Clarion Write-a-thon Update
We’re getting down to the wire here. I have four days to go in the Clarion Write-a-thon, and seven thousand words to write in that time. That’s 1,750 words a day — a bit more than my daily average for the six weeks, but quite doable. Part of my plan for making my goal is writing this post, in which I’ll talk about the things I’ve accomplished these past five and a half weeks, and the things I haven’t.
Things I’ve Done:
As of this writing, I’ve written 34,000 words and change. That’s a pretty good pull for five weeks, or as Brian Keene would call it, an off day. I keep trying to have moments where I sit down and promptly explode 5,000 words. The closest I came was 3,000+, when I was writing a faux scientific paper about some of the SFF stuff in my new book. Speaking of which. . .
I’ve written about 20,000 words of a new novel! I don’t want to talk too much about it but right now I’m calling it my Wings book. It’s NOT an angel book, at least I don’t think it’s an angel book. Maybe it IS an angel book. I’m not gonna tell yet. But it has been a blast to write, and I’m super grateful to the write-a-thon for putting the fire under my butt to get started on it, otherwise, I might have just outlined and outlined and outlined and never actually started writing it. I’ve always said that writing a book is less about words and ideas and much more about asses and seats. That’s how you get it done. The words and ideas come later.
PIXELTHEQUE! I’ve started blogging for the retro video game appreciation site created by Jesse Bowline and Steele Filipek. It’s nostalgia-injected for maximum happiness, and each piece has been a joyous celebration of a classic game from my youth. With posts on Air Fortress, Gunsmoke, and others, I’ve tried to demonstrate the literary appeal of video games, and hopefully elevate the art form.
I’ve also been keeping up with my blog a little better. Sort of. If I ever sell a book, I’ll definitely update every day. Because eager readers will just flock to us here, right? Right? Sigh. Not even my mom reads this blog!
Met my fundraising goal! I’ve raised well over the $100.00 I hoped to raise for the Clarion Write-a-thon. I’m so excited that my sweat and finger cramps will help students attend the best writing workshop in the world. If you want to help new spec fic writers be the best they can be, PLEASE consider donating to this worthy cause.
My biggest accomplishment during the write-a-thon has to be the story I sold to Daily Science Fiction. Holy cow am I excited about this. The story is called “The Show Must,” and it’s about theater and the apocalypse. I’ll do a longer post about it when the story pubs. Looking forward to talking about it.
As wonderful as all these accomplishments are, all I’ve been able to think about is the stuff I haven’t done. I know that’s bad, but I am motivated to do so much, it’s been hard to get anything done, because I’ve been working on so many different projects.
Things I Haven’t Done:
Finished Episode One of SPACE PIRATES IN SPACE. Dang. I cannot wait to share this amazing project with you guys. When it goes live, it will be all I talk about. The home page is currently under construction, but you should check it out anyway.
Worked on my Unity video game. It has changed subject many times, but I’m aching to play around with this awesome program more and make some even cooler stuff.
Short stories. I’ve been eager to write another Princess Detective short story for a long time, but haven’t been able to quite get it out. Then there’s seasteads, and other glamourous projects. Fingers crossed that the rest of the summer is more productive.
But hey, the good news is that I’m writing like crazy and seeing a little success.
NOW! BACK TO WRITING!
