Tag Archives: Yamada Monogatari

Milestones Redux

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YMDH-AT-BNI’ve talked a little bit about milestones before, those little markers that tell you that you’re making progress. Your first actual rejection (easy to get, but it shows that at least you finished something). Your first personal rejection. Your first actual sale. Your first…well, whatever. One of the beauties of the system is that you get to pick your own milestones. That’s the thing about milestones—by their very nature, they are personal.

The picture above represents one of mine, though at this point it might also qualify for a bucket list. So what is it? It is two copies of Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter on sale at our local B&N. Granted, I’ve been able to walk into a local bookseller and buy my own work for years, but only in the context of a magazine or anthology. This is the first time I can walking into a brick and mortar and buy a real live book that was entirely written by me. A reader living in New York or L.A. or Washington can walk into their B&N and find this. Books often succeed or fail for reasons other than the content, but that won’t matter. My name is on the cover, and whether it stands or falls, it’s on me. That’s a little scary and, imo, long f%$*#ing overdue. But it’s a milestone I wasn’t sure I was ever going to reach. Took me long enough, but I finally got there.

So where’s there, which is now here? The same place it always is—the place where the work is done on the way to the next milestone. Which, as I’ve said before, is not a destination. Do you ever pull onto the highway with thoughts of visiting the 334 mile marker, maybe camping out, take a few photos? I’m pretty sure you don’t. More like “I made it this far, only so many miles left to where I’m actually going.” Which is where?

Which is onward.

Passed 20,000 words last week on the new book. Which is not a milestone, but at the moment it is something much better–it is progress. I try not to confuse the two.

Roaches Check In…

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FoxAs do I. The Yamada novel progresses, not as quickly as I’d like, but then I’m never satisfied with my progress this early in the game. This to me is the “follow the novel where you think it’s going, stop for a bit when it throws you, try to judge the new direction, and whether it actually is a new direction or a different way of going where you thought all along, then proceed and find out.”  Rinse. Repeat. At some point the feints and red herrings are going to…well, not go away, but there comes a point where they no longer fool me. The time will come when I know the book, whether it wants me to or not, and it can’t shake me. Then come the burst days when the words just fall from the jetstream of me zooming past. I like those days. Takes a while to get there, though.

Regardless, I passed the 10,000 word mark last week, so I’m reasonably mollified, if not actually content. We’ll see how I do this week. Not that I’ll necessarily tell you or you’ll necessarily want to know. But it’s on. It is so on.

In the meantime, and if anyone’s interested, SFSignal.com has published an interview with me conducted by  .  She asked some good questions, mostly about the Yamada series and where all that came from, and if I ran on a little, well, the questions made me do it. You can read the whole thing here.

Processing…

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Yoshino-1I managed about 1000 words on Monday, then about 2000 yesterday. Today…well I guess I’ll find out when it’s time to take stock. Writers love word counts. Writers hate word counts. Or rather, love having them or hate not having them. Even if you’re not working on something, you feel like you should be, and why the heck aren’t you working, you lazy worthless slacker??? Where’s your word count??? Continue reading →

Scenes From a Marriage #7 – Plus News.

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 Scene: Sterling the Cat is sleeping curled up on the sofa table. Carol is pushing on his belly with her fingers, saying “Knead, knead, purr, purr” over and over.  Sterling the Cat takes no notice except to yawn and stretch, apparently enjoying what to him are scritches.

Me: What are you doing?
She: I’m giving Sterling a taste of his own medicine.
Me: Meaning?
She: He keeps kneading me like a loaf of dough and purring in my ear at 4AM!
Me: So you’re interrupting his sleep as payback.
She: Yep.
Me: That’s a cat.
She: Yes. So?
Me: You do realize that cats are immune to irony, don’t you?
She: Oh….right. Then I’ll pick him up and hug him!
Me: Good choice.
Sterling the Cat: (yawns)

 
Prime-Notecard-AdThere was a little more going on besides the metaphysical quirks of the house felines. For one thing, I’ve just confirmed that the Yamada novel, To Break the Demon Gate, has been delayed until later this year, probably November. Also, there was the spiffy Prime Books notecard that shipped with the February Locus, including Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter along with Future Games and Weird Detectives. Since I’m in 2 out of those 3 books, I rather liked it. Also, LightSpeed Magazine will be reprinting “The Man Who Carved Skulls” in a future issue. I’ll give a date as soon as I have one, but from the writer’s perspective, you gotta love reprints—the work’s already done and you get paid again anyway.

Speaking of work, I just finished the first story of the new year, working title is “The Nothing Boat.”  I’ll need to set it aside to cool enough before I look at it again, which is fine because I have another story to work on. And a novel to write. I’m going to be busy this year, I can tell.

 

Things That Make Writers Cranky, Things That Make Writers Happy

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eBook cover for Ghost Trouble--The Case Files of Eli MothersbaughThings That Make Writers Cranky

Working on a story for a week or more, juggling nuance, testing for subtext, reading for continuity, trying to understand your own theme so that you’ll understand what the story is really about even if no one else ever does, doing all the things you know to do to make a story work.

And knowing all the time you’re sweating over the thing that, at this point in time and with the condition of the short story market, there isn’t any darn place anywhere that you can send it.

It’s no mystery why many writers drink. The real mystery is why they all don’t.

Things That Make Writers Happy

Milestones. We like them, probably because there aren’t that many. Unlike growing self-confidence and Writer’s Arrogance (a separate topic), there just aren’t many indications that you’re making progress, or getting it right. There are a few: your first non-form rejection (harder to parse in email, but possible). Your first re-write request. Your first story sale. Your first anthology invite. Your first novel sale. Your first award (any award) nomination. Your first “Best of the Year” nod.

One problem with a “career” that lasts more than a few years is that, after a while, you start running out of milestones, and as I said before, there aren’t that many to start with. Makes it a little harder to figure out where you stand. So I was pleased no end to finally hit another milestone last weekend: I walked into the local Barnes & Noble and found Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter on the “New SF/F” shelf. Now, granted, this isn’t the first time I’ve been in a book in a bookstore. Happened a lot with an anthology. But my one previous novel sale was to a publisher who specializes in selling to libraries, so the book didn’t get general distribution. I’ve had three other collections, but most collections don’t get general distribution either. This was the first time a book that was “MINE! ALL MINE!” was in a bookstore that I could walk into and find it there. Just like any other real book.

So another first, and I was positively giddy. And, trust me, I haven’t been giddy in a long, long time.

FYI: I’m slowly working through my backlist in an attempt to make everything that is currently available, currently available in all formats. So GHOST TROUBLE: THE CASEFILES OF ELI MOTHERSBAUGH now has a print edition. For those of you who like your books to be, you know, tangible.