A. P. Howell

I did end up getting down some words shortly after it ended. Maybe I'll get some more down? It's been a summer.

I think I am writing off the rest of this month. And probably July. August isn't looking that promising either.

I have fewer firsts this year, but I am still pleased on the writing front. (Let's just not talk about the rest of 2021, which certainly had some personal good points but was also, general speaking, a trashfire.)

Crows:

• Honorable Mention in Ellen Datlow's The Best Horror of the Year Volume 13
• Continued to march toward the Full SFWA membership (10K words at pro rates)
• Stories on the Nebula Reading List
• Some really good experiences being edited
• Stories podcasted
• Did a work-for-hire thing

That first bullet point is very seriously cool. "5:37" in Translunar Travelers Lounge netted that particular honor. The second bullet point is arbitrary, but pro rates are sometimes a proxy for quality/competition, etc., etc. The third is cool (as it was last year) because it means people who Do This think that I Did This well. (The Reading List, for non-SFWAns, is not a longlist or anything formal, more of a shout-out.) I'm lucky that I haven't had bad editing experiences, but there were a couple this year that really emphasized how a good editor makes a story stronger. I'm pleased about the podcasts, because even though audio isn't my consumption-method-of-choice, it's a nice option that expands accessibility and artistic options. The work-for-hire was a pitched short story for a shared world project and fun to write.

Short story status:

• Rejections: 128
• On Sub: 8
• Acceptances: 9
• Publications: 7
• Reprints: 5 (2 in a new format, 3 as magazine compilations)

How did I do on goals? Well, I have produced neither a novel or novella. I did get some words on a piece that will turn into one of those things: NaNoWriMo gave me a push to almost figure out one of the POV characters (I'm planning three POVs) and I'd done a bit of work before then. So, you know, progress. I did write some new short pieces. I didn't do edits on the novel that needs it. One project remains in limbo; we'll see if it moves forward, but in pandemic times I'm not clamoring for quick turn-arounds and (fortunately) neither is the person on the other end.

Next year's writing goals:

• Let's put the novel back on here!
• How about some shorter stuff around the novel that needs major surgery!
• Maybe re-up the query stage thing?
• Short stuff as the spirit moves me.
• A bit of volunteer work, perhaps? (Not strictly "writing," but "stuff on Firefox, not Chrome," which is how I divide APH/Real Life.)

Obviously, 2020 was a dumpster fire of monstrous fucking proportions. None of it was out of the blue (with the possible exception of the Galactic Federation who apparently want nothing to do with us so don't change the equation anyway), just the logical---if sometimes cartoonish---extension of existing institutions, systems, beliefs, and actors. That is why, though I am trying to see January 1 (and, in the US, the 20th) as an encouraging fresh start, I have a difficult time fully embracing an optimistic outlook.

Instead, I'm looking at my year writing-wise, and I'm reasonably pleased.

• Made my first pro sale
• Made two more pro sales, proving it wasn't just a fluke
• Saw my first story* published
• Joined Codex
• Joined SFWA
• Wrote words, many of which were part of discrete, finished stories
• Had a story solicited (but, sadly, not published)
• Sent a query out for a thing that could be a lot of fun
• Received fan mail
• Had stories reviewed
• Thrilled by a number of TOC buddies

Short story status:

• Rejections: 88
• Currently out: 14
• Acceptances: 6
• Accepted but mag folded before publication: 2
• Published: 7

(Dammit, I just noticed the 88 and 14. Nazis are, apparently, even invading my submission spreadsheet. Well, add a novel rejection and the query thing, and then you get 89 and 15.)

Next year's writing goals:

• A novel
• A novella
• Finish the story I'm working on right now
• Maybe finish a couple that I set aside
• Maybe tear out the last third of the novel and fix it
• Write a few new short stories
• Do the project that's at the query stage if it moves beyond that; cry if it doesn't

The bullet points are super vague, but I have some solidish ideas about them. (Admittedly, I'm hazy on what might end up as a novel versus a novella---I don't have the trick of reliably gauging length---but I at least have a general idea about one long project to start.) So we'll see where that goes. Here's hoping the writing in 2021 goes well, and that the year is less of a dumpster fire than this one.


* First story under this name.

Yesterday, I finished slogging through an outline! Hoo--and I cannot emphasize this enough--ray!

While I kind of desperately wish I was inspired to write something short and sharp, nothing is rattling around the braincase with the requisite degree of urgency. So I'm now...looking at two potential projects that are longer and, uh, will benefit from outlines.

There is apparently a series named Body Farm, which complicated my attempt at some quick-and-dirty research. (I remembered an interview with someone from probably fifteen years ago, probably on a true crime show, a woman faculty member in the woods talking about an individual decomposing in a barrel. My google-fu and patience are not up to the task of finding it.) What I initially wanted were general descriptions of the lay of the land at such a facility, but so much of the coverage is sensational or dutifully-attempting-to-not-be-sensational and those details are almost completely incidental. I don't need to see decaying cadavers. I don't particularly want to see decaying cadavers. (It's not a question of squeamishness--though decaying cadavers are certainly gross--but respect. Those people donated their bodies for scientific research, and I am not conducting scientific research.) But I can get many of the details I'm interested in from published papers, descriptions of experimental methodology and whatnot, without any ethical qualms.

Daily Science Fiction published "Kill Switch" on Monday: sooner than I was expecting, but it sure was a nice way to start the week. I pinged some people I know IRL and received some nice comments from people I don't know, too, which is also a nice way to start the week.

I applied to Codex after I sent back the contract, so now I am a Codexian and have poked around the site a little bit.

I also twiddled follows on my new and old Twitter accounts and tweaked my website, which is still not terribly interesting but gets the not-terribly-necessary job done. I also set up my email account to use my domain name. I am of course paralyzed with indecision about what to actually use as a primary (legal name? Redundant pseudonym? Initials? Pseudonym's first name?) and have at the moment settled on "web" as one of the ones I'll use.

October was a good month. Stories were accepted for publication next year in Eighteen (XVIII) and Corvid Queen. I also had stories make it to the second round in the slush piles of some well-regarded places, so even if none of those pan out it still makes me feel like I'm not totally wasting my time (or the editors'). I meant to be more consistent about Inktober, but I'm glad I played around with the art pens at least a bit.

November was a month of rejections, which was neither surprising nor demoralizing (see "second round" above). I signed up to do NaNoWriMo--as a rebel, with a list of short stories I wanted to finish or at least make progress on. I have...not finished any of them, and worked on only two. (I edged past 10% of the 50K NaNo goal, which was not my personal goal, but still. Not terribly impressive output.) So much for the helpfulness of self-imposed deadlines. It was also a heavy day job month and I'm pondering ways to integrate writing time into my new schedule.

I am doing a little happy dance, with a contract signed and sitting in the mailbox. More later, but it's been a long time and this feels good.

I've been meaning to start sketching and drawing again. I picked up some art supplies at Michael's back in the beginning of the summer but hadn't done anything with them. (The last time I intended to do some art, two years ago I think, I did a few sketches with halfway decent pencils and have no idea where they've gotten to since.) Inktober is a good excuse to start.

The Day 1 prompt was "Ring" so I (and, I'm sure, many others) went cinematic. I tweeted out a snapshot; maybe I'll put together a gallery of better-quality images later on. I did a still from the movie and used a Strathmore mixed media pad, 2H Faber Castell for sketching/blocking, and Pitt artist pens. I mostly wanted to experiment with the different tips. The foreground is S, the grass and some of the underbrush is F, underbrush is M and the trees, plus Samara's hair, are B. The stone texture is an old standby doodle for me. I'm not sure I should've used the brush for the trees, but they got covered anyway. As always, I am wary of overdoing the cross-hatching, à la The Drawing of the Dark. I'm not fond of the grass; I still need to work on the whole foreground-dark, background-light thing. I should've left a little more space around Samara's head---it gets a bit lost in the cross-hatching giving the well depth---but I do like the brush pen for that application.