Its somehow July, so this week I
am going to give you a mid-year update to give you some idea what is happening
and how my year is progressing. Overall, it’s been a good year. My June Word
Count tally was 350k+ with almost 500 pages edited.
I have brought a half acre of
land in January and now I have also brought a house to go on my land. By the
end of the year, I will have a completed house! Which real human beings can
live in! Which is pretty exciting for me, as it has long been an important goal
and milestone in my life.
However, this blog is mostly
about writing, so without further ado:
Genrecon:
I am thrilled to announce I am
speaking at Genrecon this year. On the Friday, I will be doing a one hour
session on getting higher word counts and time management. If you are coming to
genrecon, I highly recommend you come along and listen, since all I ever hear
is how people want more time management/higher word count advice and apparently
writing you all a book on the subject wasn’t enough. Plus, you get to ask me
questions. Like exactly how many souls it took to buy my wordcounts. No one
likes being ripped off by immortal tricksters.
Aurealis:
This is my third year as an
Aurealis judge. This year I am judging horror short stories. I didn’t enjoy
novels last year as much as I enjoy shorts. Since 90% of the fiction I read is
horror shorts and I find it virtually impossible to look away from creepy
pastas and over short/creepy stories, I think horror shorts is where I am
happiest.
We were given official access to
the judging documents today, so I am looking forward to the slow deluge of
stories as the year progresses. Everyone should still be prepared for my
inevitable sleep deprived break-down in January though. It’s part of my
process, okay?!
RWA:
I’m attending RWA this year, not
in any professional capacity, but I am still pretty excited about the event.
The organising committee are doing a fantastic job and it looks like a really fantastic
program. I’m super stoked and really looking forward to pitching to editors
during the conference. If you haven’t got your tickets yet, what are you
waiting for?
Online Classes:
As always, I am constantly
seeking to learn more about the craft of writing. I’ve already attended a
number of day-long classes, particularly those offered by the Morteon Bay
Library, as they’re fantastic and free. If you aren’t already following their
program, look it up and get involved.
I am also signed up for several
QWC workshops and they are always fantastic value for money.
I stretched the budget this year
and also signed up for an online fantasy writing workshop through the Victoria
Writer’s Centre with CS Pacat. It runs for six months, but and I have already
learned a lot. It was a pricy course, but well worth the cost. Pacat has a
rather unique way of breaking down scenes and writing techniques and if you
have a chance to attend one of her workshops, I highly recommend it.
Vision and retreat:
I am still the vice president of
Vision Writers, which meant, of course, that it was my job to organise the
Vision Writer’s Retreat again this year, with lots of help from my wonderful
co-author Meghann Laverick. This year we are up on the sunshine coast
hinterland again and looking forward to a very cold retreat, during which I
intend to wear nothing but my Blastoise onsie.
Once again, it is a fantastic
group of people attending and I am looking forward to lots of eating and lots
of pretending to write.
The Vision Writer’s group as a
whole is still an excellent community for feedback and support if you write
speculative fiction (sci fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, etc) in the
Brisbane region. Meetings are the first Sunday of every month and you can get
more info on the website.
Current projects:
Anyone who knows me well is aware
my primary goal in life is biting off more than I can chew, then becoming
paralyzed with horror when I can’t do the work of fifty people at once.
I have experienced little to no
personal growth in this area.
Honestly first drafts of novels
get completed and chucked into the ‘to be edited’ pile so fast it’s not worth
mentioning them at this stage. Meg and I completed about fifteen first drafts
last year and this year is on track to be able the same. 1-2 novels a month is
our norm and that has not changed.
Editing, however, is a much
slower process.
Currently Meg is editing Bite the
Ice, our queer sports romance which will be sold under our romance pseudonyms.
And I am editing White Skies, our queer fantasy forced marriage, which will
also be sold under our romance pseudonyms.
I am also editing another project,
which is still under wraps at this stage, but hopefully I will be able to give
some news about soon.
It is also time for the
two-yearly Arqum edit/re draft. Which is now a tradition going back sixteen
years. Maybe this is the final round. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to finish
this thing and call it done. OR MAYBE NOT.
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