Howard Hughes vs. Inertia
A sunny, slightly chilly day here in Providence.
And I need to be far more awake than I presently am. And yet, I've already managed email. Go me.
Yesterday earned a W (=Work; X=Wrote, L=Lost) in my day planner, a definite improvement. I spent the day talking through my thoughts on The Next Novel, working title Blood Oranges. Spooky was kind and sat and listened. In my head, it's coming together. Many disparate elements coalescing to form a story, which is pretty much how it always happens. This time: Little Red Riding Hood, art crimes, Albert Perrault, La bête du Gévaudan, serial killers, lycanthropy, Outsider art, sculpture, painting, fetish, film making, and so on. The Next Novel will have some things in common with The Red Tree, more so than the previous books. And it will be another first-person narrative, though not in journal form. Of course, now I have to assemble all these ideas into a synopsis for my editor, which is absolutely the second worst part of writing a novel (the worst part being the weeks following its release). I suspect I may be able to finish this book by May '10.
And speaking of The Red Tree, we have entered the fifth week since its release, and I'm going to be putting some energy into one last push to sell out the first printing of the trade paperback (which would greatly increase the likelihood that I continue to write novels). There will be some more work on the website, more interviews, more local bookshop appearances, and, we hope, a finished cut of the short film that Spooky was working on when her motherboard blew. And then, at the end of October, active promotion of The Red Tree will officially cease.
How can you help, assuming you'd like to help? Word of mouth, by using your blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Someone asked yesterday how I feel about fan art, and I replied, you have my blessings. If you loved the book, let others know, however you feel comfortable doing that. And, though it's a lot to ask, buying a second copy of The Red Tree for a friend or family member would be an enormous help. Thank you. You guys have done a lot already, and I am grateful.
Spooky and I also talked over a Mars YA sf story I have to get written by November 1st. It'll be set on the same Mars as "Bradbury Weather," and will deal with the trails of being a teen heterosexual in a society that has become, of necessity, one composed entirely of lesbians.
I think the best part of yesterday was discovering Deep Juan's Pizzeria, which led to an hour or so of silliness on Twitter. A Lovecraftian pizza joint, with mythos-themed pies. For example, here are a few that made the cut (ha, ha...):
1. At the Mozzarella of Madness (featuring the Sauce Out of Thyme)
2. Cthulhu's Revenge (one of the few I've worked out the ingredients for, including fried calamari and clam strips, a jalapeño pesto sauce, and muenster cheese).
3. The Baconomicon
4. Goat Cheese With a Thousand Young
5. Herbert West-Regurgitater Special
6. The Unnameable
7. The Polyperoni (obviously, lots and lots of pepperoni and pearl onions)
8. The Sausagoggoth
9. Pickman's Pineapple
10. Anchovies Over Innsmouth
11. Extra Fungi from Yuggoth
Sides include Elder Wings and Fish Sticks. And, of course, Deep Juan's "Thing on the Doorstep" delivery insures that each pizza will be delivered precisely a Shadow Out of Time, or you get to keep your soul. Still designing the boxes, which, naturally, will be cardboard tesseracts, to hold each non-Euclidean slice. I think I see a T-shirt in this whole affair....scarletboi?
Okay...there's much work to be done. Come on, platypus; it ain't over til it's over.
And I need to be far more awake than I presently am. And yet, I've already managed email. Go me.
Yesterday earned a W (=Work; X=Wrote, L=Lost) in my day planner, a definite improvement. I spent the day talking through my thoughts on The Next Novel, working title Blood Oranges. Spooky was kind and sat and listened. In my head, it's coming together. Many disparate elements coalescing to form a story, which is pretty much how it always happens. This time: Little Red Riding Hood, art crimes, Albert Perrault, La bête du Gévaudan, serial killers, lycanthropy, Outsider art, sculpture, painting, fetish, film making, and so on. The Next Novel will have some things in common with The Red Tree, more so than the previous books. And it will be another first-person narrative, though not in journal form. Of course, now I have to assemble all these ideas into a synopsis for my editor, which is absolutely the second worst part of writing a novel (the worst part being the weeks following its release). I suspect I may be able to finish this book by May '10.
And speaking of The Red Tree, we have entered the fifth week since its release, and I'm going to be putting some energy into one last push to sell out the first printing of the trade paperback (which would greatly increase the likelihood that I continue to write novels). There will be some more work on the website, more interviews, more local bookshop appearances, and, we hope, a finished cut of the short film that Spooky was working on when her motherboard blew. And then, at the end of October, active promotion of The Red Tree will officially cease.
How can you help, assuming you'd like to help? Word of mouth, by using your blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Someone asked yesterday how I feel about fan art, and I replied, you have my blessings. If you loved the book, let others know, however you feel comfortable doing that. And, though it's a lot to ask, buying a second copy of The Red Tree for a friend or family member would be an enormous help. Thank you. You guys have done a lot already, and I am grateful.
Spooky and I also talked over a Mars YA sf story I have to get written by November 1st. It'll be set on the same Mars as "Bradbury Weather," and will deal with the trails of being a teen heterosexual in a society that has become, of necessity, one composed entirely of lesbians.
I think the best part of yesterday was discovering Deep Juan's Pizzeria, which led to an hour or so of silliness on Twitter. A Lovecraftian pizza joint, with mythos-themed pies. For example, here are a few that made the cut (ha, ha...):
1. At the Mozzarella of Madness (featuring the Sauce Out of Thyme)
2. Cthulhu's Revenge (one of the few I've worked out the ingredients for, including fried calamari and clam strips, a jalapeño pesto sauce, and muenster cheese).
3. The Baconomicon
4. Goat Cheese With a Thousand Young
5. Herbert West-Regurgitater Special
6. The Unnameable
7. The Polyperoni (obviously, lots and lots of pepperoni and pearl onions)
8. The Sausagoggoth
9. Pickman's Pineapple
10. Anchovies Over Innsmouth
11. Extra Fungi from Yuggoth
Sides include Elder Wings and Fish Sticks. And, of course, Deep Juan's "Thing on the Doorstep" delivery insures that each pizza will be delivered precisely a Shadow Out of Time, or you get to keep your soul. Still designing the boxes, which, naturally, will be cardboard tesseracts, to hold each non-Euclidean slice. I think I see a T-shirt in this whole affair....scarletboi?
Okay...there's much work to be done. Come on, platypus; it ain't over til it's over.