Where Do I Go From Here?

The good news is that, with my NaNo project of writing the sequel to The Kringle Conspiracy, I have found my love for writing again.The bad news is that I don’t know what to write next.

One possibility is writing the serialized novel called “Kel and Brother Coyote Save the Universe,” a light-hearted space opera. Another possibility would be to write Hands, which would be the polar opposite of Kel and Brother Coyote, a very psychological book about a boy who can heal — or kill — by touch. The one problem with this is that it would be set in the year 2005 in Krakow, and I don’t see any way that I could immerse myself in that era and place to the extent it would feel authentic.

There are still other possibilities. I could write the third story in the Kringle Chronicles, but I want to wait till NaNo next year to write that. I could write a sequel to Voyagers (or lengthen it to a full novel). I could write the sequel to Apocalypse, Gods’ Seeds. There’s so many choices.

But for now, I will edit the slightly problematic sequel to The Kringle Conspiracy, known as Kringle in the Dark. That will keep me busy.

Aside — my writing lately

A poem of mine, “Deep Touch”, will be published soon in Tempered Runes Press’ inaugural issue of

Bluing the Blade. I’m really proud of this accomplishment, which reminds me: I haven’t been submitting short stories and poems lately.

I’m not sure why; probably because I haven’t written any lately, and I’m running out of good poems to submit. I have a lot of poems I’m not that enthused with. As for stories, I have a couple I’m in love with, but they haven’t caught traction.

Time to think about writing short stuff again, even though one selection of serialized short stories is arguing that it should be a novel. Then again, given the space opera premise of the stories, serialized may be the best use of the material.

Muse, where are you? I need some inspiration!

I guess I’m busy.

I ordered eight paperback copies of The Kringle Conspiracy to sell after my book signing party requested copies. And do you know what? I lost the list! AAAAAAAGH someone threw out the piece of paper I’d written them on. I can’t believe it!

So now I’m asking my Facebook friends again who ordered copies. I think I’ve found most of them anyhow. Just missing two or three.

I feel like such a flake sometimes! Maybe most of the time, but with all the stuff going on (teaching, grading, writing, rewriting, emotional meltdown over Trump’s scary refusal to concede the election.) maybe I can’t be blamed for being a bit flaky.

What is left to do before January 1st:

Grade Case Management final case files
Grade exams in Case Management and People Money and Psych (in a couple weeks)
Meet with classes Monday via Zoom
Edit (first round) Kringle in the Night
Set up my pitches for PitMad December 3
Narrate 8 presentations for Personal Adjustment (i.e. Positive Psychology)
Finish setting up Personal Adjustment, Case Management, and People Money and Psych for spring classes
Get those books out
Rest (I don’t do that very well)

I guess I am busy. Busy is not necessarily a good thing if it stands in the way of accomplishment. Perhaps I need to learn to do things more efficiently. If I had time, I’d study that.

But today is Sunday, and I’ve finished grading a major assignment. Now to edit another chapter of Kringle. Ahh…

NaNo Winner — almost.

I’m almost done with NaNo. 48,300 words as of this morning. 1700 words to go.

I can’t believe I made it. I haven’t written a novel in a year or two, choosing instead to edit the ones I already have. I’m writing a romance novel, and despite the fact that I’ve got a romance novel published (A shameless plug for The Kringle Conspiracy), I still feel like I don’t get romance novels.

And then there’s the pandemic and the election, and our current president acting like the supreme leader of a banana republic (which I suspect is unfair to banana republics everywhere), I felt stressed enough to quit a couple times. But I didn’t.

But it’s nearly done, and then I will edit and edit and mercilessly edit. There are things I want to add, and probably a couple places I want to condence. I think promising myself ten pages a day should help the process.

Ahh. I never thought I was going to finish this one!

emerging

I don’t know how many of you are out there, nor do I know most of your names, but know I appreciate you. I think I’m crawling out of my prickly stress coccoon, which I picture as being something like a datura shell I curl inside of, hoping for peace.

The truth is probably not as dire as I paint it, and eventually Trump will leave office. The country will start to recover despite a deadlock in the government because thank Goodness there are things like executive orders and Trump set the precedent of using them right and left. The vaccine for Corona may be ready by mid 2021, and we will be able to hug again.

I’m writing. I’m still writing, breaking a NaNo streak of failing every even year since the 2016 election. That’s only two NaNos worth of failure, but I was pretty steady before then. I think I remember what I like about writing, and I think I’ll be able to continue it.

I also remember that I may have to put the big books, the fantasy books, out there again to traditional publishers. If I get my self-promotion game going, I may be able to put them out using that route.

I feel like I’m coming back to myself, someone who does better at doing than being. Thank you for listening.

This Blog is Again Evolving

I don’t know who reads this blog.

I have an average readership of 27 people a day. Some of you, I know, are regular readers. How do I know this? Because a faithful few from other countries (I hope you’re not bots!) show up on my blog stats — Portugal, Germany, India. Rarely, someone comments on my blog, and that’s always enjoyable.

This blog is evolving. Because I’m personal about my struggles with writing, I have been advised not to advertise this as my professional writing blog anymore. This means that there’s less of an instrumental purpose for this blog, and it has become strictly personal. I suppose it has always been that.

But now I wonder why anyone would want to read it. It is rather personal, if well-written, given my tendency to practice my writing skills while composing it. It makes me feel cozy to write it. But do people want to read it? Moreover, do people who don’t know me want to read it?

I’m going to have to make some hard decisions about this blog. Drop me a line if you have any thoughts about this.

Everyday vs Writerly Stuff

It’s snowing thirty miles north of us.

Yes, it’s only halfway through the month of October, and southern Iowa is getting snow. We’re just getting the greyest skies imaginable, with a bit of fog and a touch of wind. I’m ready for snow — heck, I’m ready for anything with my cup of ginger tea and my cranking weather radio because I’m a Midwesterner.

I want to write about more than the weather, however. Because this blog is often a warm-up for my other writing (such as the novel I’ll be writing for NaNo), I tend to write off the top of my head, which involves:

1) Weather

2) Setting

3) Where my head is at

4) What I’ve been up to

Maybe that’s okay. I’ve put up a writers’ blog where I’m talking about more writerly stuff at lleachie.wixsite.com/laurenleachsteffens . I don’t write as often there because I don’t write writerly things every day. I will be mobilizing that as my writers’ website very soon.

But I should tell you that The Kringle Conspiracy is available for pre-order on Amazon. Type in my full name, and you should be able to find it!

It’s Monday and I’m trying to stay positive.

It’s Monday, but I have a cup of marvelous, home-roasted and fresh ground coffee. I have at least seven reviewers for my book doing their reviews. I have character sheets (see yesterday’s post) for my two main characters in Kringle in the Dark.

I still don’t want to go to work today. No reason; it’s just Monday, and I’ve had too much time at home (not off; I worked Thursday and Friday and answered emails Saturday and Sunday). Class is going to be relatively simple this week, but still. It’s the idea of going back when I’ve been immersed in a couple relaxing days.

I don’t relax well, but this weekend I relaxed, probably because my brain just shut down and allowed me little more than some light reading. Maybe it will help me think.

I’ll do my work this week, masterminding some strategies for publicizing the novel this week. I want my ads to go outside the writers community (because otherwise it’s like multilevel marketing where we’re all selling to each other). I have problems to solve this week and blurbs to rewrite.

And I won’t complain about Monday.

Pitch Wars

Today I submit Apocalypse to Pitch Wars. Pitch Wars is a yearly contest whereas writers submit what is basically a query package — query letter, bio, synopsis, and first chapter — into selected potential mentors, who will in turn pick a writer they want to work with. They will help develop and polish query materials and give the writer the opportunity to meet with industry representatives to pitch their novel.

I’ve done this twice before. I guess the odds are less than 1% that one would get selected. I’m okay with that; I’ll keep trying. My novel has been improved. My query letter has been improved. I have grown as a writer. This may be the year.

Or it may not be.

But it will never be if I don’t try.

A small triumph and some thoughts on improving

I got two pieces accepted for publication yesterday! One was a flash fiction piece named “Literally” and the poem “Deep Touch”, which is one of my more favorite poems. (The poem above is neither; it’s just an illustration of what I write.)

I anticipate the journal didn’t get too many entries, because this is an inaugural issue of a journal and it’s not a high prestige literary journal. I’ll take it — I don’t write lofty enough for a high prestige literary journal. I also don’t use the modern convention of longer poems. My heroes are Emily Dickinson and ee cummings — they didn’t need more than about 24 lines.

To be honest, though, I wish I could write longer poems. I wish I understood what people are doing in longer poems so I could at least see how they work.

That’s something I wouldn’t have done when I was younger — try to improve. I now have this burning desire to improve everything I write, and I think I have improved to the level of my instruction, which is why I need more instruction.

I will always need more instruction.