One Hot Mess

It's our first excerpt-posting! And Cthulhu expects great things from you:
 

 
 
 

I'll go first, since I'm ... here. I'm currently meeting my 1k a day target for Night and Chaos:
 

And here's an excerpt to prove it!

 
( Cut to appease the Elder Gods )

So how's everyone else doing? Let's see what you've been working on!

Points of Interest:

It's October 13th! Which means there are still eighteen days to sign up for Anti-Nano, if you haven't already joined my fledgling cult. And you should totally join - there might be cupcakes! You can certainly never rule out the possibility, anyway.

My friend laburton has re-released her urban fantasy novel, STORM OF MAGICK on Smashwords (and I believe the Kindle release is imminent). You should check it out.

In other news, I have A Plan to rid myself of my horrible job and start a new life at a cocktail bar in the tropics somewhere less teeth-achingly stressful. Part of this plan involves writing lots of novellas and publishing them on the Kindle to make some pocket money. I know! I'm backtracking. I do think there's a lot of potential pitfalls involved in self-publishing, and I do find the "We'll show them all!" attitude of a lot of self-pubbers towards those of us working towards traditional publishing tedious. I still believe everything I said back in August about why I want to write and what I want from my writing career. I don't think traditional publishing is dead, and I still believe I have a shot at the agent-publisher-bookshop dream, despite a ... down-turn on the agent front recently. 

That said, I want to change my life. My job makes me deeply unhappy and I can't afford to just quit, sadly. But I had this epiphany on Monday morning whilst stuck in traffic on the way to my horrible job: There's something I can do about it.

I can write and put what I write on Amazon and see what happens. I'll still be writing novels for small presses and with the intent to submit to agents. That part of my plan will never change; I believe wholeheartedly in my dream. But if I can make enough money self-publishing to go part-time next year ... well, I need that. I need to change something or I'm going to fall apart. I'm prepared to take a few risks in order to change my situation now, something I've been afraid of doing in the past. I shouldn't be afraid. I should be brave. This is me being brave and taking a risk. 

(Actually, trying to make head or tail of Amazon's Kindle guide is taking a risk. An FAQ should not have subfolders and videos. Just saying okay?)

I had a very useful conversation with nathreee  recently that helped me clarify my thoughts on this matter and pushed me to make a decision. I've always said that I don't think it has to be "either or" when it comes to self-publishing versus traditional publishing, and I think I'm a good enough and self-aware enough writer to do this the right way. So that's that. Watch this space. This may lead to my Paranormal Romance Secret Identity being revealed, but more details when I have something worth discussing in details.

The other part of my plan is to step up the job hunt, because whatever happens I need to get away from the Institute. I applied for two jobs today. Surely if I just keep applying, something will eventually come through, right?

Anyway, this post went a bit off-topic. I'll leave you with this message from our Anti-Nano sponsor:

I tried to think of a snappier title, but I had a lot of cocktails last night, so...

I am well up for starting cults, all the time.

Anyway. If you're like me, about this time of  year, you start getting excited about Nanowrimo. The writing! The social events! The challenge of writing 50k in a month! It all seems brilliant and so easily done. Just, what? 1666.6666666666666666666667 words a day, and you're totally there! And who can't find time for 1666.6666666666666666666667 words a day, right?

And then you start, and for the first week you're full of enthusiasm and the muse is there with you, and you're powering through and thrashing the word count every day, and you're so totally winning Nano!

And then one of the following things happen:

1. You skip a day for some reason. Maybe you have a headache, or a social engagement you can't avoid. So the next day you have to write double. But you don't manage that, because writing 3332 words is suddenly really hard. And so you fall short and have to write more the next day, and the next, and the next, until finally you'd have to be writing, like, 7000 words a day to make that 50k goal, and we all know how much that isn't going to happen, so you give up and watch cartoons all month instead. Fail.

2. You suddenly realise that everything you're writing is utter tripe. You panic, flail, try to get back on track, but have lost all confidence, so you give up and watch cartoons all month instead. Fail.

3. That old recurrent arm injury flares up and you're in too much pain to even look at a keyboard. You give up and watch cartoons all month instead. Fail.

(You'll notice a theme here. It's failing and cartoons. Cartoons is how I remedy failure.)

Well, screw you, Nano! There are other ways we failures cartoon fans writers can achieve greatness in November! I'm officially gauging interest in an Anti-Nano Cult. If you want all the cameraderie and goal-setting of Nano without the pressure of getting to 50k, come join me. Set your own target and flip the bird at all those smug 50k-ers. Look, I'll be doing it. If you want to join me, leave a comment so I can figure out if it's worth getting properly organised and christening myself a High Priestess, okay?