I'm Going Senile...

Holy Crap!

I totally forgot to tell y'all that Sword and Sorceress 32 came out last week! It contains my short story "Unexpected", a delightful tale of a damsel saving the dragon.

P.S. There's a lot of other cool writers in the anthology, too.

The "Why Isn't Suzan Posting" Post

It's been a busy week here at Casa Harden.

Last week of classes at public school coincided with the last week of classes at driving school. Instead of going home after dropping Genius Kid off at driving school, I went to Panera's to write. Over 8K words written this week so far, and I should hit 10K by Saturday night. Yay!

Seriously, I'm closing in on finishing Sacrificed. If the first draft isn't done this week, it will be next week.

Yes, that offsets the sheer terror any parent feels when their teen is about to get their driver license.

In the meantime, I sold "Unexpected" to Sword and Sorceress 32. The latest volume of the long-running anthology will be released around the first of November. I'll let you know the specific date down the road.

Then I REALLY need to review the proof copies of the paperbacks done so far and get them launched.

I'm also considering whether or not to do a local author event. Dealing with total strangers in public sets off my anxiety, but Darling Husband has offered to be my bodyguard. Not sure what I'll do yet, but I definitely need something to sell if I'm going, i.e. finish proofing those paperbacks!

Overall, it feels great to be in the writing groove again!

Nothing New Under the Sun Except Some Kind Words

I'm really not sure what to say at this point about the state of publishing. Things have quieted down in a way that has nothing to do with the usual summer lull.

No major publishers have crashed and burned. Many small publishers have quietly closed their doors. More people are indie publishing while others have walked away from it for various reasons.

Personally, I've been limiting my time on social media. I poke my head up once and a while to check my accounts. I e-mail with a couple of writer friends on a regular basis, but many of the folks I'd like to talk to are just as busy as me.

And you know something--that's okay. I know that some of my problems over the winter were SAD, some were hormone-related crap that needed maintenance drug adjustments, and some were the constant barrage of negativity through both the writers' grapevine and the news. Once the weather warmed and the new drug cocktail was developed, I realized how much the other stuff affected me.

And I decided to walk away from a lot of it.

Instead, I took last week off to write and submit a story for this year's Sword and Sorceress anthology. (I'll let you know if it gets accepted.)

In the meantime, everything clicked in my head for how Sacrificed will play out. (I've always known how it will end, but the middle part was foggy for the longest time.) My cover artist Elaina did a wonderful job of capturing the essence of what Tiffany and Sam go through in this story. As I write this post, I'm closing in on the 60K mark.

Probably the best things over the last week were people asking when's the next book coming out for both Bloodlines and Justice, as well as Alter Ego readers asking about her next book.

With the way things have gone in my life, I don't want to promise specific dates. Last year, I was a month late on Zombie Goddess from my own mistake, only to have my mother-in-law end up in the hospital again after another fall.

I can say I'm doing fairly good about sticking to the plan I laid out a couple of weeks ago. My dedicated writing laptop has made a difference in keeping my attention on the story. I just need to keep a steady pace over the summer.

As I told a friend nearly thirty years ago, happiness is a fleeting, ephemeral thing. I'm much more satisfied with my life when I'm content.