It's been cold all day today, with an icy north wind, and Shadow has been sitting on top of the kitchen stove, her favorite place on chilly winter days, particularly since I have the oven on, baking potatoes. But this afternoon, she came into my office to sit on my desk beside the computer keyboard, under her favorite lamp, where she could warm herself beside a hot, newly-arrived ARC.
An ARC is an advance reading copy. These are put out by publishers for distribution to reviewers, booksellers, tour hosts, and the like. I got a few in the mail the other day, and will be sending them out to my own (short, very short) list. One reader (a botanist) who got one from my publisher emailed me this morning to tell me that I made an error in the botanical identification of Bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa). It seems this plant was reassigned some 20 years ago from the Papaveraceae to the Fumariaceae.
Sigh... Too late to correct this for the hardcover, but I've saved the email (thanks, Alice!) and will make sure the error is corrected in the paperback edition.
I've often wondered just what booksellers do with ARCs--especially since I regularly see them for sale here and there. (Yes, even at mystery conferences! and especially in the used book sections of the on-line bookstores.) This is definitely not kosher, since the book clearly says "not for sale" on the cover. (Well, you can't see it in the photo, but it's there, just above the title.) My question was answered in a link that Sharon Wildwind posted today on the Murder Must Advertise list. If you're interested, it's on the Bookweb site. I am wiser, having read it (thanks to you, Sharon), and will treat my ARCs with more respect from here on out--although I don't suppose it hurts to let Shadow warm her paws on one.
And if you're wondering whether that purple thingy on the other side of the cat is actually a crochet hook, you're right. I'm knitting a scarf (the yarn is Kollage/Passion/raspberry, very fun to work with) while I work on Beatrix, because writing involves more than just typing. Right? Yes.
The crochet hook is there in case I drop a stitch.
Reading Note, a meditation from At Knit's End (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee): At first the marriage between knitting and computers struck me as odd. Knitting seems like the opposite of computers, and I couldn't imagine that the two were compatible. That didn't last long. When I found out I could join a virtual knitting circle and ask 7,000 knitters worldwide what they thought I was doing wrong with buttonholes, I was hooked.
I will remember, should I choose to explore the virtual knitting world, that you can knit while using the computer if you put the keyboard on the floor and scroll with your toes.