serinde

I'm a bit more stable today, although I'm a bit annoyed, as the new Mass Effect shirt doesn't look as good as the previous version. It has black applique on a gray shirt, and this gray is lighter than the previous gray, so it looks weird. Joel and I both feel weird about it, but I think it may just be that we were used to the previous version.

Not much else going on. I was listening to a memoir by an actress, but it wasn't very interesting, and then she started talking about what a manipulative jerk she had been, and I gave up. Now, I'm listening to a Nero Wolfe mystery. They are always good.

The AI and I finally finished the timeline (minute by minute) for one of the plotlines of the space serial that I'm doing. Yay!! Now, I need to organize the other two plotlines, but they will be a lot easier to weave around the other ones now that I know when everything happens.

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25927976-downpour-blackstone-listing-audio-ox-for-mid-october

This just popped up this morning --

https://www.downpour.com/catalog/prod...

Quick work on Blackstone's part!

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 18

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25927976-downpour-blackstone-listing-audio-ox-for-mid-october

lillilah

I'm moody. And anxious. However, I made some progress on the shirts (they just need collars/neck stuff and buttons for the sun shirt). I tried on the sun shirt, and it fits well, but it is so plain right now that it looks really strange. That's okay. I have plans for that.

I got the reimbursement form for the latest batch of neurofeedback sessions submitted, so that is one less thing on my plate. The painting of cat feet that I'm doing instead of painting cats (I'm too anxious to paint cats right now) is coming along. The tabby cat foot looks pretty good. Maybe not quite perfect, but the fur looks like fur.

We've made great progress getting the huge pile of mulch dealt with, but I now realize that it is making me cough a lot (allergies). I'll wear a mask, so that should help.

sweh

I'm migrating my home machines from CentOS/Rocky to Debian and I'm finding my previous ansible automations slowing me down; maybe everything I have is really a pet! https://www.sweharris.org/post/2025-07-17-automation/

lillilah

It seems that getting polyps removed from your sinuses involves a lot of steroids. Previously, steroids have produced bad psychiatric issues for me. I don't remember what happened, but I do remember that we decided to never do that again. The doctor was also a dick. So, I'm in no rush to get the polyps dealt with. Oh, well.

In better news, Joel and I made a bunch of progress on the garden. He finished weeding the section that had been under the chicken coop, while I repotted the okra seedlings. Then, we both worked on moving the mulch from having our trees pruned to cover the whole under-coop area. There is still some mulch left, so I'm going to deal with the remaining weeds in the next section under the olive tree and put the rest of it there. Progress is being made!

lillilah

I woke up this morning with lots of energy to get stuff done. I made a bunch of plans, organized a bunch of things, and did some sewing, but then I felt muddled and dizzy (brain fog?). So, I needed to take a break. I doubt I'll be able to do much more tonight besides working on painting after dinner.

The nice thing about having plans is that even if I only get some of them done, I think we can move toward getting more of the house finished. For example, the bathroom only needs a bit more to be done. I think we can get them completed before the end of the month. The part of the garden that we need to weed before I can spread out the wood chips is nearly done too. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I can work on that. I should be able to finish the sun shirt and the Mass Effect shirt by the end of the week. Hopefully, with less brain freak out from neurofeedback, I'll be able to complete stuff. Since we can't really hire anyone to do the work, we need to get on it ourselves if we want it done. Honestly, it is easier that way. We don't need to deal with someone else's schedules.

lillilah

Sometimes, I wonder if I'm making a mistake and am not really anxious. Usually, that is when I'm doing okay or am distracted. Today, I don't wonder if I'm anxious. I definitely have plenty of anxiety. For no specific reason. I'm going to the doctor on Wednesday to hopefully start the process to deal with the polyps in my sinuses, but I'm excited to get that going. Granted, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't be anxious too, but I go out every Wednesday, so I think I'm okay with it. Did I do too much with all those appointments over the last couple weeks? Is it leftover crazy from the anaesthesia? Does my brain not know yet that I won't go back to neurofeedback this week, so it is busy being crazy about that? I also was going to work on the reimbursement paperwork for neurofeedback (until I found I was missing a receipt), and that is super stressful. So, it could have been that. However, what I know for sure is that I still have more than enough anxiety. I think I'll eat lunch and rest.

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25914514-demonic-ox-spoiler-discussion-space

As per my usual custom, I provide here a place for folks who have already read the story and want to chat about it to talk to each other, without risking spoiling those who don't want to be exposed to such. Who are presumed to realize they should skip this till they're ready.

Click back to the immediately prior post for all the publication details.

As of today Amazon, B&N, and Apple Books US are known to have the book up. Kobo and Google Play Books seem to be lagging, and there's something odd going on with Apple worldwide versus our Spectrum editions that we haven't sussed out yet. I will update when there's something new to say.

Have fun!

Ta, L.

(As always, word of mouth is the lifeblood of my career, so mentions of the story out and about elsewhere are very much appreciated.)

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 13

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25914514-demonic-ox-spoiler-discussion-space

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25910102-demonic-ox-arrives-today

The newest Penric & Desdemona e-novella, "The Adventure of the Demonic Ox", is being uploaded today. The time for an upload to penetrate the system varies wildly, from an hour to a ~~day~~ week, but I'll post direct links here as each of our 5 vendors goes live.

Amazon Kindle is first out the gate:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FHBMR3DN

Not yet up, but pending:

Kobo, Google Play Books, and Apple Books are interesting if you search by my name, because they each carry so many foreign language titles, if you scroll down. (Amazon ditto, I suppose.) These pages should populate in due course, though it may take a while for a new entry to sift to the top:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?que...

7/15 - Kobo is up! https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-...

https://play.google.com/store/info/na...

7/18 - Google Play direct link at last --
https://play.google.com/store/books/d...

https://books.apple.com/us/author/loi...

Direct Apple US link: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-a...

(Some readers are reporting problems finding my Spectrum titles on Apple outside the US, as per Bo, below. If you are one, chime in in the comments with details. Though I suppose we should give it a bit more time to propagate...)

B&N Nook, same deal:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/lois...

Direct link is up! : https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...

To recap:

The Adventure of the Demonic Ox

When sorcerer Learned Penric hears of the suspected demonic possession of an ox at his brother-in-law’s bridgebuilding worksite, he thinks it an excellent opportunity to tutor his adopted daughter and student sorceress Otta in one of their Temple duties: identifying and restraining such wild chaos elementals before harm comes to their hosts or surroundings.

What begins as an instructive family outing turns anything but routine when a mountain search becomes a much more frightening adventure for Penric and his charges. What is undergone there by both mentor and students will yield lessons both unexpected and far-reaching.

***

I'll make my usual spoiler discussion space post tomorrow, for the speed readers.

As always, reader mentions of the new title out and about on the internet and elsewhere are always greatly appreciated, as this blog and word of mouth are the only advertising my indie books get. Amazon always gets plenty of reviews; the other vendors are usually more in need. But no one will see any vendor pages unless they've already heard of the story someplace else, and go to look, so outside reviews and mentions are especially important.

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 18

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25910102-demonic-ox-arrives-today

lillilah

We have these huge iridescent black bees here (carpenter bees?). Last night, when I was getting into bed, I went to pick up my eye cover, and there was one of these in it. Joel had just gotten it off the line (because it was going to rain). I guess the bee was sleeping on it. It stung me, and my finger ended up swollen and red. Didn't hurt long. The poor bee was totally confused too. She didn't want to give up the eye cover, so Joel had to leave it outside with the bee. This morning, she was still on it and clearly not feeling well, so he mixed up some sugar-water for her and left it in a cap by her head. When he came back later, she was gone. So, we hope she is doing better now. The swelling has gone down somewhat. Probably will be fine tomorrow.

lillilah

Done!!!! I survived the dentist!!! And my tongue is no longer being sliced up by the spacer. Yay!!! I also finished the embroidery for my Mass Effect shirt (the paint came off of the letters, so I went over it in white thread). I think I'm going to throw some easy embroidery into my bag, just to get it done. I've got other stuff that I really need to do, but it will probably be easier to just go with something I have ready for now. I think I'm going to redo my idea for the cosmic background radiation bracelet, as I think the french knots aren't working well. I should do it on cross stitch cloth.

In other news, I tried (with Claude's help) to register on the immigration website, but I can't get it to work. I'll try with Joel's data, but I don't think it will work either. We'll see.

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25907375-sneak-cover-peek-two-tales-reprint-coming-later-this-summer

So...

The Vorkosigan novella "The Flowers of Vashnoi" has not been available in a paper version since the Subterranean Press edition sold out. The novella "Winterfair Gifts" has had only scattered paper publication, not easy to find. (Both, of course, are continuously available under their own titles as my indie ebooks, or audio downloads from Blackstone.)

Neither would be economically viable for any pro publisher to handle, but it occurred to me they'd be just the thing to add to my little list of print-on-demand paper editions, including The Spirit Ring and "Knife Children". So I've put them together in a single PoD volume, to be titled Two Tales.

Experience with the long-time reader confusion over the novella "The Borders of Infinity" and the 3-novella collection it's in, Borders of Infinity, made me try to label this paper mini-collection as clearly as possible. We'll have to see how it works out. I'm not yet sure how to make it searchable under either of the novella titles, which is what I suspect most people would first be looking for.

Anyway, I asked artist Ron Miller to do us a cover in the style of my other indie VK ebooks, and here's a sneak peek:

When this paper-only edition becomes available to buy, later this summer, I'll post the ISBN number, which should helps folks trying to order it through bookstores. (Uncle Hugo's will certainly have it; they also carry the other two of my PoDs.)

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 10

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25907375-sneak-cover-peek-two-tales-reprint-coming-later-this-summer

lillilah

Today was the last neurofeedback of this round. Yay! Tomorrow, I'll go to the dentist to get a crown put on, which will be great, as the temporary spacer (and the edge of the tooth) is so incredibly sharp.

The other thing we did today was pull grass and weeds in the garden, so that we can spread the wood chips. Joel helped a lot (with the pick, since some of those big tufts of grass just weren't coming out). It isn't entirely done, but it is a lot better. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to finish pulling the grass? (Oh, wait, no, since my dentist appointment is late-ish tomorrow.) Now that the trees are pruned, I really want to get to work on everything else out there.

Did I say that yesterday afternoon I made some progress on the sun shirt? I cut out the body on Monday using a pattern I drafted a couple of months ago. Yesterday, I pinned it to check it would work (it does), made a pattern for the sleeves, cut that out, and then cut out the sleeves. Maybe on Friday I can do a bit more work on it. I think the amount of work I'll need to do is pretty minimal overall, since the number of fancy touches are really low. I think the biggest thing will be the facing around where the collar attaches to the shirt to make it clean-looking on the inside. I think I'll probably put the decorative embroidery and beads on the lapels on separate pieces of material that I'll applique on. That will cut down on the delay getting the shirt done and will also keep the inside of the shirt nice looking too. I should probably keep the embroidery/beading pretty small to keep the shirt very lightweight. (Also, flopping around is always an issue with embroidery and beads if you don't put in a lot of interfacing.) Ah! And it will be easier to do the embroidery on the train if it is a small piece.

lillilah

The trees are massively pruned. The yard looks bare right now, but I think it will be nice to have it at least somewhat under control. Of course, there was all kinds of confusion and disorganization, but at least it is done. If I feel well enough tomorrow afternoon, I'll try to start the process of getting the yard cleaned up. Because they were disorganized, not everything got done and the yard was kind of a mess when they left. Still, I'm glad it is done and looking forward to making progress with the next steps.

lillilah

I got to work a bit more on the Murderbot painting today. I wanted to work on the sky, but then I felt like I needed to work on the distant hills first, but then the sky was the wrong color, so I went back to work on that. It still needs a lot of work, and parts of it are still the color of the underpainting, but after making the colors of the sky a bit better, I painted the reflections in the lake, and that really makes the whole thing look more cohesive.

In other news, the bathroom is done!!!!!!!! They will come tomorrow to clean up the yard, supposedly. I tried to explain that they need to come before the tree people, who will get here at 9am. We'll see how that goes. I'm excited but anxious about the tree people. It will be such a change for our yard! It is good, but it also means less shade. That is also good for plants but bad for using the yard. Although once the trees are dealt with, then we can hopefully make more progress on the parts of the yard that need to be protected from the sun.

dreamtigress

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: busy

lillilah

The bag is done! Well, 99% done. I could make more of an effort to attach the lining in one section (that is hard to get to), but I don't really care. So, done. Yay!!!!

Last night, I drew out the basic outline of the Murderbot painting that I want to do, and today, I decided to go ahead and put in enough of the colors so that I could at least see what I was doing. I think that the main character needs some work, especially in the shoulders, but I don't do figure drawing, so it is fine if it isn't perfect yet. Now that I can see the parts of the painting (it was pencil on dark purple background), I'll be able to adjust more.

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Page generated Jul. 18th, 2025 11:37 pm

Reading

More stable

Downpour-Blackstone listing audio OX for mid-October

Moody

New blog post

Sinus doctor and garden

Inspiration

Plenty of anxiety

Demonic Ox spoiler discussion space

Demonic Ox arrives today!

Bee

Dentist complete!

Sneak cover peek, Two Tales reprint coming later this summer

Yard work

Trees

Painting and bathroom

MDRF Tickets

Bag

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December 2024

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