Okay, I know, it’s been quiet around here. I’ve been finishing up the new books, orchestrating a move (one week before the con, no less) and because the universe decided that I didn’t have quite enough to keep me busy, I’ve been recovering from a bout of pneumonia too.
Still – the antibiotics are slowly working their magic, the moving truck will be here tomorrow, and best news of all, I got to see the first proof copies of the books, and they are beautiful!
I’ll be at Norwescon (I’m not contagious, I promise!) introducing them to the world. If you’re local, I really hope you can come by and say hello!
And, because the good news always comes when you are too busy to properly appreciate it, I got official word of another exciting announcement that I will be making very soon.
Also, look for my story, ‘The Touch Parlor,’ in the Westwind, coming out sometime after Norwescon (I’ll update with the actual date as soon as I get it!)
Somehow, impossibly, through much squinting at the screen and neglecting of children, I have managed to make my impossible deadlines with one. day. to spare. *phew*
That means that there are very few words left in my brain at the moment (in the last four days alone I have racked up something in the vicinity of 30,000 words!) but it was time for a blog update, so here it is.
The first exodus novella, Gift of the Dathuri, is finished and will release at Norwescon! I am really excited about this set of novellas, and this one in particular is very close to my heart. I kind of love origin stories, and writing one of my own was a lot of fun. I can’t wait to get this one out in the world and see what you all think of it!
The Guide to Gaming with Kids is also finally finished! This guide is something I had considered writing for a really long time, and in fact, I started writing it before GeekGirlCon, back in October. I was prompted to pull it back out and finish it when requests started trickling in from some of you, and I think Norwescon is a really great time to get this one out and into your hands!
Lots of other big things going on – it looks like the Sturgeon clan has finally found our new home, but that means lots of packing and other general busy work in the coming weeks, and of course, it just so happens that moving day is going to fall directly into Norwescon’s lap.
All in all though, I am excited about all things April, and I hope to see a lot of you at Norwescon this year!
I know, I know, it has been quiet around here!
The good news is that the lack of time I have for blog posts is due to the massive amount of new stuff I’m trying to finish before Norwescon!
So, what’s going on in my writing world? (Aside, of course, from the move I’m orchestrating and the redesign of the kids’ curriculum)
1. Artwork. I am working on finding an artist to put together some awesome cover work for one of my projects. It’s the first time I have done this, but it’s been a fun process so far!
2. Clarion. Yes, it’s true. I have applied for Clarion West 2012. I am up against really tough competition, and have no reason to expect that I will actually be going, but George R.R. Martin is an instructor this year, and when you have a chance to learn from your hero, you do what you can!
3. Novellas. Instead of the planned collection of short stories, I am going to release a set of 3 novellas instead, all of them built in the universe of my novel on sub. The first will come out at Norwescon, if I can make the stars align just so.
I think that covers most of the important stuff. I promise to be more entertaining when I get a little closer to caught up on the month of impossible deadlines!
There are those who say that I am less than graceful. I know, hard to believe.
Only it would appear that I have managed, yet again, to injure myself in an incredibly stupid way. It is a special talent.
So now, having somehow managed to slam the side of my foot into a door jamb hard enough to turn it pretty colors, I am largely out of commission. I am going to look at the bright side and convince myself that it is the universe’s not so subtle reminder that I need to stay put and keep grinding on these deadlines.
I was up until the wee hours last night, putting together C’s syllabus for the month, and we’re doing lots of fun and exciting stuff in February. She’ll be building her own mythological pantheon (underhanded of me to slip world building exercises into her curriculum, but what can I say?) She started Fahrenheit 451, and she is planning on doing a video project that will result (if she finishes it) in a youtube production of the book, only with stuffed animals as all the characters, which will be terribly amusing. When last she was working on it, she was asking her brother if she could borrow his dalmatian puppy so that he could play Guy Montag. Funny stuff.
In more writerly news, I am working my way through deadlines at a steady pace. The man muse is working his way through beta edits on Children of the Exodus, and he has stumbled upon nothing cataclysmic thus far – always a good sign. I have another chapter behind me on Gaming with Kids 101, and in short order (thanks in part to the calm in our schedule due to my inability to successfully navigate doorways) I should be rocking some word count toward finishing Tales from the Exodus.
First though, I’ll be spending the evening dragging my basketball sized foot behind me, looking at houses, since in addition to the full school schedule and the month of impossible deadlines, we will also be moving in the spring. At least things aren’t boring!
As things settle down around here, I’m trying to sort out my schedule for what I am now calling ‘The Month of Impossible Deadlines.’ Seriously, I have a lot to do this February. However, that means all sorts of news on the book release front.
First: The update announcement: Children of the Exodus is largely spit shined and ready to go. It will be making its way out into the world shortly, and we shall see what results.
Second: The planned announcement: Tales of the Exodus, a collection of short stories that are set in the universe of Children of the Exodus, will be out in time for Norwescon. That means the release date is April 4. It will release in paperback and ebook format. It’s a fun collection with lots of spaceships, alien races and some Celtic mythology thrown in for good measure. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it.
Third: The unexpected announcement: Some of you may know, from talking to me at the various cons, that I started a nonfiction Guide to Gaming with Kids last fall. I was having trouble pulling artwork together for it, and trying to finish ‘Yours is the Earth’ at the time, so I just shelved it. However, I have started to receive requests for more information about that book and when it might be available, even though the Perihelion Press site redesign left the Guide off altogether. In light of that, I am going to go ahead and get that put together, and it should (if I don’t drown in deadline ocean beforehand) also release on April 4, for Norwescon.
It’s a big month, but I’m really excited about getting these out into the world!
However, there shall be no deadlining today. Today, I celebrate instead a creation that has taken more effort than all of my writing projects put together: It’s C’s birthday. There will be Munchkin and chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting, and much rejoicing. And then long hours tonight of trying to convince twitter to entertain me while I start knocking out the word counts. Yay for the month of impossible deadlines.
I know, I know – days and days of radio silence is not the most auspicious of starts for the new site and blog.
Rustycon was fantastic. I had a lot of fun and met a lot of amazing people. There is talk of future awesome-ness as a result, which I will discuss in further detail when said awesome-ness becomes more concrete. I spent days one and two in my mom/I’m-a-professional garb, and had several people suggest that perhaps I would connect better with people in ‘more fannish dress.’ As a result, I sent the man-muse home to retrieve my steampunk elf princess dress. It was a ridiculous amount of fun, though I will admit that the corset component *did* make breathing a bit difficult.
Long story short, Rusty is a small convention with a lot of heart, and though this was my first year there, I will most definitely be back. Also, note about the local convention circuit in general – if you ever go to a con and see that there is a gnome party, do yourself a favor and go. The gnomes were an amazing amount of fun – best party of the evening schedule – hands down! (Though now the man-muse has been given ideas about the construction of a life sized trebuchet, which can’t be good.)
I’m still not working this week, as my mom is still in town (I love that she comes to all of the conventions) and we have been all over greater Seattle as the children find new and inventive ways to convince her to spoil them. However, I am excited (and trepidacious) to report that Children of the Exodus has taken its first, stumbling baby step out into the world.
I am also going to go ahead and announce now that I am planning on releasing another collection of short stories entitled ‘Tales from the Exodus’ at Norwescon, during the first weekend of April. Tales is basically a binding together of all of the bits and pieces of world building that went into the Children of the Exodus universe. It’s a fun little collection, and though it is going to involve lots of midnight oil binding to get it ready in time for the next con, I’m really excited about it!
I think that’s all the writing news for the moment, though more is likely forthcoming in the near future. As I type this, my mom is in the next room, shrieking bloody murder as the children laugh gleefully at her attempts to navigate Super Mario Galaxy 2. I suppose I should rescue her. Or go and watch.
Welcome to my new and improved blog! Here, you can find samples of some of my writing, information about where I’ll be appearing next, and rambling musings on life in general.
This week, I have been scrambling to get everything prepared for Rustycon 2012, the first convention of the new year. When this past weekend, the last weekend before the convention, rolled around, rather than doing the reasonable thing and working my way through my ten-mile-long to do list, I started a new project.
The Divinitrola Amazing Clockwork Fortune Telling Device is a fun little toy that I keep on my table at conventions. People come to the table to turn the big brass clockwork key and hear their fortunes, and they stay to chat, which keeps me entertained through the sometimes long and sleepy afternoons. I found the original device (a music box) at a thrift shop, and with a little work (and lots of swear words from the man-muse as he discovered that clockwork *really* resists alteration of any kind) I had my very own Victorian-esque fortune teller.
However, without notice, I had a new idea about how the Divinitrola should look and work two days ago, and promptly realized that I could not stand to use it in its old form at Rustycon. So, in addition to my web facelift, new signs and various updating that go with a convention, and the new short story/book teaser that I’m going to give away at the convention via QR code (something I have never tried – hopefully it goes well!) I decided to refinish and redesign the divinitrola itself (which is now in pieces across the living room) and also to design and manufacture a new set of fortune telling cards to go with it. And all of this is in addition to getting the kids through their core studies every day and trying to maintain our usual schedule of ‘mobile school.’ (Thank goodness today was a snow day, or I might never have caught up!)
So, all of this is to illustrate two points. 1. If you have been out to see me at a convention in the past and had fun with the divinitrola, you should definitely come and see me again, as the new and improved device is going to be really cool (assuming, of course, that I can get it finished!) And 2. This is a busy week. So if the blog is a little quiet, you’ll know why!
Please excuse the mess, as I work on getting my new blog tidied up! You can look for new content soon – in the meantime, please don’t mind any links that don’t work or missing content as I build my new home!
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