From the Depths of This Chair (Copy)
A little bit of book news, a little bit of other news, and a quick share of what I’ve read and loved recently.
So my first novel-length original work (Book 1, we’ll say, since it’s first in a loosely connected trilogy) is finally in a condition where I’m happy sending it off to a professional editor. This is huge for me! I feel like quitting my day job last December has finally produced some fruitful work. In the meantime, I’m focusing on Book 2, where I’ve gotten 37K words down. I’m hoping to get to 50K by the end of July, and finish the base draft by the end of August.
The novella-length fanfic sequel to my novel-length fanfic is…on pause until I finish the base draft of Book 2. People are harassing me about when it will be available (my loved ones, to be clear, strangers aren’t harassing me), but it’s a Christmas story so finishing that one closer to the holidays would be more appropriate, DON’T YOU THINK SO, MOTHER?
Speaking of my fanfic, it will reach 2,000 hits this weekend, which is unfathomable to me. Also, I did a little digging into my statistics on that website and found out that 9 people subscribe to me??? Little ol’ me??? So perhaps getting the sequel finished and posted is more of a priority than I thought. You win, mom.
I haven’t been reading as much this month, but I did find some gems since June. The guy who runs my local comic book store is an absolute sweetheart, and he tracked down all three volumes of Crowded for me. Gig work professional and disaster bisexual Charlie finds herself the target of a crowdfunded hit that’s been backed by over 2,000 people for over $1mil and growing, and the only bodyguard willing to work for her is the worst-rated defender and grumpiest lesbian on the planet, Vita. Love, love, love it. I can’t recommend it enough. I also read all of Jordan L. Hawk’s SPECTR: Series 1, a collection of the first six books in the series. John is an exorcist for the federal government, and Caleb is an artist who’s accidentally possessed by a drakul named Gray. They’re my favorite throuple. I described it to my husband as “if Venom were a demon and Constantine showed up to exorcize Eddie Brock but instead, they fell in love, and now the three of them go on adventures together where they solve paranormal crimes and love each other.” There are two more sets of books in the series, and I will read every last one of them.
In personal news, my mortgage reached a milestone, and while it’s still a long way from being paid off, this milestone makes me happy. I also took an autism test online for the dozenth time and was told, for the dozenth time, that I should definitely make an appointment to get screened for it, to which I say, “Why?” Besides the hours I spent researching, calling, and otherwise looking into specialists in a 100-mile radius who do autism screenings, are taking new patients, and accept my insurance (surprise: there are zero), what would I really get out of an official diagnosis? Would I become a card-carrying member of the club? The way my brain works isn’t something that needs to be fixed, and I’ve spent my entire life figuring out how to navigate it. Maybe getting diagnosed and given tools and a guide when I was a child or teen would have helped, but at this point, I find more helpful advice online for free. But it was pretty wild seeing my high score on the test and thinking, “how on earth did anyone ever think I was normal?”
Do you think a half-sheet cake will fit “Congrats on the progress of Book 1, the 37K words of Book 2, the 2,000 hits on your fanfic, your 9 subscribers, that exciting number of your mortgage, and your autism,” or do you think I need a full-sheet cake for that?