Jen and I are writing the next book in TheGates of Westmeath series and it’s awesome. The only thing keeping me from binge writing right now is that we’re doing the first pass at editing Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests (Coming June 2024). As much as I love writing, I despise editing. Like everything else in the writing process, it’s much easier to do with Jen.
Renaissance has Copper Tarnish, Stories! The First Unexpected Collection, and Faymous and I will hopefully hear in the new year if they’ll publish or pass.
Work
I’ve been acting (in government that means I’m doing the job but it’s not permanent) at a higher level as a Web Accessibility specialist. It’s pretty much an evolution of my old job as print and PDFs fall out of favour, but it’s a promotion.
This week I signed my papers to make it permanent. It’s better pay and duties that are no longer 10 years antiquated. So yay!
Health
I’ve seen a neuro-opthamologist and had lots of tests including another MRI. Everything came back clean except for a loss of vision in my left eye and the fact that my left eye dilated slower than my right. He thinks I had some sort of nerve issue and he’s sending me to a neurologist and has set up a follow up for June.
Yay nothing serious and that he believes me but boo I didn’t get any answers.
I absolutely love writing with Jen. It’s like having a super-fan to pump you up for writing and like getting to read your favourite book as it’s being made!
This going to be book 3, and book 2 Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests will be coming out spring 2024. We’ll post pre-order links as soon as we get them, and stay tuned for the cover reveal and other sneak peeks!
I’m so excited to be writing this book and I can’t wait to see what happens.
Some weeks are hard. This was one of those weeks. I’ve been working through a lot of emotions. Among them is the fact that I’m still in pain. I know that a new physio for two weeks isn’t going to fix everything, but I was secretly hoping.
Let’s break this down into categories:
Writing
I’m currently finishing the longest running project I’ve ever had (started in 2016) and I’m really hoping to be done by summer. It’s going slowly, mostly because of pain, and I worry it’s crap but at least I’m having fun writing it.
Family Life
I’m trying my best to be a good father and a good husband. I know that I haven’t always been perfect; I’m a little whiny and I over explain and analyze everything but I’m trying. This week I’ve felt like I’m not enough and that’s really frustrating.
Work
I have a similar issue at work. I think it’s time for me to find something new. I’m fairly certain that within a year, my position will be cut and after 15 years, it’s time to do something new. The problem with that is because of my health issues and lack of return to full time work, it’s not easy for me to convince anyone to hire me. So I feel a little trapped.
Health
I’m seeing a team consisting of a physiotherapist, kinesiologist, and occupational therapist. They are trying to help me get back to work.
While they’re doing that, I have an MRI for my head, neck, and back set up for mid July.
Dad
My father’s birthday was earlier this month. He passed away at the age of 47 from brain cancer.
He was 40 when he was diagnosed. Considering my health issues, it’s hard for me not to worry about this year. (I’m turning 40 in July.)
It’s one of the reasons I’m really glad that I got that MRI. At the very least we’ll know something. The MRI should be able to detect brain lesions from MS or brain tumours. Hopefully there’s nothing to find.
Mental Health
With all of the above I’m struggling, but my occupational therapist is helping me find coping mechanisms and to rationalize instead of spiralling. That part is helping and I’m trying to be kind to myself.
I’ve started re-reading The Copper Tarnish. I started the novel in November 2016 and took several breaks from working on it. I’ve finished six books since then. I’ve worked on it a little here and there, but it stalled when Pegasus was born and I devoted myself to finishing The Mystery of the Dancing Lights (Elizabeth book 4, coming this fall.)
The big issue with not touching a book for nearly three years (whoa Pegasus is going to be 4 soon!) is that I forgot the story, the characters and the voices.
That meant I needed to read the unfinished book, something I’m not good at. I haven’t been reading very much lately, mostly because it’s hard on my arms, but my wonderful wife inspired me. I loaded the document in Word and used the feature where it reads it to me. I set it to fast and read along. It’s really helpful and I think it’s helping me to re-connect with the story and characters.
I’m also really liking the story and the pure snark of the characters.
The Copper Tarnish is my attempt at a monster movie style story. It’s also a little more personal, being about a bisexual in Northern Ontario. Although I never had to deal with zombie people, green goo, aliens, or rogue goverment agents.
A lot of the book is set in a fictional town that’s an amalgam of the towns where I grew up, and re-reading feels a little like going home. Everything feels smaller and doesn’t fit right.
It’s weird reading something I wrote and it feels like someone else did it. I think once I get back into it I’ll feel like it’s mine again.
I’m hoping to be done writing this by the end of summer (more realistically the end of year) so I can submit it to my publisher. I only have about 20 thousand words left to write.
Last year, before my pain became too worrisome, Jen and I wrote a book called Faymous. While writing it, we added a character who showed up in flashbacks. The further along we went, the sillier her actions became, each of us adding every flashback.
The idea was that I’d write a short story at the end that would explain everything that had happened with the character, but then pain and worry about hurting myself got in the way.
I wrote it slowly, 200-500 words a session, writing 15 minutes here and there.
I was told by my occupational therapist that I could write a little more as long as I took breaks and listened to my pain levels.
So after ten months and almost 7000 words, I finally finished the story. It’s called New Year’s Eve… on repeat, and it’s another time loop, because I apparently like the challenge.
It was fun to pull together all the threads that we’d randomly spread through the novel.
We’ve received three very nice rejections for Faymous. That means I have no idea when it’ll be published, but I’ll let you know.
We are looking for beta readers. If you’re interested, let us know!
Hello Authors, Writers, and all those that stare at a screen willing words to appear,
I met a nice person in the elevators at Can-Con. They were so proud of their first book and said, “I’m an author!” then quickly followed up with, “Not a good one, but…”
I told him, “That’s not for you to decide.” He seemed taken aback and I feel bad if it came out more aggressive than I meant it.
Here’s the deal with writing; you either love your writing or hate it. With time, you might develop ambivalence, but as you’re writing and publishing, you will only have those two emotions.
Some authors always love their stuff, some always hate their stuff. I oscillate wildly like a fan being controlled by a toddler.
In the end though, it’s up to readers, critics, and historians to decide if you’re any good.
My goal when I’m writing is to make my reader feel something. If I did that, I’m a success.
I guess what I’m saying is that the quality of your work isn’t for you to judge. Just make the best damn story you can and share it with the world.
It’s been an exciting six months and by that, I mean blarg. I still find it disturbing how much of the world is convinced the pandemic is over. Hopefully soon, we’ll see a vaccine for infants approved in Canada. Then I will feel much better, but I still am going to continue to be careful. It will be a while before I give up my mask.
Anyway, let’s see how I’m doing with my resolutions!
Writing
1. Write a monthly serial story (Succeeding)
The hardest part about this year’s serial story is not writing ahead. Currently, as of this writing, dealing with carpal tunnel, that might not be a problem. Read from the beginning of the Aetherverse.
2. Write Guise and DollsFaymous with Jen (Success)
This went famously (haha). I loved writing this story and I’m glad that it’s now vacated that part of my brain that it’s been occupying for the past decade. Unfortunately, a spin-off series has decided to move in.
3. Finish Copper Tarnish(Pending)
Pending health, I have no idea how this is going to go. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it, but if not, I’m not going to risk injuring myself worse over it.
4. Write book 3 of The Gates of Westmeath with Jen (Pending)
Unlike Copper Tarnish, this book starts from scratch/random jot notes, and won’t need heavy line-editing before I start, so I should be able to do this one with dictation software. I hope.
5. Keep Working on FADDS (Succeeding)
I created an entire ridiculously complex module for mixing components that was just way too much. So, I remade it in a simpler way and it seems to be working really well. I’m continuing to tweak and add more monsters as I go. Mostly, I’m just having fun with the system and my players.
JenEric Designs and Coffee
6. Ensure 5+ days of updates (Succeeding)
You may be sensing a theme, but depending on health issues, we may be dropping to four days a week, but not yet, and I don’t know. So we’ll see.
7. Write a movie review each week (Succeeding)
So far, so good. I might need to create a template to copy-paste to make my life easier.
8. Design and release a new flavour and redesign Green Apple (Pending)
Ottawa ComicCon is happening in September. This one will depend on how my health is. It’s not the highest priority; that will be roasting and packing ComicCon levels of coffee.
Personal
9. Read 5 Books (Pending)
Other than books that I’ve written or that Jen wrote, I’m a little behind on this. As in, halfway through the first book. But for some reason, I forsee having more chances to read (if Jen will let me).
10. Be More Patient (shrug)
Honestly, I have no idea how I’m doing on this one. I do know that I’m a terrible injured/sick person. Feeling like I’m letting people down makes me grumpy.
11. Don’t over stress (Failing)
I have developed tools to help me de-stress. Playing ukulele, reading, writing, playing video games, and cooking. The only one of those that I can currently do without hurting myself is reading. Let’s hope this dictation software works and doesn’t add to the stress.
My work is also irrationally pushing a return to the office and that’s still causing lots of stress with an unvaccinated toddler. HURRY THE F UP, HEALTH CANADA!
12. Practice bass or ukulele 2-3 times a week (Failing)
I was doing well with this. I even memorized the Spider-man theme on the bass and wrote a song for the ukulele. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do this for a while.
The good news, I haven’t utterly failed at anything yet and I have a few Successes.
I’m going to take that as a positive and just do what I can for the rest of the year.
In our current work in progress, we needed the villain to get upset and reveal themselves. I decided, foolishly, that the best way to do that was a song of hope. I figured the character would have learned a Cataclysm Day song that would work. Cataclysm Day is the midwinter festival of Everdome, a cross between Yule and Remembrance Day.
So of course, I decided to try writing a song.
I sat down to write it and froze. I did write a bunch of lines, counting the syllables and everything. The whole process gave me flashbacks to trying to write poetry in high school and university. I wrote a sonnet for high school French from the point of view of a stapler that ran out of staples. Yeah, I was always this weird.
Anyway, I got inspiration songs and chose chords and everything, but once I sat down, nothing really worked. I procrastinated, avoided, and stressed. I had hoped the song would be ready when I got to that part of the story. It wasn’t.
Last night, I got to the part in the book that needed the song and said fuck it. I just wrote it out, not caring about syllables, rhythm, or musicality. I just needed words and rhymes.
It turned out pretty good. It’ll need to be checked for line length and put to music, but I think I can handle that. I honestly have no idea what I’m doing, and in the future I think I’ll leave the songwriting to Jen.
The typesetting for Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers has started. This is the first version called an Advanced Reader Copy that will go to reviewers and people who will blurb the book.
One of the perks of being with a smaller press and being a professional typesetter (AKA: Internal Layout Artist) is that they let me do the insides.
I’m really excited for this book and I can’t wait to share it with everyone… Unfortunately, unless you’re getting an ARC, you’ll have to wait until September.
Social Media
We have a lot of different things planned for promotion. The first will be creating new social media accounts.
Stay tuned for the saga or the 38 year old trying to figure out social media that isn’t fifteen to twenty years old. (Google+ is still a thing right?)
I’ve been writing serial stories yearly for 8 years, novels for 14, and short stories for as long as I can remember. However, in 2018, I started writing Elizabeth 4 and it broke me. I’m not sure what it was, but I just couldn’t write. I tried taking a break and writing something else and that got me a few chapters in an unfinished book.
By the time my son was born in June 2019, I had pretty much given up on the novel. It was complicated and emotional. I used plenty of excuses and spent more time daydreaming about other stories and feeling guilty.
Then the pandemic happened and everything seemed too dark.
When Dragon started school, Jen started reading, and editing, Elizabeth 4. To my surprise (because I truly thought it was crap) she loved it.
I started to painfully write it again, hoping not to break my streak of publishing a book a year.
She then asked to read A Copper Tarnish. I knew this one was good, but needed work (still needs an ending). She liked the part with two characters I’d borrowed from an old D&D game.
Several times I considered just giving up. Writing sessions that got me fifty words, but she kept encouraging me.
I had an idea for a novel starring those two characters and I told her. For what felt like a long time, but was probably a month max, I started working myself up to ask if she wanted to write it with me.
When I finally asked, she seemed enthusiastic. My writing for Elizabeth got easier.
We decided to write the book in January 2021 and talked about it for the next few months. When the time came, I put Elizabeth aside, again, and we furiously wrote a book in two and a half months.
The creativity and joy of sharing the story with her made writing seem easy. I still felt insecure about the quality of my writing, but the speed was there and at least we’d accomplished something. Now, with some distance, I’m fairly sure it’s one of the best books I’ve ever written.
Jen makes my writing better, both because of her support and because of her collaboration. There would be no Elizabeth 4 without her and it’s extremely possible there wouldn’t have been another novel by me for a while, if ever.
Thank you Jen. You are a talented, evocative, and exciting writer and I am extremely lucky and grateful to have her as a partner and a co-author. Love you!
