Failure.

Blog post No. 492

Snow from a Distant Sky is done. Barring any major screw-ups that have made their way trough all the drafts, beta reads, and reviews, all that’s left is waiting for the copies I’ve ordered to come in, bringing some to Biblioasis to sell, and distributing the ones out to the people who have requested to buy it from me. Since the book is officially release, I no longer have any excuse to not be editing the Invasion Novel.

Snow from a Distant Sky is now Available

Blog post No. 491

I may be milking it a little by now, but this is a short post to announce the official release of Snow from a Distant Sky. In case you don’t already know, it’s the fifth book in The Synthetic Albatross Novella Series that started with The Thinking Machine in 2018. As I’ve mentioned a number of times, the series is now on hold for the foreseeable future. One of the main reasons I wrote the series was to have new books each year for the annual events I was attending. Now that I have Broadcast Wasteland, Break/Interrupt, and Snow in my pocket for when I do go back to events (you can read last week’s post to know why I’m not taking part, yet) I think my time is better spent working on some novels.

On Order

Blog post No. 437

I’m once again in a holding pattern while I wait for the sample copies of Break/Interrupt to ship. It’s never fun to get to a point when you feel like you’ve finished a project to have it come to a screeching halt because of something out of your control. I’m so close, but still at the mercy of the printer and shipping company. The process is always a bit wonky, too. Like with most things, you get a tracking code when the books are finished but with every book I’ve ordered the status never seems to change until the books have actually been delivered, then it all updates at once. It’s a little frustrating, but what are you going to do?

Eight Years of Posts – 2020 in Review

Blog post No. 424

I totally get the end of a year being a meaningful starting or ending point for people. We perceive the passage of time naturally in days and seasons, but we created weeks, months, and years to make it easier. It’s not like because we started a new year that everything is reset, though. The same issues we had a week ago are still here (unless it’s something you’ve already taken care of, in which case, good job!).
Still, I mark the passage of a year on this blog. I’m up to eight years of weekly posts. It may not be special for everyone, but I’m pretty proud of it. I had some rough starts where ten or so posts came whenever I could force myself to do them, but when I decided to give writing a go, I made a commitment to weekly posts and here I am.
Now, it’s about this time in each of my yearly review posts where I point out that I have one gleaming error in my otherwise pristine blogging record. One week (when I was working three jobs at the time) I missed putting a post out on Thursday and got it out on Saturday instead. I’m usually hard on myself for that failure, but thinking back on it this year, I was able to convince myself that I did manage to get a post out that week, so it’s not all that bad.

The Oddity of a Virtual Launch

Blog Post No. 405

The virtual launch is over and while I did very little to facilitate it (or likely because) it was a success. Though I’m not sure how to quantify a success of such a thing. At a physical event you can count of number of people who showed up and how many books you sold. I suppose I could go by views, but with so many different elements spread out over multiple digital spaces, that’s not so easy. I could go by engagement and I did get some good feedback on the silly video I made for the event, but again, I’d have to go around and calculate the comments on all the posts and I don’t want to. The easiest and most kind to my ego is to look at the things Christian, Brittni, and I did for the event.

Virtual Launch – Tomorrow

Blog Post No. 404

I messed up. I was so surprised by the news last week that I wrote a post about not going back to the Day Job for the rest of the year when I should have made a post about the virtual launch that Adventure Worlds Press is doing tomorrow (Friday August 14th). Since we released three books this year and we haven’t been able to do traditional launches we decided to put together something online. It’s strange to think that the book I’m promoting, Broadcast Wasteland, came out in April, but since time has lost all meaning in the pandemic, I’m sure it’s fine that I’m launching it now.

Update!

Blog No. 384

I have a few days left of my time off from the day job and I’m waiting to hear if I will continue to stay home (probably) and if they will keep paying me (probably not). In the mean time, Broadcast Wasteland is at the printers in the processing stage and I should be able to order copies within the next few days. I’ll probably order a few test copies before I jump in with a big order of 100 and start selling them. I may see if I can get them to Biblioasis since they have been doing deliveries, but I haven’t really thought about a distribution plan beyond that. I wanted to get all my accounts settled with Biblioasis before starting a new one, but these are strange times.

Daily Life

Blog No. 362

I’ve been working on a second draft of Broadcast Wasteland, but it’s been a pretty slow pace. I’m not overly motivated to work on it every day like I was for the first draft. That’s not to say I haven’t been putting in some time. Right now it’s split between finding a passage to read for the Biblioasis event (which was last night. Sorry if you missed it) doing the second draft, and trying to get that review finished for my friend. That’s not a terrible amount of work, but things at the day job have been hectic and stressful. October was a super busy month (the hall where I work was open every day) and with the new systems in place, we all had to make adjustments to the way we do everything. (It’s all a little slap in the face).

Time to make the Donuts

Blog No. 361

I bought a game. I know I shouldn’t have, but I was out and about on Sunday and stopped at the store. It was a game I’d been wanting (the first on was quite good) and it was on sale. I spent several hours that night getting used to the new controls (why do game makers do that, anyway? The first game was just fine. Now I have to forget the way it was and learn something new). It was a fun evening of wasted time that capped off my week and a half (and a bit) of sloth after the writing sprint. I was going to finish a short story, but I only had one writing session for it. I’m probably half way there (or more) so I’ll keep picking away at it, but it’s time to face the dreaded edits.

Like a Circle

Blog No. 360

Because this is the 360th post. Like a circle. Get it? (I know you probably do. Ignore me. I think I’m funny). Now that Broadcast Wasteland is written (and all the editing and other work is ahead of me) I’m really not sure what this post is going to be about. We’re going on another journey together! Last weekend was Advanced Polls in Canada and my Day Job was a polling location. I usually dread it because the poll clerks aren’t always with it, the people who come in are often angry, and I get caught in circular arguments where voters scream political opinions and racist comments at me (all the while I do my best to keep my cool and remind them that you aren’t really allowed to talk about politics at a polling site, also racism is bad). It was four days of early mornings and monotonous hours, but it turned out the clerks were good and I only had one racist comment throw in my direction. Either way, I hadn’t done anything productive since I finished the first draft last Wednesday.