3/24/2021

De-Cobwebification

It occurred to me this morning that I hadn't posted to this blog in a while. and the best way to do it is to do it, so here goes....

I've always felt a bit as though I operated my writing life, and business, inside a bubble, but it's seemed even more so during the year of Covid. 

I've got a number of projects going, mostly because I like to bounce back and forth between different things, depending on my mood and energy and motivation. 




WIP - Mystery Novel
Beta-readers have helped me through a few drafts of my next book, the first in a new series of detective novels, The World Beneath The World. Once I finish going through it again, to work on the latest round of revisions, it'll be ready to go to the editor (I think). I'm still up in the air as to whether or not I want to send it to a list of potential agents I've been building this time around. I like the freedom, and speed, associated with self-publishing through KDP, but a friend of mine recently got picked up by an agent and I'm both jealous and wondering if that does actually make him more of a "real" writer than me.



Articles
I've just finished one article for a magazine that I've been back and forthing with for a while, and have a few other articles I've been considering writing. I have a wide array of interests that I tend to dive deeply, some would say obsessively, into, and I've found that I enjoy sharing what I've learned with other people.


I've continued working with a number of students throughout the pandemic, helping them with writing and organization and motivation in the face of a difficult time to learn and to be a student; I find that I love keeping one foot in the classroom, and hope that I can keep it up even when all of this is behind us.


I recently stumbled across a ghostwriting opportunity, and am working with a person who has lots of material but lacks the time/interest in writing the book they want to publish.


I've got a few dozen stories, both new and old, that keep bouncing around in my head and computer... I'm thinking about assembling them into a collection (or two) of short stories for release through KDP.


One of the things that's helped to keep me writing during Covid has been a series of mini writing retreats. I've done some solo-retreats in my mobile writing cabin, a small trailer that I drag around to pretty spots to write while basking in nature's green glow. A few times, I bubbled in with a friend from my MFA program and we spent a few nights writing and reading and sharing new stuff with each other at an AirBnB somewhere. A third way that I've been taking advantage of is by being a trusted housesitter, which basically means that I stay in someone's house and take care of their animals while they're away. All three of these flavors of writing retreat give me the chance to recharge my creative batteries and get some solid writing done.



I've been feeling the call from a fantasy novel that I began a number of years ago. I have about 80k words in a first draft, and although I wasn't feeling the project come together in the way I'd like back then, it may be time to dust it off and take another look at the project.


Even though it often feels as though I'm flying out of control in multiple directions at once sometimes, I'm excited about the various things I'm working on, and scared, and sometimes feel like an imposter, but I think that's what being a writer is like, a lot of the time, at least for me.

If you have questions, or thoughts, or demands, about anything you read in the blog, or something I wrote on FB or mentioned on the phone, please don't hesitate to get in touch via comment or pm or email.

Thanks for stopping in! - JS



2 comments:

Gail Bennett Schott said...

You are too a real writer. �� Anxiously awaiting your next book!

Gail Bennett Schott said...

You are too a real writer! 😊 Anxiously awaiting your next book!