I haven’t blog in quite some time, it seems. I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with social media, and I seem to be in a hate phase right now. I should probably take one of those social media sabbaticals I sometimes go on. I think I need to get away from Facebook, G+, and Twitter. Not so much my blog and Live Journal (though Live Journal doesn’t seem very alive anymore). The problem is all my friends and family are on social media and it’s just easier to keep up with them that way. And now there is this Ello thing I should sign up for, never mind the fact that I’ve avoided Tumblr since it’s inception.
The novel is still moving along. I have the third section outlined, so all I need to do is carve out time to settle in and write the rest of the first draft. Once that’s done, I’ll need to connect the three sections together, which I suspect will take some serious time and work. I am also editing a third anthology for the Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers, which should be out in early 2015, probably in time for Minicon’s 50th anniversary convention. I have all the stories picked out and am waiting for the last of the contracts to arrive before writing my editorial and front-of-book material and sending everything off to the copy editor.
For those of you playing the home game, Minnesota Fringe Festival was a success. I thought the show was well received and though we were better some nights than others, we never had a bad performance. I was reasonably pleased with my own performances over the festival. I also have one more storytelling gig lined up before the end of the year, with a second one possible but still in the planning stages. I will post more information once things are official. I am also working on the script I plan to submit on spec to a science fiction theatre festival in Los Angeles. We will see if anything comes of it.
I’ve been doing some thinking about where I am as an artist. I pulled out a story I’ve been working on off-and-on for the last 2 years, and I found I liked the style and voice I was exploring in that story more than the style I am using in my current novel. I’m not sure the style in the short story (very baroque and ornamental) would work for this novel, which seems to need plain, straightforward, almost invisible language, but I do miss playing with tone and style and voice in ways I normally do not.
I have also been thinking about how despite the fact that I strongly identify as a prose writer first, as a spoken-word performer second, and all other arts I pursue a veryvery distant third, I will make more money as a spoken-word performer again this year. It has me thinking about career path. My last two royalty statements from Harlequin haven’t included a check because my sales have slumped. I suspect those two books are quite reasonably played out after 3 and 4 years on the market and none of my newer stuff has moved well, though I can lay a lot of the blame for that at my own feet. I just haven’t had the energy lately to get out and market and pitch and shill and flog and hand sell like I have with other books.
I’ve been reading Jeff Vandemeer’s BookLife and it has me thinking serious thinky thoughts about my identity as an artist, and artist’s statements, and planning how to reach my goals. I don’t need to make a ton of money to be able to stop working part-time. I fully acknowledge that I have an advantage with drawing SSDI and being on Medicare, but it is an advantage I pay for by being blind, so I don’t feel all that bad about it. The thing is, I’ve hit a point a decade into my writing career (how the hell did a decade pass?) where I find myself hard up against the question of pursuing my passion versus personal financial goals.
If I want to keep doing this being a writer and performer thing, I need to change my approach.
That was gloomier than I meant for it to be. Here, have a word meter to show I’m still passionate about my current project.
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Ghosts Of the Places We Live