2020 in review - Writing, Publishing and Teaching

Let's start with the good parts first, shall we?
Here's a list of my own 2020 publications:

• "The Adventure of the Missing Fiancé." The Book of Extraordinary Sherlock Holmes Stories edited by Maxim Jakubowski. Mango Books, 2020. (Mystery).
• "Cardinal's Gambit," LHMP Podcast, 2020 edited by Heather Rose Jones and narrated by Cherae Clark. (Historical F/F)
• "The Rani's Dream," Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives edited by John Linwood Grant. Belanger Books, 2020.(Mystery, with supernatural elements)
• "Inheritance," March, 2020. Haunting Shadows: The Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Anthology edited by Matt McElroy.  Onyx Path Publishing. (Media tie-in/Horror)
• "Class Photo" - Letter to Yesterday Podcast, June, 2020. (Autobiographical essay).

Queen of Swords Press published the fabulousness that is The Voyages of CInrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater and Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures by Alex Acks made the finalist list for the Midwest Book Awards.I am so proud of both of these books! And A.J. and Alex both worked their butts off this year, as did I. Here's a list of some of the events and places that one, two or all of us appeared in 2020:

• CoNZealand
• RainbowSpaceMagic (online LGBTQ convention)
• Fights of Foundry
• SFWA Nebula Conference
• WORD Christchurch
• Super Relaxed Fantasy Club (U.K. YouTube reading series)
• Hannah's Bookshelf (Radio show in Manchester, England)
• Verb Wellington (NZ Writer's Conference)
  
• MileHiCon
• Madame Askew's Temporal Entourage Book Club
• LHMPodcast
• DreamHaven Books
• Cream & Amber's Fall Mini-festival
• MultiverseCon
• 13 Gears Steampunk
• Twin Cities Pride
• Glitchy Pancakes Podcast
• The Not So Silent Planet Reading Series
• St. Cloud Pride
• Duluth-Superior Pride
• Columbia Height Pride
• WomenVenture's Women Mean Business
• Quorum's Coming Out Day Luncheon
• WisCon
• Twin Cities Book Festival
• CONvergence
• C'monffluence
• Geek Girl Con
• Pueblo PrideFest
• Outwrite DC
  

In addition, A.J. did blogs and interviews at Mary Robinette Kowal's My Favorite Bit, Cat Rambo's Kittywumpus blog, John Scalzi's Whatever, Helen Lowe's blog, LGBTQ Reads and several newspapers and podcasts in New Zealand. I taught 7 workshops for Cat Rambo and 1 for Broad Universe and had 2 other classes that didn't carry elsewhere. I also resurrected a novel in progress from a few years back and started working on it for my Patreon. It has been a LOT. Oh, hey, and I finished my Silver Moon sequel, Blood Moon, that I've been working on forever. Stay tuned for cover reveal and preorder links tomorrow!

Personal stuff goes in the next post. HUGE thank you to everyone who hosted us, bought books, reviewed our books, recommended them, supported the Patreon and in any other way helped us get the word out about our work! You are much appreciated! Next year will be better, dammit! Hugs all around!

2020 in review - the personal stuff

Ooph. Okay, so here's how the year went, in terms of big events.

• January through early March - started a new job after getting laid off at the end of 2019, participated in a bunch of events, hung out with friends, did stuff, wrote, planned April release for Cinrak, did Mom care stuff.
• Lockdown starts at Mom's nursing home and we get mostly cut off in early March.
• End of March - car accident. I nearly totaled my trusty fit in a parking garage in St. Paul.
• I start working from home, fortunately, since my car will be in the shop in St. Paul for 2 months, as it turns out.
• April 1, my mother Alice, passes away after a brief bout with the flu. She had been failing for quite a while before this, so it's not unexpected, but is still hard. Lots of juggling to get her stuff back, get her cremated, get her paperwork squared away, etc.
• Queen of Swords Press releases The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater.
• A couple of days later, the contractor who I've been trying to schedule with for a year and half calls up and announces he can do our attic remodel right now, but not in a month or six. Construction starts. Lockdown is going in earnest, but our house is filled with construction workers, electricians and other folk. Access to the attic is through the bedroom closet so we're all on top of each other.
• End of April: attic mostly done, apart from some things like putting in a new floor. It is lovely and well-insulated and I like it a lot (which is good, because it was spendy).
• Beginning of May: weird noises in porch roof prove to be squirrels tunneling their way in. $1000 in live trapping and relocating and repairs later, this is addressed.
• End of May: a police officer named Derek Chauvin, aided and abetted by three other officers, murders a man named George Floyd at an intersection 4 blocks from our house. Minneapolis burns and we have a very bad summer in which things are burned down, trashed, closed and otherwise inaccessible and everything feels utterly hopeless and horrible and scary. Helicopters and frequent gunfire are now on my lists of things I Do Not Like. The city reeks of tear gas, chemical weapons and despair. Our drug stores, office supply store, etc. are gone, along with a whole bunch of other things, like our much beloved science fiction and mystery bookstore, Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's.
• Minneapolis and St. Paul step up on the mutual aid though, and some cool bits and pieces of social change begin to crop up. The murals and artwork are often amazing and people go all out to think outside the proverbial box about how to make things better. A bunch of stuff is kicked off elsewhere as a direct and indirect result of our local struggles.
• We "adopt" a local farmer's market and I meet a friend there twice a month, preordering from local farmers so they have consistent sales coming in. We also add a friend to our "pod" and he starts coming over regularly; we commit to ordering food from locally owned restaurants a couple of times a month to support local businesses; and we start attending a couple of benefits a week - concerts, plays, readings, etc., all online or outside. I begin taking a weekly dance/movement class from the Cassandra School, a local Middle Eastern school that also supports Jawaahir Dance, the local Middle Eastern Dance troupe (the school is located in the Hook & Ladder Theatre, a small music and arts venue located next to the ruins of the Third Precinct).
  
•  DreamHaven Books gets broken into, trashed and nearly burned down (the neighbors stopped them in time, fortunately) and a bunch of local fans and pros show up to help clean up and get them back on their feet. I do a virtual talk there  few weeks later in June and it gets featured in Publishers Weekly, along with a plug for their fundraiser.
• July - the aging chimney on our house has to be replaced ($2k).
• August - early September pretty much more of all of the above, minus being on fire. I write, Jana works on projects for her Etsy and picks up some book repairs. We all fantasize about the virus fading away. I go for lots of walk with a friend and there is frequent gunfire in the neighborhood.
• Mid-September - my day job suddenly gets very toxic, going from just being disorganized and boring to me being told that I'm lazy, uncooperative and a bad employee because...I asked my manager what his long term plan was for moving me to a particular project. Cue "beatings will continue until morale improves." And the shower breaks and my car needs an expensive repair.
• Beginning of October, I enroll in a 10 week long program at St. Thomas University to get my Certified Professional Project Manager Certification.
• I also double down to finish Blood Moon, the sequel to Silver Moon, which I've been working on for years. Spoiler alert: I finish a novel and get my certification at the same time!
• So things are looking up, rebuilding and reopening is happening here in the Minneapple, I'm planning a Kickstarter, working on a new novel for my Patreon, planning a new workshop, figuring out new plans and things for next year, including how and when I can leave this job before it boils my brain, reading submissions and...the police shot and killed a Somali American at a gas station less than a mile away last night (we drove by the gas station 6 minutes beforehand on our way to GLOW Fest in St. Paul).
• And here we are. Not sure what will happen next. My condolences to the family and loved ones of Dolal Idd, my hopes no one else will be injured or killed this weekend in the ensuing protests and that we will finally get real justice and much needed change.
• My love to all of you! Thank you for sticking with me, doing the Zoom calls, checking in regularly, stopping by and all the other things. I miss hanging out and I hope that 2021 is a much, much better year all around.

Where I'll be in 2020

Updated as things come up, as per the norm.

January:

• Queen of Swords Press 3rd Birthday Celebration - Minneapolis, MN. Saturday, January 25th, 2-5PM. Join us at the Irreverent Bookworm, Minneapolis' newest bookstore, for an afternoon of fun, munchies, book sales and giveaways to celebrate our 3rd birthday!
• "Book Promotion on a Budget" - Sunday, January 26th, 9:30-11:30 PST. Online class at the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. I'll be helping you to set up a promotional plan for your books and figuring out how to get the most from your available resources.
  

February:

• "Breaking Out of the Slush Pile" - Saturday, February 9th, 1-2:30 PM CST. I'll be teaching an online class for Hidden Timber Books on ways to make your manuscript stand out in a good way.
• 13 Gears: An Eclectic Steampunk Event - Minneapolis, MN. Saturday and Sunday, February 15-16th. Queen of Swords Press be back at 13 Gears with books and and fun again this year! We'll also be sharing a table with local horror/dark fantasy author, Patrick W. Marsh.
• Not So Silent Planet Gets Sexy - Minneapolis, MN. Tuesday, February 18th from 8-10PM at Strike Theater. I'll be sharing some Emily L. Byrne hotness at this local speculative fiction story telling series.

March:

• LHMPodcast Interview - March 13th. Podcast, posted online.

April:

• "So You Want to Put Together an Anthology?" - Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, online. April 6th, 9:30-11:30 AM PST.

May:

• Hamline University Women's Resource Center Virtual FemFair 2020 - Online through May 17th. Feminist arts and crafts fair run by a local unversity. Queen of Swords Press will have a virtual table.
• "In Flagrante Delicto: Writing Effective Sex Scenes" - Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, online. May 9th, 9:30-11:30AM PST.
• Flights of Foundry - May 16-17, online sf/f/h con. I'll be on programming and will have a Queen of Swords table in the virtual Dealer's Room.
• WisCon - May 22-25, online. Might be doing something? Very Magic 8 Ball at the moment.
  
• 2020 SFWA Nebula Conference. May 29th-31st, online. I'm scheduled to be on an editing panel.

June:

• "Book Promo on a Budget" - Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, online. Coming back, by popular demand! With some updated thoughts on how to handle having a limited number of/no in person events. June 14th, 9:30-11:30 AM PST.
• The Return of Running a Small Press: It's an Adventure - Minneapolis, MN. DreamHaven Books, June 17th. 6:30-8:00PM. Join publisher Catherine Lundoff for her annual talk on what it's like to start a small press and keep it going, the high points of 2019 and what's next. This will be a Facebook live event (with the possibility of in person attendance).
• Rainbow Space Magic Virtual Con 2020 - June 20-21st. Online LGBTQ+ specfic convention. I'll be on programming, not sure of platform yet.
• Twin Cities Pride Virtual Marketplace - June 27 -28th. Queen of Swords Press will have a "booth" and we'll be peddling books all weekend.

July:

• "Book Promo on a Budget (Pandemic Version)" - July 12. Broad Universe members-only online workshop. Sign up for this and other workshops!
• Columbia Heights Pride - July 18th, 1-4PM. Columbia Heights, MN. Online local Pride celebration. Queen of Swords will have a virtual table.
• "So You Want to Put Together an Anthology?" - July 26th, 1-3PM PMT, 3-5 PM CST. Online class that I'm teaching at the Rambo Academy.
• OutWrite DC- July 31st-August 2nd. Living life on the edge here - we also have a vendor table at this convention, concurrent with CONZealand. Waiting to hear about programming.
• CONZealand – July 29th-August 2nd. Wellington, New Zealand. Online. I'll be on programming and Queen of Swords Press will have a virtual table.
  

August:

• PrideFest 2020 - August 15-16th. Pueblo, Colorado. Virtual Pride festival. Queen of Swords Press is a vendor.
• Hannah's Book Shelf - August 22nd. I was interviewed by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM (U.K.).
• Book Promo on a Budget - August 23rd, 9:30-11:30 PMT, 11:30-1:30 CST. Online class that I'm teaching at the Rambo Academy.

September:

• Duluth Superior Pride - Labor Day Weekend 9/5-9/6. Online. Queen of Swords Press is a vendor.
• Glitchy Pancakes Podcast - 9/13/20 (broadcast shortly thereafter). I'll be a guest on the podcast and I'll be talking about early LGBTQ speculative fiction.
• St. Cloud Pride - September 19th, 11-4PM. St. Cloud, MN. Online. Queen of Swords Press has requested a table.
• No More Lone Wolves: Writing Characters in Community - September 27th, time 11:30-1:30 CST. Teaching at the Rambo Academy.

October:

• Geek Girl Con - Online. Seattle, Washington. Queen of Swords Press has a table in the Virtual Exhibitor's Hall from 10/1-11/1.
• C'monfluence - October 2-4, Pittsburgh, PA. Online - please preregister. Catherine Lundoff is a guest and has one Kaffeeklatsch (with Sarah Pinkster) and 4 panels.
• TC Quorum's Coming Out Day Luncheon - 10/9, 9:00 AM - 1:30PM. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. Online (register at Hop In - link at site).
• Cream & Amber's Fall Mini-Market - October 10th, 10AM -2PM. In person! Outside and please wear a mask.
• Multiverse2020 - October 15-17th, Atlanta, Georgia. Now online! Catherine will be a guest and is on multiple panels and doing a reading.
• Twin Cities Book Festival - October 17th, St. Paul, MN. Online. Queen of Swords Press is a vendor once again.
• Steampunk Reading and Discussion at CONvergence Online - 10/24 from 2-3:30PM CST. join Abra Staffin-Wiebe, Michael Merriam, Tyler Tork and Catherine Lundoff for short steampunk readings and a discussion about steampunk fiction.
• Crimson Peaks and Menacing Mansions: Writing Gothic Horror - Rambo Academy online class.10/25 from 9:30-11:30 AM PST
• WORD Christchurch - 10/28-11/1. Christchurch, New Zealand. Look for A.J. Fitzwater on programming.

November:

• VerbWellington - November 5-8th. Wellington, New Zealand. A.J. Fitzwater and A.C. Buchanan (who is also the Queen of Swords Press webmaster) are appearing at this fab writer's festival in New Zealand.
• Midwest Spec-Fic Book Box - November 8th-22nd. 4 small presses, 5 books + surprises = the perfect holiday gift for the sf/f fan in your life! Queen of Swords Press, Atthis Arts, Apex Book Publishing and Aurelia Leo are collaborating on a gift box full of amazing reads. Official ordering link coming soon.
• WomenVenture Women Mean Business - November 13th, 4-6PM CST. Online. Annual fundraiser and reception for WomenVenture, a local nonprofit that supports women starting and owning their own businesses in Minnesota. Queen of Swords Press will be in the Marketplace from 11/7-11/21; Nov. 13th is the actual event.
• In Flagrante Delicto: Writing Effective Sex Scenes - November 22, 11:30-1:30 CST. Teaching at the Rambo Academy.

December:

• Minnesota Women's Art Festival - 12/12. Jana's going to be a vendor. Not Queen of Swords this year.