Looking into 2012

Things feel very unsettled for me right now. I don't know what to expect day to day with Mom's health, which makes it hard to plan for the immediate future. But my writing schedule is pretty well set for the year. Here's what I have coming up in 2012.

January 6
My steampunk novella Goldie will be released from Musa, for only 99 cents! I have cool bookmarks ordered that I'll be giving away as soon as they arrive next week.

April
My novelette "Never Be Alone" will appear in the spring issue of Strange, Weird and Wonderful Magazine, and I'll also be the Featured Writer of that issue.

July
I just found out (adding this January 1) that my novel Evil Outfitters, Ltd will be released from Double Dragon in July, more than six months ahead of schedule!

Summer
My novel The Weredeer will hopefully be released from BeWrite Books. We've had a lot of delays, none of them anyone's fault--my editor had to have eye surgery, my mom got sick, etc. But the editing is nearly finished and hopefully soon I'll have some cover artwork to show you. This is my favoritest book I've ever written. I can't wait to share it with the world.

Labor Day Weekend
I'll be at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago this weekend, where I'm hoping to meet up with some of the other writers still waiting to hear our final decisions from Angry Robot Books.

I've got some other stuff I'm working on, some rewrites and revisions that will hopefully bear fruit by the end of the year. I have a short story and a novella already scheduled for release in 2013, and if The Weredeer does well the sequel may be released in 2013 also. I'm also messing around with doing some self-publishing, starting with that misguided romance I wrote last year (I'm just not a romance writer). And I'm going to try to write more short stories this year, since I miss that instant gratification from sending a story out and getting a yes from an editor in weeks instead of months (or years).

All the best to everyone in the remaining hours of 2011, and good luck to all of us in 2012 and beyond. Assuming the world doesn't actually end next December, and I'm pretty sure it won't.

One thing I did right in 2011

I've flossed my teeth every single day this year. No matter what. Before, I was a floss-sometimes-but-not-every-day person. On January 1, 2011, the one new year's resolution I made was to floss daily. And I have! Even while I was staying with Mom at the hospital, I flossed every day. And now, I cannot imagine going without flossing.

With this success, I'm sure I will accomplish even more in 2012.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

I guess I should update. It's not like I haven't been around, I just haven't had anything to say. Mom is not doing well. She's on hospice now, which is end-of-life in-home care. Yesterday a friend of hers visited and told me to call if I ever needed someone to sit with Mom while I napped or ran errands or whatever. She said she could read while Mom slept. I didn't say so, but reading while Mom sleeps, or just sitting with her and watching a stupid TV show, is precious time for me. Those are the good times. The times when I wish I could call someone in to take over are ones that I would never delegate to anyone else: like half an hour ago when I wished Mom goodnight and turned out her lamp, and immediately heard her start vomiting up her evening meds. I had to jump into crisis mode--crisis mode is a daily occurrence now, which is why I'm always exhausted--and get her cleaned up, the bed stripped and remade with clean linens, her back in bed, and now I have two loads of laundry to do.

So. Well, maybe I shouldn't have posted tonight after all.

I hope everyone out there has a peaceful and non-vomit-filled holiday season.

Cover time!

Oh, and after hitting "publish" on that long, rambling post a few minutes ago, I just remembered what I was actually going to post about. I have a cover for "Goldie," my steampunks Goldielocks novella being published in January by Musa. Isn't it beautiful?

The trouble with ebooks is that it's not practical to hold giveaway contests. It's not like a print book where you have a copy you can pick up and sign and put in an envelope and send to the winner. But maybe I can think of something else to give away when "Goldie" is released. Any suggestions?

Read like the wind

Goodreads is giving people badges for their pages if they meet their reading goals. That's it, I have to spend the next few weeks doing nothing but reading. Fortunately, that's precisely what I was wanting to do anyway. And I only have 21 books left to meet my goal!

Mom's started back on her chemotherapy this week, and her new schedule is miserable (although at least it's not giving me migraines the way it is poor Mom). Before, she went in once every three weeks for a session that lasted about six hours. It was a long, wretched day but I could spend most of it reading or writing while Mom napped or listened to her MP3 player. Now, though, she's been switched to a one-hour session every day for a week (M-F) and then two weeks off. That means that I have to drive Mom to her session in Knoxville in the morning, drive her home and get her settled, drive to work late (I'm using three hours of sick leave every day this week, more than I have, so I'll be into leave without pay again by the end of the month), and drive home. I'm putting over 100 miles on my car every day. And there's not enough time for me to read more than a few pages per her chemo session, and all my free time is spent in the car.

So if I don't get my Goodreads badge, blame Mom's oncologist. I plan to.

I've been reading a lot of mysteries lately, especially an awesome police procedural series I discovered a few months ago by Barry Maitland. They're the kind of books I was hoping to find earlier this year. Unfortunately for my book count, they're long and densely written. Maybe I'll make up my Goodreads numbers by reading a lot of picture books. That counts, right?

Read and finish

It's been a grim and exhausting week, and a few nights ago I opened Word and clicked on my Bloodhound file. I wanted to read something dark and bleak, yet full of violence with a noble purpose, and at the same time I needed it to be something I'd already read so I wouldn't have any nasty surprises. So obviously I chose my own book.

I'm giving it a careful reread with some revisions on the way. When I get to the unfinished ending, I'll just finish it. I know what I want to do with it, and I want to finish it before the end of the year.

The end of the year. How did 2011 flit by so quickly?