Today marks six weeks since my January 8 surgery, and I’m almost back to normal. In fact most of the time I feel fine, until I forget and make a funny move and give myself a jolt. Still a couple of nerves in there that could use some healing. I’m not doing any weightlifting yet, and am still not overly peppy. And I have a very impressive scar. Otherwise, for a big ol’ operation, it could have been a lot worse.
Recovery activities
Except that I was useless for several weeks (and kind of enjoyed it, to tell the truth), so now I’m WAAAY behind and playing catch up to the best of my ability. Yesterday I finally finished correcting the ARC* for my upcoming Alafair novel, Hell With the Lid Blown Off, and got it sent back to the publisher. Now I’m trying to get the MS for my non-Alafair book finished by mid-March. Will I make it? I don’t know. I’ve been working on the thing off and on for, like, two years.
Lots of stuff coming up that I must get ready for, and first up is the Tucson Festival of Books in mid-March. I agreed to moderate two panels and appear as a panelist on two more, plus I’ll be doing book signings for a bookstore, an association, and my publisher. The pre-Festival work comes in with the panel moderation. There will be three authors on each of the two panels, and my job as moderator is to ask them questions and keep the presentation moving and hopefully entertaining for an hour. Which means that I have to study the authors and their works and create a slate of topics for discussion that fits the panel theme, and get it sent to the authors a couple of weeks ahead of time. I’m trying to read as many books by each author as I can before writing up the questions. If you go to my EVENTS page (click on the link above), and see who the authors are whose books I must read, Dear Reader, you will realize that this is not an onerous task. These are great authors, and fortunately I’m already familiar with most of them. However, reading and re-reading dozens of novels does take time. Will I remember what I’ve read? We shall see.
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*an ARC is a proof of the final version of the book. They used to call them “galleys”.
February 23rd, 2014
**What is the non-Alafair book title and about??
February 23rd, 2014
Marianne, the new book is a contemporary mystery set in Scottsdale, AZ. Who is going to publish it, if anyone, and when, has not yet been determined, so I haven’t been touting it at this point. Believe me, when those little details are set, I’ll do my best to tell everyone on God’s green earth all about it.