Thursday, September 15, 2011

Work Work Work Work Work

Projects have been coming in copious amounts lately. It's been a busy summer for my writing, and I'm happy about that.

After CONVergence I felt like I'd made a discovery, or perhaps I simply allowed myself the pleasure of admitting something: I write steampunk. I'm good at it. I like it. I'm ok with that. I've always had an inordinate love for Victorian literature (Dickens is my man), and I love socially-conscious science fiction. So I blend the two and whala! I have created my own steampunk.

So that -- for the last two months -- has been my driving force. I am working on a series of shorts that are going to be converted to script in order to make them into a graphic novel. It will be a bit of a process, but I'm hoping to get a few of the initial issues into Steampunk Magazine.

I've also been working on yet another edit of the Charles novel, which I have tentatively titled (yeah, after 12 years I finally came on a title, which I think is a good sign) "The Mechanics of the World" or possibly "The Mechanics of Man." The rewrite is going well, and I'm going to use NaNo to finish it off.

I have a few thoughts to say about motivation, though. My job, of late, has not been as conducive as it once was to getting work done, which has left me to get work done at home or elsewhere. Let me tell you there are a lot of distractions at home, and I have had to force myself to go to places where I have only writing to keep my occupied. If you find yourself in the same quandary, find a place without personal distractions: the library, a bar, the coffee shop, a park. Go somewhere that works for you that's not riddled with the internet, and dishes, and pets, and kids. Otherwise you'll make excuses, and writing just won't happen.