Her name in motion
So yesterday afternoon I set out to make a book trailer, but it sort of turned into something else—an animated book cover? The big sell is that it reveals my detective's name—which (I love this) some of you have already uncovered with a bit of Google sleuthing—but it also delivers a dose of atmosphere. Check it out: 
And when you watch it, imagine some future e-book with that animation literally built into the cover, writhing on your bookshelf. Ooh.
Three other quick things:
The pentagigatweet. Listen, if this isn't digital and occult, I don't know what is: I posted message number five billion on Twitter. Don't worry, guys, I promise to use this power only for good, never for evil.
The catalyst. The response to my last update was amazing: enthusiastic, creative, and just the right kind of challenging. So it's decided: I'm going to run some sort of CC remix contest as soon as the book goes out. Still noodling the specific structure (and the specific incentives) so please do chime in if you have thoughts.
The routine. Over in the comments, Amy said: "I'm interested in hearing more about how this project is affecting your life. Would you consider an update addressing that aspect? Things like... how many hours per day do you spend writing? Do you keep a schedule or just write all the time?" So, while on one hand it feels totally self-indulgent to go into that kind of gruesome detail, on the other hand I know how much I enjoy and appreciate it when others engage in that kind of reflection. (See: Daily Routines.) So, I promise to write something along those lines.
And taking Amy's cue: Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to hear about in more detail? Certain parts of the process, specific meta-thoughts, easy breakfast recipes? (I could use some of those.)
This is the home stretch. I still have a lot of work to do, but I'm really excited to be so close to actually sharing this story with you! Okay, back to writing.
Next update: another dramatic reading.
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Project By
Robin Sloan
San Francisco, CA
Send MessageBorn in Illinois. Grew up in Michigan. Learned to write in Florida. Now I live in San Francisco.
I also blog at Snarkmarket (link below) with my pals Tim and Matt.
Keith Collins says: Robin - love getting the updates. They are engaging, informative, and whet the appetite for the final product. Thanks!
Michael Haydel says: I don't know what it was that really triggered it, but I'm growing ever more excited about your project Robin.
I think some of it is just seeing all of these little morsels of information about the process. I think some of it is watching your awesome little "trailer". Some of it could have been reading about Cory Doctorow's latest publishing experiment, which just made me love all of these Crazy New Ideas For Publishing.
Regardless, keep up the great work. Upping my pledge to to $40 post-haste.
Dave H says: Hey again Robin. It didn't take long. I'm converted from a "supporter of the business model" to a full fledged "I can't wait for the book so I can read it and give my extra copies to friends". I'm promoting the heck out of you wherever I go (I need to make up some cards or something with the kickstarter link, LOL).
No lists today, just a question about 'getting your name in the acknowledgments'. I was keen on that idea (again as it very much pushes the "Connect with Fans" concept) because I'd hoped to weasel my (2) kids names in there somehow via the "secret code-name" loop hole. I'm just wondering at what point that info can be entered?
happy writing and keep up the good work, good updates, good in-flight-quick-book-writing, and whatever else it is you could possibly find time to do.
Robin Sloan says: @Elinor: Yep, I actually switched to Scrivener after using Google Docs for about the first 25% of the project. I talked about it a bit here. It's more for organizing the text than for organizing the plot; honestly, at ~30K words, there's not THAT much to keep track of. But I do have some tricks for keeping track of ideas & inspiration, which I'll write about later.
Elinor Mills says: Nice animation. Your multimedia skills are really making this a rich experience.
I've got a question about your writing process. Do you use any software tools like Scrivener or DevonThink? How do you keep all the thoughts and plots organized?