Climbing the Summit

Blog No. 220

In two days I will be at the third annual Adventure Worlds Press Summit. Actually, I’ll be at the first summit and it will be the first time the Press is on the end of the name, but it will be the third writer’s retreat! I can’t wait. Over the last couple years, a small group of writers associated with Adventure Worlds has gotten together to rent a cottage for a weekend so we can focus on writing. It’s been a pretty successful endeavor and a lot of fun, but those trips have nothing on this year. Since Adventure Worlds is a press now, we are taking the same event and adding a couple extra components onto it. We have a few books coming out this year and a few things roughly planned for this year, but the Summit will give us a chance to really break it all down, schedule it properly, and plan out the coming year’s (and a bit) projects.

Every book has a bunch of steps necessary for it to be released. Writing it is just the beginning. With several edits, layout, design, cover, printing, release, launch, pricing, and more, it’s a big project to put out a book. Each of those steps also has several smaller steps and with a couple of publishers (Christian and me) and authors who are sometimes not us. Having a partner to bounce ideas off of and split up tasks is a lot of help, but that also means consulting another person (or two) with each step. Planning things out as much as we can ahead of time helps streamline the process, so when I’m elbow deep in a layout, I don’t have to stop my progress to see if Christian likes the margins I chose. Plus, it’s nice to have an idea of all the task I can expect for the next while and have time to plan accordingly. Taking on this writing and publishing thing has given me an appreciation for scheduling.

With the first drafts of the Crime Anthology done, there is a lot of work still to do. While we get all our planning done, I hope to finish the second draft before sending it to the others for a read. I also have half of the novella I want to release in the summer to finish. To top it off, I have Pilot looming overhead too. I will be nice to have a few different projects to work on, even if two of them are edits. Working on one thing for a whole day is draining (at least to me). Being able to mix it up should help keep me going into the night. Add in some of that summit planning and it’s going to be a full and productive weekend. Believe it or not, I can’t wait. There is nothing like sitting at a table with a couple of like minded folks, working away, occasionally seeking opinions or offering suggestions. It gives me a taste of my dream of becoming a full time writer, and helps me get there.

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One quick note on Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Adults. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s a CBC radio show and podcast that takes place across Canada. The hosts, Dan and Jenna travel the nation hosting live events where folks read stuff they dug out of hope chests and forgotten boxes. The events are recorded and they curate the best readings and collect them into a show. It’s a lot of fun, usually funny, sometimes heart-wrenching, but always enjoyable. Last Sunday they were in Windsor and I found an old story that I wrote in grade three and signed up for the show. There were sixteen readers and amazingly every one did a fantastic job. A few people really knocked it out of the park, like The River’s Dan MacDonald who read some old journal entries. My reading was really short, but I think I did an alright job. The audience was well warmed up, so it was easy to get them laughing. With a little luck, I’ll make the cut and you’ll be able to hear me on the podcast (but not for a while). I’m not sure what their turnaround time is, but it’s a two hour live events that has to be cut into a show, so I imagine that takes time. Either way, it’s a fun listen. Keep a lookout for their next local event. I know I’ll be there for sure. It was a blast.