Blog – Page 2 – Kit Campbell Books

Huh

Sorry I was such a downer on Tuesday, squiders. I’ve been doing some thinking. Bookstooge, on my last post, mentioned that I might have over-committed myself. And I laughed to myself and was like, no, no, everything is fine, I am operating within normal parameters.

But then I stopped and was like…but am I?

When I had the idea of working on my scifi horror revision around working on the submission materials for Book 1, the idea is that I would have waiting periods while I waited on feedback, and that the scifi horror novella was essentially ready to go with only a few tweaks.

But let’s look at how things are actually breaking down.

The scifi horror novella is actually in pretty bad shape. In my memory it was essentially ready to go, because it was the first thing I ran through the critique marathon that didn’t get torn to shreds. But in actuality it has basic worldbuilding and character background issues, and the whole end of the story is not working.

Aside from just sitting down and hammering out the worldbuilding/character stuff (which isn’t necessarily hard, just needs to be done) I need to at least rearrange the whole second half, if not throw part of it out and rework.

My endings are not normally a problem, so this may take longer than normal while I work through how best to process this.

In my head, I was going to start the revision in November, be done by early January, and have stuff ready for both the winter critique marathon and my in-person critique group. Then by mid-March I could be done with the whole revision process and start submitting it.

Obviously this has not happened. It’s mid-February, the actual revision part hasn’t even started because I’m still figuring out everything that needs fixing, and meanwhile my submission stuff ALSO isn’t getting anywhere because I’m letting the revision take most of my mental fortitude.

So, yeah, maybe I am over-committing myself.

Or at least, what I’m doing isn’t working, and it’s always good to occasionally look at your progress and process and whether or not it’s helping you meet your goals. It’s okay to change, after all.

I do think there was a peer pressure aspect to it as well, to have stuff ready for the critique marathon and my in-person group. But I’ve missed the majority of the marathon at this point, and I let the in-person group know that I won’t have anything ready.

I’m going to focus on my submission materials until they’re ready to go, and then I can give both projects the attention they need, and maybe I won’t feel so overwhelmed about the whole thing.

See you next week, squiders!

One Step Forward, 15 Steps Back

Oh, squiders, when I was in my 20s, I was so productive! I could hammer out 3000 words a day easily, and maybe even some of them were good. I had time to dance and cosplay and basically do whatever I want, and I could be knee deep in five different projects and actually make progress on all of them.

(Or so it feels, with the tint of nostalgia.)

It’s been a rough week. I haven’t touched my revision prep since…Thursday? And aside from QuestPit last week I haven’t touched my submission materials at all. My brain is still hyping up a new project with no details (genre? length? format? end goal?), and meanwhile there are back-burning projects like that SkillShare class I started but never finished lurking and causing vague anxiety.

My computer’s operating system randomly corrupted on Friday and had to be completely rebuilt (which I’m still dealing with, as I find programs and settings missing and have to relog into my entire life) which cost me time I could work over the weekend.

My hip/back pain now has the added complication of ankle pain. I fell Thursday night (I was at someone’s house and their dog got out, and I was watching the dog instead of where I was going). My legs are built interestingly (I have no reflexes–I know they don’t hit people in the knees with hammers anymore but mine have never done anything) and I can’t sprain my ankles, but I think I may have done something to the tendons. At first I thought it was nerve pain from everything else but now I suspect I injured it in the fall.

And, of course, what helps the back pain makes the hip pain worse, and what helps the hip pain makes the ankle pain worse…

I’ve got volunteer commitments I’m behind on as well. It’s a group project, as it were, and it feels like I’m back in high school doing the whole thing myself while my teammates show up to the meetings and never agree on anything or do anything outside of class.

And my youngest is sick.

I’m tired, squiders. Oh so tired. When I get free time I’m spending it on silly things like phone games or YouTube videos because I can’t get up the energy to work on anything else.

Burnout is a real thing, but it’s frustrating. And I don’t know that we’re there, but I do wish I was getting somewhere.

Something to think about, if this trend continues.

I hope you’re feeling better than I am. See you Thursday, in theory.

Stupid Ideas

Happy Wednesday, squiders! Well, it’s at least it’s still Wednesday for me.

I don’t know if I mentioned, but I’ve been having back/hip pain lately. Every few days it morphs into something new and awful, which is great. Super awesome. Not distracting or anything.

On any given day it’s hard to tell what is going to hurt and whether or not I’m going to be able to sit at all, so making progress has been very uneven.

So, of course, my brain is like…you know what?

We should be trying to do more.

Specifically, we should be working on an additional writing project.

On top of the submission material/query readying for Book 1 (I put out a pitch for QuestPit on Blue Sky today, though I don’t think I quite have the process down right. Everyone seems to have high concept Thing 1 x Thing 2 and graphics, but that’s something for another day) and the revision prep for Rings Among the Stars.

You see, surely it would be best for my mental health and general productivity if I were, to say, work on something specific each day.

Which…what does it think I’ve been trying to do?

Trying to stuff more projects into my day is not going to get more done. I can multitask and compartmentalize to a point, but when one is struggling to get things done, adding more things is not often the answer.

(I won’t say it’s never the answer, because everyone and every situation is different, and there is a reason they say that busy people get more done.)

So, great that my brain has volunteered this idea. It didn’t bother to provide any specifics, such as what story or writing I should be doing. Not something like morning pages or journaling, but something.

Very helpful.

Anyway, on we plod, making progress, though never as quickly as one would hope.

I hope your week is going well, squider!

Inappropriate Gift Books

Howdy ho, squiders. How goes?

(The good news is that my site is on the new host and seems to be functioning just fine, so victory!)

I finished reading Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik this morning.

This was my spouse’s Christmas Eve book from two years ago. See, at some point, I read about an Icelandic (I think it was, anyway) custom where they give each other books at Christmas. I guess the Icelandic people read a lot of books, especially in the winter, because of the lack of light and all that. And I was like, oh, that sounds like an amazing tradition, and ever since we’ve done the same.

The books are given on Christmas Eve, the first gift everyone gets, with the idea that we will all sit and read together, which rarely happens but the idea is there.

For many years, I’ve taken care of the kids and my spouse, and then he just needs to do me. This worked well when the kids were younger and I could gift them childhood favorites and classics (my youngest still routinely reads her copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon even though she’s solidly in upper middle grade generally), but as the kids have gotten older it’s become more difficult.

(In general, everyone does read their Christmas books pretty quickly, even if we don’t get to them on Christmas Eve itself. I’m actually the worse offender, typically because I’m already in the middle of a book or three, and also because my spouse tends to get me literary science fiction which is fine, but I have to be in the mood for it.

Two or three years ago he got me Fairy Tale by Stephen King, which I took one look at the thickness of, and is on my nightstand, unread, to this day.)

(This year he got me The Ministry of Time which I am enjoying but still admittedly reading very slowly.)

My youngest is still pretty easy. She likes fantasy, horror, and mystery and will give pretty much anything a try. However, like me, she’s often in the middle of several books at once, so her follow through isn’t the great.

For fiction, my oldest reads epic fantasy exclusively. Efforts to branch him out into related genres like science fiction or straight adventure have failed, and he won’t touch anything scary. For a while this was fine, but he’s quickly gone through most everything I’ve read (he read all of Discworld in about three months) and so I’ve had to flail about to keep finding him things.

(When I was a kid, I used to troll through the library and pick up books with the “scifi/fantasy” label and then see if they were interesting, but he refuses to do this, despite my repeatedly saying that this is the best way to discover books.)

My oldest is not yet a teenager even though he looks/acts like he’s 15 or 16, so I was sticking to YA fantasy (he reads at a ridiculously high level, and sometimes reads college textbooks on areas of interest for fun), which led to me getting him The Sunbearer Trials as his Christmas Eve book a few years ago.

This was a Mistake.

I’d noted it was a popular YA fantasy book with good reviews, and it was mythology-based, which he also likes (he read everything Rick Riordan put out).

He came to me and was like, “Mom, this book says “$@%#” in the first line.”

That’s on me. I hadn’t thought to check for language, and I’d given my 10-year-old a book with the f-word featured prominently.

(I have since learned to stick to older adult fantasy series when possible, because modern YA fantasy can be pretty intense on the sex/violence/language fronts.)

I’d thought that was my only major faux pas on the Christmas Eve book front. Until I read Hunt the Stars here.

As I said, I gave this to my spouse two years ago. I tend to get him science fiction because I find that’s one of his favorite genres. (Though maybe I should stop–I’m not sure he’s liked any books I’ve gotten him in the last three or so years. I picked this year’s off his Goodreads Want to Read list and he’s still not enjoying it.) I normally look at published-that-year, well-rated science fiction, which is how we ended up with Hunt the Stars.

He dutifully read it (he always does) and then gave it to me and said that maybe I should read it. I put it on the shelf but didn’t touch it because typically we don’t read the same sort of science fiction. But I picked it up last week because I have now read four books that were lying around in the last month, which is more than I read all of last year.

(Brains and urges are weird.)

(But I ran out of bookshelf room and then books must be read so they may be purged.)

(Also maybe I’m procrastinating reading potential comps? Not sure. Picked one up this morning but need to read some of the other library books first.)

Squiders, this book is a romance.

It hits all the romance beats. It has explicit sex scenes. The series (this is the first book) does that romance series thing where each book features a different, related couple.

It does have interesting worldbuilding and space travel and intrigue as well, but it’s definitely a romance.

I don’t know my spouse’s feelings about romance as a genre but he’s not seeking them out. And he tends toward literary science fiction, which this is not.

I suspect this was the same year as the Sunbearer snafu, so I was in excellent form that year.

Alas.

This past Christmas my spouse decided he was going to do the kids’ books instead of me, and he did fairly well (I did have to send him to switch out my youngest’s book because she already owned the first one he brought), and the kids really liked the series he picked out for them, so maybe he can do it going forward.

Maybe I should have him pick out his own books too.

Hope you’re doing well, squiders, and are reading excellent books! See you next week!

Unrealistic Expectations

Evening, squiders. Hope all is okay in your neck of the woods. Weird week, right?

I’ve been doing pretty decently since we last talked on Tuesday. I’ve been making progress on my revision planning on RaTs (I’m in the notecard-making phase, where each scene gets its own card. White for now, and color coded later once we know what needs to be changed to what.), I finished the lineart on the June vacation (only six months after the trip this time, but I still need to catch up, yay), I’ve read 5 books for the month of January, I got comments on the query letter, and I’m pondering pitches to be used in Blue Sky pitch events. (As a reminder, this is me: https://bsky.app/profile/kitcampbell.bsky.social )

But I feel like I’m not getting anywhere fast enough.

This is a problem, I think, with a lot of creatives. I want to be further than I am, partly because I want to be doing other parts of the process, and gosh darnit, why is this taking so long?

But also, I’m making steady progress in a part that should not be rushed, and can’t I just appreciate where we are at the moment?

Somewhere in one of Holly Lisle’s writing courses (may she rest in peace), she makes a note about taking breaks. I forget what she says specifically, both because it’s been a while since I went through one of them and because she did periodically update them and change things, but her basic gist was that you can’t sit and work on something for three hours straight. It’s bad for your body, it’s bad for your brain.

Also, annoyingly, I don’t often have three hours straight to do anything anymore.

Take today. I got up and had to take my oldest to school. Then I danced, because my disc in my back is acting up and that helps more than anything else, and then remembered last minute that I had a dentist appointment at 9. The appointment went until 10, and then I had some administrative stuff to do, which I did til 11. At 11 I went to the coffee shop and worked on my revision prep for an hour, after which I went to have lunch with my mother and grandmother (a two-hour-ish affair each time), and then I had a consultation with a contractor for cleaning, and then it was time to get the oldest from school.

Friday is, in theory, an easier day for me, because I don’t work on Fridays and the kids are at school. If I can’t find a 3-hour chunk today, when is it going to happen?

Hold on, I think I’ve gotten sidetracked.

Anyway, my point is that it’s stupid for me to feel like I’m behind when I’m making steady and reasonable progress.

My spouse will say this is a common failing of mine. That I’m always trying to stuff too much into the time I have available to me, and that then I’m disappointed when I only get half or sometimes a third of the things on my list done.

(Also he gets annoyed because he’ll put things on my list that he needs me to do, and I will procrastinate them because invariably they have to do with calling people, but that’s a different problem.)

I worked on my revision prep for an hour. I got through a whole chapter, during which I noted any broken promises to the reader (essentially items, characters, or plot points that seem more important than they are) and did my scene cards (3 scenes in chapter one, with scene sentences, POV, and page numbers).

I think, in my head, I was going to get through the whole book.

Could I have maybe gotten through two chapters? Maybe. I did get a little distracted in the middle by a phone game notification and several texts in a row from various people.

But I made progress. Good progress. At no point did I feel like I was beating my head against the wall or like I was wasting my time.

So why am I upset about that progress?

Maybe it’s because I didn’t make progress Wednesday (worked til 8 pm) or yesterday (back hurt, laid on the ground for a while) and maybe I could be done with the current step if I had.

Maybe it’s because I could have been on the next step or two if I’d spent all my free time over the past week working on the revision, but I’ve been tired and maybe I just needed some rest.

Who knows?

I just wish my brain would get the memo, and keep its expectations more in line with reality at times.

See you next week, squiders!

You Can’t Wait on Others

Evening, squiders. I’m making white bean chicken chili for dinner, so I’ll be in and out while I do steps for that.

(My food processor was a bit too small, so that made a mess.)

We talked last…Friday, I want to say, about iteration. Specifically relating to my submission materials.

Well, now I’ve reached an impasse on my newest query.

I posted it for the TDP people and crickets, except for one person who said it was much better.

I sent it to my critique group, who generally said it was good, except one person thought the first sentence could be punchier and another who pointed out that I’d used the wrong word (I’d used a similar but spelled slightly different word that essentially meant the opposite. Whoops).

And yesterday I posted it on my Discord server, where it, too, has gotten crickets, except for one person who came by again and said it was much better.

Now, one could assume that this is all a good sign. People don’t tend to comment if they can’t easily point out things that are wrong, so perhaps the query is good. At least serviceable.

However, I suspect that would be getting in front of the cart or whatever the saying actually is. A lack of feedback does not mean that feedback is not needed, it just means we’re not getting feedback.

(Also I do suspect things could be a bit punchier. I may attempt that here in a few days no matter what.)

I’ve talked before about how your goals can’t rely on other people because you can’t control what other people do–or decide. Feedback falls into kind of a weird place. Ideally you have some because you can’t always judge your own work that well. But, again, you can’t control if you get feedback, or when, or whether that feedback will be useful.

I love submission so much. We haven’t even started sending things out and it’s already frustrating.

But no reason to sit and stew. (Oh, my chili. Hold on.) Eventually we must move on, trusting in ourselves. We will get feedback, or not, and on we blindly stumble.

(Still need to do my comps. Sigh.)

Meanwhile I’m working on my scifi horror novella revision. It’s…kind of a mess. We’ve talked a bit about that, about how the worldbuilding and the characterization needs some planning and streamlining, but I went through the whole story the other day, and the whole ending is…not really working.

This is a problem, and not one I’m really familiar with. In general, my endings work. Hell, even with whatever draft of Book 1 we’re on, the ending has essentially stayed the same since the very first draft (motivations and action and who’s present has changed, but the ending itself has stayed very consistent).

But there is a logical fallacy in RaTs’s ending, and unfortunately a lot of the rest of the story is built up to lead to that fallacy. Sometime here soon I’m going to have to figure out how to fix it. I might be able to add some more background that makes it make sense, or I may need to move things around. Also, the ending comes a little too easily for the main character, so I need to think about that as well.

Sigh and double sigh.

I don’t think I’m going to be able to have this ready in time to take part in the winter critique marathon in my writing community, alas. Fingers crossed that I can have at least the first chapter done so I can send it out for the next in-person critique meeting.

I’m a little frustrated at how badly I predicted the length of this revision. I think, since this novella was the first thing I ran through the critique marathon that got mostly positive feedback, that I was thinking it was in much better shape than it is.

But on we stumble, and the revision planning will get done, and the submission material will get done, and everything will be fine. Eventually.

But, oh, I wish they were getting done faster.

How are you, squider? What did you have for dinner?

(Also, fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong with the site on the cusp of January into February.)

Writing Just For Writing

I got an email, either yesterday or today, from 750words.com, letting me know that they’d upgraded their website, and as an original member, I was grandfathered in to various things.

For those who don’t know, 750words.com is a website where, each day, you write 750 words. (Probably obviously.) It can be whatever you want–stream of consciousness, scenes, journaling, whatever. And it keeps track of streaks (you unlock badges at different streak amounts) and can keep track of your friends’ streaks.

Anyway, I went and logged in (well, I had to set up a new account on the new site, which they then linked to my old account) and apparently I hadn’t used it since 2011, though I’d used it for quite a while there. I remember writing bits of Book 1 three drafts ago through it, as well as short stories and talking myself through plot and life problems.

If I do it today–hold on, I could write this blog post there. Standby.

Anyway, if I do it today, it’ll allow me to continue my 32 day streak. That I left off on in 2011 sometime.

And, like, 750words was useful to me at the time, but obviously not that useful, since I haven’t touched it in nearly 14 years.

Writing is weird, right? Like, you hear that consistency is key, that you should write a little every day to be a writer, but I’ve found that writing just to write is not necessarily the most useful thing to do.

I absolutely think you should write on a regular basis. That’s partly why I’ve done this blog for so long, because I write once or a couple times a week, no matter where I am in other projects. Keeps the old writing chops from getting rusty and all that jazz.

But writing just to write can be a mixed bag. I know people who write a million words every year. Year after year after year. That’s so many words. I don’t think, in my wildest dreams, I could write a million words in a year. That’s 2740 words every day. Almost 3K every day.

And more power to them, honestly. As I said, I can’t do it. I have a day job and kids and responsibilities, and while I am more than capable of writing 3K or 5K or even 10K in a day, it’s not feasible to do it day after day after day.

And what I’ve found with these people who are so wildly productive is that they’re not doing anything with said writing. I mean, of course, people are allowed to write just for themselves, and if it makes them happy then I’m not going to judge. But I don’t want to do that. I want to share my stories and entertain people and hopefully make their lives just a little better.

And that means sometimes I’m revising, or editing, or marketing, or submitting instead of writing. And I think that’s important too.

The other thing I’ve found when I’m writing just to write and not for a goal is that it feels like a chore after a while. Like, some years ago every month I was writing a short story based off a random combination of prompts I’d saved, which was interesting! 3 prompts, which might or might not line up with each other. It was challenging and a good way to stretch my creativity. But after a couple months I started to procrastinate it, and I think it’s because it didn’t have an end goal.

The main writing just to write I’ve been doing the past few years are my RaTs prompt responses, but even these serve a purpose, as I often use them to write bits that take place before or after novel action, or to explore side or non-viewpoint characters’ thoughts and opinions, or to see what someone else is doing off-screen.

This allows me to understand my stories more fully, which makes them read more believably.

So while I’ve reactivated my 750words, I don’t know how often I’ll use it. Some people swear by morning pages or journaling, but I scratch that itch here and have never been great about consistency when trying to do it in a more traditional manner.

All that being said, one of my writing groups has decided to do bingo cards of prompts and tropes starting in February, and I did sign up for it. I figure I can use them a variety of ways–if I’m working on something long form and need to add something in, for prompts not unlike how RaTs works, maybe even a short story or two if something catches my fancy.

We’ll see. I absolutely reserve the right to drop the whole idea if it’s not working.

But, Kit, I hear you say, isn’t it good to occasionally write for fun?

Sure! But working on novel projects, and revision, and all that jazz–in general I find that fun. I mean, sometimes it is awful and like pulling teeth, but I do typically enjoy it and that is why we continue to carry on.

What do you think, squiders? Worth it to do something to maintain a streak?

Iteration

Hey-ho, squiders! It’s been below freezing here for days, which has been…interesting. And cold. Very cold. My oldest doesn’t believe in the cold, so this has been an interesting experience for him.

I have been working on my submission material. I’ve done two different query versions since we last talked (did one, got feedback, made changes, now am waiting for feedback again) and reworked my synopsis (though not a lot, since I only got feedback from one person and I’m not sure how useful some of it is).

And on we go. We iterate both until they’re ready to go.

(I am still using placeholders on the comps. I do need to work on that.)

Is the query getting better? Hopefully!

Instead of just posting on my Discord server (which is publishing focused and has several agented and traditionally–and indie–published authors) like I did last time, I’m having the former TDP people look at it first. I mean, I posted the first version on Discord in, what? October? November? And then I didn’t do anything for two months cuz I got overwhelmed by the feedback. Having the TDP people look at first is helping, because we have a relationship and I trust them, and I know they’ve got my back and will take another look if I show up with a new version three days later.

Current plan is to see if my TDP people note anything major, then to email it (and the synopsis) to my in-person critique group, and then probably post on the Discord as well. Just not sure if I should do it after the critique group meeting or not. (On one hand, I could gather a lot of feedback and make changes all at once. On the other, I could iterate the comments from the in-person group into a new query for the Discord server.)

I haven’t started my agent list yet, but I did ask people what they used to make their list, and I think I’ll need to get a Publishers Marketplace subscription for a month or two. Bit pricey, but oh well. It is what it is.

In non-submission news, I’m ready to start my revision planning for my scifi horror novella. Got my notebook, and the next step is to read through the manuscript and write down everything that’s not working (and also anywhere that’s working really well). I already know I need some major worldbuilding and character work (like–the main character’s parents are dead, but what happened to them? How old was she? These are key background questions that I apparently never bothered with. Them dying when she’s like six makes for a very different upbringing than if they died when she was 20). After we identify what’s wrong, we can get to fixing it (and streamlining the worldbuilding).

So, you know, actually making progress! Finally!

I hope you’re making progress too, squiders, and I’ll see you soon!

(Oh, in theory kitcampbellbooks.com is back up. If it’s doing something weird, try refreshing it or clearing your cache for it.)

Christmas Ahoy

Hey ho, squiders! We’re less than a week from Christmas, and man, do I feel it.

(I think I’ve bought everything I need to, and we’re done with Secret Santa at work–which went well–but I do need to mail a couple of things and do all my wrapping.)

(Also we watched The Wild Robot tonight which is not Christmas-y, but it tugged all my heartstrings and I still feel a little weep-y about it.)

I’d like to say I’m getting stuff done, but I’m really not. Writing-wise, I mean. Or drawing, or games. I am still getting some reading done at least.

I did finish copying over my beta comments though.

But I think I’m going to take the next week off of blogging. Hopefully get some stuff done, at least focus on Christmas. Come back for the last few days with a plan for 2025 (still a fake scifi year), maybe a vision board, stuff like that.

I’ve made inspiration boards for stories, but never a vision board for, like, my own goals and so forth. I know some people swear by it, and I figure it can’t hurt to give it a try! If nothing else it’s an excuse to troll Pinterest for a while.

I hope you and your family have a happy holiday, whatever you do or don’t celebrate, and let’s ring in 2025 together and do our best to reach our goals!

WriYe and 2024 Recapped

A couple of housekeeping items — there’s a good chance that I’m going to be migrating hosts (or at least servers) sometime in the next month-ish, so if the site is down hopefully it will be back up soon! (Assuming you’re on kitcampbellbooks.com and not the Where Landsquid Fear to Tread blog. If you’re on the blog, please disregard.)

And I finally got myself a Bluesky account, where I have already accumulated two porn bots as followers and no real people.

December’s prompt from WriYe is: Sum up your year for us.

Ah, 2024. Where to begin.

I went into this year with one main goal: finish my revision on Book 1, get my submission materials ready, and send it out to agents.

And then I had follow-on goals, assuming that got done, and some side goals:

RaTs (once per quarter)
Short Story Challenge month (spring?)
SkillShare classes (repost old class, new class late summer)
Publish Deep and Blue (scifi)
New novella project (November probably)

And then my usual reading goal of 50 books (currently at 46, not terribly worried, in the middle of 3 at the moment), a hope to get through my backlog of Steam games, and do some art (I think I picked 4 pictures a month, which, uh).

I finished the Book 1 revision in…August? September? Oh, July. But I continued to make changes based on the critique marathon and my in-person critique group past then.

And then I’ve procrastinated the submission material for four months. Very proud of myself. (Sarcasm, obviously.) No, actually, I’m super frustrated at myself, because the revision took a year and a half, and it’s so dumb to be failing on the last step here.

As for the side goals:

RaTs (once per quarter) – Done! I did keep up with this, and it’s helpful to do scenes from side characters and other POVs, and I think my revision is stronger because of it. (For those who don’t know, RaTs is a writing prompt system.)
Short Story Challenge month (spring?) – I started exactly one short story in, uh, August maybe. And I have not finished it. I did outline a bunch of stories, though! For, you know, when I have free time and am like, oh, yes, let me just pound out a dozen short stories.
SkillShare classes (repost old class, new class late summer) – I started a class around June, made some progress in October, and there it sits. Oh, I did repost the old class in Jan/Feb.
Publish Deep and Blue (scifi) – Done! It’s available through Amazon only at the moment.
New novella project (November probably) – Uh, no.

I did send out a couple of longer projects to publications though, and now we wait to see if those go anywhere.

My follow-on project after Book 1 got done is called Rings Among the Stars and is a scifi horror novella. I’m in the “gather information so we can figure out what needs to change” stage on that one.

So writing for the year? Mixed. A couple of publications, a rather depressing entry into the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off contest (I don’t think the reviewers actually looked at my book before they rejected it), the revision finally done but choking at the finish line, and a lot of needless procrastination. Yay.

I’ve enjoyed my reading for the year, though. I’ve been working through my TBRs, so I’ve liked more of the books I’ve read recently than in years past. Looking forward to doing the year end round up on that.

As for the games, well, I wish I had noted how many games I started with in the Uncategorized section on Steam. I’m currently at 65, which is definitely less, but I know I’ve also bought some new games this year which is a step backwards. I’ve at least played through half the games I kickstarted, which is good.

Steam hasn’t put out their Year in Review for 2024, which would definitely help me figure out how I’m doing here. Oh well.

Drawing has also been a mixed bag. I did finally finish the travel journal for the Scotland trip from 2022, but now I’m behind on this year’s trips (3 days left on the June trip, which was a massive 17 days long, and then I need to do the October and November trips as well), and I spent October doing character drawings (which was fun, at least). I’ve worked through a couple of library books on various subjects, and drew a fantasy map in the last week (which was also for fun, but is a useful skill to have, as the Trilogy will needs maps, like any epic fantasy worth its salt).

Speaking of which, Rings Among the Stars would also benefit from a map…

I always get to the end of the year and bemoan the fact that I was not as productive as I could have been, but it doesn’t seem to do anything to help me procrastinate less in the year to come. And I do think there’s an emotional element to the procrastination. Like, when I was younger, I was SO much more productive. But I wasn’t publishing or anything like that, I was just writing for writing’s sake.

I did take on a gift fic exchange this month to kind of counteract that. Write something just for fun, that only my friend (and maybe my other friends? I don’t quite understand who can read what) is going to read. (And even then, in my brain, I’m like, oh, what if it’s really good and then I can sell it to a magazine? which is not helping the point here.)

But yeah, the Trilogy is a big deal, and I do have a lot of emotions tied up with it since I’ve been working on it for 20 years, and I know that’s why the submission materials are going so poorly. When the submission materials are done, out it goes, to face rejection despite how much I love it and have worked on it. And that’s scary.

But we must overcome.

How did your 2024 go, squiders?

Books by Kit Campbell