escape yourself and gravity

I'm pushing up against a couple of deadlines, so of course today I had to clean out my closet.

*sigh*

In my own defense, I made a lot of progress against one of the deadlines this morning. I was multi-tasking by running laundry while working, and I made the mistake of stepping into my closet. It's been bothering me for weeks now, and with the Tiny Wardrobe Tour lecture coming up in a week, I just couldn't take it anymore. I pulled everything out of the closet, switched winter clothes for spring/summer clothes, vacuumed, KonMaried the closet clothes (not the dresser clothes, those will have to wait until next weekend), and rearranged the closet a bit.

It's a large closet. I've considered setting up a tiny desk and sound system in there to write. I definitely plan to use it as a sound studio when I get around to recording my audiobooks.

Anyway, it is now a pleasure to step into the closet, and I have perhaps 50 pieces of clothing hanging in it, and now I have one last hour to work on the writing deadline before I need to go to bed. Also, my back is killing me.

Boss is out for the next two weeks, which means our staff is effectively down by a third. There are four of us who work there, but one doesn't do any public stuff if she can help it (and who can blame her, it isn't part of her job description). So I'm working extra hours this week and next, which will be lovely for my bank account but not so lovely for my writing and Etsy time.

Tried a recipe from angelofthenorth tonight--the Sweet Potato and Pepper Soup was delicious!

Tomorrow I start the work week, and hopefully finish one of my two deadline projects.

I just have to say, THANK GOD 2016 IS OVER. Didn't end without taking one last celebrity, though. I just saw that the actor who played Father Mulcahy on MASH died. I always loved Father Mulcahy. :(

So... 2016 in review. Huh.

( Political things here )

Let's see. I meant to publish three novels in 2016. I ended up publishing one. It's my NaNoWriMo novel from 2010, now titled Shades of Circle Ciity, with werewolves added for good measure. Much gratitude is owed to megburden and lar_laughs and microgirl8225 for their early beta reads of the novel. It's done all right, but my epic fantasy is still my main earner.

In related news, I also earned a significant honorarium for being a panelist at an author fair this year. Including that with my royalties, I better than doubled my writing income from last year. Not that last year's income was huge, but I consider it an accomplishment that every year since my first published work in 2013, I have increased my earnings, and this year I WAY increased my earnings. :D This year I also launched a Patreon where I'm sharing behind-the-scenes stuff with supporters.

Let's see. In 2016 I also drank too much. I've decided that one thing I'm going to do in the new year is stop buying liquor for my home. I'm allowed to drink with dinner at restaurants, and I'm allowed to drink wine. But bourbon, vodka, rum, absinthe, etc., will not be coming home with me. It's clear that I got some of Gedna's genetic makeup, and I honestly can't afford to become an alcoholic, so I'm just going to kill this one starting tomorrow. (I haven't gone to bed yet, so it's still 2016 to me. LOL)

I started 2016 writing, which is my preferred way to ring in the new year. I know it's a silly superstition that what you're doing at midnight of the new year is what you'll do all year, but ever since that disastrous Having-a-New-Year's-Date-and-Being-Stood-Up-By-Him incident in 1999, this is how I've done the new year, and it's never done me wrong.

I still love my job. Well, I love my museum job and I'm okay with my other part-time job. If I start earning thousands of dollars a year from my writing, I'll quit the second job, but I don't hate it or anything, so still better off than I was at New Year's 2011.

This year several of my friends who live in different states traveled to see me in Indiana, which made for a lovely year! And I'm looking forward to a visit this year from my wifey severity_softly.

I turned 40 this year. I'm good with that.

Let's see...I re-opened my etsy shop Redhead Paper this year. There isn't much listed at the moment, but my dad bought me a Cricut as a combined birthday/Christmas present-cum-business-investment, so I'm designing stickers, mainly for Bullet Journaling, which has been my mainstay of time management for the past two years. I'm all about diversifying my income streams this year. Which makes taxes more difficult, but makes paying my bills a lot less painful. :D

Good things about 2016:

• I published my grandma's local history/memoir of the small town one of her ancestors founded. She died in 2001 and this has been something I've felt guilty about since then, so it was a relief to finally get that published. Also, it's selling WAAAAAAY better than I anticipated, and even though the money has to be split four ways, it's still been a good thing.


• Related to the first thing, I have realized a few things about my mom's parents this year, and it's made me feel closer to them, despite the fact they've both been gone better than 15 years now.


• I published an urban fantasy novel of my own, and realized I would probably not have become a writer if aforementioned grandma hadn't encouraged me so much and taught me to type on her 1923 Underwood and let me spend hours upstairs using her electric typewriter whenever I visited her.


• I turned 40 and I like it.


• I still get carded at bars.


• My parents' politics finally aligned more with mine.


• I found a tiny church where I am able to be entirely myself, and where I know for sure we are all rooting for each other.


• I visited all 92 counties in Indiana and every state park in the state, as part of the state bicentennial celebrations and state park centennial celebrations.


• My car kept running and I even got new brakes.


• I organized a small but very successful author fair.


• Rogue One.


• I started blogging a little more regularly at my author website.


• I learned how to write a short story. From Mary Robinette Kowal, a Hugo-winning writer. NOT from my 18-year-old BA in Creative Writing from Purdue, incidentally. Purdue wanted me to write "literary fiction." Mary Robinette just wanted me to write a good story.


• Learning to write said short story led to my being short-listeded for a very coveted (by me at least) anthology spot after a blind submission. No news yet on whether I've been selected for the final lineup, but being short-listed is more than I've managed in past anthologies by this amazing editor.


• I'm still alive, and I still believe in Jesus, and I still have a job I love going to every day. I still have my parents, and my cats all adore me and snuggle with me every night. There's no world in which these statements aren't a total win.

Okay, it's an hour into the new year and I'm getting sleepy and I've written a WAY longer blog post than I meant to. So HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone! I love you all and wish you the very best year possible!

Although not yet, really. That's just one of my favorite U2 songs (out of many!). :D

I turn 40 in a little over a week. Honestly I'd been sort of dreading it. I loved turning 30, especially since I'd gotten my quarter-life crisis out of the way at 25 (I was supposed to be published and a famous writer by then, come on!). But for some reason, 40 felt old.

Oddly, someone on Twitter changed my mind on that, simply by sharing a link to a study that proves people are happiest in their 40s.

Okay, then. Bring it on!

I'm ready for 40. I'm publishing another novel this week, and even though self-publishing (or, as I like to call it, indie publishing, because I do hire some people to do the things I can't do myself) is not yet considered quite as...hrm, legitimate... as traditional publishing, it is actually a great deal more lucrative. My novels are starting to pay for things. Not big things, nothing like a car payment or letting me quit my job. But they're paying for my web hosting, for my email newsletter service. This month, for a Wordpress plugin I use on my website (in very good timing).

I'm in pretty good health. I did a Whole 18 last month (it was supposed to be a Whole 30, but 10 days in I got a wretched ketosis rash and on Day 19 I Couldn't Handle It Anymore and started eating bread again. Thank God for carbs, the rash is almost gone again.) so I've done some diet analysis and have learned that dairy definitely triggers IBS, and high fructose corn syrup is another likely culprit. How lucky for me that high fructose corn syrup is in everything! <end sarcastic voice> As a result, I've started really reading labels and rejecting stuff that isn't naturally sweetened, either with sugar or stevia, or stuff that is completely unsweetened, like black and green tea.

I've been using the Bullet Journal system for my tasks and such since March of 2014, but this summer my BuJo system, in combination with a bump of my Zoloft from 50 to 100, has really made me much more productive, calm, and happy.

I decided to try Project 333 (wear only 33 pieces of clothing for 3 months) this fall, which isn't much of a challenge because I'd Konmaried my clothes over the winter anyway, so my closet and dresser are way emptier than they used to be. But almost every piece of clothing I have brings me joy. Some of them are just necessary because I live in Indiana, and you need to layer in the winter, but most of them please me mightily.

I am still deeply in debt, and that isn't getting much better, thanks to my job paying less than $10. But I still love my job almost every day I'm at it, and I feel fulfilled in a way that no job before every allowed me to feel. I definitely consider that worth the trade-off, even if it means I am juggling credit card balances hoping Sallie Mae keeps granting me forbearances on my crippling student loans.

I'm working my way through Your Best Year 2017 in the hopes that it will help me develop an an actual business and marketing plan for my writing. This, in turn, should alleviate the financial situation somewhat, and will hopefully allow me to quit my second job (which doesn't really suck but a. isn't my passion, and b. takes another day away from writing) and write more.

Anyway. There's a big life dump for you all, since I'm bad at regular posts. I miss LJ the way it used to be. I still read it, but the community isn't what it used to be.

Could you click the link below and fill out a 2-question poll? (Technically there are three questions, if you want to give me your email address, but that's not required.)

I'm revamping my author website/blog and email newsletter, and I want to give away free stuff! But I can't decide which freebie to give away first.

Answer 2 questions at Survey Monkey.

Thanks!

Title: Twenty-Nine Days
Fandom: The 100
Pairing: Jackson/Bellamy
WC: 434
Rating: PG
Summary: When Bellamy Blake stowed away on the Dropship, he left someone behind. (Set during 1x13, "We Are Grounders, Part 2")

( ”Twenty-Nine )

Behold, more fanfic. And yes, it is eating into my original fiction-writing time, and yes, I need to get it under control. But for now, have some angsty Bell/Monty.

Title: The Thousand-Yard Stare
Pairing: hints of Bellamy/Monty
Rating: R for nonsexual nudity
Summary: Bellamy did what had to be done at Mount Weather. That doesn't stop him from experiencing post-traumatic stress. But he's not alone.
Notes: Title is from the Greek play Ajax: "[O]ur fierce hero sits shell-shocked in his tent, glazed over, gazing into oblivion. He has the thousand-yard stare." Betaed by slightlyjillian and severity_softly

( The Thousand-Yard Stare )

I'm the only one in the office at my second job today. Not super exciting, for sure, especially since I have literally nothing to do except check our Facebook page a few times. Not a thrilling way to spend 7 hours. Only... *checks watch* 2.5 hours to go.

Normally on days like this, I can ask my boss for something to work on, but she's not here. The other three people who work in the office get paid holidays, so obviously they're not here on a city holiday. The front desk person is here, but he's across the building. And the cleaning person is here, but she's all over. Aside from that, it's me and my Nox Arcana Christmas albums and my boredom.

I've seen The Force Awakens twice now. The first time at an almost-midnight showing a week ago, the second as my Christmas present to my folks on Saturday. I loved it. Mom and Dad not so much. I wonder if it's a generational thing. Star Wars was my childhood, but they were already adults when they fell in love with it.

We survived the strong storms that came through Indiana yesterday. Everyone was bitching about how it shouldn't be 65 in December, but I was loving it. I'm ready for a few sunny days, though. I love storms, but what we got yesterday was the barest hint of bad weather, along with horrific wind and annoying rain. I want the thunder and lightning and no tornadoes, please. But oh well. At least it's not snow. :D

I'm not much in the Christmas spirit this year. It's hard to feel Christmassy when you can't afford to give much in the way of presents. And I know I just commented to someone that my favorite childhood Christmas was the year my dad's company closed and he scrounged Christmas out of the Dumpster as they were cleaning out the office building and warehouse, but still. It's hard to shake that feeling of inadequacy.

Then again, I'm giving my dad a copy of one of my novels this year. That's a good feeling on so many levels.

So how's everyone here at LJ?

Writing projects update:
I published a holiday-themed fantasy romance on the 21st. The world my fantasy novels take place in doesn't have Christmas, of course, but it celebrates Longnight, which is the Winter Solstice, so I decided to get all seasonally appropriate with winter and solstice fiction.

The Midwinter Royal: A Romance of Tamnen - Amazon | nook | Smashwords

Izbel Cantara of the Fifth Family needs a husband if she wants to keep her family's estate. She travels to the king's midwinter celebrations, the traditional time for the nobility to arrange marriage contracts, in hopes of finding an alternate to marrying her conniving cousin Willat. She knows she needs to negotiate a marriage.

She doesn't expect to fall in love.

Against a backdrop of court intrigue and international alliances, Izbel is forced to make a decision between fulfilling her duty to her family or pursuing her own happiness.



Other things I'm working on include planning my writing projects for 2016 and plotting out The Weather War, which is the next in my fantasy series. I'm hoping next year to begin publishing my Regent's series of urban fantasy, but that'll be contingent in finding the funds for cover art.

Kitty Updates

The kitties aren't sure about Christmas.

( Click for kitty pics )

Meowy Christmas!

Drat. I keep forgetting that I want to post here more often.

Let's see, what have I been up to?

This paycheck I actually had quite a bit left over after paying bills, so I ordered another box of contacts. That should get me through at least another six months, because I never follow the guidelines for how long to wear them. This is good because as much as I love my Obamacare plan, there's no vision or dental included in it, so I have a hard time scraping up the money for those visits. I haven't been to the dentist since 2011 because it's just too expensive. >.>

Speaking of Obamacare, I found out this week that my monthly premium is actually going down by quite a significant amount. An amount that will probably make the difference between going to the eye doctor next year or not going. So there's that.

I made my first ever campaign donation this year, to Bernie Sanders. It was only $10, but it's what I could manage. Right now, most of the "extra" income I have gets poured into my writing career, such as it is, so I'm trying not to do as much extraneous spending.

I'm doing NaNoWriMo, as usual. This year I'm using it to get a jumpstart on an epic fantasy story that I'm going to serialize on Patreon. It's called The Ghostwolf Cadets, and it centers on a group of teenagers who are drafted to a special academy where they'll be trained to become the emperor's black ops team. Of course, they all have their secrets, and some of those secrets could tear the team apart. I'm planning to fill it with lots of UST, including some slashy goodness, and in general I'm having a lot of fun with it. I've got it part-way plotted, and I've written 10k on it since November started. Haven't done tonight's writing yet, but I'm hoping to hit 20k by the end of my "weekend", which actually runs Sunday-Tuesday.

I'm stepping outside my comfort zone and going to a lecture in downtown Indy Monday night. Some of the activists who broke into the FBI offices in 1971 are going to be speaking on the FBI's COINTELPRO program, which was used against Martin Luther King, Jr., Black Panther activists, AIM activists, and more. I just finished an excellent (and infuriating) book called The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country by Steve Hendricks. I've had a heart for the Native American situation since seeing the miniseries of James Michener's Centennial as a young child, and the breathtaking amount of injustice and oppression that took place (and still takes place) on the Indian reservations really pisses me off. As it happens, COINTELPRO played a large part in the downward spiral of the American Indian Movement. So the lecture in Indy came along at just the right time to capture me.

Let's see, what else is going on... I'm going to be up in Fort Wayne next weekend for the Allen County Public Library Author Fair. I'm speaking on a panel called "DIY: Successful Self-Publishing" with a few other indie authors.

The kitties are all doing well. Eustace weighed in at 15.1 pounds a couple weeks ago, so he is on a diet and Not Happy About It. But he's also lost over half a pound since starting the diet, so at least it's going well in that regard. Eowyn and Eustace still aren't getting along, but for the most part they just leave each other alone. Strider's fine with them both and likes to play tag with them.

How's everyone here?

Well, hello there, LJ. I am probably only posting here because I am procrastinating on the whole "editing the novel that releases in 22 days" thing, but I did make a new friend here a while back. Maybe I should post here more often. :D

Things look different around here.

What's everyone up to? I'm still working at the museum, loving it, and making not enough money. But did I mention that I love it? Loving my job is priceless to me, so I'm trying to get used to not spending money on expensive pens and stuff like that.

Finally got started on the Mortal Instruments, since I found a cheap used copy of City of Bones a week ago. I know there are all those allegations and controversies, but Cassie Claire was my introduction to fandom, and she was, what, 23 or something then? We're all stupid at that age. I'm enjoying the story, and actually loving it when she throws in a bit of stuff that was in the Draco Trilogy. I've also been reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and Seanan McGuire's October Daye series. Funny how I'm editing an epic fantasy novel of my own, but all I am reading is urban fantasy. :D

The kitties are all well. I was in Knoxville visiting my wifey severity_softly last week, which was awesome! We really need to revise that serial killer novel we wrote together a few years ago.

Okay, I've procrastinated enough, probably. Too much, probably. *sigh* I should go edit. Later, guys!

I didn't quite manage to read as many books as I had hoped to in 2014, but I did manage to read 56 books total. That's at least one book a week, so that's pretty good, considering I was working 6 days a week for much of 2014, and I was also writing a couple of novels of my own. :)

1. What Love Means to You People - NancyKay Shapiro
   
2. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
   
3. The Lost Sun (The United States of Asgard, #1) - Tessa Gratton
   
4. The Red Tree - Caitlan R. Kiernan
   
5. Scorched (Scorched, #1) - Mari Mancusi
   
6. Sleigh Bells in the Snow (O'Neil Brothers, #1) - Sarah Morgan
   
7. Dreams of the Golden Age (Golden Age, #2) - Carrie Vaughn
   
8. Someone Else's Fairytale (Someone Else's Fairytale, #1) - E.M. Tippetts
   
9. The Stepsister Scheme (Princess, #1) - Jim C. Hines
   
10. Dead Girls Don't Lie - Jennifer Shaw Wolf
    
11. The Little Android (The Lunar Chronicles, #0.6) - Marissa Meyer
    
12. Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) - Marissa Meyer
    
13. The House of a Thousand Candles - Meredith Nicholson
    
14. Con Job - Laura VanArendonk Baugh
    
15. The Dark of Deep Below (The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle #2) - Patrick Rothfuss
    
16. The Mermaid's Madness (Princess, #2) - Jim C. Hines
    
17. Stormshadow (Storms in Amethir, #2) - Stephanie A. Cain (What? Just because I wrote it! I have read it!)
    
18. Thief's War (Knight and Rogue, #4) - Hilari Bell
    
19. Red Hood's Revenge (Princess, #3) - Jim C. Hines
    
20. The Snow Queen's Shadow (Princess, #4) - Jim C. Hines
    
21. Shadow (Paper Gods, #0.5) - Amanda Sun
    
22. Ink (Paper Gods, #1) - Amanda Sun
    
23. Your First 1000 Copies: The Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Your Book - Tim Grahl
    
24. The Truth Against the World - Sarah Jamila Stevenson
    
25. (Don't You) Forget About Me - Kate Karyus Quinn
    
26. Two Words: Why Hearing "I'm Gay" Changed My Straight, Christian Life - Emily Timbol
    
27. NPCs - Drew Hayes
    
28. Blessed are the Dead: A Gabriella Giovanni Mystery - Kristi Belcamino
    
29. The Strange Maid (The United States of Asgard, #2) - Tessa Gratton
    
30. Mirror Sight (Green Rider, #5) - Kristen Britain
    
31. Crown of Renewal (Paladin's Legacy, #5) - Elizabeth Moon
    
32. Peacemaker (Peacemaker, #1) - Marianne de Pierres
    
33. Dreamwalker - C.S. Friedman
    
34. Fae - Rhonda Parrish
    
35. I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats - Francesco Marciuliano
    
36. Camelot Burning (Metal & Lace, #1) - Kathryn Rose
    
37. Sinner (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #4) - Maggie Stiefvater
    
38. The Quiet Woman - Terence Faherty
    
39. The Millennial Sword - Shannon Phillips
    
40. The Storied Sea - Susan E. Wallace
    
41. Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1) - Ann Leckie
    
42. Prophecy (Calypso, #1) - Julie Anne Lindsey
    
43. Blightborn (The Heartland Trilogy #2) - Chuck Wendig
    
44. The Hum and the Shiver (Tufa, #1) - Alex Bledsoe
    
45. Nice Dragons Finish Last (Heartstrikers, #1) - Rachel Aaron
    
46. Justice Calling (The Twenty-Sided Sorceress, #1) - Annie Bellet
    
47. Clariel (Abhorsen, #4) - Garth Nix
    
48. The Shelfless Book: The Complete Digital Author - Bob Mayer
    
49. Inferno Park - J.L. Bryan
    
50. The Secret Country (The Secret Country, #1) - Pamela Dean
    
51. The Hidden Land (The Secret Country, #2) - Pamela Dean
    
52. The Whim of the Dragon (The Secret Country, #3) - Pamela Dean
    
53. British Goblins: Welsh Folklore, Fairy Mythology, Legends, and Traditions - Wirt Sikes
    
54. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle, #3) - Maggie Stiefvater
    
55. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
    
56. So To Honor Him: the Magi and the Drummer - Laura VanArendonk Baugh