Apparently, completely freaking out over my WIP is a normal part of my process.
(::sigh::)
The weird thing is that it feels different every time. Each book has some massive problem that I don’t think I can solve, and it’s a different problem every time.
Someday, the problem that comes up really will be a book-breaker and my freakout will be justified. Personally, I think this project is that one, but I thought the same way about all of them.
In my day job, I’ll be in training most of the day (I believe). So I’ll be doing something I hate for an organization I don’t care about, and I’ll have to ignore everything that matters to me.
Ah, America! Your support for the entrepreneur never ceases to amaze.
Anyway, I’m way behind in my LiveJournal/blog reading, and I may be missing things. For the past few months, I’ve been thinking of my reading list as an obligation to the people I know online, but I may have to fall down on that obligation today.
Wish me luck in Insurance Verification.
1. My wife comes home from her Italian yoga retreat tonight. I can’t wait. As much fun as I’ve had with the boy this week, I miss her. We both do.
2. The apartment is clean but cluttered, for those of you expecting to hear that I’ll be spending the day in a frantic cleaning jag. The living room needs to be picked up, though. It’ll take about 15 minutes.
3. My desk is another story. I’m tempted to just throw a match on it to rid myself of these meaningless stacks of paper.
4. I can’t stand Talk Like A Pirate Day. Can’t we let that idea die?
5. I deposited my on-publication check for Game of Cages yesterday. Damn, that feels good.
6. Sales for Game of Cages seem to be doing pretty well, too. It’s not a guarantee, but it bodes well for the future of the series.
Earlier today I went on the Underground tour with Lawrence Watt-Evans and his wife, Julie, and last night I had dinner with them and Kurt Busiek, too.
And it was really great. All three of them were terrific people–which I’d expected, sure, but things were much more comfortable than I’d imagined. My son was a little impatient with grownup talking after the Tour was over, and I knew he wanted some of my undivided attention, but aside from kiddie tyranny, it was fun.
Holy cow, but I just socialized with people w/in the genre. Huh.
1) Ghosts in the Hollow, a record of abandoned buildings in the Appalachians. Video. Via Cherie Priest.
2) Have some publishing wonkery: “Sell-through” explained.
3) “YOU! The one who is moving now! ANSWER!” Video
4) Revolt in the Fifth Dimension. Video part one, part two. I loved these Spider-man cartoons as a kid, even the weird, trippy space episodes like this one. This clip is worth playing for the music alone.
5) In Legoland space, no one can hear you scream.
6) Do you love Legos and zombies? Well, this link is for you: Video.
My wife is having a great time in Italy (I just received a pic of her standing beside the Mediterranean with mud all over her).
My son has promised a Nerf gun sneak attack this morning. I know he wants me to set up a large defense, but I’ve been a little busy.
I am working on my new WIP, and I’m sorta hating it. When I have it open, and I’m working in the file, it’s good. When I’m making breakfast or putting away dishes, I don’t want anything to do with it.
The tale of my very first book sale is up on Jim C. Hines’s blog and LiveJournal. For new readers here, it’s not the usual book sale story: It’s a tale of quitting and shame.
Of course, I’m typing this on four hours of sleep so ‘asli lkasj mnfsi lasl jfasi back to bed. Hope everyone is enjoying their day.
In two and a half hours, the shuttle van will be coming to pick up my wife for her week-long trip to Italy. She’ll be gone about a week and a half, and I will be staying home with my son.
There will be much writing time claimed, much pizza eaten (and salad) and some small amount of computer games played. I hope to clear the final level of Swordplay Showdown.
By which I mean that I’ll be checking email, but not doing a lot of internet reading/socializing. At least, I don’t think I will.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
(Oh, and I did a “Take Five” piece for Suvudu. It’s funny. Check it out.
This post by Ally Carter comes at just the right time, because I’m having a bought of the crazies myself. Mine are probably not like yours–I tend to become quiet, lie in darkened bedrooms, and mutter to myself about all the ways I’ve screwed up.
I’m not fishing for encouragement; I’ve said before that encouragement makes me uncomfortable. Still, I’m going to have to come to some kind of balance, or work out a way to put marketing and sales out of my mind. I’ll find success the way every other writer does: by writing books people want to read.
It’s not going to happen by looking at Twitter traffic, or by skimming the Random House bestsellers to see where my book is rated, or by checking Amazon.com sales rankings, or any of that. I just have to work on my next book.
Today was the book signing. What do you mean you don’t believe me?! Proof? Here’s the proof!
That’s me, in case you didn’t realize. The white shirt I’m wearing was freshly ironed twenty seconds before that photo was taken, but as soon as I hung it on myself it shriveled like a flower petal dropped into acid. Those are my books, my pens, my individually-wrapped prunes dried plums, and my oh-so-stylish sneakers.
If you’re wondering how it went, I sold eight books, four of book 1, four of book 2. That’s about five books more than expected. For those that care, here’s how it broke down:
Two books to a neighbor, the mother of Mango Eater’s best friend (she was the only buyer I already knew).
Two books to a woman buying gifts for her house-bound 94-year-old friend.
One book to a man buying a gift for his 20-year-old daughter.
One book to an aspiring writer.
One book to a bookstore employee for her son.
One book to an older woman who was scary skinny. She’s the one who provided the subject header above. (My response: “That’s the job!” She then asked rather stridently “Who’s this Ray Lilly? Is he good or evil?” What I wish I’d said was “I reject your dialectic!” What I actually said was “Uh….”)
I also mailed off all the giveaway books except the cookbooks that Carol Wong won. She hasn’t responded to two requests for a mailing address, and it would be a shame if her books went to the library or something because she used a spam trap address in the blog.
Now I’m back home and I’m not stress-eating or stress-drinking or stress-napping. I’m just hanging out with the family, and as soon as Mango Eater finishes building his Lego, he’s going to read us the next chapter of Harry Potter.