progress, I have some
April 30, 2008
At the start of April I set myself a goal of getting to 40,000 words on the current project, Kitty #7, by the end of April. At the time, I seriously didn’t think I was going to make it. But since I’m at 39,600 right now, I think I’ll make it with room to spare. This puts the book at about the halfway point. Woot! Makes me happy. (what’s happening in the book right now: everybody dies! Well, okay, not really…)
Some of you are probably thinking, Ack! Book 7? What happened to 5 and 6? The answer is, they’re still in process. I still have to do revisions and copy editing and all that good stuff on them. It’s going to be a busy busy summer. *rolls up sleeves*
In other news, we are having a beautiful spring here. T-shirt weather, lots of singing birds. Yesterday a flock of migrating pelicans soared and circled over the ponds where I walk Lily. I bought a mint plant, and am going to work very hard to keep it alive so I can have fresh mint tea — and mojitos! — by the end of summer.
Oh, and I have a really good title for #7. Unlike the last two, when I had to slog through title hell to find good ones. I’m not going to tell it until I run it by a few people first. On the other hand, for your amusement, here are the working titles: “The Kitty Horror Picture Show” (rejected for obvious reasons) and “The Most Dangerouser Game,” which a friend of mine came up with and which I think is completely hilarious.
April 30, 2008 at 10:53 am
Hmmm…I like both those titles.
And I love the fact that there’s a 7th in the works.
April 30, 2008 at 9:00 pm
awe love “The Kitty Horror Picture Show” of cores that would me she’d be in a gold bikini with matching boots… mmmmmm. oh and once most mint gets started it’s very hard to kill. don’t put it in a garden with flowers it will take over
May 1, 2008 at 7:47 am
Mint does have an tendancy to run wild. Its best to plant it in a very big pot and leav it to it. It needs hardly any looking after as it is so hardy. Just water it and give it some plant food once in a while. We keep ours by the back door so the breeze brings the scent in.
May 1, 2008 at 8:48 am
I have the mint in a pot, so all good there. I don’t have the best track record with plants. We’ll see how it goes.
May 1, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Just finished Silver Bullet, I think Kitty could use a good talk with Juniper MacKenzie (cf SM Stirling and Dies the Fire).
Speaking of crossovers…
For Book 10 Kitty meets a wizard from St. Paul MN (the Twin Cities second city) by the name of Jerry Leipzig. Jerry wears a trench coat, carries a walking stick made of pvc and covered in Looney Tunes stickers, and has a motley mutt named Missus and a Siberian Cougar/Temple Cat (yes Eurasia once had cougars) named Rat. (The whole Temple Cat story is long-winded and involves such improbable things as the descendants of East Manasseh refugees from the Egyptian/Hittite Wars of real long ago, and a curious blend of Siberian shamanism, pre-Judges period folk practices (”What the Benjamites do is the Benjamites’ business, we don’t sleep with other men.”
and Tibetan Bhuddism as filtered through Ishmelite Moslems who lost their last Koran sometime in the 9th century.)
Why, yes, I have overdosed on Harry Dresden. Seeing Small Favor show up in my mail would be a … No, I’m not going to do that to you. Bug one of your friends into doing it instead.
May 5, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Mmmm…mojito’s… Great idea. Now I want a mint plant.
Book 7?! Squee!!!! Bwahahaha! I like “The Most Dangerouser Game”! *giggle*
Oh….and I should probably introduce myself since I’ve started commenting after lurking for forever. Hi Carrie, I’m Tia from Fort Collins. I’ve been enjoying the Kitty books since day one. KatMH is pretty worn from loaning it out to everyone I know. But, of course, it only takes one book and they are out buying the rest for themselves.
I do my part. hehe
Can’t wait for the next one!
May 6, 2008 at 8:13 am
Thanks for spreading the word!
May 8, 2008 at 2:35 am
Hey Carrie,
My name is Cassi, I really love your books and I am super dooper happy to see that there is a book 7 coming wow. I can’t wait for 5 i keep checking back your website all the time, but It doesn’t seem to be updated as much as other places. I only found out about 5 and 6 through a wiki site
I was wondering if there was any way you would consider reprinting some of your short stories about kittie and that universe into one book because i’m finding it kind of difficult to get my hands on some of the short stories.
kittie’s zombie new year
kittie and the mosh pit of the damned
looking after family
winnowing the herd
I’d also love to know where in the reading order they should go, i’m a bit fanatical about reading in order whenever possible (i have this massive spreadsheet with all my authors, their series’ and any compilations they do and where those stories slot in) lol
thanks
May 8, 2008 at 2:36 am
oh also.
Jackie Kessler is really nice and I asked her if she would ask you if she could interview Kitty on the Cat and Muse - it’s super awesome and I think Kitty would have a ball doing it
here’s a link so you can see what I’m on about http://jackiekessler.com/catandmuse
May 8, 2008 at 7:58 am
Hi Cassi: as a matter of fact, I’ve just talked to Jackie and Kitty will be doing an interview. It might take a while because I’m a bit busy right now.
I pretty much only update my main website when I have news. I just updated this week!
As for short stories…I’d love to do a collection of Kitty stories. I’m working on convincing my publisher to put one out. In the meantime, “Winnowing the Herd” is available online at http://www.strangehorizons.com. Just type it into the search box.
May 12, 2008 at 2:39 am
Hey Carrie
Thats awesome news, Jackie is really nice, it will be so cool to read that interview when you get to it
*dances*
Oh I already have winnowing the herd on my computer
If you like perhaps on message boards I visit I could ask people to email your publisher so that they know there is a market for it, I understand that they probably wouldn’t want to publish when people can buy the books separately, but if enough people wanted to buy a compilation of your short stories it would probably make them feel more confidant about it right?
Anyway, if I can help you like that let me know and I definitely will