February ’20 Updates

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Furiously Familiar and Familiar Sorrows are done, and the drafts need outside readers. I’ve got 20,000 words on Generally Familiar meaning two stories out of five or six. Some are older characters – Heike and Walburga, Barbara and her Shire mare Familiar Magda, others are new, and one wraps up a loose end from FF.

I’m digging back into White Gold and Empire, and hope to have that finished by April.

We’re into the busiest part of the year at Day Job, because music, academics, and sports all have competitions in spring, and I’m involved in all of them. OK, not athletics so much, but the others. Ditto choral things – Choir Season is half-way through for church choirs, and we’re entering the hard home-stretch in my professional chorus.

In terms of reading, I’m just over half-way through re-reading The Book of Mormon. I found an edition that is edited so that it looks like a traditional Bible translation, which makes things a little easier. It is partly research reading, so I don’t screw up something basic when André and Rodney start discussing theology, or Rodney and Angus start fighting over predestination (again!) It reminds me of reading the Old Testament, without (thus far) as much “and he knew her” (KJV), if you get my drift.

I’m also reading a little fiction when possible, and have started Frank Dikötter’s book about cults of personality. Given some of the political things this year, it seems like a good time to make myself wade through that. Not because Dikötter’s a bad writer, but the subject matter is not cheerful. Like Chung and Halliday’s Mao with Dikötter’s Cultural Revolution as a chaser.

I’ve finally shaken the last of that bronchitis that hit in early January. I had a mild case and it still caused me problems when I tried to exercise hard or do serious singing. If you can avoid that virus, please do so. If not, you have my sympathy.

Otherwise things are rolling along. The garden seems to have survived thus far, although last week’s 11 F low temp might not have been good for all those plants that were suckered into budding. You’d think, after this long, they’d know better. Alas, no. If we get rain and snow this week, it will help.

If any of you are going to FoolzCon in early April, I will be there late Friday (maybe), Saturday and part of Sunday. With Tay (pre-bleach) so you can get a picture if you are so inclined.

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8 thoughts on “February ’20 Updates”

  1. I suppose you’d send a certain Wolverine Familiar after me if I asked “when can I purchase those books”. 😉

  2. Could be worse. It might be Tay.

    Appreciate all your hard work. The books and stories are a big lift at times.

    I have similar garden worries. Feb warm temps could snap back and kill tender shoots or flower buds in local orchards.

    • I looked at the streetside bushes in the Deepest Oregon city, and they’re not foolish enough to have many (or any, YMMV) buds. It hasn’t been very cold lately; haven’t dropped below 0 F all winter (personal record -28 F(!) ), but it’s been consistently chilly at night.

  3. I’ve read all of the Familiar series and I’m working my way through the whilst I books on no.5 at the moment, really enjoying them.

  4. Yay, we’ll have fun! And I’m still amazed by your output… You get three out to my one… if not more.

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