Spent a while this…

Spent a while this morning working on the layout guide. I realized by the end that there was plenty more to add, but that I can tinker with it forever, and there's no reason not to get it up there and let people start using it. So I've sent it along to Shannan, and it'll go up on the SLF with the next monthly update. So that's pleasing, and I feel like I've done something useful for the field. Yay, me! With any luck, I'll never have to read a self-published book with teeny-tiny margins or headers on blank pages again. :-) I've learned a lot in the process of putting the book together too.

I'm going to spend some time re-reading Shyam Selvadurai's Cinnamon Gardens today, I think, as background for the story I'll be writing soon. It's set about two decades earlier, but the right location, and I'm hoping it'll ground me in the culture. I need to read some actual history too, but I'm being so lazy about it; I looked up the relevant books at the UIC library, but the thought of actually getting dressed and going in to deal with it fills me with exhaustion. Maybe Friday morning I'll go in with Kevin; I can get the books and he can check them out for me then.

I'm itching to finalize the Silence and the Word book, but I'm still waiting to hear from Ellen on whether she might want a story in it for Sci Fiction -- and actually, if she rejects it, I might try it with Gordon too. He still responds fast, right? And Gardner takes a while? I'm not willing to wait months on just this one story; I'd rather put it in the book. We'll see.

Other than that, put several things in the mail (SH fund drive donor gifts, mostly), get word count and contract info to Christophe so he can cut checks for Blowfish authors. Finish re-reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond. That's the plan for today.