A New Beginning? Maybe... Some odds and ends about this newsletter.

In which the author discusses possible futures

Non-writing Stuff:

So, here we are again, six months since I last sent out a newsletter. I know I never said it was going to be sent out often, but yeesh. I should probably be more regular, yeah?

To that end, I’m contemplating some ways to make this at least a monthly newsletter. I’ll probably always begin with whatever thing I want to talk about—the latest Publishing kerfuffle, or Why Students Drive Me Mad, or whatever—you know, the kind of stuff I’ve always started with.

Then I’d like to start including some sections like What I’m Reading, What I’m Watching, etc. that would basically be Geeky Musings about the pop culture I tend to be consuming. Another regular section might (probably will) be a regular update on my writing—a sort of “accountability report” to my fans/readers/whatever you are that made you subscribe to this.

I’m also contemplating a “What I’m Excited About” section, which might be partly to fight my depression by focusing on something I’m happy about, but might also just be random stuff that got my attention. It would look a bit like this:

I’m two weeks away from my family’s flight to the UK, where we’ll spend a week in London, then drive to Wales for a few days, up to Blackpool, and then on to Glasgow, where I’ll be attending the 2024 World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), meeting up with some of my SFWA colleagues, maybe signing some books, etc. Flame Tree, my publishers, are probably going to be there, and it will be cool to see my stuff out on a table with other books. I’m so used to just seeing one on the shelf at the bookstore, it’ll be nice to see a few out.

It does not appear at this time that I’ll be doing any programming; at least, I have not yet been informed by the Con that I have any panels, but there’s a tiny sliver of a chance I’ll find out in the next couple of weeks that I am on one or two. I’m honestly not too upset about it; if I’m not on programming I can go to more panels and also duck out to see some of Glasgow on my own. I’ve only been there once, and only for a few hours, so it’ll be nice to take the train into town be able to explore on my own a bit, as well as meeting my family when they’re available (they have some plans of their own while I’m at the Con).

Then after that, we’ll drive back down to London for a couple of days and then fly home.

What I’m not so excited about is what happens then. Originally I was supposed to have some time to readjust to PST before I went back to start the new school year, but some spiteful decisions by our former Superintendent after a strike last year, have made it necessary to tack on 8 extra school days this year—so I’m arriving in the USA on Friday night, and then starting school on Monday morning. If I’m not fully ready by then, it’s my problem. So I’ll likely be going in on a Saturday for the first time in 18 years of teaching to prepare my classroom. Ah well. I’ll manage—and at least now my wife won’t be jealous that I have extra time and she doesn’t; we’ll both go back to work at the same time.

Finally, I’m giving thought to whether or not I’ll move this newsletter to a new service. If I do—and no decision has been made yet—it won’t require any work on your part. You’ll just get migrated over to the new service.

Writing Stuff:

I’m working on a new series, but it’s been a slow process, partly due to real-life obligations and partly to the general state of the world impinging on my ability to focus on creative work. I do have a tiny fear that when I send this book out, I’ll get something like “Who are you, again?” from those who receive it, which come to think of it I probably said last time. Anyway, the book is currently being worked on. It’s another space opera, with a bit of a twist for flavor. In a future newsletter, I’ll include some of the first chapter as an appetizer, but for now, it’s another space adventure with an Achillean Protagonist, but there’s more POVs than my first trilogy (Right now I have five POV characters).