I held off a few days on this month’s newsletter for three reasons:
There isn’t much writing news.
I hoped the solar eclipse would give me something to say. (It didn’t.)
And I spent three days in the hospital. (Don’t worry, I’m fine.)
The hospital stay was because I had chest pains that turned out to not be a heart attack, but when you’re a guy my age the doctors like to be thorough, so they held me for a couple of days for observation and lots of tests. They did eventually find a partial blockage in one artery, too minor for anything surgical, but I’ll be adding yet another medication to my daily handful of pills. We never did figure out what caused the original pain; it went away by itself after a day and a half. At least three days of bed rest let me get lots of reading done (two and a half novels and half a magazine) and watch some TV I wouldn’t have ordinarily seen.
The eclipse was completely invisible through the rainclouds here, and was only about 20% of total in any case. My daughter lives on the path of totality, though, and had a spectacular view. I’m slightly jealous.
As for the writing and publishing news: I actually did get started on a rewrite of Graveyard Girl. The first six chapters didn’t change much, but Chapter Seven is entirely new; the old Chapter Seven may become Chapter Eight, or may get cut, I haven’t decided yet. Did some minor writing on other stories as well, but mostly I distracted myself with cleaning my office and my computers — two of the four computers I had in my office have now been cleaned off and retired, and I’m hoping I can clear out a third. Sorting through all the transferred files and the various back-ups retrieved from the half-dozen external hard drives I’d accumulated is a major job, and it’s not done yet, but I’ve been turning up some interesting stuff I’d forgotten I had.
Oh, and I had a fine time at Norwescon. For one reason or another it had been a few years since I really enjoyed a science fiction/fantasy convention, so it was good to be reminded it’s possible. I’ve accepted an invitation to be Guest of Honor at COSine next January, in Colorado Springs, and I’m looking forward to it.
Spring is arriving here — flowers are blooming and trees are leafing out. I’m enjoying that, too, and looking forward to warmer weather.
Hope you’re all well, and thanks for reading.
— Lawrence
Astronomical events are often ho-hum or even no-show up here in the PNW. When the national news gushes about some star show or other, I just sigh. Haven't seen a meteor shower in the better part of 30 years. And so it was yesterday, but I do remember the eclipse of 2017, when the sun obliged us by actually being out that day. Glad to hear you're well!