Shenanigans III: Post-NaNo Blues
Greetings, friends!
It’s December, which means I’m once again recovering from National Novel Writing Month, an event in which participants around the world try to write 50,000 words in a single month. I managed to win this year (yay!), which gets me through a little more than half of the first draft of Fault Tolerance, in which the crew of La Sirena Negra continues to deal with problems well above their pay grade. While that novel won’t be on shelves until 2022, it should be finished soon, and I’ll share the preorder links as soon as they exist. I’m also working on a few entirely new things, which is always exciting! But for now, those are secretsss.
Events!
On December 11th at 8pm EST, I’m excited to be part of a Blades in the Dark one-shot tentatively dubbed “The Heist of the Dread Train” for the annual Worldbuilders fundraiser. Then, on December 15th at 12pm EST, I’ll be on a panel about rituals for moving on from 2020, which I think we could all use right now. For the full schedule of events for the Worldbuilders fundraiser, you can check out their website. All events are streamed on their Twitch channel, and all the links and information about times and dates are also on the Events page on my website.
Tomorrow and Wednesday, I’ll be participating in the Orbit New Voices 2020 Reddit AMA. You can head over to Reddit’s r/Fantasy community after 9am EST and look for the thread, or you can check my Twitter account or the Orbit account for the link once it goes live. Come ask me questions!
In March, I’m excited to be teaching a class for Clarion West! Completing a Novel in a Short Time Frame covers how to prep for and make it through a noveling marathon over a short, fixed time period. It includes time management strategies, self-analysis tools to maximize productivity, typical emotional trajectories the writer might experience and how to handle them, rewards and incentives, and other tips and tricks to get from idea to finished draft as quickly and smoothly as possible. I’ll also be leading some group exercises to demonstrate some of the techniques and get people pumped to work. Sign up now, or check out some of the other great offerings on the Clarion West class schedule.
And of course, every month the fine folks at Speculate 2.0 host our Blades in the Dark campaign, “The Case of the Cindered Seal.” We’ll continue the adventures of the Strange Friends as we attempt to deal with cults, cops, and crickets in the ghost-riddled city of Duskwall. Our next episode will be December 20th at 7pm EST on the usual Twitch channel.
News!
Speaking of gaming, last month I had the privilege of playing in a one-shot RPG as part of a fundraiser for Soundclash: The Clampdown, an all-BIPOC game hosted by Speculate 2.0. The game I participated in is called On All Frequencies, and it’s one of 40 roleplaying games in The Ultimate Micro-RPG book. GM Nathan Blades took us on a musical journey as Brandon O’Brien, Iori Kusano and I played students working in a college radio station when all communications except radio suddenly go dark. You can watch the entire fundraiser on YouTube, support Speculate 2.0 on Patreon, and buy The Ultimate Micro-RPG book online and in stores now.
I also had a poem published in the November/December issue of Uncanny Magazine. “Making Accommodations” is a sonnet, which is a form I return to often because it feels natural, while also providing constraints that challenge me in cool ways. You can read the poem online along with the rest of the amazing issue, or you can buy a copy of your very own.
You may also be aware that I write novels? Shocking, I know! Chilling Effect is on sale right now in the UK, so grab a copy for £1.99 if you don’t already have one. And since the holidays are coming up, I would be remiss in not beseeching you to buy both of my books as presents for the space opera-loving folks in your life.
Last but not least, I’ve turned in my story for Don't Touch That: An Anthology of Parenthood in Science Fiction and Fantasy, which should be out next year. “Parenting Daemonicis In Extremis” is a short and sweet little tale about how children can’t help but interrupt their poor, hardworking parents at the most inconvenient times. Submissions are still open until December 15th if you have a story you think might be a good fit!
Cool Stuff!
My friend Laura Blackwell, writer and copy editor extraordinaire, did me the amazing honor of creating a recipe for a Vakar cake! It’s based on an Italian anise bundt cake recipe, and while I haven’t had the opportunity to taste it yet, it looks astonishingly delicious. You can grab the recipe from my website and try it yourself!
Cats!
Both of my cats have been hard at work trying to prevent me from typing, by the simple expedient of lying down on my arms whenever I sit on the couch. I still love them, though.
That’s all she wrote! And by “she” I mean me, who wrote all of this. If you have any questions you'd like me to answer in a blog post or here in the newsletter, you can leave a comment on the Substack page, email me, or find me on Twitter or Facebook. Stay safe, and thanks for joining in the shenanigans!