After the Novella

Blog no. 329

Felling the need to comment on something is usually a good sign that you should just keep your mouth shut. Often, comments are unwelcome, uninformed, and unwarranted. I will, however, make a comment on how much daylight saving time is the pits. I doubt too many people will come to its defense (and if they do, they’re wrong). I hate daylight saving time. I hate how stupid and pointless it is. I hate how pointlessly disruptive it is. I hate how it seems to have hung on well beyond the reasons for it’s initial creation. I hate that it’s not universal and there are people out there who don’t have to put up with it, but most of all, I hate that I do have to put up with it. That’s all I have to say on the subject for now. I may have something to add when we switch back, but I have more important things to discuss, like what the heck am I going to do when The Neon Heart is finished.

Now that The Neon Heart is due out in a month (or so) and I’m getting close to finishing it, I’m starting to think about getting back to the novel. It’s a little intimidating (especially since I’m pretty happy with Neon Heart) but writing is always more fun than editing, and I need to take the novel step and start thinking about getting to the next level. As with every project so far, I’m hoping to get the first draft done in record time. I’ve topped out at 24000 words in a month with Shootout, but that was a single month. I hope I can get that up closer to 30000 and keep it going for three or four months. It’s a goal, not a promise. The regularly scheduled writing meetings with Christian and Elly should help. We’ll see. The main point is that I want a fast, tight, first draft done over the summer so I can knock out next year’s novella even earlier and leave my self extra, double, bonus time for editing.

All that is nice and easy to say. I do have three novella ideas that I’d love to work on, and I’d love to eventually get a year ahead on them, but the practicality remains to be seen. If they don’t pick up in popularity, like I hope, it may not make sense to keep putting so much time and effort into them. The novel is the path of growth and I rely heavily on beta readers and the kindness of fellow writers for edits on the novellas. I was lucky to find some new folks willing to give Neon Heart a read, and they did a great job in a short amount of time, but who knows who will be willing and available next year (and the year after). I hope they sell well. I have enjoyed writing them so far, and, like I said, I have a bunch more ideas that are perfect for a novella.

I was hoping to squeeze in an event this weekend, but I left the planning too late, and it fell through. That makes ChiSeries Windsor on March 27th, the next event. I’m excited to get that train rolling again. Hopefully we can keep building steam. We’re starting with an fun one. Michael Drakich, MJ Gardner, and I will be the readers, and Brendan Scott Friel (the first musician to play at the event) will be coming back to play in between the readings. Phog has generously welcomed us back, so the time and place hasn’t changed. (The time being 8 – 9:30). I’ll be reading a big from The Neon Heart, since it should be out to the printer by then. I’m not always a fan of readings from unreleased works, but I think this one is close enough to be okay. Keep a look out for the facebook event page and posters. We (as in the national organizers, The Chiaroscuro Reading Series)  pay the readers and musician (except me this time) and it’s the only genre event of its kind in the city. It’s been tough growing it, so any help spreading the work would be appreciated.

Okay. I’m done. Back to finishing this book.