Posted by Nicky Drayden on Dec 29, 2011 in
Writer's Life Lots of fiction published this December and lots of updates to my bibliography which had fallen shamefully out of date.
“A Stitch in Space-Time”, Daily Science Fiction
“Nayani”, Comets and Criminals
“Double Rations”, Kaleidotrope Magazine
That makes for a total of twelve publications this year! Not too shabby. I’ve only got a couple of stories forthcoming now, so I guess that means I’d better get some more stuff submitted!
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Dec 9, 2011 in
Writer's Life 
Well, it took six months, but I’ve finally surpassed 1000 ebook sales! That’s pretty exciting for me, especially having gone into this with low expectations. I’ve got five short story collections out now, including the newest Delightfully Twisted Tales: Love and Other Filthy Habits which contains the much acclaimed “You Had Me At Rarrrgg.” Acclaimed by who, you ask? Look! A shiny, sparkly pony!
In other news, after a long hiatus, I’ve started submitting my short fiction again. Feels kind of odd having stories out there in front of editors, especially having been on the other side of the equation for a while. It’s been fun acquiring stories and seeing them produced. It’s equally fun to see names of authors I know personally rising through the slush. I also better understand the value of an editor’s time. No longer will I be frustrated with form rejections, and personal ones will be appreciated that much more.
In novel news, NaNoWriMo was a big bust, but I’ve put a lot of time into figuring out why my novel had stalled in the first place, and realized one of my POV characters was actually a background character. Her story is still very important, but not in a narrative sense which was really tripping me up. Another POV character is a secondary character now, leaving me with three POV characters instead of five, each with very strong narratives that will drive the story quickly once I get started up again. I guess it never occurred to me that those two extra characters could be anything besides POV characters, given how important they were to the story, but I guess my muse knows better than I do, because if they’d started out as secondary characters, they probably wouldn’t have been as developed as they are. As they say, no words are wasted words, and I’m eager to sink my teeth back into this book.
Well, my dog is looking at me crazily, so I’d better wrap this up. Happy Writings!
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Nov 2, 2011 in
Writer's Life 
Happy NaNoWriMo everyone! So I’m off to bit of a slow start on my novel, but I’m super excited about it. I’ve put down a total of 165 words in the last couple days, but I’ll catch up this weekend. The more challenges the merrier, right? Actually, this year I’m cheating with my NaNo, working on a novel I’m already 22k into, which technically should have been last year’s NaNovel, but I was so excited that I started it early and then it got lost among other projects and getting ready for Viable Paradise.
But this year, the story shall be told! I read through what I’ve got so far and it’s more interesting than I remember, which has got to be a good thing. I really want to know what happens next and there’s only one way to find out! Hope all of you out there are putting words to page, whether you’re NaNoing or not, and for those of you who are…see you at the finish line!
