So as you might be able to tell by the absence of material here, I’ve been a busy bee lately. Most recently I was working on my middle grade novel (yes, again). Happily, though, I finished my revisions and it’s been sent off to my agent. Fingers crossed that it’s good enough to send out on submissions.

I’ve also been working on some other stories as well. I’d reached that place where my current submissions were all coming back to me with nothing out there. So I sent some of them back out again as well as polishing up some newer stories. My goal is to focus on revising my backlog of stories while also writing a few new stories (a couple for anthologies).

I have two other updates, but I think they should each get their own entry.

So, this year’s Clarion West Write-a-thon is proving to be a challenge. After struggling with Week 2 and thinking I had Week 3 sussed, I flew to Seattle for an agency retreat and ended up staying through the weekend.

As amazing and useful as the retreat was, it wasn’t conducive to writing.

So I’m behind. Again. Amazing how quickly that happened.

However, I am going to complete my goals. Even if it takes me longer than anticipated. Those who have sponsored me already will get what I’ve promised. Those who have yet to sponsor me will get what’s promised as well. I just anticipate much of the work getting done next week.

I did manage to get out to a Clarion West party this past Friday, though, and I’ll say that the current crop of students has inspired me. What I do with this write-a-thon, I do partially in their honor, as well as in honor of my CW classmates.

So, lagging but hardly lost…

It’s now Week 3 of the Clarion West Write-a-thon, though because I lost a week it’s my second week writing. Last week went okay. I’m easing back into short story writing. I came up with a new idea, and it has a start and finish, but the ideas are still developing so the draft I wrote is still being revised. But I’ve begun on this week’s story already, so I expect that these will be finished in stages with revisions continuing into the weeks when I’m working on new drafts.

Last week’s story was science fiction, a rare thing for me these days, though this week’s is more science fantasy.

Thank you to all who sponsored me already. I appreciate the support and, of course, the support for the workshop. I’m still looking for sponsors, though, and don’t forget that there are rewards for different levels of support.

If you’d like to donate/sponsor me in the workshop, please go to this page and click on Donate.

I was looking through my folders just now and came across a song I had recorded the last time N was traveling. It was part of an audio package I sent with her. It’s awfully raw (my voice is off in several places) — I had allergies at the time — and the guitar work isn’t great, but I thought, fuck it, let me post this. It was just gathering dust anyway.

Hope you like it.

Fairy Tale Princess

In addition to my writing for Tor.com and LitReactor.com, I’m happy to announce that I’m doing comics reviews (and maybe the occasional article for Talking Comics. They’re a great site devoted to comics, and they’re starting to grow. If you are interested in comics, please give them a look. I’ll be contributing many more reviews in the coming weeks.