April. Was. A. Beast.

Posted 02 May 2017 science fiction

I find myself thoroughly incapable of writing this post today. Such big things. April really whupped me. And of course, if you follow me on Social media, you know I signed a book contract with Parvus Press over the weekend. So, of course, I want to talk about that but today I think I'll focus on wrapping up Camp NaNoWriMo. Because I said I would last week, and because I can't wrap my brain around the book deal in quite the right way as to be able to talk about it without my language devolving to strange awkward sounds I don't really care to make in public. If my coffee kicks in before I finish this post, maybe I'll form a coherent statement to finish it off with. So, to summarize Camp NaNoWriMo... ... Fuck it. You don't give a shit about my progress for Camp NaNo. I signed a book contract! I don't care about my progress for Camp NaNoWriMo! My daily writing practice means that Camp or November WriMoing is just another month. Maybe with more social interaction with my local writers, but that's about it. The only thing that made April's session more challenging than usual was that I sacrificed my writing for the first week of April to a work project, so my victory was a casual lope from behind rather than a leave-you-in-the-dust rocket launch from day one. As is true for every month: you sit down; you do the work; you sign a book contract; you have a good cry on your birthday because you overslept, dogs and cats are vomiting everywhere, omgisignedabookcontract, and the kitchen's a mess; then you take some vitamin B12, inositol, and choline*, sit back down, and finish the projects you set out to finish. Ahem. Yes, it was a bang-zoom-splat sort of final stretch. Like it says on the tin, April was a beast. And of course, the thing that set the last month apart from every other month since beginning this blog is not that I wrote a bunch. It's that now I get to announce:

The stories of Peridot Shift will be part of the Parvus catalog of Science Fiction and Fantasy books.

I am thrilled to say, that puts Flotsam at the breakfast table next to Vick's Vultures, my favorite new release of 2016. I'll rebroadcast any Parvus announcements as they come. Feel free to ask any questions in comments, I'll answer whatever I can. What's next, now that I'm a signed author? Sit down; do the work. Maybe I'll skip the cry 'til my next birthday, if the dogs and cats will agree to work with me on that. There's a bit of a "huh, what now" taste in my mouth, but that's just because it's a new month, I've finished two big projects at roughly the same time, and now that I'm working in Parvus's calendar, there's not the same mad-dash to write a trilogy that will release all in a handful of months. So I have a little bit of breathing room, and don't know what to do with myself. I'm going to start by reading more, critiquing more, doing more creative writing exercises, and setting myself up to use Dragon Naturally Speaking so I can use that to compose new drafts (you know, just in case a Sith lord shows up, says he's my father, and chops off my hand). Also: I've started a new playlist on my YouTube channel: RJTL;DR (which is nearly impossible to say, I'm working on that). That'll be the short and sweet (and scripted) version of my progress reports, published every week and recapping the previous 7 days' worth of work. I'll still put up my Asimov Hour videos (those are therapeutic for me), but if you don't have time to watch seven 20-minute videos per week, RJTL;DR is where you can follow along. That'll free me up to use my Tuesday blog posts for more introspective subjects instead of recapping progress. * Seriously, if you have overwhelm or focusing issues, I recommend those supplements. I'll put links to what I use on the Resources for Writers page.

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