Wed. Nov. 29, 2023: This Week is a Challenge
image courtesy of Micha via pixabay.comWednesday, November 29, 2023
Waning Moon
Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde
Cloudy and very cold.
Over on The Process Muse, we’re talking about artistic security. You can read the post here.
There are two episodes going live today, on two different serials.
The first is from ANGEL HUNT:
Episode 89: Attempted Capture
The magic killing Gaston tries to include Lianna in its deadly thrall.
The second is from DEADLY DRAMATICS:
Episode 39: The Romance of Stuffed Bear CPR
Nina remembers why she fell for Jake.
Today’s DEADLY DRAMATICS episode is one of my favorites in the entire season. It shows the more positive side of Jake, the fun he and Nina can have together, and why she fell for him in the first place. That will resonate a few seasons down.
I was seriously annoyed when it was sunny yesterday morning and I could have gone to the laundromat. I did have the pre-storm headache, but still, if I hadn’t listened to the weather report, I would be ahead of the game. It didn’t snow until evening, and then, the snow didn’t stick.
Tessa and Charlotte fussed at each other in the morning, and both got into trouble. After breakfast, Tessa sashayed in front of me from the kitchen to my office, jumped into my chair, and stared at me with defiance.
I managed to convince her the rocking chair in the reading corner was a better choice.
But Madam Was Not Amused.
I went down a rabbit hole looking for various holiday short stories I’ve written over the years. Realized a bunch of them must still be on the Macbook, so that wasn’t going to get finished yesterday.
Worked on the newsletter. I want to get it out a little early this month (wait, it’s not December yet, sorry), rather than right before the holiday, so people aren’t overwhelmed. Promoted yesterday’s episode of Legerdemain.
I found the holiday novelette I was most interested in tracking down. I wrote it for the 2017 Newsletter, and it was set in a snowbound diner. I really love the piece, and had always hoped to do more with it.
I re-read it and still really love it. That doesn’t mean it’s ready to go. I did a few tweaks on it. I created a cover. But, in order to make it by the holidays, I’d have to submit it by December 4, latest, and then it might clear everything by the 14th or 16th.
Part of me wants to get something new out there THIS year, instead of just promoting “Just Jump in and Fly” and “The Ghost of Lockesley Hall” again. I have a new post about the two of them up here. I mean, I’m working on the novella for next year that will run 100-200 pages. I’m looking at putting the holiday shorts I’ve done over the years for newsletters and that appeared in publications long ago, where I now have rights back, together in a collection, probably for the following year, and working on the comic mystery holiday collection. So, shouldn’t something new go out THIS year? And isn’t this piece the best candidate?
The plot is tight, the characters engaging, the situation ticks a lot of boxes for the genre.
BUT some of the secondary characters need more development, and more time to their stories, which means I will need to re-orchestrate some of the ensemble scenes once I develop those characters. I have a character who is only heard over the radio, never seen, and there are specific carols chosen as leitmotifs under particular scenes. Do I bring him in at the end? That creates a potential love triangle for the protagonist, none of which would get resolved in this novelette. Do I have him interact on the phone with my protagonist? I kind of liked keeping him separate. I need to develop some of the conflicts between other characters, and make a particular threat more threatening.
I feel like I need to play with those options, and all of them will take time to try, and some will be tossed.
December 4 is too close. I love the piece, so having it be its best self is more important than the ego of wanting something new out there this moment. Or, at least, it should be more important.
I have a short story appearing in a publication in early December (and I’m even getting paid for it). So I’ll be running around promoting that, too, along with the backlist holiday tales.
We’re ignoring the fact that I should have gotten my act together in August about a holiday release, LATEST, for this holiday season.
We’re ignoring the fact that I’m working on two flash fiction pieces for the upcoming December newsletter (which, yes, are exclusive to the newsletter, so if you haven’t signed up, how about doing so here)?
I mean, only ONE will wind up in the newsletter; the other will probably go up on Ko-fi. I’m trying to decide which is the best fit for which, since the plots are wildly different.
And what about marketing? It doesn’t give me time to create a solid marketing campaign. As it was, the time I spent on the story, now with a fresh title, would have been better spent creating videos for “Fly” and “Lockesley” because the videos are, right now, my best sales tool.
I’m already working on next year’s marketing campaigns for the serials. It needs time and planning, and the big-ass calendar, and the smaller content marketing calendar, so I can track everything.
This is where I really miss Twitter. Because my reach on Twitter allowed me to reach a wide enough audience to know I could pay certain bills every month through sales, and that grew, month-to-month. With those contacts scattered across platforms, many of which are less than supportive of artists, it takes more time, which means more money, and not just on ad buys. Though next year will see more ad buys on my part, and I’m working out the ad budget.
My ego needs to shut up and sit down, and I need to be smart on both the business and the creative side, or the novelette won’t work. And the piece working is the most important factor.
Thank you for letting me brainstorm with you this morning.
I’m also working on my writing schedule for next year. Serial-wise, I think I may do what I did when I wrote for KIC, all those years ago: focus on a month’s worth of episodes of a single serial per week, instead of switching between serials every day. That way, I can stay deep in the headspace of each for a week. Then, I have to figure out which novels, plays, radio plays, and stories to work on, knowing that I’ll have to reshuffle them depending on contract schedules.
Goddess Provisions is stalling, and then they’re going to say, oops, box shipped, nothing we can do. I called them out on the stall. The proper customer service response is, Sorry you had trouble with the system. Here’s your refund. Thanks for being a good, steady customer for five years. But I doubt they will do that.
I requested a refund from the bookseller who supposedly shipped an ordered book in early November, but it’s still not here. It’s a secondhand research book, so I doubt they can replace it. If it turns up, in, say February (because DeJoy is running USPS into the ground), I’ll send them the payment again.
I worked on the holiday novelette most of the morning instead of doing the other stuff I should have been doing. I did coverage work all afternoon. Then I went back and did more work on the novelette.
I skimmed a couple of books by an author whose third book in a series I’d read a couple of weeks back and liked okay, but was on the fence about a few things. I got the first two from the library. There’s some cute stuff there, and decent character interaction, but the logic in the mystery doesn’t work. It’s so out of the realm of possibility that I can’t suspend my disbelief, and missy’s ego makes me dislike her as the central protagonist. I ordered the first book of her other series from the library; if I don’t like that one, either, I’m done. But I learned a lot!
I indulged myself in buying Jackie Lau’s HOLIDAYS WITH THE WONGS omnibus of holiday romances (which, I have to add, was at the price of many single books, so this omnibus is a great deal). She’s a Bluesky pal. The promo was fun, and when I went to her site and read about the books, they seem like something fun for the holidays, although I probably won’t get to read them until the big Icelandic Christmas Eve read. One is set at Thanksgiving, one at Christmas, one at Chinese New Year, and one at Valentine’s Day. I’m looking forward to them.
I have a GREAT TBR pile to read between Christmas and New Year’s, across a wide range of genres, and in fiction and nonfiction.
I wish I could get my mom to use my Kindle; romance is her favorite. I don’t read all that much romance (I often get impatient with it when the obstacles come across as forced rather than organic), but I have a soft spot for holiday books in general.
Didn’t get any decorating or cards written. I have a feeling Saturday will be the push to write the rest of the cards, and Sunday packing the packages, so they all go out Monday. Then, the baking begins.
I was not about to haul my ass out of bed at 5 AM to hump laundry out in 20-degree weather. I’ll see if the temperature’s a bit better on Friday.
I’m going to do some writing this morning and then coverage work in the afternoon. The poor CAST IRON MURDER edits have been in limbo lately, but I feel like I want to get all the holiday stuff out the door (cards and baking), and then focus on the edits after. I’m enjoying the editing process; I am not looking forward to writing the outline and synopsis for the submission process. Too bad for me.
Hopefully, I can get to tarot circle this afternoon. I need that connection.
My meditation teacher out in Concord is shutting down her nonprofit next month. She says she’s going to continue with our weekly Zoom library sessions sponsored by the Concord Public Library, but I bet they will end over the winter, too. She’s given a lot in the time I’ve known her (I joined the group in September of 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic). I’ve felt that she was detaching for a few months now, so it’s not that much of a surprise. I’m grateful for our time together, and learned a lot from her.
It’s been a rough, frustrating, challenging start to the week. I hope it evens out soon.
Have a good one!
