Award Season Already?

Many of my author friends/acquaintances woke up to good news today.

The SFWA Nebula preliminary ballots are out. This is but the first stage of many. Still, congratulations to Jack McDevitt (Odyssey), tobias_buckell (Ragamuffin), and jimhines ("Sister of the Hedge") for making it through the first hoop.

I would also like to congratulate truepenny for A Companion to Wolves's Lambda Award nomination in the SF/F/H category.

Pimpin' Is Easy, Writing...Not So Much

This wasn’t a bad writing week. I finished another big chapter, and I’m now barreling towards the climax. There’s a certain satisfaction in moving past the world building and into the blowing crap up part. Still, the finish line seems miles away. I’m very jealous of quick writers. I get so impatient to finish, but it’s not easy for me to carve out any more time for writing. This is also, of course, my first attempt at a novel. I expect that the process will get a little easier as I learn more about writing.

Writing used to fill me with terror. I enjoyed the end product, but I used to freak about getting everything perfect on the first try. I was hard on myself for not being an original genius who would fart brilliant rainbows of groundbreaking prose and poetry each time I typed. I can’t say that I’m completely cured, but I’ve overcome this garbage enough to actually write regularly.

I am so happy to be in the Internet age. Reading the blogs of brilliant writers has really demystified the process for me. It’s reassuring to know that they also have insecurities, bad drafts, clichéd ideas, and the other writing problems that I have. For the first time in my life, I’m not giving up.

I am still confident that I will reach my goal of having a revised draft of my first novel by WisCon.