Writing News Update - October 2022
It’s been a few months and oh boy do I got some updates for you! So let’s get to it!
Super Secret Project is out! I’m writing for Meow Wolf!
It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally able to talk about my super secret project—or, at the very least, announce that I am partnering with Meow Wolf.
For those of you who are not familiar with them, Meow Wolf is an arts and entertainment collective that creates large-scale interactive and immersive art installations. They have three locations so far: The House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe; Omega Mart in Las Vegas, and Convergence Station in Denver. At each site, they work with local artists to create fun and creative art that is tied to an underlying narrative that visitors could discover and explore on their own.+
Back in 2020, I had just finished the final edits of my novel for my agent when I got a Twitter DM from a Meow Wolf contact who was looking for a writer for their next project. They had read my short story “21 Steps to Enlightenment (Minus One)” and felt I would fit well with them. At the time, I didn’t know who they were, but I liked what I saw when I researched them. I’ve always loved working with visual artists, and I liked the idea of creating a story that would be told outside of conventional means.
I’ve been working with Meow Wolf now for two years! It’s wild to see stuff I’ve written being turned into physical items you can interact with. It’s true that when you do a freelance writing gig, you have to learn how to write fast. Before working with Meow Wolf, I was a pantser with my stories. Now, I’m an outlining boss—I’m able to identify where I am in the writing process, how long it will take me to write, and how to plan out revision stages well.
My project is slated to open in 2023 in Grapevine, Texas. Meow Wolf will announce more news about it over the next few months, so if you want quicker news on an up-to-date basis, join my Facebook group.
Con Updates
Cons this year were fun and interesting as things slowly adjust to the pandemic norm. It meant wearing a lot of masks on panels. For the most part, all the cons I went to had mask protocols in place, and many of us were able to meet outside or in well-ventilated areas.
It was great to see people that I hadn’t seen for several years. I also got to do a number of firsts—for instance, at Gencon, I did a revision workshop in person for the very first time, and I also did my very first critique session. I also did a mini-workshop for Clarion’s Write-a-thon this summer. I’m getting the hang of doing workshops — in fact, I will be reprising my “Breaking out of Revision Hell” Clarion workshop at the end of November! Click here for details and to sign up.
At WorldCon, I finally got to meet my SFWA mentee, Oghenechowve Ekpeki, who was nominated in two Hugo categories. Getting him to come to the Hugos from Nigeria was a story all of its own , so I am deeply grateful he was able to make it. I also met P.H. Lee, whose story I told you last newsletter “Just Enough Rain” was nominated for Best Short Story for the Nebulas this year.
I also discovered that I have a story sitting in the American Writers Museum! I wrote an entire Twitter thread about it. It was very wild to find. (And truth be told, It was the best thing about WorldCon, even more than making the announcement that I was writing for Meow Wolf. 🥰)
Finally, the last week of September, I had a chance to do a weeklong writing residency sponsored by Upper House, a Christian study center here in Madison. I got to spend time with eight other writers at a nearby retreat house out in the country, where we basically ate, slept and wrote. It gave me a chance to focus on a short story I’ve picked back up in 2021, as well as outlining a new novel (or novella—I’m still figuring out how long it will be). It felt almost like a vacation, but it was also a bit weird to focus solely on writing. It got me thinking how I could get more time set aside just to focus on writing. For now, I have Fridays off the day-job to do that, but the residency got me eager to see what else I can do to carve out time.
By the Works of her Hands
Speaking of short stories, I have a new one, “By the Works of Her Hands” coming out this January in a brand new anthology, Never Too Old to Save the World, thanks to the Kickstarter funding in August. I’ve been calling it my contribution to portal stories, specifically the Narnia story I grew up with. It will be published by Outland Entertainment —Yes, that’s the same publisher that did the dinosaur anthology that has my short story “Smile”. I had a chance to read “By the Works of Her Hands” in full at Worldcon, then virtually in October for the Philadelphia SF Society. It’s such a fun story to read aloud. If you have a reading group or are looking for an author to read a story for 40 minutes, contact me!
NaNoWriMo
I mentioned above that I was going to start working on a new novel. It occurred to me that since I was starting a new work in the fall, it meant that I CAN FINALLY PARTICIPATE IN NANOWRIMO.
I’ve done it in the past, but it was all for existing work. For the first time, I get to do a writing marathon from scratch. I’ve created my profile there, so if you are also participating in NaNoWriMo, let’s be buddies! And for other updates, friend me on Facebook or join my Facebook group, or join me on Twitter, or stay tuned for my next newsletter.