I still exist!

Hey, everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I still exist, and I'm still writing. Various annoying things have slowed my progress, but I'm hoping to have some things up soon.

My VD project is still in the works, even though it is painfully late. However, if it turns out well, I may be submitting it to some publications rather than posting it here. That doesn't mean it will never show up here in any fashion, it's just not likely to show up that soon.

I've also discovered a new path to writing success (I'm being ridiculous on purpose, I know how it sounds, haha). No, it's not some sort of crazy scam. One of the issues with trying to get your work published these days is that unless you're already famous, it's very hard to convince a publisher to take a chance on you.

If you already have a proven audience, however, things are a lot different. A community of writers has grown up around the concept of Podcasting fiction. Some of the Podcasts are full audio drama productions (like Metamor City Podcast and Murder at Avedon Hill) and others are more like audio books (J.C. Hutchins's 7th Son trilogy and Christiana Ellis's Nina Kimberly the Merciless). Almost all of the ones I've mentioned here have turned their podcasting success into opportunities to be published.

I've actually been concerned for awhile that traditional book-and-mortar publishing is going away. Even people that I would consider real "readers" aren't sitting down with books that much any more. They are listening to podcasts. Most of them aren't listening to podcast fiction yet, but I think they will be in the future.

For the moment, I've set aside the idea of getting a book published traditionally. I'm hoping to start my own podcast, but I will probably start with a one off production like Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long-Blog, but we'll see.

In other news, you really want to buy J.C. Hutchins's new book, Personal Effects: Dark Art, which you can find in a bookstore near you, I kid you not.

P.S. The "Read More" link from the homepage is a lie unless someone comments, and then it isn't a lie.

Also, I just realized I'd left the default CAPTCHA system turned on for this blog. I don't believe in CAPTCHAs because they are ineffective and make sites inaccessible. I have turned the CAPTCHAs off and taken steps to ensure that I'm aware of spamming as soon as it occurs so I can remove it.

I understand this isn't reasonable for every situation, but if you have a blog, I urge you to look for ways to counteract spam without decreasing access for disabled people.