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Quarter 1 Update

A laptop, lumpy mug, and candle

It's nearly the end of March, which means that it's just about time to check in on how I'm doing on my annual writing goals. 

  1. 👍 Finish and query Predacide. In progress! I finished Predacide and have sent over 70 queries out. There's a few more people that I'd like to submit to when they open, but overall this process is going fairly quickly. 
  2. 👍 Draft Beekeeper. I have a draft of Beekeeper! It's 57,349 words and I've been working on it for 79 days. I already have a half-dozen ideas of plot holes I want to fix, and themes I want to push deeper. I'm pushing myself to wait at least a week before I immediately begin outlining the next draft. 
  3. 👎 Beta read 4 books. Bad news. I've read about 7,000 words in short stories for friends, but have not read anything substantive yet. On the other hand, I have an opportunity to fix this, with 2 partials and 1 full manuscript all in my inbox waiting for me to get my act together and read already. 
  4. 💬 Generate 2 new ideas that excite me. This one is in progress. I've been reading a lot of random non-fiction books and have half a new idea percolating in the back of my mind. It needs more time before it'll settle into something that feels solid enough to draft on. 
Outside of writing, life has been surprisingly hard. Once we got through the rush of vacation, and the holidays, and another quick weekend away... Well, I've been drowning myself in work in an effort to keep my head above water with the political shit-show happening. It's hard to write sci-fi when each new day seems carved out of the dystopian playbook. It's challenging to dream of publication when I wonder if there will even be a recognizable world in another few years. 

On the bright side, we've been spending a lot of time with family and friends, and a lot of time taking walks around the neighborhood. Those two things help to distract from the rest, and remind us why we went through the stress of moving. 

So. On to Quarter 2. 


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