Well, here I am on New Year's Eve writing another blog post. Still not sure what this blog wants to be.
Looking back on the last year, I can say I'm in a better place now than I was this time last year. Moved from a pretty tough job to a much better job–and even if I don't exactly love making dishwashers in a factory, it's something I can put up with till the writing takes off.
And as far as the writing is concerned, I've self-published a first book: The Invisible Woman and Other Stories. And even though it's not exactly flying off the shelves, I'm steadily making sales. By this time next year I'll have done some experiments and I'll know better how to launch a book and how to sell it over time.
Of course, the driving goal for now is to sell enough books that I can quit my day job and write full time. Sometimes it's a struggle to believe I'll ever get to that point–you know how it is, you struggle with yourself to get the writing done and you struggle with yourself to stop doing the things that get in the way.
There are a lot of days when I wake up feeling like the goal is so far off and so unlikely that I might as well give up. Just stop struggling. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say, Geof. Nobody reads, and even the ones who do don't want to read you. You're too weird, too weak, too stubborn, too lazy, and too far outside of the mainstream. You don't get along with the normies and you don't get along with the weirdos. You don't know what you're doing, you're too full of doubts, and you're simply not willing to do the things it takes to succeed in this game.
Give up. You're not gonna make it.
I really shouldn't say things like that on my blog, I know how it looks. But it's hard to know what to put on this blog anyway. I've written about that before–I don't love blogging, but I've read here and there that a writer needs to blog. So I blog.
I know it's New Year's Eve, but in my mind I'm already dreading going back to work on Tuesday. I've had two weeks off of work and haven't done all the writing I'd like to have done. It makes me worry that I really am too weak. That much as I may not like having a job, I may need the structure it gives. That I'll never get free or be able to write full time because I'm too dependent on external limitations.
Do I really believe that? No, not really. But like I said, there are days when I wake up full of doubts. Where I look at the distance between where I am and where I want to be, where I look at the slow progress I'm making toward my ultimate goals and I wonder who I'm kidding. I'll never make it.
I shouldn't say things like that. But what am I supposed to do, lie on my blog? Pretend to be some rock of certainty when I feel like Jello?
Anyway, it's not like there's any danger I'll stop writing. I need to write. There are demons in me that need to be worked out and arranged into stories. If I go too long without writing some fiction, I start to foam at the mouth and stick forks into electrical outlets.
And as long as I'm writing, I'm making some progress. At least that's what I promise myself.
Anyway, this is meant to be a monthly update and a chance to offer a few announcements. Let's get those out of the way and polish this one off, shall we?
Upcoming Book: Whether I Be False or True
After about a year of drafting, Whether I Be False or True is nearing the end of the first draft. I went into the Christmas break with the hope that I'd finish the first draft by the end of 2023. Suffice to say, it's not looking like that's about to happen. But I am making good progress and I'm confident I'll have the first draft finished sooner, rather than later.
Now, for you, this means you should be able to look forward to seeing the book in the spring. Once I get a few rounds of editing in and hammer it into a form that's pleasing to me, I'll be looking for advance and beta readers for the book. So if you're reading this and you're interested, be sure to reach out. I'd love to have some readers lined up before I'm ready.
I don't have a hard launch date in mind yet, but for now I'm aiming for the novel to go live in spring 2024.
And after that, the second novel won't be long coming. It's called Nothing Collapses, and I already have about 110k words of a first draft written up. If all goes well, that one should be ready for publication come summer or fall of 2024.
So this is shaping up to be a big year, is what I'm saying here.
New Blog Schedule
If you've been following the YouTube channel, you'll already know that I've been posting some of the shorter stories from The Invisible Woman and Other Stories every Sunday. The last of these, “Creation,” just went live earlier today.
Moving forward, I'll be posting a new short story once a week on YouTube. And for those of you who prefer reading to listening, I'll be posting the stories here on the blog as well. Probably the way it will work out is that it'll post them on YouTube on Sunday and you'll get the written form here on Wednesday.
This is a lot of writing for me, and it may turn out that I'm a little too optimistic with my scheduling. But I like writing short pieces and you don't need to worry that I'll change the game without warning you.
And don't worry, you'll still be seeing my Sunday posts, with book reviews about twice a month. Even if I end up having to finish them out at the last minute on Sunday night…
Anyway, you're all great people. Wish me luck in the New Year, and I wish you all the best.
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