Far too long since my last post here in Mutterings central, which is pretty funny in a way, since my last post was about how being a blogger is not a requirement for a writer with professional aspirations. Boy, I certainly proved that, didn’t I? That’s a long time even by my not-a-blogger standards . . .
Anyway, it was a long summer, but now the Oregon weather is turning cool, one child has started kindergarten, the other preschool, and even Heidi has made a change with a new job that she’s excited about. We’re also debating about stepping up to a bigger house (or remodeling our current one), which is causing me no end of heartburn. Even discussing this stuff is stressful. Being a writer who plans to make a run at it as a full-time gig down the road a bit, I like keeping my expenses low, especially when you never know what the economy will be doing. But the house is already starting to feel small for the four of us, and as much as it would be nice to make these types of decisions based only on my own needs and goals, other people in the family have needs and goals, too. It may not happen for 1-2 years, but it may happen next month, which is the part that drives me nuts. But c’est la vie . . .
Otherwise, I’m just plugging away like usual, fitting in the writing between the day job, working with Kat on piano lessons, and staying on top of mounds of laundry and piles of dirty dishes. I’m currently coming to the end of a long book project — longer than I’d like, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I’m focusing a lot more on novels these days (although I still try to squeeze in the occasional story), which means there probably won’t be as much publication news. Of course, I hope the news is much bigger when I do have news to share. I also made a decision awhile back to stop sharing information about sales until 1) publication, or 2) I’ve been paid. And I’ll only mention it in the second case if it’s a big deal, as in a massive book deal. I’ve already had a few sales fall through, so it makes sense to just share news when it’s fairly solid.
A few bits of news I can share:
- My story, “Deep Down in the Diggyback,” has appeared in Full Unit Hookup #10.
- My story, “Front Row Seats,” which originally appeared online at Chizine, was performed as a podcast over at Pseudopod.org. Download it to your MP3 player, or listen to it online. This is another first for me: the first time I’ve sold audio rights and had the piece actually performed.
- Although I haven’t been posting here lately, I’ve kept up the weekly interviews over at The First Book blog. Check them out! And if you know of first-time novelists who’d like a little exposure, send them my way. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it up on a weekly basis, but I’m trying.