Writing: check
Editing: check
Networking: check
Wedding planning: in progress!
Life has been a whirlwind. I'd like to start making sure to update once a month. I missed February, so my March entry might be a bit longer. After this post, I'll be sure to check back in April, too.
My work toward my writing goals has been pretty amazing lately.
-I have been writing short stories each month for the Confabulator Cafe.
-I have written a couple of narrative passages for work. I did write a total of ten listening passages over a few months, and now they're having me work on narratives.
-My novel, Monsters of Lawrence, is out to beta readers right now. The initial alpha readers thought it had real potential, so my goal for this novel now is to get it cleaned up and into final draft mode during the month of May so I can start submitting it. Scary stuff!
-I'm signed up to do Camp Nanowrimo in April and July. I'm going to try to keep throwing words at the Monsters of Lawrence sequel, Towers of Kansas. It's a tough one to draft, because I've been working on it on and off for the last few years. The continuity is a little off. It's also tough because things in the first novel are still changing and evolving. But, a lot of that will be fixed in the revision process. Right now I just need to keep putting down words so that the story is there. Once it's written, I can tweak it until it's right.
My editing work is taking off, as well.
-I finished editing Transmonstrified, and it's doing really well. I should get a sizable bonus for that at the end of this year.
-I finished editing Jack Campbell Jr.'s All Manner of Dark Things collection. That should be available for sale next month.
-I finished editing the stories for Sean Demory's Slow Boat to Fast City anthology. Hopefully that will be available for purchase soon!
-Projects for my special projects editing gig at Luna Station Quarterly have started flowing again. They are working on putting out a Best Of for their first five years. Pretty cool stuff.
Upcoming stuff:
-This week, I'm traveling to Pittsburgh to attend the American Copy Editors Society conference for work. My first work trip ever. I'm excited to learn about freelance editing and network.
-I might be interviewed about freelance editing by the Johnson County public library for their blog.
-I
will be editing R.L. Naquin's first book in her new Mount Olympus
series in April. We're hoping to get it out sometime in May!
-May is also ConQuest, and that feels like it's just around the corner. I've been reading everything Brandon Sanderson possible, and I'm excited to meet the brilliant writer. Hopefully I will get to be on and/or moderate some panels this year. I'm not optimistic about that, but it should be a good time regardless.
And yes, Jack and I are planning our wedding. We have the venue booked, our honeymoon planned, and we're hashing out details like how to feed everyone and how the reception is going to go. I am having wedding dress meltdowns, as well as guest list freakouts, and I'm also having a hard time reconciling the idea of myself as a bride. But things are coming together, and I know it will be nice. I don't care too much about the wedding. I'm just looking forward to being married.
So that's me the past two months. I promise not to stay away so long next time!
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Saturday, January 10, 2015
A Look Back and a Look Ahead
It's been awhile. I've shifted from a writing focus to an editing focus over the last couple of years, which is why it's been pretty quiet here.
I recently set up a website for my editing endeavors, though, so that frees up this space for a focus on my writing pursuits. If you are interested in following me on my editing journey, look me up at selundberg.com.
As I mention in my "about me" section, I do have goals to have a novel published eventually. It's not as high of a priority these days as it used to be, but since I've made a great deal of progress on the editing front, it's time to start thinking about my writing again.
To look back at 2014, here are some noteworthy writing accomplishments:
-I won the Story-in-a-Bag short story writing contest for the amateur horror category at ConQuest
-I won third place (and $200) for the Writers Weekly 24-hour story contest in the fall
-I completed my tenth year doing Nanowrimo, sixth year as Municipal Liaison
-I started writing passages at the new job
To look ahead at 2015, here are some goals:
-Write a short story a month for the Confabulator Cafe
-Participate at the professional level for Story-in-a-Bag at ConQuest this year
-Participate in panels at ConQuest this year
-Start to submit short stories again
-Edit and send out Monsters of Lawrence to beta readers
-Haunted Mansion writing retreat in California in September this year
-Talk to Jack's sister's young adult book club to encourage young writers
I haven't decided if I'm going to participate in Nanowrimo again this year or not. Having done it every year for the last decade, I'm feeling a little run down and burnt out. My fellow writing group members encourage me to still participate even if I don't ML. We'll see how I feel when November rolls around. I'm ok with the idea of retiring. I know I can write a novel, with or without the help of the month-long competition.
It is kind of a relief to switch this blog back to Prospective Writer. I need a place to keep track of my writing progress separate from my editing. They are two different sides of my brain. It's nice to have to completely different spaces to play.
Besides, here I get to brag about the books I'm reading, share any awesome quotes I've heard, and talk about what I'm writing.
Time to get back to basics. I'm shabby and out of practice being a writer. I'm relying on this blog to help me get back on track.
I recently set up a website for my editing endeavors, though, so that frees up this space for a focus on my writing pursuits. If you are interested in following me on my editing journey, look me up at selundberg.com.
As I mention in my "about me" section, I do have goals to have a novel published eventually. It's not as high of a priority these days as it used to be, but since I've made a great deal of progress on the editing front, it's time to start thinking about my writing again.
To look back at 2014, here are some noteworthy writing accomplishments:
-I won the Story-in-a-Bag short story writing contest for the amateur horror category at ConQuest
-I won third place (and $200) for the Writers Weekly 24-hour story contest in the fall
-I completed my tenth year doing Nanowrimo, sixth year as Municipal Liaison
-I started writing passages at the new job
To look ahead at 2015, here are some goals:
-Write a short story a month for the Confabulator Cafe
-Participate at the professional level for Story-in-a-Bag at ConQuest this year
-Participate in panels at ConQuest this year
-Start to submit short stories again
-Edit and send out Monsters of Lawrence to beta readers
-Haunted Mansion writing retreat in California in September this year
-Talk to Jack's sister's young adult book club to encourage young writers
I haven't decided if I'm going to participate in Nanowrimo again this year or not. Having done it every year for the last decade, I'm feeling a little run down and burnt out. My fellow writing group members encourage me to still participate even if I don't ML. We'll see how I feel when November rolls around. I'm ok with the idea of retiring. I know I can write a novel, with or without the help of the month-long competition.
It is kind of a relief to switch this blog back to Prospective Writer. I need a place to keep track of my writing progress separate from my editing. They are two different sides of my brain. It's nice to have to completely different spaces to play.
Besides, here I get to brag about the books I'm reading, share any awesome quotes I've heard, and talk about what I'm writing.
Time to get back to basics. I'm shabby and out of practice being a writer. I'm relying on this blog to help me get back on track.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
News and Updates
I'd like to be better about posting regularly to let you all know what I'm up to. Things finally seem to be moving on both the writer and editor fronts. So here are the details of my latest breaking news.
-I got a new job! I am finally breaking free from the administrative support world and transitioning into editing as my day job. I have accepted a position at an institute that develops all assessment tests for the state of Kansas. I'll be editing said tests at each phase, from developmental to and line edits - as well as potentially doing some writing for websites or other brochure type content as needed. This is a huge breakthrough. I am going to be a professional editor.
-My boyfriend Jack Campbell, Jr. and I attended our annual sci-fi and fantasy convention, ConQuesT, over Memorial Day weekend this year. It is always filled with frenetic energy of so many writers, editors, artists, and fans that it always charges my creative batteries. Jack and I participated in the Story in a Bag contest again, and we both brought home winner certificates. He won the professional horror category, and I won the amateur horror category. Luckily I still fall into the amateur category, because I'd hate to go up against him. This was our last con for fun. Next year, we work. We're both going to volunteer to moderate panels, and we'll have to do some networking.
-I ended up editing two short stories for my author friend Jason Arnett. He published one called Prospects on Amazon (which you can find here) and Smashwords (which you can find here). He does a fantastic job writing within the dying genre of hard sci-fi, so if you like the old genre, check him out. I'm hoping his second short will go up for sale soon.
-Speaking of short stories, if you haven't checked them out yet, I've edited two short stories for my author friend R.L. Naquin. They are part of her Monster Haven world, and they are delicious little snippets that will either tide you over between books or suck you into the world. You can find the holiday-themed Hidden Holidays here (Amazon or Smashwords) and her more recent ode to the closet monster Maurice What Zoey Doesn't Know here (Amazon or Smashwords). She and I are working on putting together a collection of several of her short stories, and hopefully that will come out later this year. I'll let you know more about details once we nail things down.
-In other writing news, Jack and I have officially registered for a writing retreat for September 2015. Four days in lovely Northern California at the Haunted Mansion Writing Retreat. All of our food and drinks (including unlimited alcohol) will be provided, and our only responsibilities will be to write and also blog about any paranormal activity we experience. Jack talks a bit more about the trip, so head on over to his blog post Sound the Retreat! for details.
-Last, but certainly not least, story ideas are putting pressure on my brain, begging to be written again. I thought the voices had dried up, but now I feel like I'm riding the crest of a wave about to break. I am preparing to participate in the July run of Camp Nanowrimo with my amazing writing group. I haven't settled on which story yet, but I have settled on at least attempting something in the range of 30,000 words in a month. Right now I just want to tell ALL THE STORIES. I know I can't work on all of them at once, but eventually I'll decide on one. The win of Story in a Bag bolstered my waning confidence in my ability to write, so here's hoping I get into the swing of things again
-I got a new job! I am finally breaking free from the administrative support world and transitioning into editing as my day job. I have accepted a position at an institute that develops all assessment tests for the state of Kansas. I'll be editing said tests at each phase, from developmental to and line edits - as well as potentially doing some writing for websites or other brochure type content as needed. This is a huge breakthrough. I am going to be a professional editor.
-My boyfriend Jack Campbell, Jr. and I attended our annual sci-fi and fantasy convention, ConQuesT, over Memorial Day weekend this year. It is always filled with frenetic energy of so many writers, editors, artists, and fans that it always charges my creative batteries. Jack and I participated in the Story in a Bag contest again, and we both brought home winner certificates. He won the professional horror category, and I won the amateur horror category. Luckily I still fall into the amateur category, because I'd hate to go up against him. This was our last con for fun. Next year, we work. We're both going to volunteer to moderate panels, and we'll have to do some networking.
-I ended up editing two short stories for my author friend Jason Arnett. He published one called Prospects on Amazon (which you can find here) and Smashwords (which you can find here). He does a fantastic job writing within the dying genre of hard sci-fi, so if you like the old genre, check him out. I'm hoping his second short will go up for sale soon.
-Speaking of short stories, if you haven't checked them out yet, I've edited two short stories for my author friend R.L. Naquin. They are part of her Monster Haven world, and they are delicious little snippets that will either tide you over between books or suck you into the world. You can find the holiday-themed Hidden Holidays here (Amazon or Smashwords) and her more recent ode to the closet monster Maurice What Zoey Doesn't Know here (Amazon or Smashwords). She and I are working on putting together a collection of several of her short stories, and hopefully that will come out later this year. I'll let you know more about details once we nail things down.
-In other writing news, Jack and I have officially registered for a writing retreat for September 2015. Four days in lovely Northern California at the Haunted Mansion Writing Retreat. All of our food and drinks (including unlimited alcohol) will be provided, and our only responsibilities will be to write and also blog about any paranormal activity we experience. Jack talks a bit more about the trip, so head on over to his blog post Sound the Retreat! for details.
-Last, but certainly not least, story ideas are putting pressure on my brain, begging to be written again. I thought the voices had dried up, but now I feel like I'm riding the crest of a wave about to break. I am preparing to participate in the July run of Camp Nanowrimo with my amazing writing group. I haven't settled on which story yet, but I have settled on at least attempting something in the range of 30,000 words in a month. Right now I just want to tell ALL THE STORIES. I know I can't work on all of them at once, but eventually I'll decide on one. The win of Story in a Bag bolstered my waning confidence in my ability to write, so here's hoping I get into the swing of things again
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