I’ve already posted a couple of times this month, once about my recent change in status from agented author with a publisher to unagented author with no publisher, and another much more upbeat article about the remodeling of my new studio. Which, by the way, now has a Baba Yaga-like desk lamp made of three skulls because we picked up some meatloaf for my mother-in-law from Cracker Barrel, and they had this creepy exclusive. Go, Cracker Barrel. And yes, go out and get one for yourself, Russian folklore fans!
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But what you really want to know is how is the writing going, right? I am plugging along on the first installment of my serial, which has yet to pick up its final name, but has a Paradise Icon title of The Poet and the Navigator. Paradise Icon, the annual workshop a bunch of my writing buddies sojourn to every year is in October, and the story needed to be submitted in early September. I’d like to get some other eyes on it to see just how self-indulgent it is. We’ll see.
I’ve outlined the mad science plots in my office on the murder board. In the upper left hand corner is a card which says, “The first rule of mad science is we don’t talk about mad science.” I will work on it diligently in September and see if I can’t get this draft out into the world for some beta-eyes.
I haven’t given up on Abby as a commercial pursuit quite yet. A couple of agents have a full. And no, I don’t expect anything. I’ve been here before. But we cast our net wide. Serial, self-pub, agent stuff. Just keep writing.
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You’ll notice the What’s New page at the front of the blog has now been taken over by Alembical 4, also known as the “Woah. Lawrence and Buck sure did find a couple of creeptastic novellas” issue. Travis Heerman‘s Where the Devil Resides is bleak and dark and I would recommend the book just for his novella if I had to. The Ground is Full of Teeth also has some twisty stuff in it. You can ask for it by name at local bookshops and order it on line too.
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September actually has a couple of events I hadn’t planned on in it.
First of all, I will be having a reading of The Ground is Full of Teeth at M and M Books in Cedar Rapids. If you need any of my books, I want to encourage you to check with them first. They treat local authors exceptionally well. I’ll be reading on September 18th from 5 pm – 7 pm, so please come by if you can.
And then, for my North Liberty peeps, the North Liberty Community Library will be having an Author Fair on September 23rd from 1 pm to 4 pm. I’ll have copies of all the books on sale: The Vessel of Ra, the Abandoned Places Anthology, and Alembical 4, plus a whole lot of swag.
Hope to catch you at either of these events.
So, next month, I hope to tell you that I’ve finished Mad Science. Which means I gotta get busy. These darned books do not write themselves. Asking the philosophical question what is with that? For a friend.
