The new Terry Pratchett is out. THUD. That’s the name of it. It’s sitting next to my couch right now and I CAN’T READ IT. And it’s a WATCH book, too. The agony. If I read it, I’ll start writing in snarky omniscient and my already tentative grasp on Christmas romance will go all to hell. But it’s a NEW PRATCHETT. I’m suffering here.
But Sept. 30, when this first draft is done, I’m reading it. With a liter of Diet Coke and the junk food of my choice, I am going to have a wonderful time with Vimes. And Sybil. I suppose Susan is too much to hope for, but certainly Carrot and Angua. Oh, just hell. I hate delayed gratification.
In other news I have 647 unanswered e-mails to go before I’m caught up. So I ignored them and spent two hours today painting my mailbox which happens to be on a very busy highway (“Novelist Killed in Tragic Mailbox Incident; Friends Say, “She Always Was A Moron”) only to go back to the house and hear thunder. I’ll have to go and look at it tomorrow to see if any of the paint stayed on during the following deluge. The good part is that it gave me time away from the computer to think, which was good.
Because then I came inside and wrote. I’m at 5, 527 words, and some of them are good. This might be working. I mean, technically, that’s a quarter of the novella. It’s going to turn out a lot longer than that, and then I’ll have to cut it, but I made some progress here. The characters are shaping up. I got me some motifs.
This could work.
LOVE Terry Pratchett!!! Australia doesn’t have Thud released yet so I’m very jealous.
Good work on anything, everything you write is genius anyway.
I love Susan. She is my hero.
LOL At the mailbox. I’m having visions of the water tower in WTT.
Jeanne
Actually, there’s another one coming out on Sept. 27th:
Every night at six o’clock sharp, Commander Samuel Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch must be home to read to his one-year-old son. It’s the only thing that keeps him sane in an increasingly insane world. Where’s My Cow? is Young Sam’s favorite story, and his father enjoys doing all the farmyard animal noises.
But, Sam wonders, why is this book full of moo-cows and baa-lambs when Young Sam will only ever see them cooked on his plate? He can’t help but feel there should be a more useful book for a little boy who lives in a big city. So Sam starts adapting the story. A story with dark streets, not sunny fields. A book with rogues and criminals. A tale about the place where Young Sam will grow up—a city that his father must protect every day.
Colorfully illustrated, Where’s My Cow? is an engagingly clever story-within-a-story for young readers and all fans of Discworld and Terry Pratchett. Jacket art by Melvyn Grant. (32 pp.) 2005.
Woo! Words on page!! I’m waiting to get Thud until we leave for Hawaii… since I’m now a broke student again, I can justify it by calling it part of the vacation.
The burning question is- what did you paint on your mailbox? Two hours? It must have been a masterpiece of epic proportions.
But then, everything you do is awesome!
Keep getting those words on paper so we can read them sooner!
Dear Jenny:
My thighs felt it was important to communicate to YOUR thighs that Ben & Jerry’s Karamel Core Sutra is A VERY GOOD THING. My thighs are still searching for Dove ice cream with the crack, I mean, ganache, on top, but since I can still (barely) fit into my jeans it’s obvious THEY HAVEN’T FOUND IT YET.