Well, that’s starting to bite, isn’t it?
Generally, I don’t closely follow global economics — as well as distracting me from my actual work at hand, it tends to interfere with my mystique as an unworldly artist-type…
But I do watch my sales figures pretty closely, because a) I can, now that I don’t have to wait for my publisher to impart the data at their leisure, usually six months down the line; and b) I am now responsible for my own sales, and it’s actually possible to relate increase in sales to something that happens in the outside world (like a review, or even a tweet); and c) forewarned is forearmed, and if things start trailing, it’s best to know about it.
So, I watch my sales. And dammit, the British pound has lost 25 cents against the dollar since June!Â
A certain portion of my ebook sales come from Amazon.co.uk, and I’ve always enjoyed doing the conversion, because it makes my income projections look pretty. 79.99 GPB of British book sales in June? Heck, that’s a whole $117.59 in real American money!
Except, not now. It’s $97.59. I feel very hard done by, I must say.
Well. Can’t do much about it, can I? If an entire nation wants to mess with my bottom line, that’s their prerogative, I suppose.
In other news:
My mighty steed.
Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman had their 20th wedding anniversary party last weekend, held at the Holyoke Merry-Go-Round to the delight of young and old. Except, there seemed to be no actual “old,” since once you climb on to a carousel horse, you immediately become nine years old for the duration of the ride. This I have discovered to be true.
Delia herself, in motion, in a flowing silken dress. Don’t you wish you could ride a carousel horse in a flowing silken dress?
The merry-go-round was authentic, lovingly restored, dating from (I seem to remember) 1927.  As well as being open to the public, you can book it for private parties, as Ellen and Delia did.
The lovely couple, twenty years in.
And the party itself was wonderful, filled with wonderful people, many of whom I actually knew (including Genrettes!). (If you were there, and I didn’t say hi, I do apologize — there was so much to see, and so many to talk to.  I’m sure you had as great a time as I did.)
And meanwhile, back at the ranch: Kitchen painting. Those of you who have painted kitchens know what this entails. Those of you who haven’t, you’ll find out. It seems to be one of life’s milestones. Sometime in your life, you will paint a kitchen. No, having painted the living room does not give you a free pass.
It helps to have help. In this case, I’m the help.
And in other news: I’m still hunkered down in the times that are available for hunkering.  More than that cannot be said without spoilers, I suppose.
This whiteboard needed to be much longer, so I split it longitudinally.
