I've just come back from EuroPrideCon, which for me is a must-attend event and greatly enjoyed meeting industry people, bloggers, readers, fellow authors and everybody else. I'll absolutely be there again at next year's Summer Solstice in Leiden, Netherlands. :)
So, what have I been up to/what are the big news items?
I've signed pretty much all of my back catalogue with Juno Publishing, except the Scorpion series (which is being translated privately), and Nightingale, which we agreed would be offensive to too many people, and I totally agree with that. It's a super delicate part of history and people didn't necessarily behave heroically or perfectly. Meanwhile, with the rise of Fascism and Totalitarianism across the "western world", I don't think the questions some of those books are asking are really that important anymore. They could be examined in a solidly liberal democratic environment and Zeitgeist, but as that is very under an organized, globally organised siege, the questions must shift to how to defend the freedoms and human and citizen's rights that my generation has taken for granted. I'll be looking at themes of "how to stay sane under totalitarian pressure" and acts of passive and active resistance, as well as the post-totalitarianism fallout, in part because I absolutely believe that the long arch of history bends in the direction of human rights and dignity, despite everything. But it is a long arch. I only have vague ideas so far, but no doubt that I'll return to that period of history.
I'm writing! I signed a contract with Dreamspinner for a book currently called Southpaw (though I feel the name might change again), which some of you may remember as Counterpunch. It's kind of funny how this book has gone through so many titles already. Its working title once upon a time was "Untouchable", then it became Counterpunch at Storm Moon Press and another publisher, then I retitled it to Suckerpunch because that was the name of the sequel and I wanted as clear a break as possible between the "versions" (it's not going to be the same beast at all). Dreamspinner said they'd already signed a book with that title and whether I had an alternative. So I arrived at Southpaw; but by now I think there's a better title in the book and has been for a long time. I'll have to discuss that with Dreamspinner though.
My original personal deadline for Southpaw was 1 July, and I'm now way past that, but there's a reason for it. I did believe that I could tell the whole story by adding around 20,000 words to the circa 52,000 I had left after some cutting and replacing, but I've written about 45,000 words since then and I have another 5,000-10,000 to go, so it'll be a whopper of a book, possibly more than 100,000 words (which is longer even than Moonstruck, and that was a co-written book).
I'm hoping to write the rest over the weekend and this week, so the new deadline is more like 20 July, and maybe end of the month for my first editing/clean-up pass. Dreamspinner expects to publish the book in the second half of 2020. Compared to my previous productivity, that's pitiful, but it's the best I could do with everything going on, and a lot more than I achieved in 2018.
That does mean I'll have five months left in the year to work on a different project, and that will likely be Julian's book from Witches of London, which is half written in any case, so hopefully that'll be a release for early 2020. I'm not going to plan beyond that - there's a pile of books I started and fragments and ideas, but I'll see which one will come through when the time's right.
I'm planning to teach writing again, and will announce the shape and schedule when we (i.e. Chris Ethan and myself) actually have a structure; right now, it's mostly looking at ideas, locations, formats, and how much time we can put into this, since we're both still full-time employed. But I've always enjoyed teaching things I love, so I'll try to do more of that again.
Beyond that, I have opened a dialogue with the bank about going part-time or on a job share. I've had some interviews, but haven't found a job that resolves my main issues, which is the long, intense days and the sense of burnout/exhaustion when I come home, so that's a first step, and I hope it'll lead to a resolution. If I can wrangle a job share, that would mean three days in the office and four days at home/writing, which for me sounds about perfect - I could stay employed on that schedule for a long time.
This whole matter of "balance" and "what am I doing with my life" has become very acute for me. A few days ago, an old roleplaying friend of mine died from leukemia. He was 38. Another friend is terminal and so poorly now that staff at her hospice has advised that visiting her basically makes no sense and exhausts her and makes her anxious. She's deteriorating rapidly, in their words, so I hope she'll pass over quickly without further pain or anguish. I find that the dying are giving us a tremendous gift in that way, reminding us that our time on this planet is indeed pretty limited and might end a lot sooner than we planned. It makes no sense to sacrifice all that time to capitalism and uncaring corporations with the hope to retire and then do the things we enjoy. I know for a fact that I enjoy being a storyteller and teacher much more than being an editing office drone.
So, what have I been up to/what are the big news items?
I've signed pretty much all of my back catalogue with Juno Publishing, except the Scorpion series (which is being translated privately), and Nightingale, which we agreed would be offensive to too many people, and I totally agree with that. It's a super delicate part of history and people didn't necessarily behave heroically or perfectly. Meanwhile, with the rise of Fascism and Totalitarianism across the "western world", I don't think the questions some of those books are asking are really that important anymore. They could be examined in a solidly liberal democratic environment and Zeitgeist, but as that is very under an organized, globally organised siege, the questions must shift to how to defend the freedoms and human and citizen's rights that my generation has taken for granted. I'll be looking at themes of "how to stay sane under totalitarian pressure" and acts of passive and active resistance, as well as the post-totalitarianism fallout, in part because I absolutely believe that the long arch of history bends in the direction of human rights and dignity, despite everything. But it is a long arch. I only have vague ideas so far, but no doubt that I'll return to that period of history.
I'm writing! I signed a contract with Dreamspinner for a book currently called Southpaw (though I feel the name might change again), which some of you may remember as Counterpunch. It's kind of funny how this book has gone through so many titles already. Its working title once upon a time was "Untouchable", then it became Counterpunch at Storm Moon Press and another publisher, then I retitled it to Suckerpunch because that was the name of the sequel and I wanted as clear a break as possible between the "versions" (it's not going to be the same beast at all). Dreamspinner said they'd already signed a book with that title and whether I had an alternative. So I arrived at Southpaw; but by now I think there's a better title in the book and has been for a long time. I'll have to discuss that with Dreamspinner though.
My original personal deadline for Southpaw was 1 July, and I'm now way past that, but there's a reason for it. I did believe that I could tell the whole story by adding around 20,000 words to the circa 52,000 I had left after some cutting and replacing, but I've written about 45,000 words since then and I have another 5,000-10,000 to go, so it'll be a whopper of a book, possibly more than 100,000 words (which is longer even than Moonstruck, and that was a co-written book).
I'm hoping to write the rest over the weekend and this week, so the new deadline is more like 20 July, and maybe end of the month for my first editing/clean-up pass. Dreamspinner expects to publish the book in the second half of 2020. Compared to my previous productivity, that's pitiful, but it's the best I could do with everything going on, and a lot more than I achieved in 2018.
That does mean I'll have five months left in the year to work on a different project, and that will likely be Julian's book from Witches of London, which is half written in any case, so hopefully that'll be a release for early 2020. I'm not going to plan beyond that - there's a pile of books I started and fragments and ideas, but I'll see which one will come through when the time's right.
I'm planning to teach writing again, and will announce the shape and schedule when we (i.e. Chris Ethan and myself) actually have a structure; right now, it's mostly looking at ideas, locations, formats, and how much time we can put into this, since we're both still full-time employed. But I've always enjoyed teaching things I love, so I'll try to do more of that again.
Beyond that, I have opened a dialogue with the bank about going part-time or on a job share. I've had some interviews, but haven't found a job that resolves my main issues, which is the long, intense days and the sense of burnout/exhaustion when I come home, so that's a first step, and I hope it'll lead to a resolution. If I can wrangle a job share, that would mean three days in the office and four days at home/writing, which for me sounds about perfect - I could stay employed on that schedule for a long time.
This whole matter of "balance" and "what am I doing with my life" has become very acute for me. A few days ago, an old roleplaying friend of mine died from leukemia. He was 38. Another friend is terminal and so poorly now that staff at her hospice has advised that visiting her basically makes no sense and exhausts her and makes her anxious. She's deteriorating rapidly, in their words, so I hope she'll pass over quickly without further pain or anguish. I find that the dying are giving us a tremendous gift in that way, reminding us that our time on this planet is indeed pretty limited and might end a lot sooner than we planned. It makes no sense to sacrifice all that time to capitalism and uncaring corporations with the hope to retire and then do the things we enjoy. I know for a fact that I enjoy being a storyteller and teacher much more than being an editing office drone.
