I’m seeing many posts on social media saying “Four years ago around this time, things changed forever”.
And yeah, I get it. Four years ago, I was at my dayjob when I got an email that schools were being shut down. And that led that very day with our whole office being shutdown except for “essential staff”. Since I was a receptionist and we didn’t have the technology to answer phones at home at the time, that made me one of the latter.
So I got to watch fellow co-workers hustle to grab their laptops and office chairs, wondering what the heck was going on, wondering how we got to that place, wondering if they would ever see the building again, wondering if we’d all get together as a community again.
What I did not expect was to look back on 2020 with complicated nostalgia. Because right now I feel more affected by the events of a year ago, which shook up the new normal that 2020 established.
Anyway…I wrote about how that turned out in my last newsletter, so. Turning to the now.
I have decided to spend this year writing a novel. Specifically, the novel I started writing in 2022.
In November 2022, I started work on what I called my “AfroFae” novel. It’s basically a fae story set in an alternate early 1900s and follows a middle-aged pair of siblings as they search for their estranged youngest sister in the fae world. I was able to get the first quarter of the book written until…well, March 2023. Which was fine because I had stalled on the book at that point.
Now? I have time. So I’m going to make the best of it.
It’s also a little scary given the state of publishing right now. Every day there’s news of another publisher closing down or scammers using AI to capitalize off books already published. And let’s not even get into the whole Hugo Awards fiasco (really, read the excellent report from Jason Sanford and Chris Barkley. It’s…oof.) I am fully aware that this is probably the worst time to be a writer.
And yet…
Last month, I finished a novella. It wasn’t requested by any magazine. For the first time in a long, long time, I had to compile a list of markets and then submit it, hoping it would get picked up.
This week, I got a message from someone saying they loved my short story “Smile”, which was published a few years ago in the Apex: World of Dinosaurs anthology. It made me smile myself, and not just because of the compliment. It showed me that people still read, and they love to read. I’m a reader myself, and whereas last year I was barely reading anything, now I’m back to juggling 3-4 books a week. (It also helps that I finally succumbed to getting myself a Kindle and borrowing books with the Libby app. It’s like a whole new world opened up for me.)
Books are not going to vanish. Stories will always be around. And I can contribute to it if I put in the work.
So. How can you support me in this?
One of the biggest things I struggle with is asking for support. It wasn’t just with the dayjob requiring me to fundraise, but it’s also with the writing side (this goes along with GigaNotoSaurus too). A lot of it is the realization of “oh, if I set up a monthly Patreon, it becomes real”. It’s terrifying to make that leap, but I also think it’s something that has to be done.
So…to hold myself accountable, I’m putting this in writing: I will set up a Patreon account by my birthday next month (4/13). There’s also a lot of other things I want to do to start bringing income, stuff that I’m still researching and feeling out. I’ll note that in the next newsletter. For instance, something that’s been on the idea board is putting together a collection of short stories. Maybe now is the time to do it?
Stay tuned, of course. The biggest thing that would help me right now is share the newsletter. Or, leave a comment or encouragement below. I greatly appreciate it.
Four years ago, the world changed. One year ago, it changed again for me. Now let’s see if I can write something that, if it doesn’t change the world (which I doubt it will), it will at the very least make someone smile.
"Last month, I finished a novella. It wasn’t requested by any magazine. For the first time in a long, long time, I had to compile a list of markets and then submit it, hoping it would get picked up."
Oh, what a joy when a return to creative practice finds us, even if the route might surprise us.
Well done on the completed novella--and may it bode well for the work to come!