Hey, amid these crazy days, I forgot to mention here that I finished a rough first draft of the new novel. I actually finished on March 14, and mentioned it on Twitter, but I wanted to talk a little bit about what was different this time.

First, the draft took me just over two months from start to finish, which is remarkably fast for me. Granted, this is a much shorter novel than my usual. It’s about 63,000 words right now and I expect it to be under 80,000 when I’m done. This is good, because I wanted to try to write a shorter novel. (For comparison, The Red was around 118,000 words.) Also, the story is near future and set on Earth, so I didn’t have to do as much world building as in the Inverted Frontier novels. That let me write faster.

But the main factor that kept me writing at a steady pace was all the prep work I did in December and early January. I wanted to try an entirely new writing method this time around, so I picked up a copy of John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller and worked through all the exercises up to, but not including, the “scene weave.”

By this point, I knew a lot about the story. So instead of the “scene weave,” I put together an event outline, laying things out in rough chapters that included everything I could think of that might happen, including bits of dialog.

I write in Nisus Writer Pro, which lets me maintain a table of contents in the sidebar. Each section was titled with a super-short description of events which then appeared in the sidebar. This let me view the outline in summary form, while also being able to easily move from section to section.

Right now, this novel is written from a single point of view, but I found it helpful to also outline what was happening offscreen, especially with the antagonist, just to keep things clear in my head. I ended up numbering the sections I intended to write, using automatic numbers, while indicating the offscreen sections with an arrow, just to avoid confusion.

When I started writing the actual chapters, I devoted a week just to the opening, wanting to get that right because it sets the mood for the rest of the novel. After that, my goal was to write at least a thousand words a day — and because of the detailed outline, I mostly succeeded. I had a couple of days in the middle when I didn’t make my goal, and near the end things slowed down for a bit. But I re-outlined the final confrontation, and after that, I made swift progress.

There is a lot of revision to do. I intended to take a couple days off to catch up on other obligations before starting the next draft, but two days has turned into five and I still haven’t gone back to it. But I will soon. If not today, then tomorrow.

My most recent newsletter went out last week with no mention of COVID-19. I suspected that at that point my readers were saturated with virus coverage and didn’t want to hear even more about it from me. But here we are, a week later, and life has changed a lot. Most of us have been asked to hunker down at home so as to avoid contracting or spreading infection. For how long? No one knows for sure but it’s unlikely life will return to “normal” anytime soon. It’s far more likely we’ll learn to live with a “new normal.”

It’s uncanny how much our current situation reflects the backstory of Sarah Pinsker’s Nebula-nominated novel A Song For a New Day. That story is a hopeful look at American society breaking out of disease-induced isolation. We, of course, are just learning to live with it.

For myself, the daily routine hasn’t changed much. You’ve probably seen the cartoons about introverts who always stay at home anyway… Both Ron and I have worked at home for years. The main change for us is that we’re not going out as often, and when we do, the hand sanitizer gets frequent use. (We have two little bottles left, acquired prior to the emergence of COVID-19.)

Here on Maui, we’ve had only a couple of confirmed cases of the virus. In Hawaii at large, infections are still low and all so far seem to be associated with recent travelers, or those in close contact with recent travelers. In other words, “no community transmission” — so far.

My respect goes out to all those parents who are suddenly finding themselves home with young children. Wishing you patience, strength, and courage!

And my gratitude goes to all those who don’t have the option of staying home: first responders, medical personnel, all those working in the supply chain, the brave clerks and stockers at Costco, Target, and all our local grocery stores — and anyone else whose service is essential to keeping the country (and the world) functioning through this black-swan event.

It’s staggering to think of all the people now out of work, many of whom likely have little savings and who may be losing their health insurance. Here in Hawaii, so many people are employed in the visitor industry — hotels, car rentals, restaurants, tours, entertainment. All that is now shut down, or soon will be.

We’re still at the beginning of this. For myself, it’s already weirdly surreal to see TV commercials made in the days “Before.” They show large happy gatherings — wedding parties, people in theaters, or at festivals, or out on the town, enjoying life with friends. Scenes of a lost existence, at least for now.

On the positive side, there are companies and governments around the world seeking both a vaccine and antiviral treatments for COVID-19. If we keep our collective heads and don’t panic, we’ll get past this. In the meantime, please take care of yourselves and of each other.

In my last newsletter, I recommended LX Beckett’s novel Gamechanger, with the caveat that the publisher had chosen to price the ebook at $14.99.

Well, right now, the ebook edition of Gamechanger is on sale for just $2.99. Here’s an affiliate link to Amazon that will earn me a few pennies of you click it and then buy. The ebook is probably also on sale at Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc., if those are your preferred vendors.

About the book:
Gamechanger is a complex romp of a novel that includes some of the most impressive near-ish future world-building I’ve seen. The story takes place in the “bounceback” era, a period of future history that follows the “setback” (basically the present day, as climate change leads to catastrophic environmental collapse), and the “clawback” era, when a new global system begins to stave off immediate extinction. The bounceback generation is dealing with things, and the world is much improved for their efforts. But then things happen…

I listened to Gamechanger as an audiobook, but while the narrator does an excellent job, there is just so much terminology and (I suspect) quirky typography, that I wish I’d read it instead.

I have no idea how long the sale will last. If you’re interested, you should check it out now.

Oh! And if you haven’t signed up yet for my newsletter, please do! I just need your name and email address in that form on the right -> ->
Be sure to look for a confirmation email!
Next issue goes out next week.

Okay…it’s been a while since I’ve posted here — but that’s because I’ve been busy writing.

In December and early January I focused on developing a detailed outline for my next novel — a near-future thriller. I started writing it on January 8, and spent the next week working on the opening chapter. Openings are always such a challenge, because so much needs to be accomplished and it all needs to be done in an interesting way.

Starting January 17, I resolved to try to add at least 1,000 words to the manuscript every day — and thanks to the outline, I’ve been able to meet that goal for all but one or two days along the way.

Usually I write in the morning, but today my schedule is reversed and I still owe my thousand words. So it’s back to work for me…

Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski

When I was growing up, my parents let me read anything I wanted to — except comic books. I don’t recall any arguments over this restriction. I was taught that comics were for people who couldn’t read very well, and I was a very, very good reader, so what need did I have for a comic book? As a result, I was never into comics. Looking back, I find that ironic and even a little distressing, given the popularity of comics among fans of prose science fiction.

Anyway, that’s my excuse for why, when I picked up J. Michael Straczynski’s autobiography, Becoming Superman, I wasn’t familiar with his work in comics, and I somehow had never watched Babylon Five, and did anyone really expect me to remember who wrote the screenplay for Thor? Still, his name was familiar, and an intriguing comment on Twitter led me to check out the audio version of the book, which was published just last summer.

I found it riveting.

Becoming Superman feels like two books in one. The first part details Straczynski’s childhood. Actually, it goes beyond childhood, looking at the history of his family before he was born, as a means to set the stage for the story of the incredible physical and emotional abuse he endured growing up, at the hands of a father he described as “the most evil man I ever met.” Comics, and particularly Superman, were his comfort and salvation. Determined to be the opposite of everything his father stood for, Superman became his personal hero — an outsider who fought evil and always remained determined to do the right thing.

The second part of the book focuses primarily on the tumultuous development of Straczynski’s writing career, beginning in high school, and continuing through the present day. He’s an extremely prolific writer (*ahem* unlike some of us), and he’s also been driven to succeed in diverse writing fields, hardship be damned.

Honestly, the book is potentially dangerous for young writers. Most of us will say that the trope of the starving writer is bullshit. You don’t need to suffer for your art. But Straczynski has gone through a lot — he’s literally been a starving writer. He’s also had to burn bridges, starting over more than once. If you want an inside look at writing in Hollywood, do not miss this book.

Despite the hardships, Straczynski has achieved admirable success in every field he’s tried, from comics, to animation, to live-action television, and feature films. But all throughout his story he returns again and again to the lesson of humility, and to doing your best work, doing the right thing — and that makes this story wonderful.

Highly recommended.

Best wishes for 2020. May it be the year we elect a new president, one who respects the Constitution, civil rights, science, and intellect. And may it be the year in which the world comes together to begin the long offense against global warming.

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Every year I make it a habit to post, on January 1, my writing goals for the coming year. The list keeps me on track throughout the year, and at year’s end, I get to look back and assess what I did with my time. I was far more ambitious when I first started listing my goals. In recent years, I’ve learned to keep the list short, and do-able.

Here goes:

1. WRITE AND FINISH A NEW NOVEL
I’m already outlining this one. It’s a near-future thriller. If it turns out the way I hope, I’ll send it to my agent and see what he thinks. If it doesn’t look like it’ll work for traditional publishing, I’ll publish it myself.

2. WRITE, FINISH, AND PUBLISH A NOVELLA
I’m nervous about this one. I’ve talked for years about writing a novella, but I’ve never done it. I’m going to try again though, because I want to publish something every year — and since I’m going to send the novel in #1 to my agent, that project likely won’t see publication until 2021 or beyond. So I need this novella. It will almost certainly take place in one of my existing story worlds.

And that’s it for my writing goals!

No. Hold on…

I should add one more, to keep the momentum going.

3. START OUTLINING A NEW NOVEL

Okay, that’s it. Those are my plans. What do you have in mind?

Every January I put up a blog post listing my writing goals for the coming year. At the end of the year, I check back to see how I did. That assessment is the subject of this post. Since 2018 turned out to be a disastrous year for meeting deadlines, I decided to go easy on myself in 2019, and as a result I met all my goals!

Here are the specifics, with the goals I set for myself in January in all-caps:

1. PUBLISH THE NEWLY FINISHED NOVEL
This, of course, was Edges, and it was published as planned, on April 2.

2. FINISH THE SEQUEL to the novel in #1
I had only 70,000 words of Silver at this time last year. I put the final polish on this 125,000-word novel in early November.

3. PUBLISH THE SEQUEL
Silver was rushed to publication on November 19, a day I saw as the last viable date to publish before the holidays took over the attention of potential readers. On the downside, it had almost no advance publicity. On the upside, a lot of you have already read it. 😉

4. START A NEW NOVEL
I’m working on a detailed outline of a near-future thriller. For me, that definitely counts as a solid start.

I also had a few goals for the publishing side of the business. I wanted to get a nice book cover done for a two-novel omnibus edition of the Puzzle Land books. I really like those crazy stories and would love to see them get more attention — but I’m still looking for the right artist for the project. My other fantasy novel, The Wild, is presently unpublished. I had hoped to complete a read-through & polish, and then re-publish it, but it was never a priority in a busy year, so maybe in 2020.

I’ll be posting my 2020 goals on January 1. Talk to you then!

In 2019, I made some lifestyle changes.

For decades, I was in the habit of drinking two-and-a-half or three cups of coffee a day — not much by the standards of truly epic coffee drinkers, but if I missed the morning brew, a headache was inevitable.

At night, essentially every night, there was a glass or two of red wine. More was not unusual. It was a years-long pattern: coffee in the morning to get my brain going, wine at night to quiet the brain. But the ritual began to feel like more and more of a burden on my body and brain, and — not for the first time — I started thinking I really ought to clean up my act. So I started cutting back.

At almost the same time, my son-in-law recommended a book called Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.

Ignore the new-age feel of the subtitle. The book is written by Ph.D. Matthew Walker, it’s based on many studies, and it has nothing to do with dream interpretation. Instead, the book looks at the negative effects that alcohol and caffeine have on both the quality of sleep and on memory retention, and it also presents evidence on the need, and the benefits, of getting 7-1/2 to 8 hours of sleep every night.

Like many (or is it most?) women I often have trouble sleeping. Going to sleep is generally no problem, but waking up at two in the morning and not being able to sleep again for hours — that’s a killer. So I decided to go all in on the program. I continued cutting back on coffee until I was down to a half cup in the morning. (If I miss that, I don’t even get headaches anymore!) And for the most part I stopped drinking alcohol, although I’m not an absolutist. I’ll still have a glass of wine on occasion. I also make an effort to get 7+ hours of sleep each night. (Confession: I almost never manage a full eight hours.)

I was emotionally ready to make the changes, so other than some days spent feeling sleepy, it wasn’t hard.

I’ve kept the new lifestyle for many months now, and I like the result. I feel better, especially in the morning. I sleep better too, although this took a long time to achieve. I still wake up in the wee hours, but can fall back asleep more often than in the past.

If you’re interested, here’s a link to Why We Sleep at Amazon†. I listened to the audiobook, but the paperback edition is only $11, so I bought that too.

May your nights be peaceful and your mornings bright!

Update 12/31/2019: I received an email today from Alexy Guzey, who has written a detailed essay disputing several claims made in Matthew Walker’s book. It’s a very interesting read, with links to online discussions. You can check it out here. Sleep well!

I’m a member of Book View Café, a writers’ cooperative — and there’s a big post-Christmas ebook sale going on in our online store. All ebooks are 25% off. This includes omnibus editions like The Nanotech Succession… So if you haven’t read it yet, now’s the time to dive in!

At Book View Café you’ll find a range of authors and genres, from romance to hard science fiction. Click here to see what’s available.

Mele Kalikimaka means Merry Christmas in Hawaiian, and it’s also the title to a Christmas carol that begins:

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say

On a bright Hawaiian Christmas day…

Too bad today is gloomy! We’ve got heavy clouds with fog blowing through, along with a bit of rain. But at least Christmas Eve was bright and sunny. 🙂

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and wishing all of you a joyful day!

Xena Rose does not have the patience to pose for a Christmas photo, so this one will have to do. (Taken today, December 25, 2019)