Sorry for the radio silence. Life has been full of things that have been more important than blogging and that have been a higher priority even than writing. I think its important that you get at least a little update on what those priorities have been and what’s coming up for me. I don’t believe in making excuses for things under my control, but I do like explanations.
I have a day job that can be pretty demanding of my time. When it is, and when it is demanding, that shaves time off of when I can write as well as draining the mental energy to do so. I’m at a point with my novel where I’m trying to nail act two and it’s not flowing well, so the brain work has been harder than usual. As a result…
I’ve prioritized understanding why I’m stuck and how to get out of it rather than writing. I know this isn’t quite consistent with the advice from the successful folks. That advice generally consists of “just write”, and “you can’t edit a blank page.” Getting this right affects not just the book I’m writing now, but how the universe unfolds and even the appropriate antagonists for the story and is something I need to fix. “Save the Cat” and “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story” have been a great help when added to notes from Kevin Ikenberry’s workshop from a somewhat recent convention. You’ll be getting a better story for it.
The single biggest priority for me over the past few months has been fixing my health and fitness situation. I knew that I had been putting on weight over the past 18 months, but hadn’t realized how out of hand it had gotten. My habits that were supporting writing productivity (weekly brewery and burgers at #FridayNightWrites) were not helping. That’s just one example. It’s always easier and faster overall to go to a nearby restaurant and grab a bite to eat than it is to grocery shop, prep, and cook for one. To fix this, I’ve been making more frequent and longer trips to grocery stores, cooking the overwhelming majority of meals myself, and spending about 5 hours lifting each week… this was writing time and blog time. I’ve also been trying to get to bed earlier and get more rest (one of the most important things you can do for fitness and weight management).
Sets at 136kg (299.8 lbs)
End result – over the past eight weeks, I’ve written very little, plotted quite a lot, am down 21lbs on the scale and up a fair bit of weight on my primary lifts in the garage gym.
Works in Progress
I’m editing a short story for submission to next year’s FantaSci anthology – “Bonds of Valor” and working on mid-point revisions of my novel.
What I’m Doing and Where I’ll Be
I’m going to be at 20BooksVegas in about two weeks and I’m taking some time either side to focus on writing with my good friend Mike Massa. Taking time out to just change environments and bounce ideas last year was very productive and resulted in my short story “Fellblade” getting into last year’s FantaSci anthology.
If you’re going to be there too, let me know. If you’re interested in some aspect of the event or an after action report, let me know that, too.
If you haven’t read “Fellblade” yet, why not? You can get it here, along with other really good stories by authors I love like D.J. Butler and Glenn Cook.
Things to Read
Have you considered the Eldros Legacy? A multi-author fantasy series edited by Rob Howell and featuring established authors like Aaron Rosenberg?
It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Not because I haven’t had things to write about, but because there have been more important uses of my time than blogging. Sad, that. But there’s still a day job and I’m still plugging along with my writing.
LibertyCon 2022
LibertyCon is more than just a convention, it’s a gathering of friends and family you know and those you haven’t met yet. There’s always something to do, someone to talk to. I drove down starting on Wednesday, stopping a few hours away in Knoxville where my friend Olesh had moved to relatively recently. Like all good road trips, it was uneventful and it was great to catch up with him and his wife.
We arrived at the con Thursday a bit after noon and offloaded the literal truckload of party supplies for the weekend and spent a few hours catching up with other early arrivals and staging the room for the weekend. (VIDEO OF STAGED ROOM ). I was open for a little while Thursday and Sunday and with Olesh’s support and a drink menu was open for most of Friday and Saturday. In hindsight, one night was more than enough – both nights cost me time with people that I came to see vs. time with people that came to see me.
There were some programming issues – well, I had some issues with the programming – where everything I wanted to do was happening all at the same time. But that’s my problem, not the con’s.
There’s too many people to list that I saw, but some highlights were spending time with my good friend Mike Massa and his lovely wife Lorna, chatting with Monalisa and Rick, getting some conversation in with Kevin Ikenberry, a long and interesting chat about the Titanic and other topics with Dan Butler, and spending time with my David Weber fan club Executive Officer, Evil Penguin who was recovering from some serious health issues. It’s always great to see Rob Hampson – a good friend and honest to goodness scientist – who was gifted with a full page layout of a Wall Street Journal article referencing his work and signed by his friends, including yours truly.
Congratulations Dr. Hampson!
The highlight for me was a personal one that came Thursday night from my friend Greg Donahue. As a Marine, the Island of Iwo Jima is a special place in lore and legend and the battle fought there is part of the mythology that builds a Marine into what we are. He gifted me with some “sand” from that island. I can barely imagine thousands of men pressed face first into this sharp-edged, volcanic gravel, fighting for their lives. Nor the Japanese defenders giving their blood to defend it. When I was in service, I was slated to travel for the anniversary of the landing, but that trip was canceled due to weather. It’s unlikely that I’ll ever stand there and certainly wouldn’t be allowed to take home soil from there. This hallowed dirt was brought over many decades ago, before such things were forbidden. And now I have some. Thank you, Greg.
“Sands” of Iwo Jima
Despite getting reasonable amounts of sleep and not drinking all that much, by the time I got home Monday night, I was exhausted. It honestly took a couple days before I was back into the grind of the day job. But it was oh so worth it.
Tickets for 2023 went on sale the day of the airshow and I was fortunate that a friend grabbed tickets for me while I was in the middle of an airfield with inconsistent cell phone connectivity so I can attend next year.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. I was too busy peopling to use my phone for anything other than comms.
I proved to everyone’s satisfaction that really expensive rye whiskey makes really amazing Old Fashioneds.
Oh so expensive and oh so worth it.
Transition
In between the convention and the air show, I found out that I was NOT one of the ten finalists for the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award. No sadness. I did come up with a protagonist and a world that I like if I ever want to get into urban fantasy. There’s always next year.
Thunder Over Michigan Airshow
This past weekend was the Thunder Over Michigan Airshow and the first year of their two-show-a-day, drive-up format. While I loved the show, I am not at fan of the new format at all. I’m going to complain first and then tell you about the awesomeness that made it all worthwhile.
So… the “day of show” prices for the airshow are obscene. I have the advantage of getting a discount for being a museum member and buying early, so I wouldn’t be paying these prices, but still more than half of what I’m going to describe
The all day $25 per vehicle parking and $60 per person walk-in entry was replaced in its entirety by a flat $225 per normal sized vehicle. No RVs or vehicles over 20 feet long. As many people as you can legally fit. For ONE two to two and a half hour show. Morning show opens at 7, starts at9, ends at 11. Afternoon show opens at 1, starts at 2:30, ends by 5.
$170 more to get a full day pass. For that you get a second, different show of the same length after a three and a half hour wait.
Performers are never guaranteed and there are no rainchecks. The morning show had several cancelations (Lysander, Mosquito, and Navy Leap Frog parachute team), so we only saw 6 planes take to the air. Math: $225/3 people in the car/6 planes = $12.50 per person per plane. OR $225/3 people/2 hours = $37.50 per person per hour. If the show is rained out, you’re out your money.
No more WWII ground battle re-enactments
No more WWII/Vietnam re-enactor campground outside the airshow
No more surplus, militaria vendors at the campground
No more significant ground equipment displays of historic tanks and armored vehicles (though there was still some)
Limited ground displays – there was barely anything to do between shows and some of the static displays were closed. There were fewer aircraft on display.
The all-day beverage and lunch included tent at the flightline “Bomber Club” was turned into the “Thunder Deck” which didn’t serve a lessened lunch until 2pm and that put you up in raised grandstands a couple hundred yards from the flightline. Still an additional $100+ per person.
Basically, you’re paying a lot more for a lot less.
So… on to the good and why it was still worth it.
Every single one of the Thunder Over Michigan airshows is an opportunity to see something you’ll almost certainly never see again. This year I was hoping to see one of the few flying original DeHavilland Mosquitos, but that was one of the last minute cancellations. I DID get to see a FW190, an Me109, a P-51 Mustang, and a Supermarine Spitfire fly together, in formation. I also got to see a canceled then arriving late DeHavilland Vampire, both of those in the afternoon show.
The star of the morning show was the Hawker Hurricane. It was unanimous that it was the most graceful WWII warbird any of us had seen.
Because I had made the decision to attend all day, and I’m a veteran, I was eligible to get one of nine slots on a Vietnam era (5 year, 3500+ flight hour veteran of that conflict) Huey, courtesy of Pentagon Federal Credit Union. I got to check a bucket list item off of my list. 🙂
Writing Takeaways
Since this is a writing blog, I figured I needed to insert some takeaways.
Networking with other authors and fans is a valuable use of time. Make time for it. #LibertyCon
Get out and experience things to assist you with your writing. I now know what it’s like to ride in a helicopter (no thanks to four years in the Marines), have heard how quiet a jet fighter can be (Vampire is really really quiet for a jet), heard how loud a jet fighter can be (my ears are still ringing from the F35s I’ve seen in years past), and have gotten up close and hands on with the past and the present with static displays. It doesn’t have to be an air show, but just something outside of your daily experience.
I’ve got a lot more images to share. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll post them in a follow-up thread!
… Con. Give me LibertyCon. It’s been too long since there has been one. I’m not going to bother explaining why there hasn’t been an in-person LibertyCon for a few years. If you’re an alien without the context of the past couple of years, you’ll need to reach out to me directly for an explanation. For the rest of you, you KNOW.
This has become my favorite convention. The sheer number of literary professionals in attendance is a big draw, but so is the fact that its the only place where I get to share a long weekend with literally dozens of my best friends, sharing a common experience.
This year will be a little different for me. Not just because it’s been so long, but because I’m finally published (in a small way) and have started really putting my head down to understand tradecraft. This will be the first time I’m seeking that sort of knowledge in such a deep pool of knowledge. I want to learn from the best and there’s not many places to do so better than LibertyCon.
While during the day I’ll be attending panels, soaking up information like a sponge, in the evenings I’ll be enjoying fine cocktails and conversation at the room parties. One of which I’ll be hosting. The Completely Random Cocktail Hour.
It’s not random because of the drinks served, it’s random because of the hours of operation. I don’t want to be tied to my room all night, so if I feel like I need to wander off… I’ll do so and temporarily shut the doors. It’s something I’ve been doing at cons for close to two decades and its part of what I enjoy. Other people seem to like it too.
What’s New
Making slow progress on my science fiction novel WIP. During my #fridaynightwrites session last night, I think I know what I want the title to be. If you’re reading this, you’re in a select club of people who know.
CONSEQUENCES
I’m interested what your thoughts are on the working title. What would you expect from a science fiction novel with that title. Let me know! If you’d like to be a part of my early reader team… Let me know! If you have any other questions for me… Let me know! (There’s a theme here…)
Beyond that, I’m waiting patiently to find out if I’m a finalist in the Baen Fantasy Adventure Contest. Nineteen days until they announce. If my name isn’t in the list I get to add one more story to the “learn from this and make it better” pile.
What’s Next
After LibertyCon I’ll be knuckling down to improve my weekly word count on Consequences and sometime in the next couple of months, I’ll be reworking some short stories in the Fellblade universe for submission to next year’s FantaSci anthology and potentially working on some additional shorts in anthologies that, if they spin up, I’ve been invited to write for.
It’s all very exciting.
WHAT I’M READING
It’s been a while since I last posted, so I’ve had an opportunity to read a lot. I know that I don’t have enough fans to complain that I’m reading instead of writing, I can honestly say that I am reading for research into what makes a good story as well as reading for enjoyment.
Legacy of Heorot and Beowulf’s Children are classic science fiction from the literal masters of the craft. Good books, solid reads, and written in a style that I don’t know that I want to replicate, even if I could. It’s what’s needed for the tale of man vs. untamed planet though. I really recommend these.
Salvage System is another of Kevin Steverson’s books that sells really well. He’s found an audience in space opera and it’s worth reading for the story and for how he’s done it.
Bill Webb write military fiction. A lot of it. There’s ways to describe battles that I need for what I’m writing. I definitely get that from Shadows. It’s also a story that takes place in Chuck Gannon’s Caine Riordan universe, which I’m heavily invested in as a reader. You should be too.
Talons and Talismans is another short story anthology by New Mythology Press, the publisher of Fellblade in Keen Edge of Valor. The story that I submitted for this anthology (and that got rejected) is one that I plan on reworking for next year’s FantaSci anthology. The talent in that anthology was off the hook and I needed to see how I could learn from them.
Finally, Abbott in Darkness. I really like DJ Butler’s stuff and this is a wonderful story – the kind about a protagonist that isn’t much different from you or I. He’s a good person who risks everything to do the right things the right way and the story is about the consequences for doing so.
That’s a good question. I’m miles away from being a full-time author, so the day job continues to consume much of my time. But, I have done some writer things. Since the last update, I have:
Attended a Convention at the last minute
Finished a short story for a contest submission
Gotten “active” in social media for the first time in a few years
Learned more about how I most effectively edit
Penguicon – the Convention:
A Convention Like No Other
Penguicon is a local convention that I had started attending the first year it started. It’s a different kind of convention than most – a mix of fandoms and creative types – with an emphasis on “makers.” It’s kind of cool. Even before the <redacted> shut down the world for two years, I had slowed my involvement, often just buying a pass and showing up to see friends on a Saturday evening. But, between being a new author and Penguicon super short on room nights and attendance to keep the con going, I dedicated a whole weekend. End result – saw friends, helped save a convention (a little bit), and sold a few books at the Writer’s Block. It was worth the time, but it did eat into my writing time.
The Writer’s Block was interesting. Instead of having individual author tables, they grabbed programming space and set up a table where any author who had registered with the con could put the books that they wrote (focus on makers, remember) up for sale. A single merchant account with a Square register had everyone’s books and the prices that the authors wanted to charge loaded into it. In exchange for a few shifts staffing the Block, an author’s books were on display and able to be sold without the author being present. There was no charge and no table fee to do this. The folks with the merchant account deducted the processing fee, collected sales tax, and should be sending the net sales out along with the collected sales tax out this week.
The Short Story:
Baen Fantasy Adventure Award Contest
I’m afraid that I can’t talk about the story itself much because there’s a small, but not negligible possibility that one of judges for the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award may read this. I don’t want to disqualify them from judging my story or sabotage my chances. I’ll have to keep quiet for the next couple of months, but I really like this one.
One of the things that I’ve been learning in this journey of mine is how important community is. My friend and author, Monalisa Foster, was one of several individuals who gave my story a read ahead of time. She took the extra time to point out some things that, when fixed, made for a much more polished submission. I am not relying on this sort of deep review from her, or anyone going forward, but it’s a great example of why you need to maintain and grow your network. Pay it forward, pay it back… be kind and build up others.
Gotten “Active” on Social Media:
Social Media is too much like work….
Following advice from the books on writing and getting published that I’ve been reading, I’ve dipped my toes back into Social Media. What does this mean? I’ve started posting again on Facebook and created an Author account there. It can be a tremendous time sink and I’m carefully managing my time and efforts there, with a focus on keeping engagement with my friends and potential readers. I’ve also recreated a Twitter account. And, unlike my first account, I have actually started engaging people. I have followed and am being followed to a much greater extent than before. My last account consisted of a single tweet over several years of the account being active.
“I have more Twitter followers than Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Ghengis Khan combined.”
There’s a balance here, staying active and engaged without it taking time from the more important things in life. Like writing more stuff for you to read.
Editing is NOT Writing
I may have mentioned before… if not here, then definitely in other forums… that I need to get out of the house to be really effective at creative writing. Too many distractions at home and I spend 8-10 hours a day, every weekday, working from home. I need the physical disconnect, different space, etc. in order to be creative.
That’s exactly the opposite of what I need to effectively edit. I spent four hours doing what I thought was a final editing pass at my Friday Night Writes hangout.
Fortunately, I took some time Saturday afternoon to do a “last minute” pass before submission when I was at home. My time the night before was largely wasted and it took me just as much time to re-edit everything as I had spent the night before. Lesson: Creative space is not the space I need for editing.
What Else is Going On?
Well, I never stop reading for one.
As predicted, Larry and Steve’s Servants of Warwas amazing. I’m still going through the third book in the Author Fundamentals series by Chris Kennedy Publishing. Kevin Steverson’s Salvage Fleet book (book 2 in the series) was a fun ride.
Talons and Talismans is a bittersweet read for me. I apparently just missed the cut with a story submission for the two book anthology (tons of great stories in there). Even without my contribution, it’s a great read.
Up next for me is one of my favorite authors, Joel Shepherd, with the eighth book in the Spiral Wars series, Ceephay Queen. I can’t wait to dive into it. The first book in this series, that I can’t recommend highly enough, is called Renegade. Start there!
As far as writing goes, I’ll be getting back to my science fiction novel WIP this week.
And now, I leave you with a picture of a kitten, guarding my books. Peanut is more likely to run from you than to attack, but he at least pretends to be fierce.
I’ve climbed the mountain of getting the first short story and first publication to done. Following the advice of a lot of other (successful) authors, I’m hustling to keep my name in front of people, Keen Edge of Valor selling and getting reviews, and building my relationships with my readers and my peers.
Most importantly though, I’m continuing to write. Since the submission of Fellblade, I’ve been making progress on a novel (Title TBD) set in a science fiction universe of my own creation. I’m drawing inspiration from the life of William Marshal, one of the greatest knights to ever live.
At FantaSci a few weeks ago, I was given some amazing education (Thanks Kevin Ikenberry and Monalisa Foster) on plotting and proper use of character voice that helped me understand why certain parts of my work in progress made me uncomfortable when writing. I’m at about 31k words with it, almost done with the first act, and will go back and edit it with what I learned in mind.
BUT I’m putting that on pause right now. The Baen Fantasy Adventure Award Contest submission window ends this month and I’ve got a great story idea for it. I can’t say too much about it because it’s possible that one or more judges may read this blog and I don’t want to disqualify them from reading my submission. I’m at 13k words out of a max of 8k for that one.
What’s New?
What I’m Reading: Last Week, I finished reading Salvage Title by Kevin Steverson. It’s fun, mil sci-fi in a universe that has expanded to include a number of books by a number of authors. I’m looking forward to reading more in this series.
I just finished Valor’s Child By Kal Spriggs. It was surprisingly punchy for such a short, YA targeted novel. What seemed like a “boot camp” story turned into something a lot more about relationships and growing up than I expected. It was a pleasant surprise. I will be getting more books in this series.
I’m currently reading, for enjoyment,Servants of War By Larry Correia and Steve Diamond. I’ll post more on this one later, but it’s starting off strong.
Professionally, I’ve been reading through the Author Fundamentals books by Chris Kennedy Publishing. The books are relatively short, the advice concentrated, and the chapters digestible in small chunks. If you’re looking to get started as an author, these are a really good resource that doesn’t require dedicated attention from you to plow through because of the organization. They’re also easy to reference later.
One More Thing
Each blog, I want to provide one more thing for my readers that might make a difference for you and your loved ones. This week: Go For A Walk. The TLDR here is that for every thousand steps you take in a day, your all cause mortality is reduced by 12%. Get up and move.
Comment Below and let me know what you’re reading, and if you’re doing the “one thing.”
I’ve got bigger plans now that I’m over the first hurdle of getting something out there. My first professional sale is the story “Fellblade” in the “Keen Edge of Valor” anthology with GLEN FREAKING COOK and DJ Butler, among others.
There was a time when I kept a LiveJournal, back when blogging was what all the cool kids did. Then came social media, which took the blog and turned it into something both more and significantly less.
To help me with my creative process, I started another blog “Heavy Weighs In”, and the next few posts will be copies and pastes from that one. They’re mostly musings on the writing process so far.
I’ve got bigger plans now that I’m over the first hurdle of getting something out there. My first professional sale is the story “Fellblade” in the “Keen Edge of Valor” anthology with GLEN FREAKING COOK and DJ Butler, among others.
Next up is a sprint to get a submission ready for the Baen Fantasy Contest, then I’ll be returning to my science fiction novel. There will be more on both later.
There’s a fair chunk of time when I am at my computer but not able to creatively write. What I’d like to do, what I plan to do, is expand what I cover in the blog, send out a regular newsletter that covers not just me and my writing, but other topics of interest as well as informing my readers and subscribers to what else is happening in and around publishing.
What I won’t do, is let this blog and associated newsletter, eat into my creative writing time.
I’d be interested to hear your suggestions, so if you’d like to, leave me a comment below.
Nathan Balyeat 