My word of the year, Practice, is getting a workout and I think it’s working.

Status

The Wizard’s Cat
I’m not delighted with the amount of progress on the story but the old structures involving the actual writing of it seem to be coming back with (you guessed it) practice. I’m at the 25% point with some momentum starting to build. Fingers crossed that this systematic approach to getting this cat off my desk and onto your readers continues to bear fruit.

Everything Else
Ishmael and company will be back. I don’t know what form that will take. I can easily see a Zoya and Ishmael story line similar to the Nat and Zee days but with a different focus as two captains try to live on the same ship and sleep in the same bed. Natalya has her work cut out for her at the academy and Pip’s new entrepreneurial spirit will keep both of them on their toes.

Tanyth Fairport will be back. Some day. So many threads hang from the end of that last book. Any one of them could lead to a story. I just need the bandwidth to deal with it. No, I haven’t dealt with the audio problems yet.

The sequel to Salt, tentatively titled Iron, is in play. Granted, it feels more like a cat toy that’s been batted under the sofa but it’s there.

Website Changes
I spent part of the month revising the various websites and linking them in. The old “Peer Reviewed” site from 2016-2017 where self published authors reviewed self-published works other than their own has been stripped down to a static site. It’s linked here under Webliography on the main menu. “Solar Clipper Diary” has been shuttered but I brought the pages over here. They’re linked in the sidebar. The “Lammas Wood” blog just went away. It served no purpose beyond giving hackers a target. The revamp had been too long coming and digging into the past had me thinking a lot more about the future.

What Am I Reading?

I’m reading a ton of stuff and most of it pushes me back to the keyboard so I can have that kind of fun with my own stories. I’ve always said, “If I’m not writing, I’m not reading enough.” That idea has come back to me with bells on over the last few weeks.

This month I’m going back to an old colleague from the Podiobook days, Lindsay Buroker, and Star Nomad, book 1 of The Fallen Empire. I’d seen her work over the years, mostly in passing while I was already involved in something else. This time I stopped and gave it a second look.

The plucky captain, Alisa Marchenco, retrieves (okay, steals) her mother’s old freighter out of a boneyard with the help of a rapidly expanding crew of off-beat characters. An abandoned cyborg, a chicken raising stoner, a grillmaster with his own powerarmor, and the most pessimistic engineer who ever spun a spanner. Oh, and an enigmatic holy man with a secret that somebody would happily kill for.

As always, hijinks ensue.

Loved the characters. The plot unfolds like clockwork in one of those fancy Swiss clocks with all the various doors and gears popping open where you least expect them but which make perfect sense when they do. Great set up for a nice long series of 9 books!

But as always, don’t take my word for it. Maybe grab a sample of Star Nomad and see what you think.

Honorable mention for last month, a rather dark space opera, Herald Petrel by Strange Seawolf. I passed on this book at least a dozen times. Looking at it, I thought it was YA or even Middle Grade and gave it a pass on the basis of the product page. Another author recommended it so I gave it a shot and have to say it’s pretty darn good once you get past the cutesy graphics.

See all my reads for January along with my rating.

About the Newsletter
I’m still publishing it on the 15th of the month. They’re not all getting delivered but you don’t
need to subscribe to get a mid-month update from me. You can find them archived on my newsletter’s public page.

Looking Forward

The thing about practice is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to happen. The old habits, the old patterns from BC (Before Cancer) just kept failing the harder I pushed to recover them. For the last four or five months I’ve been slowly coming to grips with the fact that those habits may never come back. The day’s of 10,000 words a day may be gone forever.

Or maybe not.

By focusing on Practice, I’m finding that some of those old techniques still work even if not as well as they once did. It’s probably because I’m – you know – out of practice. I’m rebuilding the mental muscles, and even some physical ones, a little bit more each day. And like any practice, some days go better than others but I keep coming back to it. Trying again. And again.

It’s paying off. My daily word counts are trending upward. The idea that I might have a full draft by the end of February doesn’t feel out of reach. Or I may not. I don’t know.

What I do know is that I’m going to keep working on my Practice, a little more every day. It feels good.

Almost like magic.

Until next month, safe voyage.

N

Seems like we just did this a few days ago but I went back and read last year’s post.

Yeah. About that Cat…

Status

The Wizard’s Cat
I’ve been saying it for a while. You’d think I’d be further ahead. I know I was thinking I’d have this out by now instead of still trying to corral the beast. That’s the bad news. Good news: The story is finally, finally coming along. Some brainstorming sessions. A figurative trip to the “time out corner” where I could meditate on the error of my ways. The time has come to follow Ray Bradbury’s advice: Don’t Think. I think it’s working.

Everything Else
Ishmael is still on my mind as is Tanyth. I’m stocking up ideas for when I go back into the Deep Dark or visit Korlay again. EJ is still working on her half of the Salt sequel. All of that is tucked in a box and stashed in the closet until I get the Cat off to the editor.

What Am I Reading?

Honestly, I’m still reading my way through Pirate Aba’s The Wandering Inn series. I’m almost done but I took a break from it last week to find another space opera I can recommend.

And it’s a doozy.

Anthony J. Melchiorri has captured the essence of found spaceship, human thrust into a universe of aliens for which he’s hardly prepared, a talking plant, and his faithful sidekick – Jacques. It’s a modern take on an old favorite story. Melchiorri manages to make all those things work smoothly together as the main character, Fin, bumbles his way through fatal encounters with deadly aliens with a shiny veneer of politics and bureaucracy.

With five volumes out already, I know where I’m going when I get done with The Wandering Inn.

But don’t take my word for it. Why don’t you grab a sample and see what you think?

About the Newsletter
I’m still publishing it on the 15th of the month. They’re not all getting delivered but you don’t
need to subscribe to get a mid-month update from me. You can find them archived on my ConvertKit public page.

Looking Ahead

Another month of car issues which have now been mostly resolved. I’m waiting for some final paperwork on the second vehicle in three months. I have to say, I’m getting really tired of dealing with cars. On the upside, I should be good for a while. At least until I have to visit the dealership again for maintenance.

The best thing I’ve found in the last month has been writing again. As in, keeping the word processing document open on my desktop all the time. As in, visiting Roger every day and seeing what’s happening in Shackleford House. I’ve let the story develop on its own, not trying to shape it into some preconceived idea of what the cat should be doing. I’ve tossed out all the contrived ideas. I’m just writing. For the first time in months, perhaps years at this point, I’d rather write than play because writing has become play again. Can I get this thing finally drafted by the end of the month?

I don’t know. It’s certainly possible, but even if I only manage a few hours a day on it, that’s more than I’ve been capable off since The Year Of Cancer kneecapped me.

Believe me when I say, nobody wants to see this book out in the world more than I do right now. Maybe not for the same reasons all of you want to see it but our goals align. Not that they didn’t before, but I’m feeling the rush of a good writing session again and the satisfaction of concrete progress that doesn’t feel like re-hashed cardboard.

Finally.

Until next month, safe voyage.

– N

I’ve always liked October and November. The cooler weather. The changing leaves. Pumpkin pies. Fresh apples and cider. It usually invigorates me. I can feel it ramping up as September rolls by.

Status

Shackleford House
Not as much progress as I’d hoped, but not as little as I feared. I’m slowly (very slowly) getting the rhythm back. Fingers crossed.

Everything Else
No changes here. Tanyth is still in limbo. Ishmael and company are off doing whatever they do when they’re not on the page. Tanan and Suketai are – presumably – riding off into the steppes and might make an appearance early next year. EJ has been making some inroads on it but I haven’t seen it yet.

What Am I Reading?

I spent most of the month catching up with old friends in various series. Sarah Painter’s, Unholy Island series, a follow on series to Crow Investigations, took up a solid chunk of the month. I had two Bob and Nikki’s to catch up on. Honour Rae’s next All the Skills book.

In all that I picked up Shannon Eichorn’s debut novel, Rights of Use. An interesting story of alien abduction, political intrigue, and galactic conquest in a wrapper made of consent – or lack thereof.

I’ve known Shannon for a while. We’ve crossed paths online and at various conventions over the last few years. I’ve looked forward to seeing her fiction get out into the world. This book didn’t let me down. A fast moving story with a lot of parts, some great characters, and the intriguing setting kept me turning pages. I’m looking forward to book 2.

But, as always, don’t take my word for it. Grab a sample of Rights of Use and see for yourself.

About the Newsletter
I’m still publishing them on the 15th of the month. They’re not all getting delivered but you don’t
need to subscribe to get a mid-month update from me. You can find them archived on my ConvertKit public page.

Looking Ahead

Car issues dominated my focus in September. One car needed to be replaced. The other has a broken window and only eBay has window glass for 30 year old Plymouth vans. I’ll find out tomorrow if the replacement part works.

In spite of that, I’ve written more Shackleford House this month than last. It’s coming along. It feels good but getting back into the groove is still a work in progress. I’m feeling good about this story and think it’ll be a worthy successor to Butler.

The Cat is a hoot to write. I should write more of him.

But until next month, safe voyage.

-N