I don’t want to bury the lead, so I’ll start off with the biggest news: As of November 4th, I’m now a full-time writer.
After nearly 20 years at the university, it finally seemed like the right time. I’ve been self-employed before — I owned a bookstore for a few years in my late twenties — so being self-employed is not completely new to me, but this is the first time I’ve been a full-time writer. My commute is now thirteen feet, bedroom to office. My coworkers are very quiet . . . except when they’re cleaning their paws. In the picture above, you can see one of them, Paisley, sitting in my office recliner. Er, I mean, on my office recliner.
What does it mean for my readers? Well, the books should come a lot faster now. I won’t be writing any faster, mind you, or at least I don’t intend to. I’m just going to be spending a lot more hours at it rather than getting up at the crack of way-too-early to get in my pages before heading off to the day job. I have a good sense of what kind of pace is sustainable for me long term, but we’ll see how it goes. So far, so good. I’ve been hitting my quota, getting in my daily words on another book. I know if I get that right, I can figure out the rest.
And what is that book? Well, I’m working on a spin off character from the Garrison Gage series right now — someone who appeared in a couple books and deserves her own series. (That’s enough of a clue. You’ll have to wait until I’m done for more.) After that, I’d like to jump right back to Gage for the seventh book in that series. And then? Well, I have a lot of ideas.
Speaking of ideas, what about the comic? Now that I don’t have that pesky day job, will be I be publishing Run of the House more frequently? Well, we’ll see. For now, I continue to publish the cartoon strip every Wednesday over at http://www.runofthehouse.net. I’m going to reassess my plans with it down the road a bit, after I’ve settled into my new routines, but I fully intend to keep it going. It appeals to a different part of my creative makeup, one I’d let go dormant for far too long.
Oh, in other news, Bury the Dead in Driftwood, the sixth Garrison Gage book, is now available in audio. You can find it on Audible and on iTunes, narrated by the wonderful Steven Roy Grimsley, who has narrated all of the Garrison Gage and Myron Vale books. If you like listening to audio books, as I do, please check it out.
It’s a gray and drizzly November day here in Oregon. In other words, perfect writing weather. Time to get back to it.