Sunday, March 22, 2009

New ARCs! German edition! Plus: Muse-summoning incantation

Yippee! I got a Fedex delivery from Penguin on Friday and inside were not only two ARCs of Silksinger (at last! at last!) but two copies of the new German edition of Blackbringer, Die Elfen von DreamDark: Krahenmadchen!

I have dreamed about foreign editions, and I dream of more--more languages, new covers. It's so exciting! I don't speak any German, but leafing through the book I see so many cool words and have no idea what they mean. Thank you again to translators Cornelia Stoll and Friedrich Pfluger. Anyone who reads the German, please report back on how it is!

So, last I posted I was planning a freewriting "suckstravaganza" and invited my irresponsible but exciting Bohemian muse to stop by and join me. I must report that, after about an hour of decently loose freewriting, it all fell apart. It was Jim's fault. He got this notion to . . . go out. And . . . do things that people do. Like: have lunch and browse in a bookstore and sit around at a cafe. What a notion! He's been pretty cooped up with deadlines for a while, and all that time he was daydreaming about flaking around, sitting and reading for hours, going to cafes, etc, and the time had come to follow up on the daydreams. So we had a lovely day. Crepes, Powell's books, a movie.

So the muse hasn't really shown up, but it's my fault. One must sit in one's chair and be working, or the muse will stay away. They don't waste their time stopping by if you're shopping or eating crepes! Nope, you must have your butt in your chair and your fingertips on the keys or it generally will not happen. It's like a magical muse-summoning incantation. Butt in chair, fingers on keys. And it doesn't always work, no. But the only way it has a chance of working is if you do it. Sit. Stay. Write.

Perhaps tomorrow. Right now, I delve into the glory of . . . TAXES. Sigh. Muse assured to not put in an appearance.

16 comments:

Jay Asher said...

Krahenmadchen! I don't know if I'm saying it right, but it's sure been fun to try.

You should have that printed on t-shirts!

Victoria Thorne said...

Congrats on the German..
Sehr exciting!

Muse is coming. Or kommen? Soon!

Unknown said...

German edition sounds lovely! And good luck with the muse...sounds to me that with the economy being the way it is, maybe it'd be a good thing for Muse to show up then!!

Q said...

That or the muse shall arrive right before you start to do taxes, so you can't possibly do them because you need to write! That would be convenient.

Cuppa Jolie said...

It sounds like a lovely day with Jim! (Might as well take all of those you can get right now too!)

I think there should be a special kind of tax muse...something to make it mildly entertaining?

Stephanie Perkins said...

So exciting!!!! They look fantastic!

Maybe you can post some of the more interesting-looking words? :) German is such a cool language.

Candice Westberg said...

The books do look beautiful. However, I'm peeking at the spine to Lips Touch and I'm so curious to know what the cover looks like! I can't wait for the reveal!

Rachael King said...

Have you seen this wonderful blog? And this post is about showing up for the muse, not the other way around. Good stuff.

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2009/03/showing-up-for-the-genie.html

Rachael King said...

How come that didn't paste properly?

Maybe just go to

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com

as the genie post is the latest.

Lexi said...

I like how the Dreamdark ARC's are sitting on top of the Lips Touch one... like Lips Touch wants to get out there and party but it's not allowed to!

hee.

Hardygirl said...

Yummy! It must be so much fun to see your arc and your book written in German. Delicious porn is what it must be like!

I puttered around today, doing everything I could NOT to write and when I finally settled in and started typing . . . the muse showed up.

sf

Laini Taylor said...

Lexi, it's so true! Lips Touch is hiding down there, anxiously awaiting its debut! :-)

Anonymous said...

Bring your German edition next time we have a Portland Kid-Lit night and I'll read you a few paragraphs--it's a wonderful, earthy sounding language and I don't get nearly enough opportunity to practice.

I was at Annie Blooms last week and a very little girl came in demanding "that book with the bird and the fairy on it" The man in the shop that day had no idea but dutifully looked through picture books and easy readers for birds and fairies.

I asked the girl why she wanted it and she explained that her aunt read a bit of it on the phone but she's not allowed on the phone for a whole book AND she really likes magic best of all AND her aunt said the book writer was pink and married to her picture maker.

"oh I think I know your book," I said and then the bookseller looked at me like I had just practiced black magic. :-)

tone almhjell said...

Cool story, Roseanne :)

Laini Taylor said...

Roseanne, that IS a great story! Thanks for helping out!!

Heather said...

I'm still holding out for the French translation!