Jay Lake: Writer

[personal|writing] A change of direction

Well, Calamity of So Long a Life is out the door, and I’ve found myself doing a lot of soul searching about my writing career, the kind of work I’m doing, and where I’m likely to go over the next few years, especially in the face of my ongoing cancer struggles.

This really has been an incredibly rewarding journey I’ve been on since 1990. Science fiction and fantasy have always been the home of my heart, and they always will be. Too much of who I am was built on the experience of being a reader, a fan, a writer, for all these years.

But it’s time for a change. I’m redirecting my efforts toward something that better reflects the current circumstances of my life, and offers me a greater shot at economic success. From now on, I’m going to be writing nurse romances.

I’ve already proposed a five part series to my agent, The White Shoe Shuffle. The working titles are:

• Candy Striper For Life
• Love in a Paper Hat
• Doctor-Nurse Relations
• Bedside Manner Blues
• The Ward Heeler

I know this change will challenge my readers and fans, but I’m really hoping you’ll be able to follow me in this new direction of mine. I’ll be combining my experiences as a cancer patient with my love of fiction and my writing talents to create something new, vibrant and hopefully a hell of a lot of fun.

Thank you.

Tags: Bedside Manner, Books, Calamity, Cancer, Candy Striper, Funny, healthcare, Paper Hat, Personal, Relations, Ward Heeler, White Shoe, Writing

Posted: 7:46 am Sun April 01 2012 | Comments(9) |

[writing] A bit more on the state of play

Updatery of various sorts herein.

In March, I had two acceptances, both nonfiction. One was a piece for the SFWA Bulletin, the other was a contribution to a book of writing exercises. That makes five first rights acceptances for the first quarter of 2012, two of which I haven’t been able to announce yet, plus one reprint acceptance for audio rights. Not counting a couple of very stale submissions that I should probably withdraw or write off, I only have one other piece out the door right now for consideration. As I’m constantly telling other writers, if you don’t submit, you can’t be accepted. (In truth this mostly has to do with a combination of low short fiction output the last few years and the fact that much of what I have written has been for requesting markets, and most of that sells on first submittal.)

As of yesterday I am done with Calamity of So Long a Life (Sunspin, volume one), at least until there’s an editorial letter on it. The book goes out to market next week along with synopses for the other three volumes. My profound thanks to all my first readers and commentors who’ve provided substantial aid on the project. I promise, I’ll redshirt you all in future volumes of the series arc. Tomorrow or Monday I’ll be diving into Their Currents Turn Awry (volume two), but as I’ve already got about 65,000 words of first draft, that book is well on its way.

Today, the_child and I are off to Silverton with lizzyshannon for a book signing and panel discussion Lizzy is having there. I’ve offered to be a drop-in on the panel, but only if they want me.

Next week, of course, is Norwescon. I’ll be at the hotel in Seatac from early Thursday afternoon through early Sunday afternoon. If you want to see me, my schedule is here: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]. Or look for me in the bar. I’m always open to being taken to lunch or dinner, too, at least til my dance card fills.

On Sunday, April 15th, The Oregonian is scheduled to run a feature length profile on me in both the print and online editions. Except for my Locus interviews, this will be my most in-depth media exposure to date. I’ll be quite curious to see how they present me.

Finally, there’s some very neat stuff happening around the whole Going to Extremes project. Watch this space for details, but trust me, it’s deeply cool.

I think that’s about it for right now. No writing today, taking a brain break. (Or maybe not, but I haven’t planned any writing time.)

Tags: audio, Books, Calamity, Child, Conventions, Currents, Extremes, interviews, Personal, Publishing, stories, Sunspin, Writing

Posted: 7:13 am Sat March 31 2012 | Comments(1) |

[travel|writing] Fly away, little bird

I am in the Omaha airport, getting ready to head home to Portland. Much distracted by putting a wrap on Calamity of So Long a Life today, including the edits oh so helpfully provided by the lovely and talented lizzyshannon. Also a little tight for time, so this here is all the bloggery you’re getting today.

This weekend: busy with some Time Off, as well as Doing Taxes. Sunday or Monday I’ll start in on Their Currents Turn Awry, Sunspin volume two, of which I already have about 60,000 words written.

Meanwhile, the airways beckon. Y’all play nice.

Tags: Books, Calamity, Currents, Omaha, Portland, Sunspin, Travel, Writing

Posted: 3:10 am Fri March 30 2012 | Comments(2) |

[writing] So, I have this book, see…

Calamity of So Long a Life is teetering on the edge of being done. I’m reading it one last time for another line edit pass, and to get the story firmly in my head so I can start in on Sunspin volume two, Their Currents Turn Awry, sometime in the next few days.

Yesterday I got up early and walked an hour, leaving myself enough time to blog, perform my morning ablutions, eat, and work on the book for an hour before Day Jobbery.

Then at lunch I scampered back to my hotel room and worked on the book for an hour.

Then after work I scampered back to my hotel room and worked on the book for three and a half hours more.

Obsessive? Moi?

Plus the lovely and talented lizzyshannon is doing an independent line read to catch all the stuff my eyes keep passing over.

So, arm, not so much with the blogging today because there was so much book yesterday. Not much book today, either, as I have a lunch meeting, the Omaha Beach Party tonight, and a need to go to bed early in order to get up for my 6 am flight home tomorrow. Still, I am almost done. Whee!

Tags: Books, Calamity, Currents, friends, Process, Sunspin, work, Writing

Posted: 4:19 am Thu March 29 2012 | Comments(1) |

[writing|process] Talking about doing it, and a return of the “hand of cards” theory

Yesterday I guest taught at Travis Heermann‘s literature of science fiction class at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. That was a lot of fun. I gave a very short lecture about alternate history, then we did a bit over an hour of open q-and-a. Though I do wonder when the college kids got so young?

This was a literature class, not a creative writing class, but there were a fair number of craft questions. About a third of the students are aspiring writers, so that makes sense. This got me thinking once more about the “hand of cards” theory, which I have previously discussed here: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] and elsewhere.

Basically, the “hand of cards” is the idea that all writers start out with a more or less random assortment strengths and talents. (matociquala calls this “the box it came in”.) Much like a poker deal, this could be a weak hand, a mixed hand, or, rarely, a strong hand. As we work to improve our skills and achieve publication, we upgrade our low cards one at a time, switching focus as we go along.

What I’ve never quite done is pinned down what those cards might be. The suits, as it were. I’m pretty sure we’ve had this discussion before, but I can’t find it right now, so here I throw out some ideas, and ask you guys to comment or contribute your own.

• Character
• Plot
• Setting
• Prose style
• Narrative voice
• Auctorial authority
• Dialog
• Sensory detail
• Gender/ethnic/orientation authenticity (specifically meaning: not your own default settings)
• Action sequences
• Emotional resonance
• Thematic depth
• Control of language (or possibly precision)

Some of these obviously overlap. I’m not wedded to any of them, though a number are fairly obvious. What have I missed? What have I got wrong? What would you add to the list?

Tags: Omaha, Process, Writing

Posted: 4:01 am Wed March 28 2012 | Comments(6) |

[books|writing] Little Dog: Son of a Bitch

The synopsis for book one of Little Dog, Son of a Bitch, is about done in both long form (writing document) and short form (selling document). bravado111 and I made good use of our hang time together this weekend for some story conferencing, as well some parallel play writing time.

I also churned out first draft one-sheets for books two and three, just to show series direction as part of the sales proposal package. They’re currently entitled Whelp, I Need Somebody and Littermates. After a few final touches today, the package is off our desks for a while, at least until our agents give us feedback on the synopsis and other materials.

The current production plan is for bravado111 to write the first draft in May and/or June, and me to do the initial major revision pass in June and/or July. This schedule should survive even if I have to go back into cancer treatment, which means we’ll have the book to first readers by the end of July, if not a bit earlier. I am happy to jam this in around Sunspin, simply to get it going.

It’s nice to see a new project gathering steam.

Tags: Books, Cancer, health, Little Dog, Sunspin, Writing

Posted: 4:35 am Mon March 26 2012 | Comments(0) |

[writing] The state of play, updated once more

After correspondence with my agent yesterday, I can update the state of play on various projects.

Sunspin (four volume space opera): She really likes the revisions to volume one, Calamity of So Long a Life. I need to produce a short marketing-focused synopsis, about ten pages covering all four books, and she has suggested one more line editing pass for dropped words, et cetera. I’m feeling a little glassy-eyed about doing another line edit on the manuscript, but I probably ought to re-read it anyway in preparation for drafting the balance of Their Currents Turn Awry, which is my project for April and May. I only need another 100,000 or so words on that project to call it done in first draft, so it will fit nicely into that schedule. I expect to produce the synopsis over the next few days, and will come to grips with the line editing issue shortly thereafter.

Going to Extremes (nonfiction book about cancer, parenting and Antarctica): She is still reviewing the proposal, but likes it so far. We’re having a somewhat technical conversation now about cross-licensing and subrights and other nonfiction issues which are new territory to me. I won’t be doing any more new writing on this until she has given me full feedback on the proposal and we agree on what more we need to do for the submission package. I do feel some time pressure on this one, simply because of the timing of being able to make an Antarctic trip.

Little Dog (urban fantasy about a werewolf with achondroplastic dwarfism): Once bravado111 and I wrap up the synopsis, which ought to be fairly soon, she will review it, as will his agent. At that point we’ll decide whether it makes more sense to go to market as a proposal, a partial or a full. Collaborator bravado111 and I will be discussing the writing schedule today, actually, and working out between the two of us how to approach that question from our end.

Our Lady of the Islands (independent novel set in the Green universe): She wants to review this one more time, possibly have another revision round, then go to market, but not in the same immediate time as Sunspin. Since Calamity of So Long a Life will probably be going out in the next few weeks if not sooner, this means Our Lady can go out later this spring. Collaborator calendula_witch and I are in agreement on this plan.

Short Fiction: I have now completed all requested short fiction due before the end of the summer. I need to send “The Cancer Catechism” into the requesting market, and later on in the year I have to write a Fathomless Abyss novella and a Cthulhu short. I have tentatively agreed to take on a couple of anthology invitations in June, when I have another month of Doing Miscellaneous Stuff on my writing calendar, but I don’t have guidelines for those yet. If you’re an editor and you’re expecting something from me that you suspect I’ve missed, please let me know.

Cancer: Of course, all of this is subject to change should next month’s re-tests show that my recently detected liver lesion is in fact a fourth round of cancer. I expect Sunspin to go forward mostly unaffected. Likewise Our Lady of the Islands. bravado111 and I need to discuss a fallback plan for Little Dog if I get seriously sidelined, so status unknown there. Ironically, it’s Going to Extremes, the big, ambitious cancer book, that will likely be the most disrupted from a return of the cancer, simply because of timing. If I spend the second half of this year going through another round of chemo, there’s no way on God’s green Earth I’ll be fit to go to Antarctica during the southern summer of 2012/2013. Also, my short fiction and miscellaneous project work will fall off the table complete if cancer returns, as will most or all of my already limited convention and conference schedule.

A lot going on, and I like being this kind of busy. I just hate the uncertainty.

Tags: Antarctica, Books, Calamity, Calendula, Cancer, Currents, Extremes, friends, health, Little Dog, Our Lady, Process, Publishing, Sunspin, Travel, Writing

Posted: 5:36 am Sat March 24 2012 | Comments(1) |

[writing] Productivity are us

I managed to knock out about three and a half hours of writing time yesterday. This in addition to Day Jobbery, lunch with my mother, dinner with H—, and helping the_child with her homework.

The funny part about the_child‘s homework was that she was working on the assignment I’d given her class. This is a flash fiction due tomorrow, when I return for my second guest teaching slot. A quirky dynamic was in play. (As I said privately to her mother, “Is this cheating?”) The story is really quite good, and I’ll probably post it here soon if she gives me permission.

On my own front, I got a (nearly) full draft of the Going to Extremes proposal into la agente. What I sent her was a bit more rough than my book proposals usually are, but book length nonfiction is new to me, so I wanted her feedback before I invested a bunch more time in it. I also reviewed bravado111‘s annotations to the Little Dog proposal, which I’ll be further revising next, probably this afternoon after Day Jobbery. In addition to that, I did some leg work for the recent Oregonian interview, completed an online interview, revised and sent out that rush nonfiction assignment, and updated my marketing/productivity spreadsheet. Also finished reading lizzyshannon‘s screenplay Blood of Orange and started the next portion of kenscholes‘s novel-in-progress Requiem.

Today, Little Dog, unless life interferes or Fred calls a rest day.

Can haz busy nao?

Tags: Books, Child, Extremes, friends, Little Dog, Process, stories, work, Writing

Posted: 5:39 am Wed March 14 2012 | Comments(0) |

[personal|writing] Busy day, busy week

I never did get any work done on Going to Extremes yesterday. I had a rush request for a short piece of nonfiction for which I had to knock out a first draft after Day Jobbery, then a solid block of time for a media interview (about which more later, in due time), then dinner with a friend, then home to help the_child with her homework.

Today is going to be pretty darned busy as well, including seeing lizzyshannon as well as dinner with another friend. I do expect to have time for Going to Extremes. Once I’m done with the first draft of this, I’ll get back to the outline of Little Dog, for which bravado111 has sent me comments. Plus more Day Jobbery as the week goes by, and off to Austin on Saturday for a trade show.

Whew.

Tags: Books, Child, Extremes, friends, Little Dog, Personal, Texas, Travel, Writing

Posted: 5:38 am Tue March 13 2012 | Comments(0) |

[writing] Chapter one of Going to Extremes is in draft

Chapter one of my sample chapters is in rough draft. This thing is raw, in several senses of the term. And it’s a real challenge to write in a nonfiction voice. I’m basically treating this like a giant blog entry. Almost conversational. This as opposed to my usual rather stylized fiction voice. Which in turn produces the odd sensation that I’m not really writing, not really working.

Interesting problem to have.

Meanwhile, a tiny bit of WIP: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cancer, Extremes, health, Personal, Process, wip, Writing

Posted: 6:29 am Fri March 09 2012 | Comments(0) |