional dialect... Prüssen, nicht Hochdeutsch.)

N.B. By "bad draft" I meant "bad behavior," not "bad quality."

[aulus-poliutos.livejournal.com]

Lack of cooperation, characters hiding stuff from the author .... mine totally needs to do some Liegestütze and a night march with full baggage. :)

[janni.livejournal.com]

Your books have much longer letter-reading attention spans than mine! :-)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

In reality, it's less a letter, more me shoving the book into a chair and lecturing it to its face.

It had better not let its attention wander, not if it knows what's good for it.