Mars of My Youth Podcasted

Hey, y’all. The Mars of My Youth was recently podcasted on The Dribblecast. If you prefer your stories in audio or want to share this one with folks who do, this is the way to go.

Some of you may have seen me announce a new Troll Jammies segment on Twitter recently. Right after I hinted at it, I acquired a new responsibility that ate up a lot of my free time that’s not already dedicated to writing fiction. When I catch up on that, I will definitely give the new segment a whirl. Until I know for sure that I am going to be able to do it, I won’t bother teasing you by telling you what it is.

There are a few other changes in the offing. I should be getting an actual banner for Troll Jammies soon and I’m scheming certain things which should be very cool.

I should probably take the progress box off since I can’t manage to keep it updated. Rest assured, I’ve submitted at least two stories since last I updated that. One was rejected, and I’m still waiting on a response for the other. I have several pending novella ideas, a novel that needs to either be dropped or edited, a novel and novella in progress, an audio novella I finished first draft and which is not yet ready to be beta-read, a bunch of short stories in progress or in editing, and a novel I started but which needs to be plotted before I pick it up again.

None of that actually guarantees I’m actually being productive. The “clearly productive” part was the part where I have been submitting stories. I didn’t actually mention a wordcount anywhere in there! I have days where I manage 1-1.5K and I have days where I manage finishing a short story. Since neither of those things is happening every day, this means I’m being a bit of a slacker. Not a horrible one, but something of one.

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Goals

I should be writing at this very moment. Instead, I’m typing this up and thinking about Captain Picard and varying degrees of getting published.

A story I wrote for braindouche got podcasted recently. It’s not quite the same as being published, but it’s still pretty awesome (oh my god, oh my god, oh my god—have you heard it? I squealed with joy and then listened to it a few dozen times). I even got my first rejection this year!

I could call myself lucky, but on further examination, I know it isn’t true. The places I’ve gone so far I went not simply because I was in the right place at the right time. Lots of people were there at the right place and the right time. I was the one who saw the possibilities and then put the work in to transform those possibilities into a reality.

That’s not to say that I’m just so awesome, because I’m not. I missed a lot of opportunities because I didn’t put the work in … just like most everyone else.

You have to put your foot in the water if you’re going to go swimming.

Every year, I set goals for myself rather than do resolutions. A goal is something you move toward, a resolution is something you break.

I haven’t always finished my goals, but I have always grown from them. This year, the fact that I’m a pushover became a bit too obvious to ignore. I’m making standing up for myself one of my goals and I’ve gotten an early start.

I actually called a customer service line!

That’s precisely the sort of thing I’ve never been able to bring myself to do.

So, I just want to say how much of an inspiration Jennifer Hudock’s commitment reports have been to me. Seeing the inner workings of her progress have really spurred me on to start submitting my work.

I think I’m a little too boring to bother people with regular status updates, but I put a progress box on the right hand side of the page where you can see a basic overview. I won’t put every little project in there because a lot of what I write isn’t intended to be published … at least not by other people. So, if it’s something I’m going to podcast or post up here, you won’t be seeing it there.

But keep an eye out for it and pester me if everything stops moving, ok?

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