Health is everything

Last weekend I went into the hospital because my kidney (yes, I have only one) isn’t working well and I had to stay overnight. This weekend I slept wrong, and I have pain, I mean almost labor-like pain, in my neck, left shoulder and arm weakness.

I say all this not for pity, but to explain that if you’re not healthy, you can’t write.

It took me all day to do something that would normally take me 3 hours. I edited the three Fire stories, “War Mage,” and produced the new back-flap of “War Mage.” I couldn’t (and still can’t) type for long periods. My day job is agony.

I’m going to Physical Therapy for it, but it’ll take some time before it heals. In the meantime, I’m skipping the October fall festivals and going to concentrate on RI Comicon. Hopefully this pain will be gone or at least eased up by then.

So I have nothing else to report. I do suggest that if you’re going to write, that you try to stay as healthy as you can because without it, you can’t do anything else.

Aftermath, and forward

I sold a total of 18 books at WorldCon, my new record. I doubt I’ll beat that record at RI Comicon, but I’ll try.

Fire is being edited as we speak; “War Mage” is next on the docket. I sent Blood From a Stone for a read-over to see if it’s worth producing. What’s next is a story for a possible anthology next year. I’m writing character sketches about them right now, and the story is relatively formed in my head.

One thing I’ve found out in my writing and editing is that I have to work on my endings. They seem abrupt and quick, coming out of nowhere and just “ending”. I need to learn to pull them out a little more and make them not sou out of left-field.

I noticed how my writing has improved and changed over the years by looking at “Aries” versus, say, “Leo”. Aries is full of detail, superfluous in places, showing off my knowledge. Leo tells the damn story. As my editor says, “Your writing is clean and sparse.” It tells the story without going off on tangents or down rabbit holes. Aries didn’t do that. Aries is my “I know a lot about WW2, and I’m going to show you.”\ I wrote that story off my obsession with WW2, which is why it goes down rabbit holes and goes into detail.

Even seeing Homecoming versus Grimaulkin Redeemed, I can see the difference. Perhaps my writing is getting better. Perhaps I’ve found my voice, finally.

What next? Well, I could continue the zodiac theme by dividing them into Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable signs. I could have the planets as Gods on Earth. I was going to do the seven deadly sins, but that’s been done so much. Have the seven graces been done? That would be a switch. That would be Max’s story.

As for me…the short story, maybe some poetry. An anthology of stories from Grimaulkin.

We shall see.

WorldCon done…what I learned.

So! WorldCon 76 finished, and I sold 19 books! That’s my record for a weekend to try and beat.

However, these fairs and book selling things are bad for my health. I ended up in the hospital (again) with my levels all out of whack. I didn’t drink enough water, take enough iron and steroids, and actually lost weight. (Oh, yes, I fit in the airplane bathrooms.)

We got some good feedback about our setup, which was set back from the aisle to give people room to “step inside”. Most people, though, seemed to be looking for older, established authors, as opposed to new authors. We put together Grimaulkin into a bundle with a rainbow ribbon, and those attracted a lot of attention and sold books. Maybe if we had a sign saying the shorts were $3 a piece but free with purchase we could have sold more.

Nobody wanted tarot readings. Maybe I should skip that on ComiCon this year.

I met so many people, although many who wanted to come back never did. I went to one panel which was about the use of non-binary pronouns and what people want to be called. Needless to say, non-binary people want to be called “they/them” or “ze/zim” or even something else. They want the language to change, but that’s not going to happen in my lifetime.

I found out about collecting ribbons. I guess certain merchants or panels will give out an achievement ribbon. We might do that next time they’re in the US.

WorldCon will be in Dublin next year and New Zealand in 2020. Not going that far for it. Maybe the next one will be in Boston. Who knows.

My next appearance may be some time in Columbus Day weekend, but not sure how that’s going to go. Definitely going to be there for RI Comicon November 2-4 and the Expo on December 1.

 

At the Con!

I’m reporting to you live from the Worldcon76 in San Jose CA!

So far, we’re doing fairly well with the books and selling. But mostly I came out here to get my name out. Hopefully to sell more books, too! I’ve sold a few bundles of books, which are con-only available, and given away freebies like hotcakes. I’ve met so many interesting people here, went to a couple of panels, and everything’s been interesting and eye-opening. I might do more cons, but the price is not necessarily right to do so. The niche market that I write for (LBGTQ positive and fantasy) are not a big deal in our local area. I have to go where the LBGTQ community is. So maybe some of those cons.

I’ll be heading back home on Monday, and hopefully things will go well on the way home (I’m taking the red-eye).

I’ve sent Blood From a Stone to the editor and as soon as WorldC0n is finished he’s going to take a look at it, However, Maxwell Thomas might write the book under Zarra Knightley….we’re still under discussion on that. It’s not a romance. It’s more of a murder mystery with transvestites and a queer in the closet. But we’ll see on that one, too.

My new Dark Mystic Quill podcast is up, and is an interview with Wayne Barber of WNRI radio. My more recent interview should be available in a couple of months, where I spend the whole hour talking to Wayne about books and the author process.

Wish us luck on day four of five!.

Heading to WorldCon!

“War Mage,” the short story, is headed off to the editor, but we’re really concentrating on WorldCon at the moment.

I just finished editing Blood From a Stone, my NaNoWriMo from a couple of years back. It’s a murder mystery, with a gay protagonist, who wants to keep himself firmly in the closet. But by the end of the story, he at least thinks about coming out. This is a one-off, non-magical story–just a straight up murder mystery.  With a transvestite, too.

So next week I might not blog, or I might just blog a little bit to let you know how things are going in California. I’ve got a little bit of packing to do, and then I’ll be ready.

So come to San Jose to WorldCon and visit me. I’ll probably be at the table because I have crowd anxiety.

A Poem a month

Every month, there is a local poetry group that you can go an listen to poetry or prose at the Shastea Lounge in Pawtuxet Village. I’ve decided to try a poem a month (at least) to have something ready. I wanted to try different forms other than my usual free-style.  I found a website called poets.org that has different forms. The first form I did is Abecedean. You use the first letter of the alphabet to start each line of the poem. Here’s my attempt:

 

My Lust for Gold

Abecederian

 

All the

Boys had me

Charge them

Dollars and cents and

Experience

For sex–

Good sex cost a

High amount.

I never had

Jerks that good, even for

Kicks that were

Limited when I was young.

Men even older

Never insisted

On money but

Preferred

Quality over quantity.

Reaching for

Substance,

Truth and

Unabashed

Vanity

What did I

Xpect for

Your lust?

Zilch.

War Mage – outta my life!

So, the good news, is I decided to make War Mage a short story instead. It will be a 99 center, selling at the venues for a buck a book. I can’t think about it anymore. It’s taking up so much room in my head, so much time and effort, that I finally had to just write down the main plot and get it over with.

What’s next on my bucket list is finishing “Devour”, a multi-part story on the Maxwell Thomas website. I’m also picking at a Grimaulkin anthology, backstories of different characters and scenes that Mike wasn’t privy to, such as Aunt Jane’s death or how Ritter became a knight.  I’m stopping myself from doing Grimaulkin: TNG because I personally hate when an author goes that way with his characters.. Grimaulkin can’t last forever (unlike Harry Dresden that just went on and on and on…).

I’m waiting until after WorldCon to start on Air. I’ll be at WorldCon in two weeks! It seems so close now. I’ll be on WNRI.com on Tuesday at 9 a.m. with Wayne Barber on the Authors’ Hour. I’ll be talking about poetry, podcasting, and Grimaulkin Redeemed, how it feels to write the last book in a series.

I’ll probably do a quick hello from Worldcon.

On my mind

War Mage….

How tough it is to write. But I have to; there’s a fan base that’s looking for it. Or there may be after the Cons I’m going to.

I’ve written eight parts of the “Devour” story on Maxwell Thomas’ website, but I’m putting up one part a week. Right now there’s two parts, so things are going to get interesting.

Writing War Mage is like work. There’s so many things I want to put in there, and so many things I want to make sure I don’t put in there. Like too many vampires. I have to put in the Black Lions, and the dragons, and the werewolves, and, of course, the soldiers, what they’ve gone through. Someone I know suggested I go down to the VA and try to talk to vets there and get information. I don’t know how to go about that, but it’s an idea to try.

My poetry has stalled. I went to a poetry/prose reading and it turned into a revival. Now me, not being Christian, felt a little out of place. After what they did, I’m going to read “Trigger”, a poem about school shootings at the next poetry get-together. The other thing I want to do is try hymns to the muses, or the gods that I believe in and work with. I don’t know how that will go over, but that’s what I’m itching to do. Maybe the muses will give me something before the next reading.

Episode 21 is up and ready of the Dark Mystic Quill. It’s about Success and what it means. It’s available on Apple podcasts.

The book tour

Today I’m going to  an LBGTQ store located in my area to try and pitch my books to put them on their shelf.  Mister Sister is located on Wickenden Street in Providence. Even if they don’t put my books up, I still would advertise them.

We’re getting ready for WorldCon in San Jose. We have no idea what table we’re at (I am suspecting it’s a first-come, first-served kind of thing), but as soon as I find out, I’ll tweet it. My twitter is @warwriter or @MaxwellTAuthor .

I’ll be on the radio at WNRI.com (again!) on August 7 at 9 a.m., talking about Grimaulkin Redeemed. And this time I promise I’ll talk about the book, not about me.

I’m still writing War Mage. Hopefully this time it’s the charm and this will be the last draft for this book. I have to fish or cut bait on this one; ten drafts is enough.

How big are those bathrooms, anyway?

WorldCon 76 is just about a month away, and we plan to have a large presence there. There will be not only my books–Grimaulkin Redeemed is now available and it’s a really nice contrast to the dark colors of the first two, a great eye-catcher.  There will also be books by J Dark in her Glass Bottles series, Building Baby Brother by Steven Radecki, and Children of the Wrong Time by Flavia Ada.  And dragons. And card readings.

I had an event yesterday and sold one book, which I was happy about. These small fairs, though, are a real crapshoot. Most of the people who come to them are older folk looking for stuff for them or their grandchildren. I happened to get lucky and get a 15 year old who was so excited to read his first “New Adult” book that he kept saying, “I can’t wait to read this!” He probably started reading it in the car.

After the event, I decided to sit down and start War Mage again. I’m following my own advice and making up stuff based on research. The history is all wrong, there is no Firebase Jackson, there is no Colonel Parlance, but there is a 10th Mountain Division. I just put them there because from what I’ve read, those guys kick ass. I have the sinking feeling, though, I’m not going to get 50K words out of it. We’ll see what happens.

A new podcast is up at Dark Mystic Quill. It’s about magic and writing. Together.

Fire is on hold until after WorldCon while the publisher gets things ready for that. All I care about is fitting in the bathroom on the plane. If I don’t, you’ll see me on youtube and CNN as the idiot lady who got stuck in a JetBlue bathroom. I’ll be famous! And sell lots of books!