WIP Wednesday

Joy & Sorrow

Today’s update is all writing, and all personal. Sorry, no story or similar today.

The Business of Writing

A mid-week update on my three major commitments: to write, to edit, and to read.

Tales From the Wood, the second volume of Stories in the Key of Tull, is nearly done. We had some delays on getting it out (more on that later), but it is 99.99% complete. I’m waiting on one detail to get sorted, then I’ll push the publish button. Like its predecessor, Minstrels in the Galaxy, it will be available through Amazon on Kindle and as a paperback.

This marks the third publication from Alpha Merc Press, with a fourth on the way. Yes, we accidentally started a publishing house. Apparently that’s a thing that can happen.

I’m grinding away at the novelization of Blue as Sky for Cannon Publishing. My goal is to write 1k words/day for the next couple of months to finish the first draft. I’m on track so far, if only barely. If you’d like to see more about that as it progresses, you can join my fan group over on Facebook, Secret Squirrels of the Apocalypse. I’m currently at 22k and have introduced all the major players (save one) so things are about to start heating up. Hopefully.

Writing with an outline has been productive. I am seeing that outlining and writing are not the same thing, at least for me. I can’t take my outline as-is and expand on it. For one thing, I’m starting to realize that I stuff a lot into my outlines. My outlines aren’t road maps, per se; they’re more a set of directions, a la “Drive north until you hit Erie, then turn east and head for Buffalo.” I either need to learn how to get more detailed, or live with the idea that I’m going to have to jettison ideas and plot lines as I go to avoid ending up with 300k doorstoppers.

Meanwhile, Shari Robb has moved on to another project. She’s helping to edit a anthology of game fiction. More on that as it develops. Her senior editor seems to like her work, and has even recommended her for other projects, which is nice.

Other Stuff

My father got sick last week, then he died.

Yeah, I know. You’d expect a writer-type to be able to do something to make that more eloquent, but that truth is raw. I’m just starting to come to grips with it. It’s a wound that you don’t notice, because adrenaline, then you stop and take a breath and notice the bleeding and think “Shouldn’t that hurt?” and then it does.

I’m at the point where I can hear the echoes of that question mark.

Dad ended up in the hospital last week, and quickly moved to hospice. He spent his last evening surrounded by sons, daughters, and grandchildren; then passed away early on Saturday morning. My brothers and I spent a long weekend making arrangements while cleaning personal papers and belongings out of the house. We also spent a lot of time sitting on the back porch talking. Possibly for the last time.

I keep tripping over that damn question mark.

During one of those talks, one of my brothers said about my dad, “He was a complex man. I just couldn’t figure him out.” Both true, and ironic; off all my brothers, he is the one most like my father. But yes, he was complex. There were a lot of contradictions in there. I think it was Asimov who said, “I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself; I am vast enough to contain multitudes.” Dad certainly did, which leaves us a lot to unpack as we deal with his passing and the living memories he has left behind.

Fair winds and following seas, Dad. We're proud to be your legacy, and pray we will continue to bring honor to your name.