And now I’m going offline to work on the copy edit of Circle of Enemies. I don’t bring my laptop with me, but damn, if it wasn’t for my struggles with the child theme I’d have started an hour ago.
reasons i suck
“If every other writer jumped off a bridge, would you?” (repost after WP problems)
StandardDon’t mind me. I’m just hanging up this dirty laundry. It needs airing.
You know how I discover that the Hugo and Nebula nomination season has opened? Dozens of writers start listing their yearly sales to say “Here’s my eligible stuff!”
Which is fine. It’s important to them and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. And really, Pikachu forbid that I or anyone else tell people what they write on their own blogs, which I choose to read without paying a penny.
But I’m not going to do that, not this year or any, because the sort of books I write don’t win those awards. And that’s cool. I think of Hugo and Nebula awards as things of importance within the science fiction community and I’ve never really been part of that. [1] It’s like seeing the BAFTA winners, I guess; I’m happy for those people in that foreign country.
It does prompt me to look back over the year, though. Game of Cages came out at the end of August, of course, and it’s been doing pretty well. I also took part in A Glimpse of Darkness. But that’s it.
Many of the other writers I see out there had a couple of novels come out in 2010 along with a string of short stories. I envy them their productivity. Me, I had a tab open on this computer for three days which held an article about being productive and getting things done, but I couldn’t find time to read it, so I just closed it. (Not kidding).
So, my 2010? It’s been a frustrating year for me, writing-wise. The publishing end of things has been great–Del Rey has been doing a terrific job with my books, and I was glad that Child of Fire got a second printing.
But the first third of the year was spent finishing up Circle of Enemies, seven months past deadline. Yikes. I did not want to be that writer, and yet, there I was. I think it’s a solid book, maybe the best thing I’ve ever written, but it took so much time…
After that I spent months working on a proposal for The Buried King, a Harry-Bosch-in-fantasyland rhino killer, done my way. But there was something wrong with it–I’m not even sure what. I knew it would be difficult to translate a procedural to a second-world setting (a major part of the appeal of a police procedural is iron clad research and a glimpse into a privileged world, but how does that work when the author is making it all up?) but I guess I didn’t the the solutions in place. It didn’t get very far.
Then I went to work on A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark and… Jesus, what am I thinking here? Do people really want an urban fantasy with a 65-ish year old heroine? Who’s a committed pacifist?
I took a whack at the story once already, but none of it held together. right now I have, here beside me at the coffee shop, nearly 200 pages of manuscript for The Auntie Mame Files, about 30K words. I’m about to drop it into the mail for my agent.
If she can’t sell it, 2010 will have been a total wash, writing wise, except for the short chapter I wrote for A Glimpse of Darkness.
What the hell, right? It’s what I did. Hopefully, when the end of 2011 rolls around, I’ll be able to look back on a more productive year.
[1] That’s not meant as a condemnation. I’m just not much of a socializer
Stupid WordPress
StandardI had to install a security update to WordPress, which meant I needed to upgrade my theme. Of course that reset everything to the default, and now, after fussing with it for way too long, I have the links back to the color I want, and I fixed the tables, and I put my picture back in place instead of theirs, etc.
But the font is different. I swear, it’s different. It looks awful and is annoying the hell out of me.
Personally, I’m not one of those people who want to change their websites every few months. I like it to be simple and legible, with a little green thrown in. But it’s always an assload of work to update the stupid software.
Stupid WordPress.
Would you look at that. A new year.
StandardThe new year didn’t exactly sneak up on me. Honestly, how could it? I marches along hour by hour, just like the end of every other month. This year, though, I wasn’t paying attention and so it happened before I’d had a chance to prepare a resolution.
Not that I don’t have one. Here it is: I will never again buy a can opener from IKEA.
God, I hope I can stick to it.
F*&$ing Amtrak
StandardI finally got in from my Amtrak train, only 37.5 hours after the original scheduled arrival time. The cab pulled up in front of my apartment literally at the stroke of the new year.
I’ll get around to responding to emails and comments tomorrow sometime. My son is still opening Christmas presents, and I’m getting some much needed family time.
Happy New Year, everyone.
The machine urine is brewing
StandardIn my hotel room, there are two little bottles of water with a cardboard collar around them that says “Refresh” in big letters and “$3.00” in teeny tiny letters. I’ll drink from the tap, thanks.
There was no price tag (I could find) on the coffee machine, so I’m braving the hotel coffee. I just wish it didn’t sound so much like someone pissing into a cup.
Dinner last night was pizza in the lounge, but it made me violently ill back in my room. Can you tell I’m having a good time? In a few moments I’ll check out and catch a cab back to the train station to begin my desperate attempt to keep a room for the last and longest leg of my trip.
If I can, I’m going to check out the city a little bit. I need to restock my reading material and, if they refuse to give me the room I paid for, food supply. There’s a Books-a-Million nearby, which I’ve never been to because it’s a regional chain from outside my region, but they cleverly left their store hours off their website. Well, I’m certainly not going to call them from a hotel phone, for all I know its five bucks just to hear a dial tone. Maybe I’ll try Waldenbooks instead.
But there’s the library (second largest in the world) and an actual deep-dish pizza (which I hope to hold down).
Anyway, it’s time to go. See everyone on the flip side.
Lunch in Chicago
StandardWhen I was planning my Christmas trip, I’d had this hopeful idea that I could meet up with Chicago folks for lunch during my layover there. Considering the weather and the seasonal delays in Amtrak service, I’m going to put the kibosh on that idea. Sorry. If I’m lucky I’ll have time to walk around the city a little and maybe even see the library, but that seems so iffy that I’d hate to make any kind of plan for it.
Maybe another time.
My early Christmas present
StandardIn a few weeks, Black Gate #15, which includes my story “Eating Venom”, goes to press. Here’s the artwork that accompanies it (and since you’re online, you get to see it in color–it’ll be B&W in the magazine):
Cool, huh? It’s by Malcolm McClinton. I’d never have thought to imagine the characters that way which is why I’d be a terrible artist, but I love it! Click the link to see more of his work.
About that story: I sold it over three years ago, so it’s a bit of a time capsule of my writing style and technique. I’ll be interested to reread it when it comes out.
How it came about: Some folks will remember a few years back when Janine Cross’s Touched by Venom came out, there was an online row about the writing style, and the way the style was criticized in an offline gathering.
While all that was going on, I thought There has to be a story idea in this somewhere. Not that I’d read the book in question: all I knew of it was that it’s erotic, boundary-pushing second-world fantasy. But a real writer would be able to generate a story or twelve out of it, right?
Some folks know that I don’t get story ideas easily or often–I’m just not that sort of writer. Still, I was sure there was something worthwhile there, and after a bit of work (and more than one false start) I came up with the idea of a sort of basilisk fugu and wrote “Eating Venom”.
It’s full of my usual obsessions: outright bastards, flagrant lies and manipulation, decent people trapped by honor and expectation, magical elements that are largely backgrounded for human conflicts, screwed-up social/political structures, bitter resentments, and much stabbing with sharp pieces of metal. I’m proud of it.
You guys are reading Black Gate magazine, aren’t you? It’s full of adventure-oriented fantasy of the kind I love.
Anyway, I’m off to have Xmas Eve lunch with my in-laws (and the holidays have me way behind on all my online reading). Best wishes to everyone reading this, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.
F/u to previous post
StandardNow I want to tell the story of meeting my editor for the first time:
It was San Diego Comic Con, and I was on my first ever panel, which was held in the first few minutes of the first day. I’d never been to SDCC before and had little idea what to expect. Not to mention there was some unusual social interaction there that I didn’t have time to process. So I did my best, but I was a bit of a mess.
Then I looked out into the audience and saw my editor in an aisle seat, watching the panel. I’d already looked her up with Google Images (anything to procrastinate!) and recognized her instantly. Of course, seeing my editor out in the audience made me feel even more confident and calm.
Oh wait. I mean just the opposite.
Anyway, I flubbed a bit and rambled a bit more. I had some buddies in the audience (who had basically held my hand through the travel and badge-acquiring process) but I tried not to look too much at any of them.
Then, after the panel was over, I walked up to her and introduced myself. She lied and said I did well, and I felt kinda awkward.
Then one of my buddies (the one with the hammer) ran up to us and said, in a very loud voice, “Mr. Connolly! Mr. Connolly! Would you sign my girlfriend’s breasts?”
That’s what happened the first time I met my editor.
Connectivity issues
StandardI seem to be having some difficulty getting and sending at least a portion of my email. Maybe all of it.
It may take a while for this to sort out, so don’t be upset if my response times are a little slow.