2011 in Conclusion, and Some 2012 Wishes

It's been an eventful year. I saw my online sales take off on Amazon after a series of free titles garnered thousands of downloads and received overall quite positive reviews; I started a successful podcast (Creative Commoners) with two great friends, where we have been watching our following grow little by little and will hopefully see that continue into 2012; I did a short volunteer writing gig with Pop Blend; I released Scarlet Letters in print; I swam several miles, and I had my gallbladder out.

All in all, lots of good things. 

I've also learned a lot about myself as a writer and what defines success. Although I would still be thrilled to receive that "Big 6" book deal, I have also learned that there are many ways to crack the nut of getting published, and I've learned that it's all about being open-minded, resourceful, and diverse. Whether they are people downloading content directly or buying it off the shelves, it's been a real thrill to have people I don't know actually reading my work. It's reaffirmed why I want to do this and why, ultimately, it's the thing I was made to do. I thank everyone who has read my work, even the ones who didn't like it. Without them, I wouldn't really have a very honest yardstick against which to measure myself. No one benefits from having sunshine blown up their ass 24/7. My laurels love ever so much to be sat upon, so the criticism, even when it stings, keeps me humble and makes me better. 

So there is a lot in store on the creative front, but I discussed that in a previous blog post, so I don't need to go there. So I'll just conclude with a few wishes for the upcoming year.

• I wish for my husband to find happiness and contentment in a workplace that appreciates his brilliance and pays him accordingly. Not only because we could use the money, but because when it comes to a job, everyone should be paid what they're worth, and he's worth a hell of a lot more than he's being paid. 
• I wish for my dad's business to continue to flourish and for my mom to be able to follow her passion for art and sculpting.
• I wish for my daughter to enter middle school and to alleviate all of my anxieties and fears that I have about that particular era in a child's life by not becoming one of the nightmarish kids I remember from my own days in middle school. 
• I wish for my cat to stop barfing and stressing me out and to get the memo that he's supposed to be immortal, dammit.
• I wish for people who think the apocalypse is nigh this year to get out and enjoy their lives a little more instead of obsessing over shit over which they have absolutely zero control and is probably fiction anyway. And if I turn out to be wrong about that, I really hope the apocalypse has better special effects than the Roland Emmerich movie. 
• I wish for Grand Theft Auto V to be released in the earlier part of the year rather than the latter, so I have more time to play it in case the previous bullet point comes to pass. 
• I wish to become better and better at what I do, and that not only includes writing but also includes mothering, being a better wife, eating healthier, designing better book covers, not procrastinating so damn much, and living up to my potential.
• I wish happiness and fulfillment for all. 

That's about it, I guess. I'm sure I could have tacked more things on there, but "moar readers" and "millions of dollars" is all pretty self-evident. 

Happy New Year to everybody near and far, lovers and haters alike. May you all find reason to celebrate in the coming year. 

Coming to an Ebookstore Near You in 2012! And a Word on Pots and Pans!

It's official. My ebook selections have grown stagnant. I've been sitting on a small cache of short stories for awhile now, some new, some old, some ancient, and it's time to get them packaged up and out into the world. A couple of them I wanted to try out in the traditional publishing world first, but I won't lie: I'm impatient. I spent years having my work tied up with one magazine or another only to receive rejection after rejection. Not complaining or anything. That's just the nature of the beast, and if you have the patience for it, more power to you. Now that I have a growing audience and an ability to release things directly to them on my own timetable, I feel obliged to go that route more than ever now.

Not that I've completely given up on print. I will always pass my newest science fiction tales through my favorite magazines first. Publication in Analog, Asimov's, and Clarkesworld is still one of the items on my bucket list, after all. Anyway, the newest collection of short stories is called OBSESSIONS & COMPULSIONS, and it's going to be a tad more ambitious than my first one, DEAD WIVES TALES. I want it to have at least twice as many stories, and I'm thinking up some additional goodies to put in there as well. We'll see what all I can get done in the next few weeks. And as I did with DEAD WIVES TALES, I intend to offer a couple of the titles as separate downloads. One of them is called TASTE, and you should be seeing that one in just a few days. 

And fret not, those who want MOAR NOVELS. It's happening. Revisions are hot under way on THE STARGAZERS, a dark contemporary fantasy about a family of witches and their twisted infanticide ritual. It even has a cover, designed by my friend Florence Sorensen. She's looking to do more covers, so if you like what you see here, shoot her an email, why don't you? Provided I don't manage to get a book deal with it (I have a few small publishers in mind to which to submit it), it will be up for download sometime in late February/early March, and there will likely be a print option to follow. 

Now that I've spent the requisite time on plugging my own work, I'm going to switch gears and talk about something completely different: my new All-Clad saute pan, which I received for Christmas from my awesome mother. I've been obsessed with owning a piece (or many pieces) of All-Clad for the last decade. But its cost has always been so prohibitive, and I had a hard time justifying ditching my perfectly serviceable stainless steel Cuisinart set. Oh sure, it's total junk compared to All-Clad, but it has been good to me, and while I might not break out into a Rick Astley tune over it, I'm still not quite gonna give it up. 

But will I perhaps gradually replace pieces of it with beautifully shiny All-Clad over the next several years until I have no choice but to pass on the Cuisinart to a needy recipient?

Um, yeah.  

Purging the News Feed

I've been in a bit of a mental fit the last few months, vacillating between moments of pure joy and moments where I feel like the world is a giant Ikea on a Saturday afternoon, and I'm about two feet high. Lost and overwhelmed, in other words. Feeling that old feeling I used to get when it was time to shake things up and do something drastic. I haven't always made the wisest decisions when I've felt this way, but I like to think experience has been my greatest teacher and I've decided to get to the root of these feelings and see what needs to be addressed before I resort to my old method of hooking a big block of C4 to my entire world, throwing the switch, and seeing what lands where.

I can only seem to narrow it down to one thing. You know those people who have managed to go through their adult lives over the last four or five years without even thinking of signing up for a Facebook account? In many ways, I envy those people. I envy that they have managed to lead productive, happy, friend-filled lives, without having their faces stuck in a screen. I used to be one of those people, and so did everyone else. Remember those days? I barely do anymore.

It isn't about not liking my friends or "Facebook drama" or anything like that. It's not like I'm having a classic "nobody likes me so I'm stomping off to get attention" melt. It's this inescapable certainty that Facebook has become more of a hindrance in my life, than the positive influence it normally is. And this is both personally and professionally. In fact, I am certain that a good bit of my brain is becoming diluted by an overdose of News Feed.

If I thought it wouldn't disturb and/or embarrass me, I would have tallied the number of hours a week I spend reading status updates, making comments, and checking for updates, but anyone who knows me knows it's probably enormous. I love sharing information with people. I love seeing how everybody in my life is doing. I get a lot of laughs and smiles and overall fulfillment from the amazing people I have met through social networking.

But I think it's gotten to the point where I'm pretty sure I can't control myself with it anymore. When I've  stopped writing in one of my stories in mid-sentence just to see if someone has replied to something I said fifteen minutes ago, I know I have a problem.

So I'm going to pull the plug and go back to the basics for a bit, at least as basic as I'm used to anymore. Let's just say we'll be resetting the clock back to 2005 or so. Back before Myspace. Back when Facebook was just a social experiment on Ivy League campuses and Twitter used to just be synonymous with birds in trees. Back when I had only a blog and a dream.

I'll update this site as necessary, and without Facebook, it might be pretty often. I will maintain my email, of course, and my cell phone will remain a permanent appendage. I have made my husband an admin on my Faceook Fan Page so that when I deactivate my account, that will remain open for anyone looking for me through there.

There is no real time limit on this sojourn. I'd like to say a month, but we all know how long a month can be with something like this. Let's just say we'll take it one day at a time, and if such a day comes when I feel like I'm over this little mental hump of mine, whether it be next Friday or three months from now, I'll be back on the ol' Blue and White again.

Besides, it's not like I'm really going anywhere. I have my places in the virtual world that aren't going anywhere. I've just had a bit too much at this particular joint lately, and it's time I cut myself off and call a cab home. I have books to write and sell. It's my hope that by refocusing my efforts and priorities, I'll be able to come out of this a more focused and successful person. Maybe I will make a whole bunch of new discoveries along the way. We can only hope. It's not like I'm the first person who's attempted to get this particular monkey off her back, so I'll probably see you tomorrow. ;)