Had an interesting weekend. I was writer-in-residence at a writers’ retreat. I had 5, 1-hour consults with writers (I read their work ahead of time) and the second day I had 6 more half-hour follow ups. But there was lots of time for me to work on my own material–and I got paid!
Book Review: Conan the Barbarian by Robert E Howard
Classic 3
A series of adventures featuring Conan as he hunts treasure and beautiful women while fighting monsters and the occult. This collection of original stories by Robert E Howard reminded me so much of my gateway into SFF: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Yes, it’s racist and misogynistic, but it is also full of fun puzzles and over-the-top heroes, villains, and battles.
Another project completed
Did a manuscript review last week. Another item off my list. Doing a final read-through of my novel, then I start looking for agents.
Book Review; A Song of Earth and Fire by George RR Martin
Fantasy 5/5
Ethical Ned Stark must move his family to the centre of the kingdom at his king’s request—a place where an honest man will be undermined at every turn by the corrupt and unprincipled. A beautifully written, page turning epic fantasy is exactly my cup of tea, and this one did not disappoint.
Lots of balls in the air!
I had surgery on my foot on Thursday, so I was doing a ton of stuff around the house to be sure I didn’t have it hanging over me for the next few weeks–got the garden in, stuff like that. But now I’ve got six weeks of having to sit around and I actually feel pretty good–no fuzz brain–so I’m hoping to get lots done.
This week I submitted final reports for both of the grants I got last year, so those deadlines are met, and I only have a couple of chapters to go to finish the edits on my novel. Then a read-through and get back on the searching-for-an-agent work (yuck).
The non-fiction book is at the publisher’s (this is a hybrid deal–the publisher is paying upfront costs for cover, proofing, digital uploading, and some of the publicity, and my co-author and I are doing a split of the income) and we hope to see it out in late June, early July. Also, updated my website to display the book cover and link to the other author–yay!
The biography is at beta readers until late June, then I do edits and submit. Got a manuscript review to do this month, and I just received the submissions for a weekend artist-in-residence gig, and then I return to edits for book 4 of my series–likely won’t get to that until July. Lots of balls in the air!