It’s been an interesting November, and now that I’ve got some time to stop and catch my breath, I should report in on NaNoWriMo… and some other news.
First of all: NaNoWriMo was a success! The book that emerged from it hasn’t yet been completed (because I can write 50,000 words, but I can’t write a book of exactly 50,000 words) and I hope I’ll get it done over the holidays. It’s not actually a book that you’ll see here, because it’s a romantic comedy, and depending on whether anyone other than me thinks it’s (a) romantic, and (b) funny, it’ll be published under my pen-name that’s specifically for this rom-com nonsense.
Such is the fate of an author who gets ideas in many different genres. I’m hoping I’ll keep all my non-fantasy/steampunk/etc fiction under this other name. We shall have to see.
Second: I finally, finally finished THE CALL OF AVEN-RA.
That book put me through the damn wringer. Two years to finish; two years of nearly every chapter being dragged out of me, kicking and screaming. I grew to hate it with every fibre of my being. I finished it and sent it off to my most esteemed beta reader, Mab Morris (shoutout to her last book, THE BONE READER, which is incredible), on the last day of October. I had promised myself that one way or another it HAD to be done before November. And so it was.
I have time to ignore it until she returns with a list of everything that’s wrong with it, then I’ll get to hate it all over again while I do the rewrites.
Third: My Weird West story, ROLLO’S HERD, will be published in Gunsmoke & Dragonfire anthology. It won’t be out for a while, but hell, it looks like I’m in good company and I can’t wait to read all the other stories. This is the first time anyone’s thought a short story of mine was good enough to publish anywhere, so needless to say I’m pretty pleased about it.
Happy mid-winter festival of your choice, my friends. Let’s roll on to a good new year.