Getting Back To It, Whatever 'It' Is

For the two people who read this blog, you might have noticed that I didn't do an entry for December. I also neglected to do book reviews for the couple of novels I read towards the end of the year. To be fair, I was busy. Holidays and getting my old house ready for sale has taken up all my time. Not that I didn't have time to make an entry into a blog no one reads, but more to the effect that I didn't have anything to say. At least in regards to writing. Still kind of don't, but I felt the need to check in with my plans for the future.

The house is ready to sell. More or less. Some productive people I know, stay productive by following the 80% rule. Basically, you work on something until you complete 80% of it because the remaining 20% isn't really worth it. I stop working on the house around 95%, but that's just how I am. Hopefully, it won't take too long to sell. Or, to be more actuate, it won't take long to sell it at the price I want.

NaNoWriMo was a failure. I shot out of the gate and landed on my face. I had some friends who needed my help and it completely threw me off my game. Don't get me wrong, helping my friends was more important. I was just hit with situation after situation that ate up all my free time to write. I was hoping to get a good start on the new book and work on it first thing in January. My biggest problem was that I still couldn't decide on a narrative voice. Plus, what I did write didn't make me feel like I was writing at my best. So, in light of this, I decided to go back to the Colony Earth project. God help me.

I should also start querying agents next week. I've been putting it off for the holidays, but I can't use that for an excuse anymore. I did query an agent in early December, but that was more a matter of timing than anything. According to her twitter, she plans to be caught up on most queries by February. So I should be getting that rejection letter any day now.

I've gotten a slow start to the new year, if you can't tell by the date stamp on this entry, but it's back to the grindstone for me. Writing goals being to finish the draft for CE by the end of the year, query everyone, and get back to my short form work. I know I know. There's enough bad poetry in the world without me adding to it. But, if it wasn't for my shitty prose, how would you tell what is good?

Before the Binge

Disclaimer: 99% of this entry was written before November. Also, it will mostly outline my plan of attack for the event NaNoWriMo. Also, I use the term 'shitty' more than once, but it's been that kind of month.

I was hoping to begin querying my first novel this past month, but alas it was not to be. I was going to use the Writer's Market as a resource and spam every corner of the literary world. Problem is that the Deluxe Edition I ordered was scheduled for October 8th never arrived. The book mostly disappeared or was labeled 'Out of Stock' by every place on the planet that sales books. The whole reason I paid extra for the 'Deluxe Edition' was to start querying right away. I ended up canceling my order and had to put querying on hold until after the first of the year. The standard version is scheduled to come out in early November and, even if that remains to be true, the holidays are a shitty time to query people. Plus, I have a book to write.

That book is currently titled 'Thermal Kings'. There's an eighty percent chance that will change by the time I'm done with it, but it is what it is for now. There are, of course, some days I won't be able to write. To be honest, November is kind of a shitty month to host this event. Thanksgiving being the chief reason among them. With that holiday and other obligations, I currently calculate that I have twenty-six days worth of writing. That means I need to write just under two thousand words a day to reach the fifty thousand word goal. However, I'm setting a daily goal of twenty-five hundred words a day so I can be, at least, mostly done before the week of Thanksgiving. Follow me on Twitter (@LesAbernathy) if you want plenty of word count shitposting.

Since I'm the ML, it's up to me to encourage people to keep writing so they'll forget everything dies and gets forgotten. I scheduled a NaNoWriMo kickoff event for Sunday at a local coffee shop. Because of course I did. I want to meet every Sunday, but let me meet these people and see if I want to keep meeting them. Since the event is in the future, we'll both have to wait to find out how it goes.

Not much else to say. There was some shitty stuff going on at work this month, but I've gotten as much as I can off my plate as I can before the big month. I'm ready, but I don't feel ready. If that makes sense. I hope to get into the flow of things and become unstoppable. Like I usually do. The trick is just to get started in the first place.

Until next time, and at all times, be kind.

P.S. Free Hong Kong.

Be Kind

Warning: Don't read the first two paragraphs. There is no news/information here. It is simply me getting something off my chest.

I was originally going to start this entry off with a rant. Then, as my anger cooled, it turned into more of a well-worded, but hostile, examination. Being more of an observer of humanity than a member, I started to notice something. The thing I was going to rant against has mostly good people involved. Like a charity that spends too much money on donuts. You don't want to call them out for wasting money because you'll look like an ass for criticizing a good charity. Even though that money could be put to better use. Even though I'm right. I saw people defending the good while shooting down any idea of the fact the system is flawed and requires reform. They were being nice. Which led me to something even worse than a rant: A lecture.

I highly value kindness. It's a rare resource or at least rarer than it should be, and it genuinely makes the world a better place. The thing is, I also highly value honesty. And, when you value honesty, you learn the difference between being kind and being nice. Imagine, if you will, that you have a good friend that's currently in a toxic relationship. Being kind is telling your friend to dump that loser. Even though it will hurt. Even though speaking up might jeopardize your friendship. You still need to do it. Because they're your friend and they deserve better. On the other hand, being nice is pretending you like your friend's loser partner despite everything. Sure, you'll be there for your friend when the relationship comes crashing down, but you probably should have spoken up earlier. Being kind requires honesty. Courage. Being nice just requires your presence. Don't be nice. Be better. Be kind.

Now that I've gotten the toxin out of my system, on to the news.

The biggest news, that doesn't involve moving, is that I finally finished the latest round of edits on my novel. I'm expecting to start querying it again in the next week and even entered it into the Pitch Wars contest. I don't expect it get very far since I'm a cynical asshole because I no self-esteem. Or I have no self-esteem because I'm a cynical asshole, depending on who you ask. Still, I march on. Let's hope I can sell this book before I'm dead.

I already mentioned that I'm the ML for my region when NaNoWriMo begins next month. Though, I haven't done too much about it. I've been holding off on planning the writing event because I've been too damn busy. Even as I type this, I'm waiting on the final task so I can complete the fiscal year-end at work. Step one will be to formulate a calendar/attack plan for the event and establish meetups with anyone will to listen to me talk about failing at writing for an hour or so. NaNoWriMo: spring break for writers.

Last bit for now. I finally got the results for the third quarter of the Writer of the Future contest. Another honorable mention. It's better than an outright rejection, but I still won't see my work published in any form. It's a so close, and yet, so far kind of feeling. The damnest thing is that I had a great idea for a short story in the middle of the night just last night. I didn't bother to write it down and now it's lost to the void. Just like my novel.

Until next time, and at all times, be kind.

Moving Pictures

Moving sucks. Good news is that we've set a goal for September 21st as the big moving day. It won't be the end of it, but at least we'll actually be living in the new house after that point. Assuming we can keep that date. The only writing news is that I've been named the municipal liaison for NaNoWriMo in my area. I'm stilling editing and waiting on all other fronts. Everything else is moving related.

For something completely different, I finished painting my room and here is the end result:

The big mural.

How this started was that I was staring at the blank wall wondering what the hell I was doing with my life. I had already resigned myself to doing a large mural but had yet to design it. I had recently seen Rembrandt's "Night Watch" and it had left an impact. Several thoughts later, I had the mural compulsively designed in my mind. The end product is 90% of what I envisioned. So proud of all my hard work I even initialed the damn thing.

Corners



The Door

Above the Shelf. I didn't paint the shelf.

 

The far side of the wall.

 





Window Wall. The latter is not a part of the art.

Squares. Ignore the Ethernet cables.

Well, that's my room. What sucks is that most of this will be covered by shelves, desks, and bookcases. But that's life. If you happen to run across this and have any questions/comments/praise/hatred, the comment box is below. It was fun to paint, but it took a hellish long time. Maybe by the time we move next I'll have forgotten how hard it was to do.

What's Up?

I don't have much to update on writing-wise, so I'll try to be brief. Moving is going slowly, but we're making progress. I hope to do a separate blog entry on the painting designs I'm doing, so keep an eye out for that. I haven't been taking pictures of my progress because there aren't enough people who pay attention for me to put in the effort. You will, however, see the finished product once I'm done. Might be as early as this weekend. End of August at the latest.

Writing stuff, there isn't much to report. I've scheduled a short-form writing time on Sundays, but I have yet to keep it. To be fair, I have a good excuse. Might have to wait until all the moving is done before I can dive back in. I'm still editing Variant War, entering the final arc of the novel. I'm keeping track of who POVs each chapter because I need to go back and edit Snyder's chapters. If I keep this up, I should be done soon.

I put in an application to manage my local region for NaNoWriMo. I'm still planning on doing it even though I have yet to plot out the novel. I still have three months. Editing and moving have just gotten in the way. Plus work keeps throwing me curveballs. That's never fun.

In other uninteresting news, I completed reading my Heinlein collection. Had some oddball short stories and a collection of speeches that had alluded me until now. I want to do a podcast to do a deep dive into his work, but it's not like I have time for that. Also, I can't think of anyone who would want to listen to my voice.

Still nothing from Writers of the Future for the third quarter, but I'm not expecting anything until September. As I understand it, they haven't finished doing the second quarter. We'll see.

That's pretty much it for now. I know it's pretty much reviews at the moment, but that's what pointless blogs are for.