• The Day’s Work

    Date: 2010.07.15 | Category: News | Tags:

    It was a lovely summer day.

    And I knew that I had to stay inside for the morning, and finally pay all the bills, including this quarter’s Business and Operating tax, and do a tidy on the office.  I always grumble to myself about having to pay B&O tax.  In Washington state, artists and writers are taxed just as if they are small businesses.  So, I pay a tax on my income to the city and to the state every quarter.  It strikes me as unfair as my business does not incur any extra costs for the city; I don’t require extra police patrols, I don’t generate extra waste water, etc.  Basically, I am taxed for having a computer in my office and writing on it.  Grumble, grumble.

    Next order of business was mailing things.  One very nice item was that I was sending back a signed set of contracts for Romanian rights to Farseer. 

    Then, back to the house, where I successfully ignored the little drifts of dog hair in the corner of the livingroom. I vacuumed just yesterday, not just the hosue but the dog himself.  Pip has always enjoyed being vacuumed, and I had vaguely hoped that the shed hair might go straight from the dog to the vacuum bag, but evidently he had more to share.  Later, I will get that.

    Then I made my first batch of jam for the year.  The cool wet start to summer has meant that my strawberries did not do well.  Enough lingered on the plants that our recent bout of sunshine and warmth ripened them up to sweetness. So I was able to do one batch of strawberry jam. Tomorrow, I will do raspberry. 

    Next task was to run through the .pdf file of “Blue Boots”.  That is my story for the anthology SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH, edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois.  This is an anthology from fantasy and romance authors, due to be released in November of this year.  (Gives you an idea of how far ahead we have to work on these things!)  As I often do with stories I have finished, I began reading it with rather a jaded eye, wondering if I’d done my task as a story teller.  But, at just the right moment and completely unexpected, I got a shiver up my back!  Like most writers, I do write for myself first. So, at this point, all I can do is hope that you share my sensibilities and that Blue Boots will work for you as well.

    Now the day is winding down and I still have to do some pages on my major project.  I’ve passed page 200 on the manuscript for the new book.  My goal is to pass 300 pages before the end of the month. I desperately want to turn this book in well ahead of time, and actually have a relaxed holiday season with my family, with no deadline keeping me at the keyboard while everyone else is eating holiday cookies!

    So, I may miss the sunshine today.  And the drifts of dog hair in the livingroom corners may get a bit deeper. 

    But that is this writer’s day.

    Robin