Do It Like Montresor

I've made a decision. It seems pretty insignificant considering everything that's been going on. You know, the world coming to an end. But, I feel it has to be done. And there's no talking me out of it either. It is like I've walked through a door, closed it behind me, and then bricked it up like Montresor. And, for the love of God, I don't even care if it blows up in my face.

I'm going to self-publish. I could go into a rant about the publishing industry but I would just sound like a jaded neckbeard. I've just come to my last breaking point with not being a published author. I know there's a good chance that only a hand full of people will read my book if I self-publish. And most of them will be my friends and family. But, fuck it, I have to try.

That's all I really have to say this month. I've been a daze for the last couple of months as Earth spirals down the uncaring universal drain. Just hoping there's a flipside of this. Humans, for all our faults, are crafty little shits. We'll probably be alright. 

All cynicism punctuated with vague optimism aside, the daze is why I've been silent the last couple of months. Still doing book reviews as I'm still reading. But it feels mostly out of habit and self-therapy than anything else. Step one to getting self-published is finding myself an editor to work with. It'll cost money and might take a few tries to find someone. Time and money always find a way to include themselves in any equation.

On the actual writing side of things, I've picked up my Colony Earth project again as I slowly comb over the tome. Just something to do as I wait for responses from the leads I'm chasing down. Once I finish editing and familiarizing myself with what I've already written, it'll finally be time to start new work. I've been trying to sell Variant War for so long hopefully I'll remember how it's done. Either way, it's been a long time coming.

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

Progress with a Side of Failure

Pitmad was a failure. I'll just start off there. It's also probably my last attempt to follow through with that event. I've found that it's heavily skewed towards YA, which shouldn't be that much of a surprise since the event takes place on Twitter. I personally wasn't expecting much, but what bothered me was that I saw people with really good pitches gain almost no traction because their stuff was adult. It's also a breeding ground for "publishing" companies that don't do much better than if you just put it out there yourself. If their only releases are anthologies with a book cover that is just a stock photo overlaid with some text, they aren't a real publishing firm. I know this sounds like a rant (because it kind of is), but the whole thing left me sour. If you couldn't tell.

In better news, I turned in the samples for the writing conference. I suppose I should get used to deadlines if I want to succeed in this writing thing. I won't know what the editors think until the conference in May, but I think I've put my best foot forward. I'm not likely to do another blog entry until after the event, so I should be able to at least give my first impressions of how things went next time you hear from me.

I should really keep notes on what happened during the month so I can reflect more easily. All of this is just off the top of my head and that's not a good way to maintain a blog. I know I'm screaming into the void, but that's no reason to be terrible at it.

After I turned in the sample, I resumed editing my first book. It's mostly just small changes, but it has to be done. I'm also re-working a short story for a contest. The contest isn't science fiction-centric, but I'll try anyway. If anything, if I get rejected, I can always try the Writers of the Future contest. Speaking of which, they still haven't announced the winners for the first quarter. There's a whole heap of drama around that, but I won't get into it. I just hate refreshing my email for rejection letters.

And then there's poetry. I entered a random piece of work in a contest of its own. Didn't win. Not that I'm surprised. My poetry is trash. It's slowly getting to the point of readability, but it's not there yet. A good friend of mine introduced me to a poetry/spoken word weekly event, but there is no way I'm reading my garbage in there. I might try to do some spoken word stuff. I have a few pieces I could dust off. But it'll have to wait until after the conference. Everything is waiting until after the conference.

I know I said last month that I needed to get started on my newer projects. No real progress was made on that front. I just don't have the time while things that could actually be published within a year take precedent. My goal for Thermal Kings is to have the narrative, setting, and outline fully planned out by the end of October. I should probably work on that first thing after the conference. After I get the short story turned in, I need to work on my actual pitch for the agents/editors. Talking to people has never been my strong suit, which might explain why I write.

End of line.