State of me and how that impacts my work
Slightly tipsy, relaxed. I have not read more than headlines in the past 10 days because I've been on a writing retreat, and that has helped my mental health more than I care to admit. We all need breaks, however, and I needed one. I will try not to feel guilty about taking it.
The retreat was productive and useful.
A Dubious Hope is 99 percent ready to go. I need to buff up the first 50 pages because I made a lot of changes there, and I want to make sure I didn't introduce any mistakes.
Spending time with my writing buddies is always good for my soul.
Spending time over here by myself after they go is not as good, but also something my soul needs, apparently.
The artist sent me the cover, which is amazing, and I need to get back to him when I get home; a cover reveal should be soon.
What I've learned/practiced over the past month
Been practicing staying in learning mindset. One of those learnings was immediate this week: I had proof corrections from two different people on a 400-page book, and I was making progress at the rate of 10 pages an hour because I kept getting lost in editing beyond the corrections. As in, I'd make the corrections, and keep reading, and think, "oh, it would sound better if I worded it this way..." and two pages later I'd wake up and go back to the corrections.
That...was not fast enough.
In the last three days I realized if I'd just pull the pages out of the binder, and set them next to the computer, I could focus on the corrections and not get lost in the weeks of rearranging deck chairs. Tiny little fix, and I went through 100 pages of manuscript corrections a day in two days.
Learn what works for you and use it. Also, think aobut what time you have and use it wisely. I had four hours left today, so I picked three things to fix, one an hour, and a fourth in case I had time left. When I was done with the hour, I had to move on. It was hard—I didn't QUITE move on with one issue—but I got all four mostly dealt with, dealt with enough I can live with it, anyway. So I'm feeling pretty good.
Time management has always been my biggest stumbling block, and revision takes me 20 times longer than any other writer I know. So anything that helps I'll take.
What I want to practice next month
Keep working on the learning mindset, and grace, because everything I'm doing from here on out I've never done before.
What I've been reading and what I've appreciated/learned from it
I'm struggling through Careless People, which is about Facebook, and disliking all the characters including the author.
Was on vacation last month and read five novels: Starter Villain, The Spare Man, Alien Clay, Shadow Speaker, and Spring's Arcana. My favorites were Alien Clay and Spring's Arcana. The first because the life forms were so awesomely bizarre and the storytelling was mysterious and taut; the second because the storytelling was so rich.
Like, I wanted to nominate Spring's Arcana for all the awards because it was like Baba Yaga meets Something Wicked This Way Comes and American Gods, and it was so fucking RICH and sensory and... it came out in 2023, so I missed the award nomination season for it. Goddamn it.
Anyway. I clearly need to read more.
Projects status update
A DUBIOUS HOPE: 98 percent done ready for arc copies. Need to re-read the first 50 pages cold, and add a glossary and list of characters.
THWARTED: Mostly done, but given the page proofs on ADH, I need to go through that with a fine-toothed comb, a style guide, and a primer on commas.
A DEEP BUT MODEST APIQUAI: with the editor.
Short Stories: Looked at about seven set in the universe; submitted one this week.
Submissions and rejections so far this year: seven and six.
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