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Robin Hobb's Infrequent and Off Topic Blog

An Address and a Writer's Event question and the Writers Refuge

June 18, 2025

The first part, I will keep short.  Rose X of Texas, there is a typo in  your address.  The hardback I tried to send you bounced back to me as undeliverable.  Please send a note to robinhobb@robinhobb.com so we can fix this!  And if you are NOT Rose X, please don't respond to this part.

 

Second part is a question about Writer events.  Many years ago, an agent (I forget who) said to a writer (again, forgotten)  something like, "When people come to get a book signed, they want to see Amanda Artsy-Fartsy, not Molly Mundane."   Really?

 

I understand, dress the part.  Fantastic garb for fantasy writers.  Or lovely dresses for romance writer, and maybe some flowers in your hair.  Mystery writers, hm, carry a magnifying glass and wear a deerstalker hat?

 

Seriously, though.  Most of the men who write fantasy can show up in a black t-shirt and some black jeans.  But what about the women, espcially older woman like me?  Do  you hope to see me in a cloak with, perhaps, a holstered wand or short sword?  Or can I show up in my best clean jeans and a nice shirt, with a good pen.

 

Oh, pens, lets talk about pens!  Some writers treasure their lovely fountain pens. I get mine in the school supply section of my local grocery store.  I want a Pilot G-2 07.  Minimal effort to push it across the paper and a nice black line.

 

Jewellery?  My hands hurt enough without lots of rings.  But I do love seeing all the sparkly stuff on my fellow authors.  

 

What do I look like when I write?  Well, I'm sitting here in my old black jeans, slightly damp sneakers from feeding the chickens on a moist Washington day, and a blue Carhartt T-shirt.  No rings, no makeup.  If I'm writing at night, I'll be in my PJ's and probably the short red dressing gown with the cats on it that my grand-daughter gave me.

 

So, does my appearnance and dress matter to you at an author's event?  Let me know.

 

And a final reminder for local to me writers.  The "Writers' Refuge" in McKenna Washington will welcome you on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 to 8 PM for the rest of June.  Saturdays are from 11AM to 1 PM.  Come in, have a cup of tea or coffee and a few cookies, say hello, chat a bit and then settle down and write in a quiet setting.  Email me for address. Right next to the river park.

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Summer Reading Event at Orting Timberland Library on June 17, 12:30

June 7, 2025
A display of books by Robin Hobb, including the Illustrated Farseer Trilogy, the Dark Horse comic edition and the Trade Paperbacks of the Liveship series.

Well, the headline says almost everything  you need to know.  On June 17, I will be at the Pierce County Library in Orting Washington.  The fun stars at 12:30.  There will be Renaissance Fair activities, refreshments and fun to celebrate Summer Reading Season.  I will be pleased to meet Debbie Zessin, the other attending author, with her debut Romance Comedy Adventure novel, Captured in Belize.

 

We will be available for chatting and book signing. And devouring all the refreshments if you are late. 

 

Just Kidding!

 

Or am I?

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Sciatica and Signed Hardback

May 30, 2025
An array of pens and markers suitable for signing books

This blog is for the folks who generously donated at leas $20 to Doctors Without Borders.  The people I promised would receive a signed hardback.

 

First the good news.  I mailed off 18 more books today.  They are traveling by Media Mail, so don't expect them tomorrow.  But they are on their way to eighteen contributors.

 

The tough news, for me?  I have 78 more books to sign, package and mail.  Yes, the response to the offer was much bigger than I expected!  And we raised over $5000 for Doctors Without Borders.    I WILL get every one of you wonderful people a signed hardback.  I am trying to mail out a batch every day (except Sunday!  Post Office is closed.)

 

I am slow.  Part of it is that I want every book to go out cleanly packaged with a nice signature.  And part of it is that my sciatica is really bothering me for this month.

 

The Sciatic nerve bundle runs along the spine into the legs.  In this case I have really annoyed it.  It's the bundle that runs down the outer side of my right leg.  There was a small pile of concrete blocks, about 8.  You know the kind, with the two hollows, only these ones were used and were full of concrete.  But only eight.  I can move eight concrete blocks out of my way.  I can repurpose them to hold up a bench top to put my seed flats on.  Of course I can!  

 

And I did.

 

And now I am paying for it.  When the pain hits, it runs from my lower back all the way down to my right ankle and feels like a big electric shock of pain.  When it happens, I squeak, even when I don't want to. My leg starts to fold and I have to grab onto anything that might support me.  And ithe zap does not always happen.  Sometimes I can get half way out to the chicken yard, walking normally and then suddenly, ZAP!  So far I have managed not to fall down.  If I stand up very straight and balance my weight carefully, I can test my weight on that leg and resume walking.  Usually I can just walk.  Sometimes not, sometimes it's the big ZAP! again.  

 

If you came to watch Joe Abercrombie and me, you might have noticed I was using a cane.  That was to stave off the big shock of pain.  I had it with me on Wednesday when Terry Brooks, Shawn Speakman and I cut the ribbon to open the new Barnes and Noble bookstore in Lakewood Washington.  I was mostly seated behind the signing table, and people were good sports about crouching down by me to have a selfie because I wasn't sure I could stand up.  Many thanks to all who came by.  (By the way, the new store is gorgeous!  Really nice cafe in there, with tables, and a long counter with stools and outlets for laptops!)

 

The big shock of pain is intermittent.  I have pain pills, muscle relaxers but they make me feel foggy brained.  The low level of pain is a constant.  At night, it feels like I did fall down and bruised the outer side of my right leg, even though I didn't. 

 

 

I feel like I brachiate through the house, hanging on to a countertop, a chair back, a table top, a doorframe.  Even when I don't get zapped, the low level of pain makes me really tired.

 

 

The fastest way for me to trigger the pain is to bend over and take a book out of the box on the floor.  Or pick up anything off the floor.  A stray crayon.  A dog toy.  I straighten up and the pain hits.  

 

Now I have a very logical mind.  Intellectually, I know that I don't get hit with pain every time I bend down to take a book out of the box.  But while my brain is logical, my body is Pavlovian.  

 

Last time I did that reach, I got hit with pain.  Don't' do it! 

 

 

So, yes, the box of books to sign is now elevated on a chair, and I am doing as many as I can each evening.  About twelve.  

 

But by the end of the day, my book packing hour arrives and I feel very bruised and sore and sorry for myself.  So some evenings I only get through 6 repetitions of opening envelope, finding name, sign book to name, wrap book, put book in packaging, tape securely, put address on, put return address on, and I really just want a hot bath and to go to sleep. And I hate that I have to recruit a family member to carry the box of wrapped books out to the car, and then carry them into the post office so each one can be weighed, stamped and mailed.  

 

I PROMISE I will send out a book to each of you who made the donation and sent me the info.  I promise.  But I'm painfully aware (yes, painfully) that it is now May 30 and I still have 78 books to go.

 

So I'm begging for your patience and understanding as I get them done. 

 

If you find a typo in this, I'm blaming it on the pain pill!

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