Yuck! There seems to be a direct correlation between the amount of "real" work I have to complete and the temperature. In Chicago we've already had a week of 100 degree plus weather with more on the way today. But I won't use that as an excuse for not writing as often as I'd like/want/need to.
I've been doing a lot of crits and edits for folks with varying degrees of success. I've even taken a gamble or two to buy a 99 cent special on Kindle by an unknown author. One of them was pretty danged good. The other? I had to stop 8 pages, 34 typos, 12 grammatical errors and ZERO plot hooks into it. Still, that's batting .500 which ain't bad!
And I just received an email yesterday from a UK publisher indicating interest in a short story of mine for an upcoming anthology. That would be my second sale in the past 4 months. When it becomes "official" I'll toot my own horn here.
I'm also corresponding with my future "peeps at VP" over Twitter and RSS. The more I read about what they're doing, the more excited I get about October. Just going to be fantastic. I'm most excited by the opportunity to work with some truly seasoned vets. After reviewing the staff and recommended reading for Viable Paradise I put together a pretty ambitious reading list to complete by October.
| FINISHED | |
| AUTHOR | TITLE |
| Vance, Jack | The Dying Earth |
| Demon Princes (Vol. 1) | |
| Demon Princes (Vol. 2) | |
| DeCamp, L Sprague | The Incomplete Enchanter |
| Howard, Robert E* | Anything Conan |
| Lieber, Fritz* | Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser |
| Carroll, Lewis | Through the Looking Glass |
| White, TH | Once and Future King |
| Stewart, Mary | The Crystal Caves |
| Zelazny, Roger* | Chronicles of Amber |
| Anderson, Poul | The Broken Sword |
| Harvest of Stars | |
| Tolkien, JRR | LOTR Chronicles |
| Gould, Steven | 7th Sigma |
| Jumper | |
| Brust, Steven | Jhereg |
| Yendi | |
| Teckla | |
| Taltos | |
| Phoenix | |
| Athyra | |
| Orca | |
| Dragon | |
| Iorich | |
| Tiassa | |
| Five Hundred Years After | |
| Bear, Elizabeth | Blood & Steel |
| Whiskey & Water | |
| Ink & Steel | |
| Hell & Earth | |
| All the Windwracked Stars | |
| Range of Ghosts | |
| Smith, Sherwood | Coronets & Steel |
| Blood Spirits | |
| Hayden, Patrick Nielsen | New Skies |
| New Magics | |
| Starlight 3 | |
| * some of my all time favorites since grade school | |
So far, I'm off to a good start. I suspect the temptation will be reading when I should be writing, which is my most common challenge. My next post will list those works I need to finish reading or track down.
Stay cool!
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