March 2023 in Review

Hello Funny People.

Many people seem to think turning 30 is the day you officially hit "over the hill". I've found that to be nonsense. Well, aside from your knees officially being out of warranty, but besides that...

Novel Drafting

I can honestly say that part one of the current novel is finally drafted. I finished writing the first bridging vingette, linking parts one and two, just this week, though I will admit it wasn't an easy task.

Yet again, I found myself wondering if I used the wrong viewpoint when I wrote the first version of it—and I did. So, I spent the better part of two days and two writing sessions retracting it from scratch. Such are the problems when you don't outline beforehand, but it's also rather fun, when it's going well.

The reason I fretted over this vingette is that the MC's name changes—he ceases going by his given name, and the narrative starts referring to him by his chosen pseudonym—and I wanted that transition to be as smooth as possible. Even though this is still only a first draft, I have the reader on my mind.

That said, I also have had some insights into what will happen next. Recently, I reviewed a few "on writing" texts, and one of the things many of the authors discuss is how the midpoint of your story should be where the darkest moments of your character's life occur. Give that this book is going to have 30 chapters, that squarely places the midpoint in chapter 15.

That's the moment that I'm presently writing towards; let's just say, at that point, if my MC were a real person, after they go through my I have in mind, they’d want to stab me.

Short Fiction Land

For the most part, I've been solely focusing on the novel, but I haven't completely left the land of short fiction just yet.

I've made 33 submissions for some of my remaining fiction, all of which have lead to pretty much nothing at this point, but it is what it is. That said, I've had a few minor successes recently too.

For one, I made my second sale to Wyngraf: The Magazine of Cozy Fantasy. My story "Tata Duende’s Soothing Song," is free to read on the site right now. Funny footnote: so the story went live the Monday after Daylight Savings Time hit, so poor Nat Webb didn't post it to Twitter until about 1PM. I'm not sure what people thought of it, but a few people have responded so far saying they liked it.

Even more exciting—and I can say this since the contract's been signed and the money paid—"Soothing Song" will be reprinted in an upcoming book that Nat is putting together of all the best cozy flash Wyngraf has thus far published. The preliminary title of the anthology is, according to the contract, The Little Cozy Book. Given that he had two of my stories to choose from, I supposed he picked the one he liked more. Regardless, that double sale marks my second appearance for them and my first official reprint sale. 

Hopefully, it won't be my last either. I have a Revise and Resubmit request (R&R) from Nat that I've been toying with since he made it back in January. So, you just might see my byline in its pages again later this year—if he likes my revisions. We shall see.

In addition, there's at least one more open call I plan on submitting to, and I've already begun drafting my submission for it, although it won't open until November, and my cohorts including the wonderful Nikki Mitchell, who put together The New Normal and In All Our Forms, are set to put together another anthology for later this year. More info to come.

#AmQuerying 

I'm still sending queries out to Agents for A Sword Named Sylph, but so far my only responses have been outright nos. Doesn't bother me, of course. I'd rather they give me a fast no than a long delayed no or, worse, a complete ghostly ignore. Besides, as Gabino Iglesias regularly reminds us all, a rejection is simply an invitation to submit elsewhere. Given the old-fashioned nature of the novel's story though, I've been finding it hard to pinpoint agents who might be interested. But I'll press on. I've only been in the trenches about three months; that's far too soon to bale out, even on the bad days.

Miscellaneous

The day draws ever nearer...

It won't be long before readers will finally get a chance to read further adventures of the multiverse traveling Librarian from Air and Nothingness Press in The Librarian Reshelved. I can't wait until you guys get to read "Urtext Redux," which is probably my best short story yet. Pre-orders are up and the book will hopefully be out by May 15th.

In addition, I also got a chance to cast my first official shortlist Nebula ballot 🗳. Again I won't say who I voted for, but needless to say, I hope my picks win. Each project I went for was something I personally loved and hope will receive the recognition it rightly deserves. I'm especially eager to see the results of both the novel and short story categories, as they're both loaded with strong contenders.

As always funny people, thanks for taking the time to read this. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and take care.