A. P. Howell

2022 is exhausting and somehow not yet over

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 16:04:48 GMT

COVID! Surely this is Long COVID or something related! Serious Stuff^TM going on in the household! Logistical nightmares! Pet loss! Fascism! Moving! I simultaneously want to take a walk (because fall is beautiful) and curl up and hibernate (because of everything else).

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Well, that write-a-thon thing did not work at all

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 04:42:45 GMT

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

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Anonymous donation

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:57:31 GMT

Well, someone donated money to Clarion via my Write-a-Thon bucket, so now I feel obligated to write. (That's how this is supposed to work, right?) Just...in a few days. *stares at numerous cardboard boxes awaiting assembly*

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So much for write-a-thon productivity

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 16:29:24 GMT

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

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Clarion Write-A-Thon

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 15:06:57 GMT

I've signed up for the Clarion Write-a-Thon beginning later this month. Any and all support appreciated, should you be so inclined.

I've not only never attended Clarion, I've never even considered applying. The barriers to attending are considerable. I'm not sure I'd do well in this type of workshop environment. But! Some people absolutely thrive at Clarion. If I can do a little bit to help lower the barriers for those folks, then I'll count it as a win.

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2021 Writing Retrospective

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 20:12:58 GMT

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.)

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Award Related (2021)

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 21:26:15 GMT

I have posted award-eligible work on my blog and Twitter
I am in my second (and final) year of eligibility for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer
I have an ongoing Twitter thread of short fiction I've enjoyed
SFWAns can check out what I and others added to the Nebula reading list
Everybody should check out the link round ups curated by Cat Rambo and A.C. Wise

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2020 retrospective

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:31:43 GMT

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.

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Award related

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 14:53:09 GMT

Interrupting the intermittent WIP vagueposting to bring your attention to seasonally-appropriate links:

My awards eligibility post is on my website and a Twitter thread.
I am in my first year of eligibility for the Astounding Award.
I have an ongoing Twitter thread of stories I've enjoyed; most are from 2020.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

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Outlines

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 15:28:02 GMT

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.

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To Do

Sun, 08 Nov 2020 22:56:56 GMT

I am slogging through building an outline. I have been slogging through building an outline for approximately three decades. Since this is 2020, I figure that's pretty good. (Or would be, if I was wrapping up rather than very firmly in the middle of the slog.) There has also been personal stuff (of the good-but-scary variety) and incredibly stressful stuff (the election) on top of the background noise of 2020 (and yes, somehow the global pandemic that is currently raging unchecked in my country, heading toward a quarter million deaths, counts as "background noise"). I am very eager to get to 2021.

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Research annoyances

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 13:52:16 GMT

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.

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Current frustration

Sat, 30 May 2020 15:33:50 GMT

It is thematically unfortunate that Gerald Gardner and the Rational Dress Society did not overlap in a more felicitous manner.

My frustration with this fact is, perhaps, exaggerated as part of a coping mechanism for *gestures vaguely at COVID-19, white supremacists, state violence, etc.*

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"Kill Switch"

Sat, 25 Jan 2020 23:19:21 GMT

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.

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Pro sale

Sun, 19 Jan 2020 23:09:25 GMT

I intended to do a little write-up of 2019 stats, but that feels rather a lot like work so I haven't gotten round to it yet.

I can crow about having made a sale to Daily Science Fiction. (I have, in fact, already crowed about it elsewhere, but now I shall crow here.) This is my first sale to a pro market and it was a very nice start to the month.

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The past couple months

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 15:18:06 GMT

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.

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And another happy dance

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 23:35:36 GMT

So that's two stories that will be out next year.

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Happy dance

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 00:31:06 GMT

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.

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Super productive

Sat, 05 Oct 2019 14:42:02 GMT

I've decided on the name, mascot, and founding date of a fictional university that is largely irrelevant to the story. Go me.

On the plus side, this morning it was cool enough that I wore a shawl on the porch. (Now I'm just in a tee-shirt, slightly chilly but in a nice autumnal way.)

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Inktober

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 00:22:32 GMT

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.

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Feeling old

Sat, 14 Sep 2019 16:56:13 GMT

It's been at least a decade since I sent anything out, and around that time I stopped keeping track of markets. (I also wasn't reading much short fiction for a few years.) I'm finding a lot of new-to-me zines--terrific, whether I'm wearing my writer hat or my reader hat. But some of those new-to-me zines have been around for the better part of a decade, sometimes more, and it makes me feel very old that a thing that's been around that long started when I was well into adulthood.

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Sending things out

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 15:52:01 GMT

I have been sending stories out, and making lists of other places to send stories when rejections come in or when new stories are written. This type of activity is a bit of a distraction, a means to fritter away time when I am otherwise unproductive, but ultimately somewhat useful. Less useful is a resurgence in my "hmm, I could maybe do some indie pubbing," because that is not the kind of distraction I need.

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Murdering darlings

Sat, 13 Jul 2019 14:51:36 GMT

It is a bloodbath, and I feel very good about it.

In absolute terms it is a very small amount of blood, as this is a short story. But proportionally speaking, it is a bloodbath.

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Push a button, get a pellet

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 14:53:16 GMT

Regrettably, I am doing that thing where you check your email and whatnot very frequently, even though you are not expecting to find anything new. On the one hand, this frustrates me because I am an adult who knows how slush piles work. On the other, I think it is just the rat-in-a-psych-experiment effect--it's not like I don't click over to Twitter or whatever, too. This makes me feel better about not being an immature writer but a little worse about my brain wiring in general, since this isn't limited to the period between submission and response.

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So apparently I am capable of writing very short things

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 15:15:15 GMT

I've done a few micro pieces (one is here, others are subbed or queued to go out). Way back when, I did flash, but never this short. Twitter has rewired our brains, apparently. In any case, I'm pleased that while my output has crated at least a subset of the words I've written on some days are discrete Things that I can declare Done.

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