It feels like fireworks are going off in my head.
First: Today is my sixth anniversary as a full time science fiction and fantasy author. In 2012, my day job left me and I was left with only an 8 title back list and no real hope of working in higher education again. It’s worked out okay so far.
Second: Today is my first day as the Chief Financial Officer of the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It’s a wonderful opportunity to give back to science-fiction and the community that surrounds it. I’m honored to have been elected.
Third (but hardly least): I’ve been working on new structures to support my writing since February when I went to the Smarter Artists Summit in Austin. This last month brought back a tool that I used in the past but forgot–the tracking spreadsheet.
When the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers do their periodic NovelRama – 25,000 words in 4 days – I always track my writing by session. It helps me keep track of where I am in the day, how many words I’ve written that day, and how many more I need to write before I can sleep. NovelRama is great fun and I’ve always been sad when it ends. It’s almost always been a great way to jump start a stalled project.
This last week, I had that spreadsheet idea brought back to me and I spent some time playing with it, trying to make it easier and more informative.
It’s made writing fun again. Really fun. The kind of fun that I remember having but had lost track of in the day-to-day slog of trying to set and meet deadlines, keep up with my health, see my kids often enough to be able to pick them out of a line up and all the other stuff that people do.
Honestly, I’m a little giddy.
Status:
1. The first draft of Home Run is nearly completed. I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll find the ending in the next 3-5 days. There’s still a lot of work to do to make it ebook ready, but that day is coming soon.
2. My stretch goal for the month of July is finishing up another paperback. I did South Coast last month. This month I’m shooting for To Fire Called. Fingers crossed on this because…
3. I also have to do the free-write and outline for By Darkness Forged. I plan to do that while betas and editors are playing with Home Run.
4. Artistic Whispers is still working on the Audible production of Tanyth Fairport.
5. Podium (Jeffrey Kafer) will be getting By Darkness Forged as soon as I get it done.
Happy Fourth for those who celebrate it. I know I’ll be celebrating with the fireworks in my head.
Long may they blow my mind!
Until next month, crew. Safe voyage.
Image credit:Sehsuan at English Wikipedia [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
Wow, a monthly update on the 1st of the month!
What can we readers and supporters do to make sure you can continue to write? I know promoting your books to others is key, but are there other options for supporting you long term? A lot of authors hate to get involved with things like Patreon or value-added products (t-shirts, etc) but have you considered doing any of those things?
Shocking, isn’t it?
I’ve considered all those things. I will never go with Patreon. It’s too much of a pain in the butt.
I’ve had t-shirts and coffee mugs for a long, long time.
http://cafepress.com/solarclipper
As far as I’m concerned, the best thing any fan can do is 1) read my books and 2) spread the word. Thanks to all of you, new people keep discovering my work every day.
What I need to do is live up to my end of the bargain by getting better at producing new stories and keeping up with the various formats that people want. I haven’t been as successful at that as I want to be – which leads me to keep trying new things to get my ducks all quacking in the same direction.
Thanks for your support. 🙂
Keep the Audio commin, I’ll keep buying…
As a listener with ADHD, Patrion works for me, but when you can get the writings out (and the audio) we’ll all wait wright here…
or here…
or write here…
PS: Thanks for your writing and your awareness & support for mental illness. You are an inspiration to me.
Hey Nathan, do you ever plan to read the new Solar Clipper stories? I can’t seem to get in to them as much without you being the voice of Ishmael. It’s just not the same lol
I’ll never say never, but it’s exceptionally unlikely. I plan on focusing my deficit attention on writing new words.
I just finished my 15th or so listen through the golden age and my second of Seekers…Not that Jeffrey Kafer does a bad job (he does just fine) but you provided much more in the delivery of dialogue. I always love hearing your reads because you know how you meant it to be heard.
I will say it took me a while to get used to Kafer’s pronunciation of some of the names.
I know it’s a beast to record on top of the rest of your work so I am just glad to have an audiobook at all.
Could this perhaps be something that fans club together for and support financially? I’ve been listening since the podiobook days, and much prefer your rendition to the newer audiobooks and stick to ebooks for the newer ones. Don’t take this creepily but you do have a calming voice and generally peaceful tone. If it is a matter of available time then financial incentive wouldn’t do much, of course!
It’s mostly time and opportunity. Sadly.
What’s the status of book 3 of Seekers Tales and Smugglers Tales? I’m getting desperate for them.
Home Run is closer than you think. A few weeks. I’ve written over 66k words in the last two weeks.
I’m into the second draft and I need to give the editor a month.
Stay tuned.
Hot diggity! Always makes me happy when you drop a new book! Thanks for the great news!
Nathan, which purchase location gives the most money back to you? I usually buy both my e-copy and hard copy through Amazon, but I am more then willing to shop elsewhere if it helps you more.
Anne, whichever one is easiest for you.
Do you have a recipe for Frank’s finest?
Sadly, no.
How about a reader competition? Get a group of readers together to eval reader submitted recipes and the top three go to you for your decision.
Hi Nathan,
I was wondering if Home Run is out to Beta readers yet and if Ican add my name to the list if not. I’m starting a 3 day work stretch and will not be able to check the Morning Walk to sign up.
Thanks,
Sharyl
It’s out and back. The manuscript is with the editor now.
Sorry. 🙁
How does one become a beta reader? Is this detailed somewhere? I am very interested, a fast reader, and note typos and bad grammar due to a degree In literature as well as 30 years reading and writing at work.
When a book is ready for betas, I put out a call on my podcast (See TOMMW at the bottom of the page). The people in my Facebook group usually spread it around as well.
I ask for feedback within 3 days. While a lot of betas report typos and grammar, the only question I really need answered is “Does the story work? If it doesn’t, where did it go off the rails?”
You don’t need to listen to the podcast to be a beta — just respond in a comment on the episode, either by email or in a comment.