Sunday 30th December, 2012

Almost at the end of the year, so “Happy New Year!” for tomorrow night / Tuesday morning. Today I have a bunch of things to talk about, which means… headings!

What I Learnt About Writing in 2012

Foxie has put up his “What I Learnt About Writing Post” for 2012 [External Link], so here’s my stats for this year and last year for comparison:

  • Submissions = 26 (37, 2011)
  • Total pieces in circulation = 13 (10, 2011)
  • New pieces in circulation = 4 (5, 2011)
  • Rewrites = 6 (6, 2011)
  • Acceptances = 2 (1, 2011)
  • Published = 1 (2, 2011)

(These numbers are a combination of Duotrope figures and some notes for submissions to non-listed destinations but do not include stories written for the website or published here. Attempts to rehome stories published here elsewhere have been included.)

So, I’ve been marginally less productive and less aggressive about getting work out there (bearing in mind writing is essentially just a hobby) but I haven’t done as badly as I’ve been feeling. Seriously. As with everything else in life (see next section), I’d started to hear that little voice in my head that says I can do more, I should do more and I’m a failure because I haven’t. Lies, damned lies and statistics suggest I’m not actually doing that badly – compared to previous years.

Unlike last year, however, I can’t claim to have spent a lot of time working on other pieces that aren’t included in the count. While I’ve increased my blogging, in the sense of opinion and world-building pieces, on the site, my long-length work has taken a bit of a beating. I’ve basically dropped The Gens and may never come back to it. On the other hand, 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf is starting its round of submissions to new homes, and is currently in its second small press slush pile.

What I Learnt About The Rest of Life

This year was the year I (re)discovered stress. In November, I actually had a week off for it. The doctor wanted me to take longer but I decided that if I didn’t keep going – if I didn’t keep getting back on the horse, to go with the traditional saying – work would become this Big Thing That I Couldn’t Do. The idea of it would scare me more than the actual doing. That isn’t something I could let myself do so I got back on the horse.

One of the main problems is that – with work, fencing, writing and life in general – there are very few rewards for keeping going. There are signs when you’re going wrong but there’s nothing in the way of a prize for doing… not well, but not so bad you’re doing it wrong. Make sense? Anyway, I can’t say I have a harder life than anyone else. I know plenty of people in worse straits that me, for a start. I just don’t handle it well. (And the little voice once again says “you can do better”.)

I’m having to relearn to take a deep breath, say “no” – whether to the little voice or outside demands – and get on with what I can do.

Flattr

My Flattr [External Link] will continue – and not because I received lots. I’ve found the system usable and I quite like the no fuss way of handing over a tip. My only complaint is that there are people I’d like to tip who obviously aren’t aware of it or have no interest in trying it.

But, as I said, I will continue because it’s a much better way of budgeting for these things (I am currently set up to give about five euros a months away) than making individual donations to people who remember to put a paypal button on their site. While they might see less from individuals, I think they’ll get more over all – after all, I’m donating while I never used to because I can now leave a small mark of my respect and try to work out what’s an acceptable amount that fits in my budget.

Next Year

To finish off December, I have one of the most awesome non-Christmassy Christmas songs ever. It sounds like the offspring (note the lack of capital letter) of Wings and ELO, and contains just the right sort of message for starting a new year:

Monday 24th December, 2012

Merry Christmas!

Apologies for the delay in posting but I went to Glasgow for the weekend and really couldn’t bring myself to write a bog post when I got back on Sunday evening. I maybe should have lined up something beforehand but thought a Christmas Eve post would be the most seasonal thing to do. In keeping with this, the penultimate day of the TTA Press Advent calendar is up (links can be found from here: [External Link] and the forum thread for discussion is here: [External Link]), and I’m cooking the things I’m supposed to take round for the family dinner tomorrow.

To prove that Christmas is essentially here, I have a brass band:

Extra brownie points / mince pies all round if you remember all the words!

A number of historical fencing events have gone up on my list of events. In date order:

There isn’t much else to talk about and I’ll update you on my Flattr-ing [External Link] experience next week.

Sunday 16th December, 2012

Another round of Advent presents!

The TTA Press Advent calendar continues (links can be found from here: [External Link]) and there is a forum thread for discussion (here: [External Link]).

(If you want me to mention another Advent calendar or you feel my ignorance of them needs fixing, get in touch!)

Here are episodes 5 and 6 of the children’s TV series, Moondial. Episode 6 is the conclusion, so something different next week.

Remember my edition of The Next Big Thing? My nominees versions went up this week, so here are the direct links to Amber FOX’s edition [Link Defunct] and Vincent HOLLAND-KEEN’s [External Link].

My Flattr [External Link] experiment continues. It’s still surprisingly hard to tip people whp don’t have it on their sites. If they don’t, it’s possible to tweet it at them – but there’s nothing to say they have to pick up said tweet. This is assuming they have a twitter account or that the contact details for it are available on the site. Ah, well, more money in for the other ten or so people who have accepted a share of my December budget. And some people obviously aren’t interested in picking up what could end up being tiny donations even if there’s a possibility of it all adding up. Both Google and Wikipedia have joined in at some point priorto my joining, interestingly enough, so there are obviously people who think this is going to work out.

(A note, in case you haven’t read the Flattr site through: the tip is divided among all the people I click on and accept my click at the end of the calendar month. The clicker also sets a monthly budget of how much money they have available to divide among the clickees.)

Sunday 9th December, 2012

More Advent presents!

The TTA Press Advent calendar continues (links can be found from here: [External Link]) and there is a forum thread for discussion (here: [External Link]).

But, today, you don’t need to go that far as my story was up (with slight delay for a technical difficulty that was basically your standard “problem exists between chair and keyboard”). It’s called How Otter Made The World and is a sort of Just So / children’s story. Or an Otter Creationist Story. Or something.

(If you want me to mention another Advent calendar or you feel my ignorance of them needs fixing, get in touch!)

Continuing the Moondial series of episodes / videos, here are episodes 3 and 4:

As mentioned last Sunday, Bob Lock nominated me as part of the “The Next Big Thing” blog roll (direct link to Bob’s version here: [External Link]). The JourneyMouse Edition went up on Wednesday. I’m expecting Amber FOX and Vincent HOLLAND-KEEN [External Link] to join in the fun this week. There are also a selection of links to other friends and acquaintances who have already taken part.

And my last Advent / December project (that I know about…): Flattr [External Link]. I have signed up and given myself a five euro budget for the month to go out and tell people I think they’re great (and that I want to hand over some pennies. It’s surprisingly hard because a lot of people I would like to tip – online comics, I’m looking at you – haven’t so far signed up. I can drop gentle hints by sending it to a twitter account, though. Some people have joined in and seem to like the idea, some people not. I’m quite liking the whole damned thing and hope it works out.

Sunday 2nd December, 2012

Well, welcome to Advent. First, let’s start with you Advent presents.

Advent Calendars

There are numerous online calendars out there but the one I’m attached to (as ever) is the TTA Press one. You can find the latest links from the website ([External Link]) and there is a forum thread for discussion ([External Link]).

Of course, you’ve guessed the reason why I’m attached to it: I have a story up on the 9th.

Also, if you want me to mention another Advent calendar or you feel my ignorance of them needs fixing, put something in the comments or get in touch!

UnSeasonal Videos

Those of you who’ve been before at this time of year know that I like to post videos during Advent. So, here’s two. Yes, two. I recently “re-found” the Moondial series on YouTube and thought I’d share. I’m going to be a bit odd in that I’m going to post two episodes (there’s a total of six) each weekend. This means that the Sunday before Christmas will have to be something else. I have no idea what, yet, but I will post something.

Moondial, Episdoe 1:

Moondial, Episode 2:

Right, now the presents are out the way, here’s the “business” stuff.

Last week, I was nominated by Bob Lock to take part in the “The Next Big Thing” blog roll (direct link to Bob’s version here: [External Link]). This goes up on Wednesday 5th December and I nominate a couple of people to carry on from me (I’m not publicly naming and shaming until Wednesday). There are also a selection of links to other friends and acquaintances who have already taken part.

The second thing I want to mention is Flattr [External Link]. It’s a new(ish) way to leave tips for websites that looks promising. Basically, you put some money on a Flattr account. You wander the internet and tip things. At the end of the month, the money you put on account gets split between all your tip notices. It doesn’t seem like a lot (a tip could end up being as little as a Euro cent) but if lots of people do it, it could add up to signifcant recognition and recompense for the people who put a lot of time and effort into their web content.

Anyway, I’ve signed up and intend to trial it for December. My main aim is to be able to give recognition to others without having to give a chunk of money (Paypal, etc, make it difficult to, say, give just 50p for a good story). This also means, as I’m self-serving this way, I’ve set up the buttons on my website, too. I only intend to have them active on the fiction I make available but, until I get on top of the plug-in, they can turn up on any post I haven’t disabled them on. Please have patience with this and please consider putting them on any content you offer in case someone feels like leaving a tip!

Finally, the Outlaw Bodies information:

  • The blog carnival [External Link] can be found here. Nothing has gone up lately. Please let us know if you have a review up that isn’t mentioned or you’ve seen one.
  • Some of the stories have been released as the latest The Future Fire issue (#25 is here: [External Link]). My story is one of the ones available as a webpage.
  • If you look up the EPUB or mobi format copies of the anthology on Wizard Tower Books [External Link], my story (being the first in the book) is the taster.
  • And if you want to talk about that story, there’s room in the comments on the background post.