Recalibrating

One of the things about being a creative person is that it’s very hard to keep an organized daily routine for very long. Usually you’ll have one that works out well for a couple of weeks before something happens to make it fall apart completely, and then you have to recalibrate and start over. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it is something you have to adjust for.

I’m in one of those recalibrating phases right now, as you can probably tell by the fact that my unfinished WIP is past the self-imposed deadline and I haven’t posted in this blog in over a week. Don’t worry, though—things are going well, and I’ll soon be back up to speed.

Interestingly enough, it wasn’t LTUE that blew up my writing routine. I actually managed to write every day while I was there. It was a bunch of stuff that happened afterward, most notably taxes and car issues. The taxes are completely squared away, but the car issues are ongoing, so I dropped the writing to take a temp job all last week.

Gunslinger to the Stars is still unfinished but at a good stopping point. What I’m probably going to do is put it on the back burner for a month or two as I work on other projects.

Top on that list is to get Captives in Obscurity (Sons of the Starfarers: Book V) ready for publication. The copy edits are back and I have the cover now, so it should be up for pre-order before the end of the week.

Also, there’s another J.M. Wight short story I’m getting ready to put out. Just need to get some feedback and write the author’s note. Though what I may do is bundle that with another J.M. Wight story that I haven’t written yet, so that I can justify putting it out at the $2.99 price point. And the author’s note for this one is going to be a bit unusual too: an essay that tells my own personal story of how I got into family history and some of the spiritual things I’ve experienced from it.

So it may be another month or two before that J.M. Wight bundle comes out. But one thing that definitely is coming out is my short story “L’enfer, C’est la Solitude.” It will be appearing online at Perihelion for their March issue, where you can read it for free. More links as that becomes available.

I’ve also got some short story ideas that I want to flesh out. I’ll probably take the next week or two to work on those, but you won’t see them for a while since they’ll be on submission. But I do have a lot of blog posts that I want to write as well, including:

• #RIPTwitter and the ongoing controversy there.
• Thoughts on making a living with short fiction.
• The guest lecture I gave to Sanderson’s English 318 class.
• Cover reveal for Captives in Obscurity.
• Some book reviews.

As for the personal issues that blew up my writing routine in the first place, don’t worry—everything’s fine. Right now, my plan is to buy a scooter and sell my car, just because a scooter would fit my needs better (and would be a lot of fun to ride!). It would also help me to save up for another vehicle next winter, possibly a truck. I’m not too keen on taking out an auto loan, but with taxes out of the way my personal finances are actually in a pretty good place—much better than I expected them to be. So things are looking up.

In any case, that’s what’s going on with me. I haven’t dropped off the face of the Earth yet, just recalibrating and making some adjustments. Expect to see some more stories very soon!