One weaves one’s own life into a book, and this one, begun in 2010, has all Jane’s illness in it, the loss of both our kittehs, and her recovery, and the arrival of Eushu and Seishi, who are so very different. It has been a year of struggle, of exhaustion, of self-doubt, midway, as I knew Jane was too sick to write, and I had no choice if we were going to pay the bills…
I honestly, for the first time since I was ten years old, thought I couldn’t write any longer—worse, I was no longer sure I wanted to. It became daily discipline, getting to work, writing ten lines, at least ten lines. I tried to impose self-discipline. I edited Chernevog on days when the current writing just couldn’t make sense to me. Crises interrupted me. I couldn’t remember what I’d written, where I was, who was whom—thank goodness for my little book of general notes.
I was happy when, after everything, Jane started decorating, first for Halloween, and then for Christmas. Our silly kittehs got into the act. Writing began to move again, but all that mess lay behind it…and I began to realize this is, for the series, an important book…
For Christmas, Jane got me—yes—a medicine cabinet. Two huge medicine cabinets. I got her two saws, from the Thanksgiving sales. And we had nowhere left to put anything and the house was a mess. We had been looking for tile—sort of—since last Christmas, in 2010. We started looking for tile in earnest. We found it. And we found not only the hole in the bathroom wall which started in 2008, became a hole in 2009, and a monster hole with plastic sheeting in 2010—we found a hole in the bathroom floor, where more water had gotten out.
Well, you know the rest. Jane started in on the job and we couldn’t afford to have it done: we could barely afford the parts. I wrote. I struggled with it. I helped Jane where she had to have help, commiserated with her when she tried to learn new skills—mudding, floor repair, plumbing which three professional plumbers and a parts shop had declared couldn’t be done differently—and had to be. My particular talent is destruction, so I smashed and stripped old tile; Jane mudded the wall. We began to think bathroom design, obsessively, and I began to lose my way again. Hell with it—we just devoted ourselves to getting that room finished. The kitchen flooded, which permanently damaged the kitchen floor. It was almost the last straw, and insurance wouldn’t pay for it. But—the insurance guy recommended a guy who was reliable for tiling. And we hired him. It was the last thing, the last learning curve, and we opted not to take it. We had him and his partner do the cut and fit—and the new countertop, and the lighting sofit. We grouted the job. Did the electrical work. And did a good job of it. Jane painted. And decorated. And her site shows the result.
Then a wonderful thing happened. If you’ve read the Russian novels, you know what a bannik is—a vodka-loving Russian bath spirit that gives you ideas and inspiration as you sit in the bath house…ideally with a jug of vodka. We swore our old house in Oklahoma City, our first house, had a class one bannik in the upstairs shower. The subsequent one wasn’t as good. And our bannik didn’t move with us up north. They don’t, really: they’re kind of homebodies.
Well, after the first bath in the new bathroom—Jane deserved the honor—she came out inspired to write, and started having ideas. She told me, and we went and got a bottle of vodka and poured a healthy dose down the bathtub drain.
I tried it. A wonderful shower. And for sure, a very good bannik.
I went back to my keyboard and threw out everything I’d done on the current book—or most of it. I treated it all as a general outline of the book, but not the book, and I began writing like crazy. For the first time since Oklahoma I wrote all out. I couldn’t leave it. I’d open it up after dinner, not to do puzzles and such while I watched television, but to keep going. And going. Same with Jane. We had a little glitch with the site upgrade, postponed since fall, and renaming her site, but we’re at it again full tilt.
I tore through that outline at the speed I can use when the bannik is in good form, and today—I have one small scene to write. And I already have half the outline of the book that follows it. And I am proud of what I’m writing. This is the book it needed to be. And I’m still doing writing and editing in the evening, both on the current book, and on the final Russian novel…featuring, yes, in a sense, a bannik.
So it’s all good news today. We’re back in good form. The kitchen floor is going to wait. More yard work is going to wait. Even the accounting looks surmountable. We’re not going to agonize over it in the annual fit of lost papers. We’re going to take one day, and get our personal accounts shipped off to the accountant—and then get back to writing; and then take another day and get the corporate accounts shipped off. And back to writing.
Life is good. And I think you’ll like this book.
I am so happy to hear you have your bannik back!
You and Jane both have always been a wonderful inspiration for me. Thank you.
And congratulations!
I am very glad to hear that life is going so much better for both you and Jane. It’s been a rough year. Congratulations on finishing the book! (And thank you!) And kudos to the bannock!
Having re-read Foreigner books 6 – 12 in preparation for INTRUDER, I am now halfway through my first reading of the new book and I love it. I find every page totally engrossing. These books fit together so seamlessly and there are so many little “ah ha!” moments where something mentioned in an earlier book is important to something that happens later. I love that. It just gets better and better. Once again, thank you.
She is done! It’s on my kindle! And I look forward to a great time. Bwahahaha.
And lest you think we are kidding about our bannik…check the pic on my blog, taken Sunday, February 19, 2012 11:10:03 AM. 😀 We take these things seriously…just in case! I’m sure it’s the same one I had in my bathroom in OKC…the GroundTies boys are in fine form!
And it’s been so wonderful seeing Carolyn fly on a book again. All the moves in the last decade have been hard on both of us. It’s nice to have a real home.
With a bannik. 😀
Oh, happiness!!!
It managed to flow all the way across one continent and an ocean so the bannik must be a truly strong one!
So happy for you !!
So glad your inspiration is back !
What I want to know, is how you knew that 100% of this new book is exactly 115,976 words.
But I am glad things are looking up for both you and Jane.
Heh. A bit of revisionism on the progress graph—The original target was 120,000 words…so I came in pretty close!
Wonderful! You’ve both been struggling on the personal front for a few years, and it’s great to see you truly connect with your muse again. Can’t wait to read the results, but right now I’m happier that you appear more whole than you have been. I’ll toast you and your bannik tonight!
I am doing the happy dance for you both! Having had a similar up-and-down on the illness front for a couple of years, I am intimately familiar with the exhilaration of coming to oneself anew!
(Not to mention? Happy dance for me! New Book!)
wonderful news! so happy for you both.
It’s so great to hear things are going better. You two have been struggling for so long.
My guest bathroom is fine, but my master bathroom needs repairs, a complete remodel. No idea if there’s an unhappy or happy bannik involved, though. I could use some inspiration and creative energy, and not just in the intellectual / arts, but the physical (house and yard) to get caught up and organized again.
Hmm, any bannik or other spirit fond of (alcohol) spirits would be hard pressed here. I will have to make an effort to get tequila and margarita mix, and some wine for cooking or drinking. I need to get both.
I’ve really enjoyed your books over the years, and have liked Blood Red Moon and the first Netwalkers book very much. I am not yet back into full reading mode, and will be so glad when that at last is back.
But the weather today is beautiful, sunny and perfect temps. I’ve been presing myself to learn some program skills to upgrade and replace what I used to use, and to stretch into new territory. I finally got past one plateau, and both have me happy and feeling energized again. I hope this stays. I am so ready to be past the moping and unproductive / unhappy / unfulfilled stage I’ve been in, both prior to and after my grandmother’s passing.
That you and Jane are once again feeling good, have your creative energies restored and eager and producing work you are proud of, happy with, is very good news. (It gives me hope too.)
Besides which, it means there are two or three books upcoming by both of you, plus I think one or two upcoming from Lynn, current or backlist.
I’m hoping for more Foreigner, but still quite early in the series.
I’m also hoping for more from your other story-universes (Alliance/Union! Chanur/Compact!) or other originals. — I haven’t read the Russian trilogy and I’m now very intrigued.
About the Russian influence: I have noticed a big influx the past couple of years in typefaces and design available from designers in Russia and other former Soviet countries. These are, in part, to make available the Cyrillic alphabet in modern pan-European/Western fonts, but also for design and type in their own right. And they are *good*, and fresh because they’re unfamiliar to most of us. I’ve been really impressed by the design sense used in Japanese anime and manga I’ve seen. Truly high quality and interesting, overall, but with that other cultural angle. One other that seems to be on the rise is a South American / Latin American sensibility coming into its own and having some influence now with contact into the USA. — Jane might want to visit MyFonts.com and sign up for their type email newsletter. It’s a nice source of interviews with designers and inspirational, more so than a lure to buy fonts (products). Do watch the urge to get something, though. These include showings of type usage, but also products or posters, things you’d both find of interest from an art and design viewpoint.
Hmmmmm — I’ve got one of those airlines bottles of vodka. . . . . . .
This is wonderful news – congratulations on the new housemate!
Happy, happy dance and so very glad that everything has finally settled. Bright blessings to the bannick for the peace he has brought you both. Personally, I think it was that lovely koi mural.
And, LOL, I have always liked this book! Every single one ’em. Just anxiously awaiting what will be a new old friend, which is how I think of your stories.
I hope my visit didn’t delay things… I knew you were close to the end of #14, but this is stellar news! I finally get to leave for home in Arizona tomorrow morning. Tomorrow night I’ll be sleeping in my own bed, rather than the one I bought at this hotel.
Just found the letter. Even we have to stop and breathe for a few days now and again. Hope you had a great trip.
i have this old bottle of vodka in my freezer that.. well i should throw it out but i could never bring myself to do it bc ya know.. i’m a grown up so i should have alcohol in the house somewhere? even if it’s not drinkable?
gonna pour it down the shower drain. no regrets.
It could work….