Stuff

Friday Status Post – 23 Nov 2018

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I am sitting at my desk and trying to corral all the projects on my immediate to-do list, which I’ve allowed to get slightly out of control. That was to be expected this week, so I’ve largely run with the wolves, but I’m not sure it would be a good idea to carry this level of chaos past the weekend.

The most urgent is doing the final checks on Eight Minutes of Usable Daylight, which will roll out fro the short fiction lab early next week and therefore has a narrow window in which to make last-minute changes. 

Almost as urgent is getting a new chapter redrafted in Warhol Sleeping, which is proving to be a slower process than I’d originally anticipated.

My original goal with Warhol Sleeping was putting out a 25,000 word novella on November 30; now I’ve got seven chapters left on the revision list, after which I expect the final book to be closer to a short novel of 40,000 words released in early 2019.

After that, there is a small knot of work that surrounds my conference paper for next year–transforming the research into a coherent talk, making sure I’ve got everything booked and all the forms filled out properly for the university funding.

That knot needs to be untangled rather urgently, because it’s full of the things I do not like doing. Too many processes I don’t yet understand, too many stakes that are left ambiguous. 

Everything after the knot is a series of low-key projects waiting their turn: the next two stories for the Short Fiction Lab, a boxing novella in space, an urban fantasy novella, plus some updates of older work and getting print editions together for all of the books Brian Jar put out over the last twelve months. 

Also, cleaning off my desk, which is starting to feel like it’s waiting for the opportunity collapse and wipe us both out: 

CURRENT LISTENING: Beastie Boys, Watcha Want?
CURRENT READING: Magic Hours: Essays on Creators and Creating, Tom Bissell
TO DO LIST: In need of updating
EMAIL: 61 emails in need of attention

The Sunday Circle: What Are You Working On This Week?

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The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).

After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.

Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).

MY CHECK-IN

What am I working on this week?

The Warhol Sleeping redraft continues this week, and the books is really coming together now that I’m looking at the deeper structures. It’s going to be a bigger redraft than I originally thought, but it’s gradually transforming from a book I was slightly nervous about to a book I’m really confident about (also, now a book that will get at least one or two sequels, given that I started writing another short novel in the setting).

Also on the docket this week: working on a Loop & Hayley urban fantasy novel; working on my Vampires presentation; redrafting the first 1/3 of Cerberus Station Rumble to get the voice right; doing a few new scenes on the Warhol Sleeping follow-up. 

What’s inspiring me this week?

I’ve been hip-deep in cyberpunk narratives this week, catching up with Altered Carbon in TV and novel form, revisiting old William Gibson novels, and checking out Charlie Stross’ Halting State which is kinda like Cyberpunk getting filtered through the tech of the late 2000s instead of the eighties, dealing with the economies of online gaming, augmented reality, and exciting new forms of crime that cops don’t understand yet.

What action do I need to take?

I’d loosely earmarked Warhol Sleeping for a November 30 release, because it marks one year of Brain Jar Press, but the more detailed rewrite-and-fleshing-out process I’m doing makes that a date that’s tricky to hit. Still a feasible timeframe if I want it to be, but the book would need to take up much of my deep focus time every workday, leaving other projects to sit fallow until it’s done. On the other hand, part of the joy with Brain Jar is being in charge of my own projects, and being free to hold off until a project is done right instead of done-good-enough-to-release

I keep flipping back-and-forth over whether I’d rather double-down and hit my original target date, or embrace the slower approach and get other things done around the edges. 

Handsome Boys

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When I moved in with my partner, I moved in with a pair of guinea pigs. For a while this felt like a considerably bigger deal that living with another person, as I’m generally not a pet person and never really wanted to be.

My partner specifically adopted boars when she decided to live with guinea pigs, since they’re harder to find homes for than females pigs. The current two don’t get along well–when spending time in the same pen they’ll get into an ongoing contest for territory–but guinea pigs are social creatures, which means they like being able to talk to one-another so long as there’s a fence between them.

They’re also ravenous little buggers, prone to wheeking for snacks and demanding attention the moment you walk into the room.

On the days when I work from home, I walk into that room an awful lot.  Which probably explains a good chunk of my instagram over the last twelve months.