Hope you’re having a fantastic summer so far if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s been hot and dry here in Manitoba– so dry! I got vacation coming up next week and my sister wanted to do some back country camping via kayaks, and let’s just say it’s not safe to do so. The Interlake declared a state of Agricultural Emergency, my work partner is telling me how bad it is in the Winkler area, and for the first time, I can’t get fresh local strawberries. I’ll be okay, but usually I can stroll right in to one of the strawberry farms and get as many as I want.
So literally right now Ron and Larry are at the Shelmerdine Farmer’s Market selling books. I do not have my author copies/stock of Dreams of Mariposa, they are ordered but everything getting through the border is ~slow~. I am planning on publishing and ordering copies of Garnet and Silver: A Faerie Tale, as well The Mermaid and the Unicorns has been edited but I gave it to family for another go. There’ll be another Farmet’s Market at Shelermdine’s in August and a final one in September, so expect to see me with more stock then. I can’t promise if we’ll be able to do any other shows this year; I know other places have opened right up but my province has seldom been a leader.
As for holidays – I wasn’t given the full block off and it’s not looking good, but after tonight’s shift I have a week off and have to go back for 1 night shift, then enjoy the following block 4 off. Assuming I won’t pick up (I probably will) I have the following to do:
Book an Online Tour for Witchslayer’s Scion (Rogue Healer 1). I’ll post here when Marianne is looking for bloggers; it is too long for a review-only tour but that’s okay.
Update Author Picture for Goodreads.
Edit Underman (Rogue Healer 1.5, a novella) and find an editor. I have someone in mind, I meant to work on it at work this tour and haven’t had time.
Finish two short stories (rough drafts).
Finish Hard Edits on Titan’s Ascent (Rogue Healer 3). Yeah, you’re seeing a pattern here and I have no idea if the publisher will go ahead with Book 2 and/or 3, I feel like I’ve been taking my sweet time with this project but the traditional publishing process is slooooooow. Hard edits means I have streamlined most of the scenes, what remains is me going through it another few times until I feel that the voice is consistent. If I rushed I could have it ready before November/Nano, but I think the smart thing to do is to finish the hard edits for August, then leave it alone until December, then have it ready to go in the Spring. I have plenty of other projects to rework and write in the meantime. So when people ask, “How long does X take…?” I’m in no rush so I still stand by “About a year”. If Cassie says, “We love Magus’ Gambit, hurry up with Titan’s Ascent” that’ll change and I’ll have it to her by November. It’s streamlined from the monster epic it was going to be, so really I got a head start on another book.
Redo map for The Mermaid and the Unicorns, get it all formatted and uploaded. Publish probably in late August/Septemberish.
Oil paint, draw, clean the garage, etc. Thankfully I am going to leave most of my Con-Ed for the fall, but I am doing some informal study now.
On top of kayaking, mountain biking, floating down the river on the channel near Pinawa, etc. Our restrictions are easing up and I’d love to have people over for a BBQ, right now I’m thinking a smaller get together at the end of Summer. I was hoping that travel opened up enough that I could go West in September for a few days, but it’s not looking like it’ll be an option yet. Vancouver Island/Tolfino is on my bucket list, and I’m hoping for next Spring.
And yeah, blew my Goodreads reading challenge out of the water this year because of audiobooks. Youtube is so bogged down by advertisements I switched over to listening to audiobooks when I’m doing something with my hands (not writing, I can’t focus on words there and words in my head); it’s funny because for the last few years I struggled to finish anything over 20 hours in length, now it’s easy. I think because I looked at the many hours that are involved and are all like, “Yeah, not gonna finish this any time soon” but 45 minutes spent baking, followed by 30 minutes of cleaning, and then 30 minutes of driving, means almost two hours. So even these 40+ hour epics get nibbled away, although I have the bad habit of arriving at my destination just when there seems to be pay off in sight, so then I want to keep listening.
This feels like it’s long enough. I hope you and yours are safe and enjoying the weather, and to make the most of your time.
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