Status: 22 Feb 2023

PETERMBALL Status

In March, I’m going to be a gust on the Pratchat: The Terry Pratchett Bookclub Podcast hosted by Ben McKenzie and Elizabeth Flux. Here’s some details from their recent announcement:

For our March episode, we’re going where Pratchat has never gone before: into Pratchett’s nonfiction! Author, publisher and roleplayer Peter M. Ball joins us for a collection of Pratchett’s scribblings about genre, fandom and Neil Gaiman. The specific pieces are “Kevins”, “Wyrd Ideas”, “Let There Be Dragons” and “Notes From A Successful Fantasy Author”, plus “Neil Gaiman: Amazing Master Conjuror” and Neil’s foreword to the book in which all of these were collected, 2014’s A Slip of the Keyboard. You’ll find all of those (except the foreword) in the book’s first section, “A Scribbling Intruder”. Send us your questions about them via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com, or on social media using the hashtag #Pratchat65.

From the announcement for this month’s episode

I have a lot of thoughts about this collection, and these entries in particular, as you might expect from someone who started an entire product line dedicated to preserving the writing about writing generated by Australian speculative fiction authors. I’m really intrigued by writers like Gaiman and Pratchett alike, who rarely get positioned as exquisite craftsmen because that’s not the persona they often present to the world, yet actually leave an astonishing amount of great writing advice out there when you start to filter through for the gems. Plus, of course, Pratchett’s a writer who rose to popularity alongside the internet in many ways, which makes for some fascinating reading when you position his non-fiction in a historical context.

Send your questions through to the details in the quote above if you’ve got something you’d like us to talk about!

ON THE TO DO LIST TODAY

Bit of a Schrodinger’s to-do list today, as there’s a coaching session later this afternoon that I might not have confirmed in time to actually run. Currently proceeding as though it will take place, but if it doesn’t go ahead this afternoon will be all about layouts for freelance gigs.

  1. Add 700+ words to my current work in progress
  2. Upload Eclectic Projects 002 to the three remaining distributor sites (you can pre-order copies from my store now).
  3. Edit the essay for Eclectic Projects 003 (holdover from yesterday).
  4. Write up notes for the mentee session this afternoon
  5. Deliver a mentee session this afternoon or progress the layouts on a freelance gig.

PETER M. BALL INBOX: 49

BRAIN JAR INBOX: 17

BRAIN JAR SUBMISSION QUEUE: 15

Will cull, but not answer, emails from the personal inbox today because 49 is definitely too many loose threads for my brain to keep track of.

Status: 21 Feb 2023

PETERMBALL Status ,

My dad passed away in 2019. Today would have been his birthday. The stretch from Feb 21 to March 19, the anniversary of his death, is one of the rocky parts of my year. Started writing a new short story yesterday, tackling an idea I’ve wanted to write for nearly a decade now.

ON THE TO DO LIST TODAY

  1. Add 700+ words to my current work in progress
  2. Upload Eclectic Projects 002 to distributor sites.
  3. Edit the essay for Eclectic Projects 003 (holdover from yesterday).
  4. Deliver a mentee session this afternoon.
  5. Head off to dinner with the fam, who are similarly sad today.

PETER M. BALL INBOX: 43

BRAIN JAR INBOX: 24

BRAIN JAR SUBMISSION QUEUE: 15

Expect minimal movement on all of these this week.

CURRENTLY WATCHING: CARNIVAL ROW, SEASON TWO

Four years after season one, Amazon Prime has brought back their steampunk fey noir series Carnival Row to finish the story. It’s pretty much certain we’re not getting a third season at this stage, which makes me furious because it’s one of the more ambitious fantasy works on screen in terms of world building.

I didn’t expect to care about the show this much. The opening episodes of 2019’s first season weren’t the strongest, courtesy of their sheer amount of detail they were trying to put on the screen and other creative choices: the character names originally felt absurd; Orlando Bloom also felt like the oddest choice for the hard-as-nails, gravel-voiced police inspector who takes the role of central protagonist; the early episodes use gratuitous sex like they’re recreating the first season of Game of Thrones.

None of that suggested an ambitious world or story, but as they laid the story out and fleshed out the details, I find myself entranced by the little things and their resolute determination that viewers would keep up instead of having every little thing explained to them. They’ve definitely found their feet with the early episodes of season two, in all the right ways. Bloom’s Rycroft Philostrate has slowly, steadily nudged away all thoughts and memories of Legolas, and I do hope someone picks on the fact he can play a hard edged protagonist capable of visceral, physical violence after this.

Status: 20 Feb 2023

PETERMBALL Status

We’re one week out from the release of Matthew R. Davis Bites Eyes over at Brain Jar Press, ergo this week is going to be a little more promo focused than others. There’s a bunch of Brain Jar projects in the hopper at the moment, slowly advancing as I figure out how to balance the various tasks now I’m back in a more-or-less freelance state. Matthew’s book excites me because it’s one of our first releases with an author I didn’t know personally when their work appeared in the submission queue.

ON THE TO DO LIST TODAY

  1. Brainstorm and write 700+ words on a novelette for an upcoming Eclectic Projects issue.
  2. Enter the long-overdue copy edit notes on Eclectic Projects 002.
  3. Edit the essay for Eclectic Projects 003.
  4. Prep for this week’s mentee sessions.
  5. Deliver a mentee session this afternoon.

PETER M. BALL INBOX: 33

BRAIN JAR INBOX: 23

BRAIN JAR SUBMISSION QUEUE: 15

Very minimal movement on the email front this week, as I’m still trying to get back on top of things after being out for a week. Basically aiming to keep my head above water until I’ve cleared the backlog.