Aleksandr Voinov's Blog: Letters from the Front, page 14

Wrapping up the damn book (and other)

I'm just in the very final stages of my fantasy novel, which has given me an unexpected 2.5-month battle, but it's coming together. In any case, setting a deadline (15 March) should help. I have three full days now to wrestle the last 40-50 pages into submission, which is really quite generous.

Yesterday, I signed up for Yoga and Pilates classes--while I have decent core strength (important if you have a "weak" back, especially as a writer), you can always be stronger there. Most of all, I'm missing the energy flow after a good stretch/exercise. There's definitely a certain luxury in booking classes that are at 9:30/10:30 in the morning on a weekday. They are nice and cheap, too. I had a tour of the place and there are no aggressive "gym bunny" types there, but instead a refreshing amount of middle-aged and elderly. It's not crowded on a weekday and the music isn't so loud you cannot hear your own thoughts. Perfect.

Tomorrow is my first Pilates class. I've done some Pilates years ago, but ended up dropping out because my work hours weren't really compatible (journalism and its addiction to long, irregular hours--nuff said). And then it's easy to not go back. While I did it, I liked it.

Real-life-wise, I'm looking at a number of skills to acquire over the next 3-4 years, which is hypnosis (happening in September/October), sports massage (likely from May), counselling diploma (after the foundation course) and acupuncture (after massage). All in all, it's about £12,000 ($18,000) to stump up, so that's where my money's going to go for the foreseeable future. I think it's a worthwhile and complementary skillset to have, and it should get me out of the house and in contact with people. I'm also looking at NLP and Reiki, though these are currently lower priority. I just need to research requirements and starting dates. I'm also looking at becoming a British citizen this year, but that's more a personal commitment than a skill.

A friend of mine (GB Gordon, who wrote "Santuario", still one of my favourite books in the genre) went through that 127k monster book that's one third coming of age story, one third thriller, and one third love story, and we had a three-hour chat about how to tackle the beast. I think I have an idea now and look forward to editing it once I'm done with this book.

I've had a few chats regarding going cold turkey from corporate life to freelancing, and apparently it takes a few months to a year to a) clear the corporate fog from one's mind, b) find a workable structure, and c) reach an agreement with the Significant Other that both can live with. Now I don't feel so bad about floundering a little while I make the transition. I am a little spooked about my salary stopping at the end of the month, especially since I only accomplished a fraction of what I set out to do when I was put on "gardening leave". That my payout is quite pathetically small and that they make me jump through lots of hoops to get it is not exactly helping. Waking up with the thought of "I have to write X amount today to earn my keep" every morning puts a lot more pressure on the writing than I'm used to. At the very least, I want to double my usual wordcount, and triple it ideally mid-term. After all, I do have all that time now, I better use it.

I also have lots of thoughts about the "permission" debate ("How dare you, a Y, write Z!"), but my thoughts aren't quite ready yet. Generally, I fall on the side of "I'm a writer, I write what I damn well please" side of the debate, but there's quite a few more factors to consider, and I'm not done with the necessary work.

In industry news, DABWAHA is open for nominations. Make sure you nominate your favourites published in 2013. (Last year, I got quite far with Dark Soul, only to be soundly beaten by Josh Lanyon, who was subsequently vanquished by Abigail Roux, Red Queen of the Minions). Personally, I'll be voting for KJ Charles, who delivered a stunning debut with Magpie Lord. (<=== See, I'm not just promoting Riptide authors.)

Right, I have a bunch of mercenaries on a ship planning a stealth operation requiring my attention. 

Old treasures and Lambdas

I received the news that Capture & Surrender is a Lambda Awards finalist this year (Category: Gay Erotica). My co-writer on the book, LA Witt, is also running in the Gay Romance category. It's also 30% off at Riptide!

I'm obviously pleased and proud. Now that I'm a full-time writer, recognition is doubly nice, but the Lammies are quite special, as they are traditionally more grounded in the NYC type queer publishing scene, which is still somewhat separate from the m/m e-pub scene and much older. In any case, I'm honoured and would love to win an award that issues "desk candy" (aka, a tangible trophy), but honestly, being nominated is already huge, and it's for one of my favourite books, too. So, thank you, judges!

I've spent the last two days going back to a novel I have in the drawer and that might be worthwhile to polish up. As I write this, a number of betas and friends are looking at the book, which clocks in at an impressive 127k. It's been written before I knew or even cared about any of the rules of romance, so it's not a romance. It's a coming of age story more than anything, though it's relationship-focused and has some extremely hot sex.

I submitted it to a publisher around four years or so ago, and they turned it down, telling me the book was "immoral". Well. Drug use and unsafe sex and suicide attempts are the least worst things these bankers get up to just before the financial Apocalypse of 2008, but whatever. In the end, I am glad they didn't take it.

With 4+ years of hindsight, I can now see myself that the book has a few issues and I can fix them. I try not to lose too much. It's a crazy ambitious book, written way before I'd read much m/m, so nothing about it feels like m/m. But it's very much me. Boy, this is pure me, my voice, my hang-ups, my issues circa 2008/9. It's already gone through a number of edits, so the writing's strong, and, in some cases, even brilliant. (I say that without vanity--good writing very often happens despite me getting in the way.) Above all, I love the characters.

Last time I touched this was in 2010, so I'd forgotten almost everything about the book. I spent two days re-reading it and doing a short outline of chapters and scenes so I know what's going on, with a view to cutting what's not necessary. It's too long--the received wisdom in publishing is to keep novels under 100k, so that would mean cutting almost a third, which . . . I don't see happening. I'd lose too much of the stuff I really care about, and I'm emphatically not cutting the side plot around the trans* guy, who's the only well-adjusted, sane person in the book.

In other book-related news, I'm working on the the last 10% of the developmental edits of a fantasy novel (I had to re-write the last 20-30% or so, and feel I'm getting somewhere now, and add 15k, out of which I've already added 11k and look to be on track for 15k+), adding a thousand words here and there, and hopefully finishing around middle of the month.

Once that's back to the editor, I'll throw myself into Suckerpunch, which should be a quick and easy novel compared to the ones I've recently written. Above all, I have a very clear image of the book in my head, which helps with regards to sheer speed. I'll have to re-read Counterpunch to make sure I don't have any continuity issues, but after keeping MoS 1-3 consistent, these shortish novels shouldn't be that difficult. (Famous last words.) Suckerpunch is my April project, after which I'll wrap up that 127k monster and get that submitted. It's not a very commercial novel--I might have to self-publish it, but right now, all options are open.

Then it's time for the Birds book, which should happen in May/June. I'm excited like crazy about that one.

In real life news, I've made a deal with my partner to report to him how much I've done every day. It'll help me stay on track, too. I'm also looking at courses to pick up some qualifications, and do the numbers how much it'll all cost.

Anyway, I'm just going to finish my first 1,500 words session of the day and then head to London to drop off a couple Capture & Surrenders in the bookshop. My rockstar lifestyle. :) 

And along came Lori

So, LA Witt has been in my house for more than a week, and while we haven't done much sight-seeing, we've been writing like crazy people, so there's a new book coming fairly soon, since we already have about 60k on that one. It's all raw and needs editing, but we've been doing about 10k/day, unless we're doing other stuff.

And it's hilarious, so I'm assuming we're writing a romantic comedy about two writers. Lots of jokes and insider jokes, and more or less subtle digs at how things work and the crazy-making stuff. Much of that might end up cut, but it's cathartic to write them.

We have a crazy plan to do 2-3 novels until 6 March. Granted, one of them is already half written and only requires finishing up, so it's not too crazy to think we can do this.

I'm becoming more and more at peace with the whole idea I won't be full-time employed in 2014 and just focus on increasing royalties, aka, write more, publish more and hopefully fret less about what's going to sell and what won't. It's a pretty sweet life generally and I'm not complaining when so many people have it so much worse.

That said, GRL registrations rolled around and so many people really wanted to meet me (and I promised, because I wanted to see them too), I've done the numbers of expected income in case I don't find an adequate job (and there's precious little out there), and I can't swing the $2,000 it'll likely cost. I'm going with the worst-case scenario and in that, there's no way I'll do much travelling, let alone do non-UK conferences which add costs like swag and admission fees and hotel. I might swing a couch-surfing kind of holiday, but I'll know closer to the end of the year how much money I'll have for travelling.

What money I do have I'll spend on learning an alternative career that focuses more on healing/helping people while keeping my freedom. I'm confident things will look very different in 2015, and I should be ready for the alternative career in 2015, too.

But I hope everybody who got in will have a ball of a time. Have a drink on me, and I should see you at GRL in 2015, if not earlier in Bristol or elsewhere. 

Still editing

I had my second job coaching meeting today - mostly it was about re-jigging my CV to declutter it (and get it down to two pages, without losing too much content), and a skills analysis (about four pages full of what I'm good at). I'm starting to relax about the whole thing. Yes, it's going on the fifth week post-closure of the business, but my anxiety levels are down. This is a good thing.

Writing-wise, I'm still editing, and it's a struggle. Every sentence I add, I'm second-guessing myself. Mostly, though, it's about reworking the ending, so the last 30-40%. That's where the bulk of the work is - that's where all the additions are really going to be felt. I'm terrified I'll blow it, after so much hard, hard work, but I'm still pushing onwards. Slow and steady. I can't say I'm enjoying the process. At all. I loathe editing at the best of times, and the longer it takes, the more I hate it. My critical mind just gets stronger and stronger, and the whole thing starts to feel like running a marathon where somebody shoots you in the legs every 10km or so. It just keeps getting harder.

And all that's not helped by wanting to write other books. I've promised books, and there are books I have wanted to write for 3-4 years, and books that are done and just need a polish. I have several full novels that just need a little TLC. There are sequels and prequels I want to write because the characters are loud, and two half-finished novels with Lori I want to write, and I'm still dragging this whale towards the finishing line.

Part of the struggle is definitely fear of failure and of "ruining" it. Part is I'm getting tired of the book - I love the story and the characters, but I get tired of just about everything I've lived and breathed for longer than six months or so. I want to move on.

But the only way to free myself to write and think something else is by battling on. I just wish editing had a runner's high. I know high-speed writing does - once you build momentum, it's tremendous. Books can live entirely off kinetic energy. Editing, however, doesn't. At least not for me. I fret and freak out and hate the fact that I've written the book in the first place.

Ideally, of course, that battle won't be on the page. For the reader, the writing has to be seamless, the scenes all logical consequences of what characters are up to - even though the original draft didn't have those ten scenes. Ideally, being made to guess, the reader won't be able to even name the scenes that were "likely added".

I can wrestle the book all day and have only 800 words to show for it, which feels quite pitiful. Yeah, I'm slow. I'm a slow-ish writer, and I'm most definitely a slow self-editor.

I guess the only important thing about all of this is to show up, battle all day and have those 800 words as opposed to not. Every single sentence is progress.

Gardening leave, week 4

It's been a rough week at Casa Voinov. The Dude came back from a convention with a major case of con crud, ending up skipping work and being very Ill. Then he dragged himself to an interview (he's thoroughly disenchanted with the current place), and then didn't get it, cue lots of morose introspection and generally awful mood.

Meanwhile, after two weeks in limbo, the full-time job for me didn't happen, due to somebody else having more experience in the specific field. I'm a good all-rounder as far as financials go, but I wasn't a specialist for what they wanted. Now, I'm just going to broaden my scope and look at contract/temp work too, and stuff like maternity cover. The only thing I'm definitely not going back to is journalism.

Part of me is relieved, another part dreads the full-time writer thing. Financially, things are going to be extremely tight - I just lost 60-70% of my income, so GRL is officially cancelled until I find a day job. I'll scrape together enough for the UK GLBTQ Meet, but that's just outside the door for me.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to add about 10k to a novel and it's an uphill battle. Once that is done (because it's fiddly work like trying to do brain surgery in nearly complete darkness), I'm putting myself on a 3k/day schedule, which should get me to one million words in 2014. Hopefully, this will be the tightest year financially as a full-timer.

Gardening leave, week 3

I now have four distinct periods of unemployment in my life. One was a desperate struggle to find work - any kind of work at all - after finishing my studies in Germany. To say I was unprepared and desperate and damn near depressed would be an understatement (I was also working four low-paid jobs to keep my head above water). If anything, I begrudge Germany that experience still. Never going to throw myself on the mercy of that place ever again. My partner left first, got a job, secured a flat and I came over . . .

. . . segueing into the second phase. Now, I had no bills really to worry about, but wanted to get a job pronto; in fact, I decided to take the first offer that came my way. It happened and the job was shitty data entry on a minimum wage, but the company realised quite quickly that that wasn't the extend of my capabilities and promoted me a couple times. I stayed there for more than three years before making the jump to financial journalism.

Cue a few years in financial journalism and then the switch to the "Dark Side" - aka, going off to work for banks. Loved the job. Loved the team. Loved the money. Bank then decides it's no longer part of its strategy to do what my team was doing, so we were all put on "gardening leave". We were let go in mid-November, and several weeks passed where details like payouts and such were decided. I received a really nice "Sorry to kick you out" payout so I couldn't really get angry at them. I was more sad about losing the most awesome team I've ever worked with. Everybody was frigging brilliant. That "gardening leave" period lasted about six weeks - I landed the only open job on the market during that period and had the offer by year-end. I started work in late January, so that was about 9 weeks total.

By that point, I was, according to both my partner and my business partner, a "nervous wreck". I'm pretty sure both were happy to see me return to corporate slavedom without killing anybody in the interim. I've fantasised about another "empty" period while still employed with the current shop, and I was completely determined to do things better next time. You know, write a book, or five. Tackle my inbox and get it down to zero. Learn something, like a language.

This is now the fourth distinct period, third week in, and I'm beginning to feel the strain. I'm reading more, but I'm also sleeping a LOT more, and I struggle with motivation and focus. (Part of what I'm reading is "how to fix your mind"-type books, because I'm struggling to get the current book done and even write a hundred words per day, let alone a thousand or more.)

It might be a simple matter of adjustment, or lack of structure - I don't think it's depression, though the mix of procrastination and "meh, whatever" feeling certainly veers close to that. I'm trying to go outside to catch some light - winter can be a struggle to get through for me, and this is one of those winters that are just grey and wet. I'd do better in snow or that cold, crisp brightness of a postcard winter. What I'm getting is London Cement Grey. I struggle falling into the book to fix it. I struggle thinking of strategies to fix it, though I know I'm smart enough to fix every stupid novel I could possibly encounter on my hard drive.

I did, however, make a list of books I want to write and hit a count of eighteen. (Some of those books might be starts to series, so that count is "upwards mobile".) The struggle is to dredge up the motivation to actually do it. In positive news, those eighteen books have a combined wordcount of under a million words, so if I end up unemployed for the rest of the year and if I find my motivation, I could finish them all this year. Three thousand words per day would do it. (I'm only talking about solo work. Bring Lori into the mix and we're looking at something like thirty books to write.)

I think what's really the biggest struggle is that lack of certainty. I'm interviewing for one job, and it would be a really good fit. Lots of money, good team, good company, decent commute. I'm in round two and I think I did well. I may hear from them next week, or maybe not. If I get the job, I'll likely be back under the corporate yoke by early March. If I get the job, it's not unrealistic to expect to finish 4-6 stories this year to fill the 2015 pipeline.

If I don't get the job, I'll get the payout from the current company somewhere in March (I'll be paid until March). The payout should keep me going for a few more months, certainly past the point where Hostile Ground and No Distance Left To Run hit the shelves - which should both sell a lot. Even if everything I have coming out this year is a flake, I can keep going on my savings until the end of the year or longer. (Security-loving Taurus loves squirelling away cash.) Completely free like that, I should be able to write 3k words per day. That's maybe 3-4 hours of intense writing. I know quite a few people who can do a LOT more than that, so 3k is a conservative estimate.

What's sapping energy is now knowing - and having no control either way. I do all the things you're supposed to do, activated my network and emailed a number of headhunters and agents and keep an eye daily on alerts and job portals.

But I'm cleanly divided down the middle with regards to what I want to happen. And that's quite painful. It's a good company (in a market full of shitty ones) and being employed appeals to my sense of security. Pension, mortgage, etc, investment portfolio. I like my creature comforts, and I don't like taking money from a partner to "fund my dream" - being dependent is not so much a dream as a deeply-ingrained self-confidence nightmare.

However, I have that "dream" thing going on, where not having to work for a living means I can research more, write more, travel more, and learn interesting stuff, to maybe forge a totally new career path based on coaching/tapping/massage/acupuncture. I'm quite aware that that path does require money (travelling isn't free, either, and that's again where the "creature comforts" come in), which was why I was originally planning to do all that "in the next 3-5 years". The universe fast-tracked that one and I'm just not sure if I'm ready.

The middle ground is going freelance and picking up the occasional temp/contract gig, which wouldn't be so bad, as those are usually even better paid than the full-term gigs. I have a fairly specialised skill set at this point that's hard to outsource (never mind the compliance department freaking out over data confidentiality and all).

So it feels like I'm trapped in limbo, with no fixed point, and writing doesn't provide the focus or motivation to pull me out of that funk. That doesn't bode well for the full-time writer thing - unless things change totally and I get a decision either way. I could battle with my back to the wall, but it's harder with my back to an undefined fog. Maybe getting an ultimatum ("make a living by end-2014") would be good for motivation. I can be very productive when I'm scared.

Lying with Scorpions blog tour

Riptide is sending me on tour again. It's been many months since my last release (August, Capture and Surrender), and that was a co-release. This is my first solo work in a while.

The dates are


1/20 Prism Book Alliance / Joyfully Jay1/21 Sinfully Sexy1/22 Book Reviews & More by Kathy1/23 Boy in our Books1/24 Mama Kitty Book Reviews
1/27 Smart Girls Love Sci-fi
I'll add the links once I got them. Now I have to polish up my blog posts. :)

They call it "gardening leave"

Technically, I'm still employed, but they made me stay at home "until further notice" and disabled my access to the building and the commercial systems of the company. (I guess they know me too well - then again, it did happen to all the "non-essential" team members.)

So I'm on a quest to sort out my real life, aka, the house and financial accounts. I got up at 7:00 this morning for the meeting with my accountant at 11:00. I'd also scheduled the plumber for 9-11:00, which, I know, is a risk, as both guys would probably show up the same second. They didn't. Plumber showed up and gave me a stupid quote for my toilet (£200+), but he fixed the kitchen radiator, so great.

Accountant shows up just as I'm typing up the last few receipts into the spreadsheet (envelops and stamps and other assorted postage). We sign the agreement, he takes away all the data and paperwork. I'm DONE. (Or rather, he's crunching the numbers in the next few days and will let me know what kind of sums he arrives at.) This will be the first year where I'm a) in control of all the crap and b) not overpaying tax out of terror I'm doing something wrong and they'll throw me in prison for it. YAYNESS.

After dealing with all the paperwork, it's nearly 12:30, and I headed out for lunch (hadn't had breakfast yet, so picked up a bottle of milk from the supermarket, and a coffee and sandwich from the lunch place down the road). Somehow, it was 14:00 already and plumber (now hired specifically to fix my toilet) shows up. He starts work and while he's grinding and hammering away, I decide to try to log into work - and I discover Norton 360 is having issues, so I try to fix them. Half an hour later, I've reached the extent of my knowledge. I also receive an email saying there'll be a work-related conference call at 16:00. Great.

So I spend the next 45 minutes or so chatting to several Norton employees who try to help me and who get disconnected/lost when I restart the computer. As we all know, re-installing software means several restarts. Sigh. I'm about to give up when Norton actually calls me and a guy's on the phone who walks me through the whole, very complicated process with the patient of a buddha. Meanwhile, the plumber is hammering and grinding away, switching off water mains (outside, for several houses), getting more parts from the van, and at least one part from the plumbing supply shop not far away.

I start eyeing the clock. 16:00 is getting closer and closer, and I'm still in the middle of a Norton reinstallation and my plumber's epic battle with my toilet. The clock hits 15:55. The doorbell rings, I need to sign for a package while balancing two phones (one Norton support, one conference call). 15:57: my new friend in Bangalore finishes and my computer works. 15:58, plumber is done, and the toilet/refill cistern thingy works. I pay him, promise more work, apologise for not paying him nearly enough after that battle. I log into the phone conference. It's 16:03. While I listen to the work-related conference stuff, I clean out the trash, check on the toilet and start filing everything away.

Super productive day, and I haven't written a word and not gone into London. Hard, hard work. Next thing: I have a pile of papers to shred, and then cook food for when Dude gets home. Then I'll hopefully write/edit.

Big news - and "hello!" to my Japanese readers

So that's the big news. Skybound has been released today in Japanese as part of a collection of stories in "Dear +" from Shinshokan. Print run is 10,000 copies, so, wow. Lots and lots of readers. So if any stumble over my blog - welcome! I hope you enjoyed it.

I seem unable to grab the cover from Amazon Japan, but here's the link. 

Also, the story comes with illustrations, and "my" translator, @wintzer on Twitter, was so kind to send me a photo.

It's always strange to see the characters "translated" into the visual medium (my image is always different from anything out there, but I also cannot possibly get it out the way I "see" them in my own head), the illustrator did a fantastic job. There's nothing I don't love about the image. The way it's set up, the way the Messerschmitt looms in the background, Baldur's uniform being as correct as I can ascertain and the way he's both cocky and a little gloomy, and then the look of exquisite bittersweet pain on Felix's face. It's amazing.


Excellent work. I'd put that up in my study if I can/could get my hands on it. (I think it might blow up a bit if you click on it here on the blog).

So, yeah. My day starts off full of excitement. While the publisher is going to send a copy, I'm just that impatient and will go hunting in a Japanese shop (Mitsukoshi) on Piccadilly for a copy. Wish me luck! :)

Releases

The word "release" is one of those instances where English pwns German. In German, the word for a book release is "Veroeffentlichung" (making public, so like publication)--and that works too. There's a distinct sense of "right, guys, have at it!" in the word. From the pretty lonely pleasure of, uh, my head, and co-writer and a handful of betas and the editors and proofers, it's out there. Doors/windows are wide open. There you go.

"Release" has the word "tension" built in as the implied pre-state. Tension release. Relief. Also, "hey, dog's off the chain!"--it's a lot more active, in a way, and maybe focused on the moment you press the button--and let it all go. At this point, the story has survived the "You call THAT an idea?" and the "I should be writing something else" and the inevitable "crap, what do I think I'm doing" and "why is this shit so hard" and a million doubts and a hundred moments when I think about taking up golf or something instead of writing.

So, yeah, release. Scorpion is back out. It's actually still one of my favourites, and I readily accept a huge burden of debt to Glenn Cook's "Black Company" (I pay homage in the book several times) and a number of other fantasy novels I've read (some of those have fallen to my horrible memory, but a big influence on me overall was Tanith Lee). I prefer my worlds low-magic, though I can totally see a fantasy world that has a lot of magic. (Actually the world I built while I was running GURPS table top roleplaying games, so that one is high magic and actually pretty damn epic.)



I've told the story a few times, but if you own the first version, you don't have to buy this one. I've cleaned it up (with the help of my great editors, Gordon and Rachel), but the book is essentially the same. It was pretty strong when I handed it to Dreamspinner in late 2010, it was published in a pretty strong form in May 2011, then got pulled in December 2012, and is now back out, shinier and cleaner than ever before.

I'm tremendously proud of it, and I'm really glad Riptide took a risk on a re-release. It wasn't that I was unhappy with that first version--it was that I wanted to clean it up to write the rest of the series that's most definitely lurking in there. (And I have been doing!) Of course, if you're a completist, I'm happy to take the cash and thank you kindly.

(Also, book 2 is done and handed over to my editor. I'm having a couple days off to relax and EDIT ALL THE OTHER THINGS.)

Then, If It Fornicates is out, a 42k novella set in the Market Garden, and following If It Flies.



While If It Flies was more Spencer's journey to realising and accepting not only that he was a submissive but also in love with a prostitute, If It Fornicates is all about Nick, who has to come to terms with giving up his independence. Their story/ies  really took that shape and felt like two very separate entities, so that's how they were written: two sides of the same coin, in a way.

To be honest, after the first one I had some serious doubts whether writing "formal BDSM" is the right thing for me. My guys are usually all about the power exchange, some are masochists, but I've stayed pretty much away from the typical dungeon/club scenario--one of the reasons being that I'm much more interested in character exploration and power dynamics than the usual "whip me, fuck me" fiction, which is a dime two dozen. Just because it has leather and whips doesn't mean it does anything for me--and after Rachel's and Cat's "Power Play" series, I was pretty intimidated. Now, that's a fine exploration of character right there. But If It Fornicates seems to click better with readers, so I'm relaxing a bit there. (See, I'm bringing it back to the whole "release" thing.) It's not under my control anymore. There, have at it. I hope you enjoy it.

There's more coming: "Capture and Surrender" is the first full Market Garden novel and is currently being edited.

"Unhinge the Universe" is our WWII novel (I've seen the cover and it's really really nice--keep you eyes on the Riptide newsletter, where it will be unveiled).

Then we're working on a long cop novel (100k), which we're currently cleaning up.

And over the weekend, we started work on If It Drives, likely another novel-length story about two characters who make a brief appearance in If It Fornicates.

So the plate is full, the pipeline loaded. I've done some short fiction recently, but the pendulum is swinging back towards 60k+ now--Lying with Scorpions is pretty substantial at 84-85k, and so are all the other projects. I might need to write a short story to clear out some lingering ideas, but above all, the engine is running and words are being made. And that's really the main thing. Life's too damn short, anyway, so I better get cracking.