ROBIN HOBB

So, first the bad news.

For many years, once a month, I would drive up to University Book Store in Seattle.  I'd find Duane, a favorite book seller, and we'd go to the basement where there would be a couple of carts of special order books for me to sign, and sometimes another cart of store stock.  People could go to the book store's website, order a book and request an autograph and sometimes a dedication.  I'd sign, and the store would ship the book to the reader.  It was a wonderful system.  

But over time, with increasing traffic, the drive up grew longer, and inevitably the drive home through traffic was even worse.  I had to plan a whole day just to do it.  An accident could turn that drive into a marathon of three or four hours.  

I just can't do it anymore.  So this coming Tuesday, March 18, will be my last time.  You still have a few days to put in a special order if you want a signed book.  Follow the link above, select your book, and in the comments section of the order, as that it be autographed.  I'm sorry to end what was once a great chance to see bookstore friends and sign lots of books.

Ready for a bit of (i Hope) good news now?

March is my birthday month.  This year I am 73, another good reason not to make long, exhausting drives!

Now in past years, I've sometimes celebrated my bithday with readers in odd ways.  I've done Hobbit Birthdays, in which I sent out books to readers as a birthday gift.  One year I recruited reader friends all over the world to hide gift wrapped books and then post a riddle or clue for other readers to find them.  

This year, I'm going to give away signed hardbacks, but with a catch.  First, it's only for the US.  Second, you have to give something to get something.  I will be asking you to donate $20 at least to Doctors without Borders.  I support what they are doing in Ukraine, but I don't require that you choose Ukraine.  So many of us have ties to countries where Doctors without Borders are helping people.  Choose as you wish, or just send them some money and let them decide.  

So.  Here are the EXACT rules to get a signed hardback.  Please be precise.

1. US only.

2. Make your donation of at least $20 to Doctors Without Borders.

3. Copy that receipt.  Blot out your financial info except for the $20 but leave your name and complete address.

4. PRINT IT OUT.  PUT IT IN AN ENVELOPE.  Mail it to:

  Robin Hobb

7102 Harts Lake Road South

Roy, WA 98580

5.  NOTE #4 carefully.  No emails!  NO, NO,NO!  Only a paper copy in a envelope with a stamp on it.  I'm serious.  Email will be discarded.

6.  Include a card or piece of paper with your name and address PRINTED IN CAPITAL LETTERS on it as if on an envelope.  I will be  using that as a mailing label to ship a book back to you.  So PRINT LEGIBLY. Like this:   

NAME

STREET ADDRESS

CITY, STATE ZIP CODE

7.  If you want me to keep that information for future newsletters (as in real mail from me to you) you must give me permission.  Otherwise I discard that information after sending you a signed hardback.

Please note I will sending the books by Book Rate via the US Postal Service.  Not fast, but they will get there if  you have given me a good clear name and address.

I know this may seem obsessively specific, but I have lost count of the times when mail has been returned to me because the address was wrong.

And again, very sorry, but this is US readers only.

Many thanks in advance to readers who choose to do this.  This offer good through April 15, 2025

Yes.  I have ladybugs in my house.  For better or worse, my home is pretty permeable to them.  It's not as bad as the old house, which I shared with a number of friendly residents: possums and raccoons in the attic, all matter of insects inside.

Every fall, the ladybugs invade, looking for a place to hibernate for the winter.  And I am alwasy astonished that such tiny pieces of life can enter my home, hide behind a picutre on the wall or up im the corner of the ceiling, and be still for months.  Then, when spring touches the house and the sunlight comes in the windows, there they are!  And I open the windows and take out the (ineffective) screen and spend a pleasant quarter hour watching them open their little red and black shells, put out their lacy black wings and take flight.  What a miracle.

As for my title to this blog, like a lot of US Citizens, I am having a 'Buy Nothing' day.  It's a quiet protest to some things my federal government is doing.  Will it be noticed?  Unlikely.  

But on this day, I will instead donate.  Used items, clean and folded and sorted, will go to a second hand store instead of into a landfill.

Then I'm going down to the Yelm School district offices.  For the second time, our school district levy failed.  The levy would have added $2.50 cents to my property taxes per $1000 of value.  Not a lot, but my local schools depend on it.  So today, I will go into the offices and write a check for that amount and donate it to the school.  I can ear mark it for lunches or the arts or sports, etc.  It's a tough choice.  They are all important.

I don't understand how people can think that art and music are 'extras' in a kid's education.   Or food!   

I'm 72.  One of the worst things I can imagine is being 82, and the kids that are 8 right now are 18 and voting, but they don't read well or understand statistics.  Or worse, they don't vote at all because they were never taught about how democracy works.  Undereducated people are a shame to my country and my city. 

So I'm going to put my money on the table.  I don't have any kids or grandkids in the Yelm school system anymore.  But everyone one of those kids can impact my life for the next (X) number of years that I am alive here.  I want them to have the best education they can get.

So that's my rant for the day.  And yes, I'm letting the ladybugs overwinter in my house!

Robin

Yesterday, Feb 1, six writers gathered at the 35617 S R 507 S in McKenna WA.  We were a diverse group, with backgroiunds in film, theater, gaming, mainstream and fantasy writing.  But it was a very congenial group, and I was pleased at how quickly lap tops were opened and the writing commensed.

As mentioned before, the idea is to provide a space where writers of any ilk can find a couple of distraction free hours to work.  Today I was down there by myself from 1-4, and I was very pleased at how much work I got done on my edits of a first draft.  Coffee, tea and cookies were available, but I could not suddenly decide to run the vacuum or do a load of laundry, or any of hte other tasks I give myself when I get stuck on a project.  I made a great deal of forward progress.

If you live in the vicinity of McKenna (Or don't mind a long drive!) and would like to know when the room is open, please send me an email at Robinhobb@robinhobb.com and I will add you to the mailing address.  At this time, it looks as if Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the best times for people to gather.  But there will also be hours when I am just there working alone, and if anyone wants to come and silently work at the same table, that would be fine.  

The space there continues to evolve and I hope it will become more pleasant as time goes by.

My other projects this week are to learn more about beekeeping.  I have a hive box now, and extra boxes to add on top as the hive prospers. (I hope!)  My next step is to order bees.  I can just order a box of bees to put in the hive, and give them food and so on until they establish themselves.  Or I can order a nuc.  That is where I buy several frames that have some honey and brood in them already, and some bees and a queen that has already made a mating flight.  Tomorrow there is another meeting of the Pierce County Beekeeping Association and I hope to attend and learn enough to make a valid decision.

If feels odd to be ordering flower seeds and thinking of bees when she just had our first snowfall.  It wasn't deep, and it melted off the roads almost immediately.  But I do think we are going to have a prolonged winter this year.  The weather man says that the nights are going to continue to drop down below freezing.  I'm goimg throug a lot of birdeseed and chicken feed keeping my birdfeeders and chicken troughs full.  

Currently, my evenings entertainment is writing to my congressional senators and representatives, and any other politician that I think is doing a good job.  I like to send real letters, but I encourage anyone who wants to share thoughts with any government official to send a letter or an email.  It's very satisfying to think that my lone voice might be heard, and in some way encourage people who are working long hours for their constituency.  

And I've nothing else to share.  So it's time to shut the laptop and plan tomorrow.  I hope you all had good days today!