Under a Pile of my own Doing

Blog No. 230

The other day I was listing off all the things I had to do in the next couple of months to my friend and my brain almost broke. I know I have no one to blame but myself, but I had to go on an overnight trip to get far back enough to see it all. And that’s not including editing Pilot (which I haven’t started) or my day job. I’m starting to get a little stressed out. Easter was a nice distraction, but come hell or high water, this week has to be one where I work until my fingers fall off. It may be a struggle though, because I’m working every day already. I’ll just see how much I can get done after dinner and before bed. It’ll be like having homework again. Thrilling.

Now that I think of it, it’s going to be a few weeks of hunching over the grindstone. At the top of the list is the Crime Anthology. Unofficially, we have a name and a solid concept for the cover, but we’re still deep in the editing phase and there is a way to go before any of that is settled. For now it’s all about the edits. I can’t speak for the other writers in the book, but I’m pretty sure we’re all around the same place. At the moment I’m hard at work going over the excellent beta reads I received (creating my fourth draft). As soon as I can get through all the edits and comments, the three novellas will be sent off to an editor for the final review. When that happens, it’ll be time to make the layout, finish the cover and contact the printer. We have some ideas for a launch event too, but that’s a long way away.

As soon as the crime story is off to the printers (while I do the layout) I’ll get the chance to finish my cyberpunk novella. I’m not sure if I can use the term cyberpunk anymore though. A game company somehow got the rights. Either way, I have to finish it. There is more to go than I’d like and my goal of June is becoming a bit out of reach. Maybe. I still have the first draft to finish, then get a round of edits/beta reads done. I’m leery of bothering the same folks who just finished going over my crime novella, but they did such a good job I may have to risk ticking them off. I’ll have to find an editor for that one too, but I’m not expecting the same level of perfection since I’m doing this one all by myself. I do have a cover in the works, which is terrifying since I’m not finished the story yet, but I suppose that’ll just help keep me motivated.

The crime book has to come first though. Other people are riding on my success. I’d love to let the edits stew for a bit so I can finish off the cyberpunk book, but I don’t have the time. I’m starting to feel like a bit of a failure, having so much still left to do. But really, if I pull this off, I’ll have two novellas (one in an anthology) completely finished in (somewhere around) half a year. That’s not too bad. In the mean time, I have events, podcasts, readings, meetings, the day job, and general life stuff to deal with. (I’m way overdue for a haircut and I have to get an oil change this week). Like I told my friend, it makes me want to run away and join the circus. I probably would too, if it weren’t also totally exciting and possibly doable. I mean, it’s totally doable, if I can keep myself focused and not spend too much time playing games and watching movies. The kids at my last school visit all wrote me thank you letter too. If that’s not motivating, I don’t know what is!