Okay, so, I started this week by repeatedly opening my laptop, starting whatever, and promptly falling asleep. Took me longer than I expected to adjust to sleeping in catnaps and waking up to check on a cheeping puppy. This is probably because Morgan had a bout of stress colitis and needed to go out every hour on the hour from dusk Friday to midday Saturday. She is fine now! I had a chat with my reproductive vet and put her on a lot of things suitable for a nursing mother and she was much better by Saturday night. It is so useful to have a well-stacked pet medication cabinet. I even had antibiotics sitting here, which I don’t always. Anyway, Morgan is doing just fine now.
The puppies are also doing just great. The smallest is gaining about 25 grams per day, an excellent rate of growth that looks paltry only in comparison with all the others, who are gaining from 30 to 45 grams per day. I’m too cautious to say anything about smooth sailing, but, well, they are certainly doing beautifully so far. Fastest litter to take off since my E litter, and that wasn’t a C-section.
So, during the run up to Puppy Day, of course it was hard to work on anything. I did stuff related to the Tuyo series … I have about 140 pages written for Keraunani, 30 for Tasmakat, and 15 or so for a related story from Tano’s point of view. Don’t know if that last will go anywhere. We’ll see.
I’m much (much) less stressed now, though, and making good progress on revising No Foreign Sky. You may recall that is a finished SF novel I hope might be traditionally published. (If not, you bet I will self-publish it in a year or two.) Anyway, this kind of revision takes … Not more brain power or attention, but a different kind, than the Tuyo series. I hope I will get that in shape to send back to Caitlin in ten days or so.
After that … Not sure. Can you believe it’s June? Hard to believe it’s June! Maybe I should pick up the next two Black Dog novellas next.
Regardless of my next writing project for the year, here are my current black dogs, plus their sister:
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I’m not sure there is anything cuter than a puppy pile. Hope they continue to do well!
Good to hear they are doing well!
I hope they start sleeping through the night soon, so you can do the same.
Puppy piles are cute, but cuter when their eyes open.
I had totally forgotten how clever Crown of Stars is. It is fantasy, in that it takes place in the late Dark Ages, or early Middle Ages. And it is almost recognizably Earth. But God is considered female. And the imminent is very close: miracles and magic are real, as are sorcerors–sortelegi, mathematici, tempestari, Augures… and malefici.
But in another sense, it’s science fiction: the past is an alien land..
The people are not modern people dropped into a Midieval milieu. They are people of their time, worried about food, and heresy, and have unthinking attitudes that women are in the image of God, and better suited to administering estates.
I have read very few authors who succeed in this. Mary Catelli and Connie Willis “Doomsday Book” come first to mind.
Here is an example. From her behavior, the daimone Jerna is an elemental spirit fascinated by humanity and especially pregnancy and childbirth. So interested that she grows breasts and even serves as a wetnurse when the childs mother is unable. But in a weak moment, the father worries:
Jerna’s aetherical form fluttered down beside him, rippling like water. She curled herself as a veil of protection around the sleeping bundle that was Blessing. Perhaps, like an amulet, she did protect the baby. Blessing had not taken sick for even one day since Jerna began suckling her, nor was the baby troubled by fly or mosquito bites like the rest of them. Hot sun did not make her dusky skin break out in a rash, nor did she seem to mind the cold. She was growing so fast that every man there knew it was uncanny and abnormal, although none spoke a word out loud. Maybe he was a fool for letting an abomination nurse her. Perhaps it wasn’t wise. But what else could he have done? He had made the only choice open to him.
To our eyes, Jerna is not an abomination–it wouldn’t even cross our minds.
oh yes, and here is hoping that you get some sleep soon!