Happy New Year!
Jan. 1st, 2007 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jpskewedthroneWell, here's my little post ruminating about the past year and discussing what my goals are for the new year.
Pretty much, the last year totally rocked and totally sucked, simultaneously.
The Suckage: Obviously, the fact that through the course of the year I lost approximately three-quarters of all of my worldly possessions . . . sucks. First there was the flood, which took out about half of it. I'm still suffering book withdrawal. Tossing book after book in the garbage is not something I wish upon anyone who reads or writes. Then there was the bastards that took advantage of the chaos of the flood situation and, during the cleaning process of the storage facility where all my stuff was stored, robbed me. I'm still dealing with that, since I didn't discover it until recently. The insurance company asked me to try to list all of the CDs, DVDs, and tapes that were taken, and so I spent a good portion of the last few days just working on the CD list. I'm up to 185 CDs stolen. *sigh* I think I'm shifting over to DVDs and tapes today. The only good thing is that for the most part I owned soundtracks for CDs . . . and they were soundtracks for movies I owned. So I can just start the movie list by working my way down the soundtrack list already compiled.
And for everyone else out there, a suggestion: MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE CDS AND DVDS YOU OWN! That way, if something horrible like a robbery happens to you, you have the list readily available. My list of the stuff that survived the theft has already been created and will be updated on a regular basis.
The Rockage: And just as obviously, the fact that I had not one but two hardcover books released in 2006 is the rockage. The Skewed Throne seems to be selling well, based on nothing much except my own perception of watching my rankings and whatnot. (We determined earlier that the actually sales report from DAW was less than helpful.) The Cracked Throne seems to be doing well, as well as the paperback of The Skewed Throne. It's still a little early to make a final decision on that. Also part of the rockage, I finished the first draft of the third book, The Vacant Throne, which puts that on schedule for a possible release in 2007. Unless revisions become cumbersome.
There were other good things and bad things during the last year of course, but I think those weight in as the heaviest hitters. In the long run . . . I'd say I came out ahead. Having your things flooded or stolen . . . eh. They're just things. I can replace them (with some decrease in my net worth of course). Getting published, seeing your own books on the shelf, holding that hardcover or paperback in your hand and getting the occassional fan email . . . there's nothing that compares. I had 4 goals in my life and have managed to check off 2 of them so far: getting my PhD in math and getting published. The other two goals weren't as important to me. (Getting a screenplay written and produced, and writing an orchestral work/symphony kind of thing were the other 2 goals; yes, I play the piano [more than twelve years of lessons], and have played the clarinet, violin, and percussion instruments.) They're still possible, but I started with the two that meant more to me. The others were more incidental. And yes, I'm insane. I blame it on being the first born child in the family.
Goals for the new year: Get The Vacant Throne revised and released. I'm hoping for either a November release or earlier. I'm not on the DAW schedule yet (as far as I know), so this is a total guess/wish on my part.
I'd also like to get another trilogy sold, since after The Vacant Throne I'm fresh out of signed contracts. That depends on the sales figures for the other 2 books. If they were good (and thanks to all of you who've supported me over the past year, in all the various ways you've supported me, not the least of which is reading the books), then DAW should want another trilogy. And I'd like to stay with DAW. I won't say no to a better offer elsewhere (I'm also not insane) but DAW was always my first choice as publisher during those long "I want to be published" years.
For those of you itching to know, I have 2 possible trilogies that I'd like to propose next, neither of which have to do with Amenkor or Varis. New people, new locations, same world though. I'd like to return to Amenkor and the Frigean Coast eventually, in fact I have 2 other trilogies planned for the coast already, but I need the break. DAW has already expressed interest in the other 2 trilogies, but this has been just conversations at cons and whatnot. No contracts have been forthcoming, simply because I was already under contract. But once those are fulfilled. . . .
And lastly, I'd like to sell my supernatural horror novel called Fever. It's a small town story about spontaneous combustion and pyrokinesis with a love story thrown in for kicks. Yes, a love story about fire. Think Stephen King crossed with M Night Shyamalan.
Those are my big goals this year. I need to write at least one more book. If someone buys the one trilogy, the first book has already been written and would just need to be revised. If they buy the other trilogy, then I'd be starting from scratch with only part of the first chapter written. And if no one buys anything I'll write whatever the hell I want!
Assuming I can see through my own tears at that point.
Pretty much, the last year totally rocked and totally sucked, simultaneously.
The Suckage: Obviously, the fact that through the course of the year I lost approximately three-quarters of all of my worldly possessions . . . sucks. First there was the flood, which took out about half of it. I'm still suffering book withdrawal. Tossing book after book in the garbage is not something I wish upon anyone who reads or writes. Then there was the bastards that took advantage of the chaos of the flood situation and, during the cleaning process of the storage facility where all my stuff was stored, robbed me. I'm still dealing with that, since I didn't discover it until recently. The insurance company asked me to try to list all of the CDs, DVDs, and tapes that were taken, and so I spent a good portion of the last few days just working on the CD list. I'm up to 185 CDs stolen. *sigh* I think I'm shifting over to DVDs and tapes today. The only good thing is that for the most part I owned soundtracks for CDs . . . and they were soundtracks for movies I owned. So I can just start the movie list by working my way down the soundtrack list already compiled.
And for everyone else out there, a suggestion: MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE CDS AND DVDS YOU OWN! That way, if something horrible like a robbery happens to you, you have the list readily available. My list of the stuff that survived the theft has already been created and will be updated on a regular basis.
The Rockage: And just as obviously, the fact that I had not one but two hardcover books released in 2006 is the rockage. The Skewed Throne seems to be selling well, based on nothing much except my own perception of watching my rankings and whatnot. (We determined earlier that the actually sales report from DAW was less than helpful.) The Cracked Throne seems to be doing well, as well as the paperback of The Skewed Throne. It's still a little early to make a final decision on that. Also part of the rockage, I finished the first draft of the third book, The Vacant Throne, which puts that on schedule for a possible release in 2007. Unless revisions become cumbersome.
There were other good things and bad things during the last year of course, but I think those weight in as the heaviest hitters. In the long run . . . I'd say I came out ahead. Having your things flooded or stolen . . . eh. They're just things. I can replace them (with some decrease in my net worth of course). Getting published, seeing your own books on the shelf, holding that hardcover or paperback in your hand and getting the occassional fan email . . . there's nothing that compares. I had 4 goals in my life and have managed to check off 2 of them so far: getting my PhD in math and getting published. The other two goals weren't as important to me. (Getting a screenplay written and produced, and writing an orchestral work/symphony kind of thing were the other 2 goals; yes, I play the piano [more than twelve years of lessons], and have played the clarinet, violin, and percussion instruments.) They're still possible, but I started with the two that meant more to me. The others were more incidental. And yes, I'm insane. I blame it on being the first born child in the family.
Goals for the new year: Get The Vacant Throne revised and released. I'm hoping for either a November release or earlier. I'm not on the DAW schedule yet (as far as I know), so this is a total guess/wish on my part.
I'd also like to get another trilogy sold, since after The Vacant Throne I'm fresh out of signed contracts. That depends on the sales figures for the other 2 books. If they were good (and thanks to all of you who've supported me over the past year, in all the various ways you've supported me, not the least of which is reading the books), then DAW should want another trilogy. And I'd like to stay with DAW. I won't say no to a better offer elsewhere (I'm also not insane) but DAW was always my first choice as publisher during those long "I want to be published" years.
For those of you itching to know, I have 2 possible trilogies that I'd like to propose next, neither of which have to do with Amenkor or Varis. New people, new locations, same world though. I'd like to return to Amenkor and the Frigean Coast eventually, in fact I have 2 other trilogies planned for the coast already, but I need the break. DAW has already expressed interest in the other 2 trilogies, but this has been just conversations at cons and whatnot. No contracts have been forthcoming, simply because I was already under contract. But once those are fulfilled. . . .
And lastly, I'd like to sell my supernatural horror novel called Fever. It's a small town story about spontaneous combustion and pyrokinesis with a love story thrown in for kicks. Yes, a love story about fire. Think Stephen King crossed with M Night Shyamalan.
Those are my big goals this year. I need to write at least one more book. If someone buys the one trilogy, the first book has already been written and would just need to be revised. If they buy the other trilogy, then I'd be starting from scratch with only part of the first chapter written. And if no one buys anything I'll write whatever the hell I want!
Assuming I can see through my own tears at that point.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 04:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-04 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-04 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 04:33 pm (UTC)That's actually my big chore for the day. We're doing it with a digital camera, though. That way we can put the pictures on disc, and then stash extra copies off-site (with parents). We've always done this with the furniture, but this is the first time we're decided to add all our media to the listing. (We have a terrifyingly high number of books, DVDs, and CDs. That would amount to a huge chunk of change if we had a tornado)
Sorry you lost your books. ::cringing::
no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 07:01 pm (UTC)