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It has been an absolutely wild couple of weeks. New job is in Week 4 and it's okay? The people are reasonably nice and I'm learning a different part of the forest, kind of. Still stuck in QA Land, just the biz side of it this time, which does not fill me with delight and honestly, I'd rather be writing and publishing so it's been hard to switch gears. But it is what is and I've had worse gigs. Still wrangling insurance (new contracting co. will partially insure me, but not Jana, so I have to do stopgap again until I can get her on the ACA. Good times!).

So what else is going on, Catherine? I won a writing grant from Ladies of Horror Fiction! After I finish digging my way out from a few more contracted obligations, I'm planning on doing an expended version of my queer horror historical survey which originally ran in Nightmare Magazine's Queer Destroy Horror. :-D And my short story, "A Cry in the Night" is now a game scenario in the brand shiny new RPG World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters, which just came out from Onyx Path Publishing last week! And my novel Blood Moon got an Honorable Mention (finalist, essentially) in the Rainbow Awards yesterday!

I've also had a swell month as a publisher. Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore has been getting some great write-ups, including this one from Tor.com that includes it in a list of 5 essential solarpunk novels. And Obviously, Aliens by Jennie Goloboy is up for preorder now and will be out on 11/1. It's already getting some nice buzz too. The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater also got a Rainbow Award Honorable Mention. :-D

 
And I did most of these events, except for my upcoming Gothic horror class and my next book club appearance. Still room for signups for both!
  • WROTE Podcast - October 9th. I'll be a guest and talking about small press publishing and Queen of Swords Press.
  • Columbia Heights Pride - October 9th, 11-5PM CST. Columbia Heights, MN. Queen of Swords Press will have a table and I and my staff will be around.
  • Writers Drinking Coffee Podcast - midOctober air date. Interview about my writing, Queen of Swords Press and more.
  • North Country Gaylaxians Book Club - October 11th, 7:30PM CST. Quatrefoil Library/online, Minneapolis. They talked about my novel, Blood Moon.
  • Twin Cities Book Festival - October 16th, 10-5PM. St. Paul, MN. Queen of Swords Press will be there! I'll also be on the Local Author Showcase, talking about Blood Moon.
  • Lambda Sci-Fi Book Club - Thursday, October 28th, 7:30PM EST. The Book Club is discussing Silver Moon and I'll be joining to chat with them online in the second half of the discussion.
  • Crimson Peaks and Menacing Mansions: Writing Gothic Horror - Saturday, October 30th, 9:30-11:30 PST. Online class at the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. Writing Gothic horror! Tips, tricks and techniques.
Plus a few more things. I am...exhausted, but have miles to go before I sleep and all that. Stay tuned!

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These were going to be weekly, honest. I don't really have a good excuse, just wandered into other things and started planning for the book release for Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore, which came out on Friday, as planned. Okay, so it was kind of a lot. This is Queen of Swords Press's 12th title and I'm learning things, hopefully useful ones. It's lovely to see people so excited about this book! (Sidebar comment: ever wonder why all my other sites are much more graphic heavy than this one? It's because I haven't been able to get graphic to load out here for years. Pointers appreciated!).
So in the last week and a half, I:
  • Published a new book and hosted an online release that included an author video, a Twitter interview and am currently doing a book giveaway.
  • Successfully pitched a couple of short articles on writing and publishing topics to The Dreamfoundry so now I have to write them.
  • Talked to a YouTube book and fannish blogger about an interview/book profile that is tentatively scheduled for Friday, talked to several different book reviewers about Foxhunt and nominated it for a couple of awards.
  • Taught No More Lone Wolves: Writing Characters in Community at the Rambo Academy.
  • Finished responding to Queen of Swords Press submissions.
  • Interviewed for one day job and applied for another. Talked to a couple of recruiters.
  • Got to spend time with several friends in person and several more online.
  • Worked on a new story and submitted another story to something else.
  • Worked on the next novel chapter for the Queen of Swords Patreon.
  • Sent my assistant the next newsletter info and discussed sundry bits of Queen of Swords Press work.
  • Took some nice long walks.
  • Dropped off a year's worth of accumulated household donations at MN ARC.
  • Read another author's charming fantasy romance that I need to review.
  • Did some event planning for various things.
  • Moderated an enjoyable horror panel at Skepticon.
  • Went to my friend Dave Christenson's remembrance of life, which was very nicely done.
And that's about it, at the moment. I need to panic about job hunting so I will try and do that this week. And get other stuff done. More bulletins soon!


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It has been another full week, though less productive than I would have liked. But such is always the way. Last weekend had some fun times and this week has definitely had its moments and so it goes, onward. Yes, I am still unemployed, and it is becoming stressful. But then so is the apocalyptic fire sky, the smell of burnt toast and burning trees overlaying the city and the alternating epic storm/ghastly heat that we're experiencing.

Here is what else is going on at the micro level:


  • Interview #3 has been scheduled! And I put in for 2 other jobs elsewhere earlier this week so fingers crossed that I get some call backs before I head out to go teach at the Novel in Progress Book Camp next week.
  • Had a fun time reading at Perfectly Queer, the queer author reading series currently running remote from Dog-Eared Books Castro in San Francisco, hosted by Richard May and Wayne Goodman.
  • Then followed that up with a good panel discussion at Golden Crown Literary Society talking about queer women in historical fiction last Sunday.
  • Queen of Swords Press has 2 sales going on, both ending on Saturday. Check out deals on our books at Smashwords and DriveThruFiction.
  • I have worked on an article that I'm hoping to submit in the next day or two here, written a new chapter of my novel in progress for our Patreon, worked on a new short story, worked on the Teachable class, started working on a resume for editing and publishing jobs, read submissions and met with my intern and assistant. Also, a ton of marketing and promo-related things. It's like being a writer and publisher is a full time job by itself.
  • I got to go to the Keg and Case Market in St. Paul on Sunday with friends (it's pretty cool!) and from there on to watch the latest enthralling Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society production at the North Garden Theater.
  • I toasted my arms and had a grumpifying event when trying to help a friend with yardwork. Arms are mostly recovered, but between that and the weather, it has been a week of Ouch.
  • Did revisions on a manuscript and finished the query coaching project I was working on last week (the client said it was useful feedback! Huzzah!).
  • Got to hang out with several delightful friends at brief intervals, am going to hear Michael Merriam and Abra Staffin-Wiebe read tonight at DreamHaven, will go to the Banfill-Locke Art Center for the first time tomorrow for a paper marbling show and to "Jungle Cruise" tomorrow night. Then off to the Walker Sculpture Garden for a walk on Saturday morning, then hopefully doing some book trade-ins after that, to be followed by an evening of Lupin.
  • Prep for workshop and finish things! Also, pack, a thing I haven't done in a very long time.
Onward!

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Another full week, this one with lingering migraines, which I could definitely do without. But lots of stuff going on, some of it pretty cool.
  • Job interview #3 got pushed to next week, job interview 2 for job I was interested in isn't happening, job interview for iffy funding job still on hold. Put in another couple of resumes for referrals from friends did a bunch of work on my editing/publishing resume so I can put that out there too.
  • Picked up a quick freelance gig coaching an author on query writing.
  • Rehomed some things as part of the Great House Cleanout, including the bag of book donations for Quatrefoil Library that's been in the living room for a year and a half.
  • Went to Twin Cities Pride, which was reasonably fun, if hot and a bit crowded. Also, my feet hurt from not being used to slogging around quite so much in the hot.
  • Had a delightful time at Madame Askew's Virtual Steampunk Book Club on Sunday talking about Alex Acks's work and Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures in particular.
  • Did a ton of miscellaneous marketing things for Queen of Swords Press.
  • Did a reading at the Perfectly Queer Reading Series last night and had a fine time.
  • Submitted two reprints to a market that indicated they'd like to see some.
  • Did some writing and read a bunch of submissions and sent quite a few rejections, alas, many of them the result of people not checking the guidelines.
  • Did a bit of writing on some projects and work on my Teachable class. Next up, actually finishing some things and getting some more stuff submitted.
Stay tuned for the next gripping installment!
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Well, I tried. Jana got to go out of town to visit friends and family and it was going to be my catch -up and deal with things week. So, of course, I socialized most of the weekend and got deathly ill with my first head cold in nearly two years on Tuesday. I'm still not recovered and have inevitably lost my voice. I am supposed to do a reading and interview on a Facebook group tomorrow so today is frantic throat-soothing things in hopes that I recover in time. I am wildly behind on everything I have due, but I have discovered "Murder, She Wrote," so there's that? I went through many years where I either did not have a TV or only had one that picked up PBS so there are many popular shows that I have never seen.

What else is going on?
  • I had a delightful time at Madame Askew and Her Temporal Entourage's "Queer Steampunk" chat last Friday. I drank a lot of tea and talked a bunch, often two of my favorite things.
  • I went to see "In the Heights' at the Riverview Theatre and enjoyed it quite a bit!
  • I went to an in person play! Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society continues to rock (I saw all of their online shows during shutdown).
  • I picked up another couple of events for July and August, plus one for tomorrow (assuming I can talk). These include a teaching gig at the Novel in Progress Book Camp in August (see pinned post for links, etc.).
  • I talked to a couple of recruiters and looked at some job sites.
  • I met with my small biz attorney, who said confidence-boosting things.
  • I saw a couple of friends outside, while taking lots of cold meds and using a bunch of hand sanitizer.
  • I coughed a lot and have had trouble sleeping. We are now taking the popular approach of "Catherine sleeps on the couch so she can cough a lot in peace without disturbing Jana AND entertain the cats who will spend the night leaping upon her drugged into oblivion except for waking up to cough body." Good times!
  • Finished developmental edits on one of our forthcoming books.
  • Worked on getting another one ready for ARC formatting (in progress).
And next week, we look for work of various kinds with more vigor. Stay tuned!

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it got away from me.
What's been going on? Where to begin?
Okay, so my day job lasted a week longer than originally projected, but has now ended. I'm taking a bit of time off before I embark on job hunting to a. rest, b. get caught up and c. give my current contracting company time to find me a new gig if I can. I just wrapped up creating a promo plan for an author who writes for another publisher (paid gig) and am starting work on an article for trade journal (paid - freelance). I've got a couple more pitches to send out and I'm working on a new class on book publishing for Cat Rambo, which will debut next month. I wrote a new short story in a genre new to me and had it rejected within hours, but then sent something else out. I'm working on new Patreon posts and related fun things (novel in progress has cleared 30k words).

Other than that, added a bunch of events, met with Queen of Swords Press's new intern, met with my assistant, worked on planning for the Pride StoryBundle (launching 6/3), recorded my panel and reading for StokerCon (starts tomorrow) and kicked off a discussion about doing an online vendor and artist thing during WisCon weekend. There is no official WisCon and the only things I've seen revolve around online bar con and chats, so do please let me know if there's something I haven't seen yet. Otherwise, losing WisCon income is a big hit to a number of folks so if you want to participate, please let me know. I'm picturing some short profiles on the Queen of Swords Press Discord channel, since it's available, and a lot of mutual plugging with linked hashtags. Please support the artists and vendors if you can.

I also watched somethings, took a weekend off social media, went to Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, hung out with friends, read a lot, watched things, worked on the yard, began getting rid of usable things we don't want or need and worked on other stuff. And began to deal with news of a family-related health issue that I knew was coming and has almost landed. But not quite. I will try and be better about posting regularly going forward.

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Where things are at:
  • Blood Moon got reviewed in Library Journal! Request it at your local library, please!
  • Doing my first panel for the Professional Editor's Network this Tuesday, May 11th from 1-2:30 PM CST on the topic "What is Book Coaching?"
  • New novel in progress that I am writing for the Queen of Swords Press Patreon has cleared 30,000 words, which is a good sign.
  • New short story is in progress.
  • Novel edits are coming along.
  • My new Rambo Academy class on just what it is that book publishers do and how they do it is in progress.
  • Just had a pitch for a new Sherlock Holmes and occult detective story accepted. Now I just have to write it and see if the actual story gets accepted.
  • Still no word on job stuff, but am getting paid to build an author promo plan for another publisher.
  • May or may not have cool Queen of Swords Press news soon. Also, we open for submissions on 6/15.
  • I'm going to online StokerCon for the first time this year and I gotta say, people have been very welcoming. So far, I've got a reading, I've contributed a short piece to the self editing handbook that the awesome Lee Murray and her co-instructor, Angela Yuriko Smith, are teaching at Horror University and just now, an author I don't know just approached me about joining their panel because Programming mentioned that I was available.
  • Off to visit actual friends this weekend and eat dinner and maybe play games indoors because we are all vaccinated.
Happy Friday to all!
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Had some small bits of good this week, could still be sleeping better and stress levels are still quite high (and likely to get higher for a bit). So the fun bits first:
  • A financial problem that was going to be expensive to fix got taken off my plate. It was something I had tried very hard to correct for, but was foiled in the attempt, and had resigned myself to pay for it. But now I don't have to, for reasons I'm sort of unclear on, but the outcome is a good one.
  • A good writing-related thing is going to happen on 5/1, but it's not public yet, so waiting until then.
  • It is Dine Out for Life today, the big Minnesota benefit for the Aliveness Project, and we have had tasty lunch and dinner from local restaurants.
  • Had my first physical in nearly two years and am doing pretty well, all things considered. My liver is not the bouncy internal organ my G.P. likes to see, however, so I likely have to do an ultrasound for it. I suspect the problem is that between the winter, the not getting out that much and the plantar's that took months to clear up, I'm simply not getting as much exercise as either my liver or the rest of me would like. But other wise, blood sugar, cholesterol, heart, et al, good. Heart and reflexes quite good given that the fire alarm went off mid-exam.
  • Still no word on job prospects after 5/13; am both weirdly calm and not in gear for looking so I'm either kidding myself or am convinced that this company will pull something out of thin air. Or perhaps, just tired.
  • A family medical thing is still a thing, though some support has come in from an unexpected quarter. We'll see how it goes.
  • Am back to working on my novel in progress and a new short story that I'm playing with.
  • The cover for the next Queen of Swords Press title is quite lovely and edits are in progress.
  • It has dawned on me that I am on an upcoming panel on a topic I don't understand as well as I would like and I should probably do something about that.
And now back to work.
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It has been a FULL week!
  • 2nd Pfizer Vax achieved! I was down for a bit with a headache and great tiredness during Flights of Foundry, unfortunately, but still had a pretty good time for the the things I managed to attend.
  • Queen of Swords Press author A.J. Fitzwater is a finalist in 3, count 'em, 3 categories, at New Zealand's Sit Julius Vogel Awards! The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper is up for Best Collection, No Man's Land is up for Best Novella and A.J.'s essay "Queer Speculative Aotearoa New Zealand" at LGBTQ Reads is up for Best Fan Writing!
  • Registration is open for the Minneapolis PEN panel discussion that I'm doing next month on "What is Book Coaching?" My angle is publicity planning, but I've done bits and pieces of other things as well. You can, in fact, hire me for this so ping me if it's of interest.
  • And in the big picture, Derek Chauvin was found guilty, which to be perfectly honest, is a gigantic psychological weight off my psyche. Is it enough? No. Do we need to struggle harder for more justice, more equity, an end to murder by cop? Hell, yes. But we live 4 blocks from George Floyd Square and were in town for all of last summer's burning and destruction and all the events thereafter and it is truly hard and horrible to have such a closeup view of the aftermath of a terrible crime. Minneapolis and St. Paul were both ripped apart to a degree I've never seen outside of a place that's been a recent warzone and a lot of people paid a terrible price for it. I'm glad Chauvin is now one of them.
Now to tackle my annual Earth Day post so happier news tomorrow.
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2 weeks into new contracting gig and people are being pleasant to me and saying nice things about my work; I had forgotten what that was like. At any rate, I'm having to ramp up and learn some new stuff, which is a bit painful at the moment because I'm also planning a book release and have been way behind on the blog posts and interviews I committed to. Here's where we're at:
  • I dusted the living room! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was sorely needed.
  • Print revisions for Blood Moon are done and print preorder is available!
  • Talked to New Zealand artist Laya Rose about doing a cover for author Rem Wigmore's fab queer post-apocalyptic hopepunkish novel Foxhunt which Queen of Swords Press will be releasing this summer.
  • Drafted 3 interviews and 3 blog posts for the Blood Moon blog tour, plus one extra for Cat Rambo's blog. I need to do another interview for a heavy metal blog next (the editor likes my work :-). I have NEVER thought so much about why I write what I wrote and how I do it.
  • Finished tax organization and sent it off to our accountant..
  • Took an SEO for authors class with Cat Rambo and began applying some of it (Cat is an excellent teacher).
  • Had an interview posted at Horror Tree for Women in Horror Month.
  • Commissioned some ads from author A.L. Lester, who does some nice graphics.
  • Applied for several more events and got accepted for Outwrite DC and Flights of Foundry (as a vendor so far).
  • Wrapped up most of the Pride Month StoryBundle organizing. Melissa Scott and I are co-curating and it's going be an awesome lineup.
  • Watched more Black Sails, Space Sweepers (quite liked) and the first few episodes of Lupin (liked a lot!).
  • I'll be teaching Book Promo on a Budget on 3/7.
Onward! Off to go read more of the book I need to blurb.
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Just came from the kickoff meeting for my new contract so that's now a thing. A lot of this week was a wash from a productivity perspective - not much completed, several things stalled out. But here we go:
  • Edits completed for Blood Moon and print revisions almost done - just a couple of small tweaks left.
  • Accepted New Zealand author Rem Wigmore's Foxhunt and local agent and Minnesota writer Jennie Goloboy's comic roadtrip with aliens novel, Obviously, Aliens for Queen of Swords Press. Ideally, these will be the summer and winter books for this year.
  • Got most QoSP titles loaded up onto Google Play, thus adding a platform for potential sales.
  • Gave up on getting a PPP Loan for Jana.
  • Got utterly mired in tax organization and didn't finish.
  • Recognized that I wasn't using Media Bistro for anything and canceled it, but did sign up for an SEO for authors class with Car Rambo.
  • Finished an interview post for Women in Horror Month at Horror Tree - it should go up in the next few days.
  • Finished most of a blog post for Nerds of a Feather and some other sundry Blood Moon publicity.
  • Applied for several events.
  • Did some cleaning and organizing and required reading.
  • Oh, and taught a class! In Flagrante Delicto went well and was a lot of fun. I'll be teaching Book Promo on a Budget on 3/7.
New job officially starts tomorrow with a 3 hour meeting. I have dealt with a bunch of technology-related stuff - I have to have an ergonomic keyboard and mouse and the ones we have live in the main office, but I'll need to be up in the attic most of the time so additional keyboard and mouse en route. I still have a TON more to do so we'll see what I can dent in the coming days. Much love to everyone down south dealing with the cold and freezing inside - may it pass quickly and you get better things very soon.
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Here we are on Week 3 of my current "between jobs" adventure! So the big news is that I accepted a job offer yesterday; I'll be working remote for a California company doing data analysis/business intelligence through a contracting company I used to work for a long time back. It's a 3 month contract, with reasonable likelihood of going longer if things go well and it starts in 2 weeks, which gives me a bit more time to deal with the To-Do List o' Doom. On the down side, healthcare benefits don't kick until the 2 month mark so I still need to deal with that. Otherwise, we'll see how it goes. I am massively, chronically burned out from the kinds of work I've been doing for the past few years (and working 60-70 hours a week, between day job, writing, publishing and teaching) and this last round of bad management and nonsense was the last straw. On the other hand, these are amongst the skills I have, the job market is not great, the freelancing areas I'd like to move into are very, very full of good people who don't have the same options right now and this is another part of the IT forest that I think I'll like better. Also, fully remote so no commute time or spontaneous "we decided to call everyone back to the office." Fingers crossed!
Accomplished this week:
  • Finished drafting a new short story that's due this month.
  • Recorded a reading of an Emily L. Byrne short story for a Facebook "campfire" reading.
  • Accepted one manuscript and rejected another; working on contract updates now.
  • Did the Queen of Swords Press P&L and expense tracking for last year (ouch).
  • Followed up on healthcare options, but still need to complete.
  • Interviewed for a job and talked to sundry other people about jobs and referred a few friends who've been on the market for a bit.
  • Started my basic accounting class.
  • Saw The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A,J, Fitzwater, which I published last year and which we hustled our butts off getting the word out about, land on the recommended readings lists for Locus Magazine and the Locus Awards, the Hugo Awards, the Nebula Awards, the Sir Julius Vogel Awards and the Ursa Major Awards (anthropomorphic fiction). Whatever happens, it's been a helluva run for a smol collection of queer joy and I'm super excited for A.J. and our little Queen of Swords Press crew.
  • Started deep cleaning and decluttering the living room.
  • Worked on edits for Blood Moon.
  • Read a submission.
  • Reading Water Horse by Melissa Scott. This is her new queer epic fantasy and I get to blurb it. :-D
  • Went to the Museum of Russian Art (newly re-opened) with a friend.
  • Signed up for my first paid blog tour for Blood Moon and lined up sundry promo and review things.
  • Watched Dickinson (liked!), The Alienist (did not like), Hercule Poirot mysteries and Black Sails (liking!).
And I think that's about it. Working on tax stuff now too so planning on having that for next week's update, along with some other things. If you're going to be at Capricon 41 this weekend, please come to my reading and panels, if you are so inclined!
  •  

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As they say. Showed up on Tuesday, did my thing, got called into a meeting in the afternoon, got let go. It's a mixed bag in that it had gotten very toxic these last few months, but now I get to wrangle the additional financial and benefits stress. Sigh. Ah well, onward and upward. I'll start looking around in a few days, but suspect there won't be much out there until we get through the Inauguration. I *might* be eligible for unemployment, Jana *might* be eligible for a PPP loan, etc. So will be looking at those things and the Kickstarter I was originally plotting, plus whatever else I can scare up in the meantime.

While all that is going on, I've got stuff coming up! Boosts, book purchases, signing on to my Patreon, ordering Queen of Swords Press books in at your local library, signing up for my classes, hiring me for stuff, all on the table.
  • My class on writing characters in community, coming up this Saturday afternoon at the Rambo Academy, still has open slots and scholarships available.
  • My Patreon supports Queen of Swords Press.Thanks to some great humans, it's at $122 a month right now; if I could get it to $200 a month, that would cover a lot of our base costs, which would be super helpful.
  • There's a Queen of Swords Press Ko-fi account where you can tip us if Patreon seems like too much of a commitment and your TBR pile does not permit add-ons.
  • We do, of course, have books for sale and they are pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. You can get our books anywhere, but buying direct from us goes directly into the coffers.
  • My wife Jana saw her art teaching income completely dry up this year, but she has an Etsy and she does take on book repair clients as well as custom work like portfolios (reach out to her through Etsy).
I think I'll also be putting some stuff up for sale on Ebay and Cat Rambo and I are talking about on demand classes and I have a 30 item to-do list so it's going to be lively around here while I herd things.
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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.
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Always an exciting question. The main thing since finishing up my CPPM Certification has been getting Blood Moon ready. I sent it off for edits, it came back right before Christmas, I sat down and began cranking through edits, then on Christmas Eve, ran across a continuity problem that I had missed twice and my editor has missed once. Frantic scrambling ensured, but I got it fixed, finished and loaded up. The official cover reveal and preorder (ebook) links will be coming on 1/1/21. Print preorder will be shortly thereafter. ARCs will be available and the beast launches upon the world on 3/15/21. At which point, I will have 1,200,000 words in print, which is pretty cool. I do like this book and I really hope that the people who've been patiently asking about it for years feel the same way.

Other Me (Emily L. Byrne) sold two reprints to an excellent podcast, which was lovely. And Queen of Swords Press title The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater is on three reviewer's Best of 2020 lists (Maria Haskins of Strange Horizons, Paul Weimer of Tor.com and the Skiffy and Fanty Show and author Nathan Burgoine who reviews short queer fiction on his blog) and is on the recommended reading list for the Ursa Major Awards (major award for anthropomorphic fiction). I have an extension on my new story to February, programming invites from Arisia and Capricon, classes lined up and all sorts of other things going on.

The holidays were reasonably pleasant. After more day job shenanigans, I was down for two days with a migraine, but better on Christmas, which I spent doing edits and cooking and watching Bridgerton with Jana. We went for the 8 hour blitz and I enjoyed some of it quite a bit, some of in smaller doses than I got and some of it not at all. Saturday, I got takeout from the Midtown Global Market and then we headed out to Hopkins to enjoy a firepit night with friends and eat pie, which was delightful. Apart from that, it's been all work, with a break to watch Wonder Woman 1984, about which I had much the same reactions that I had to Bridgerton. I'm hoping to clear the decks to get started on a grant proposal and some SEO certification stuff next week. I still have a day job at the moment, but am getting prepped to jump either to something else or off into thin air and hope that I can string together enough to keep us solvent. More bulletins as events warrant. Year in review post coming soon!

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Didn't realize that I hadn't updated at all last week, but it's been busy. The last couple of weeks have been all about studying and prepping for my CPPM Exam at St. Thomas. This was a 10 week series of classes  (last class is tonight!) on the basics of project management, followed by a long, complex certification exam, done in teams. Between studying and homework and team meetings and classes and the actual exam, it's been a bit hard to keep up with other stuff. But I just got my exam results and I aced it! 90 out of 100!  The rest of my team passed too (and did yeoman's work! We didn't have a slacker in the bunch!), which is awesome because it would have been much harder without them being as engaged as they were.

So what's next? Good question! Well, in order to actually become a professional project manager, I would need to be able to get a healthy amount of on the job training. My current employer neither respects me nor appreciates any of my current skills really, so they're not going to let me grow into anything else so that experience is not likely to happen there. I can apply what I've learned to other things, however. What that currently looks like is me using some of my new training for Queen of Swords Press and looking forward to getting to some training in SEO optimization and copywriting so that's what I'll move toward next. Day job gonna do what day job gonna do, which means more toxicity until either I get heaved overboard or jump. But if I let them be a psychological millstone around my neck, then I just wasted 10 weeks and a lot of work and I, at least, know my own worth. So onward to building a new path. Which might mean being without consistent employment for a bit so brace yourself for a barrage of stuff of varying kinds. I will try not to be annoying about it.

Speaking of which, our sales have been pretty flat for the last few months and the last few events that Jana and I have done have not been stellar (by which I mean: no sales or very few), so we're trying something new. If you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area within 10 miles of Bancroft Elementary in South Minneapolis and buy a print title from Queen of Swords Press or a handmade journal or box from Western Slope Press through 12/20, we will refund any shipping charges and deliver it to your home for free. Contactless porch pickup is also an option! Shop local, shop locally made and all that good stuff.

Otherwise, I'm back to working on submissions, writing a story that's due in January and prepping for upcoming classes and workshops. Stay tuned for a Queen of Swords Press Kickstarter to fund some new books and a new workshop that I'll be teaching at Springboard for the Arts. Edits for Blood Moon are chugging along and there'll be preorders and ARCS soon. If you're feeling adventurous and want to support a small press and like my writing, you can read my current novel in progress pretty much as I write it out on my Patreon. And so we go, and to quote my friend Cindy Potts, "onward and upward." Hope everyone stays healthy and has a pleasant holiday season!


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We have eaten an entire multi-layer chocolate cake from Turtle Bread Company this week. In case you wondered how we were handling things. I miss sleep a lot and will be doing something about that tonight, thank you. Please let this not be a repeat of 2016 is all I'm saying.

Other things going on: the Midwest Spec-fic Book Box is live! This is a deal on a box of books from 4 small publishers: Atthis Arts, Apex Book Company, Aurelia Leo and Queen of Swords Press. The titles include Pimp My Airship by Maurice Broaddus, Murder on the Titania and Other Steam-Powered Adventures by Alex Acks, The Traveling Triple-C Incorporeal Circus by Alanna McFall and
Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora edited by Zelda Knight and Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald + a bonus surprise title and swag. It's $50 plus shipping and handling (U.S. only) and includes copies of the ebooks as well. It will be available until 11/20 and should make a lovely gift, if you didn't want it for yourself.

This week, starting tomorrow and running through Friday, Queen of Swords Press is a vendor at WomenVenture's Women Mean Business annual benefit. Registering is free, there's an auction and entertainment and a marketplace. WomenVenture is a local nonprofit that trains and supports women in small business; I got some of my training from them when I started out so I'm looking to pay back. They do good work and support some amazing things, just saying.

On 11/22, I'm teaching In Flagrante Delicto: Writing Effective Sex Scenes at the Rambo Academy. If it's a thin you've been wanting to work on, I'm your gal! And there are scholarships available, just saying.

Otherwise, day job has turned the corner into the amazingly toxic so I'm working to get all my ducks in a row for the inevitable point in the near future where either I leave it or it leaves me. I'm hoping to make this a combination of teaching, writing, publishing and a side gig doing project coordination and consulting (getting certified in this now), editing, etc. Tips, boosts, support for my Patreon, buying my books, signing up for my classes, telling your friends about my work, buying Jana's work, hiring Jana to do book repairs, etc., etc. We're a talented pair - reach out and ask if there's a thing we know how to do between the two of us.

Anyway, hoping to better days soon. Hugs to anyone who'd like one.

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largely because I do that elsewhere and by the time I'm posting about it out here, something else is happening. Yes, we voted. Yes, we filled out our census surveys. I applied to be an election judge, but all the localish positions were filled and they pushed those applications to next year. Yes, we're wearing masks, washing hands, etc., and avoiding in person rock concerts, biker rallies and Orange Dictator rallies. Apart from that, freaked out and burned out and kind of numb. PM Certification class continues apace and is going reasonably well. My novel draft is nearly done and the book will be coming out in March, dammit. Day job is continuing to be Magic 8 Ball so I'm pushing the budget to get stuff done immediately rather than waiting. Still doing 2 benefits a week for local things, still going to my weekly online dance class and seeing the occasional friend. So over all, hanging in.

My Gothic horror class, "Crimson Peaks and Menacing Mansions," sold out this weekend so I had a full house. People were very enthusiastic and engaged. We were able to help a hearing-impaired writer friend take the class and participate too, which was lovely; she did all the hard work of lip-reading on Zoom, but between notes beforehand and followup materials, she felt like she got a lot out of it, which was very cool. My next Cat Rambo class will be "In Flagrante Delicto: Writing Effective Sex Scenes" on November 22. This is should be a fun one too, with lots of opportunity for discussion.

I also appeared on a steampunk panel with some local author pals on Saturday for CONvergence online. A good time was had by all and I'll post when the recording goes up. In other news, Queen of Swords press author A.J. Fitzwater will be appearing at WORD Christchurch book festival this week and The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper is one of the titles that we currently have on sale this week. Hoping A.J.'s panel and other events will be recorded too! Apart from that, Queen of Swords Press will be a vendor at WomenVenture's Women Mean Business event on 11/13. WomenVenture is a local nonprofit that works with women who want to or do already own businesses and assists with training, loans and other support. I took one of their week-long trainings when I started the press and try to fit in some of their workshops on the regular. They only select 25 vendors (and we have a mug/book package in the auction) so pleased to be accepted again (we were at the 2017 one too).

Back to the grindstone. Tuesday nights are all about dance class, then PM class right afterwards so it's exciting. Novel update news coming soooonnnnn.

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Virtual MultiverseCon is coming up this week and it's going to be lots of fun! There's a great guest line-up, lots of interesting programming, workshops, mentoring and other fun stuff and it's free! Be sure and check the shop for the cool merch, if you can though. I have my synth logo shirt on the way already. Times are EST.
Queering Fantasy: (Moderator)
https://www.multiversecon.org/mvo-geekfantasy-1
Watch party on Discord channel #geek-fantasy:
Friday, October 16, 2020:
4:00pm EST

Writing LGBTQ+ Characters in Horror:
https://www.multiversecon.org/mvo-geekhorror-2
Watch party on Discord channel #geek-horror:
Saturday, October 17, 2020:
11:30am EST 

 Writers at the Bar:
Discord Hotel Bar:
Saturday, October 17, 2020:
8:30pm EST

Kaffeeklatches:
Discord Kaffeeklatsch reading room 1:
Sunday, October 18, 2020:
1:00pm EST
Join author Catherine Lundoff at the virtual campfire for some spooky tales (and the chance to make her nostalgic for in person conventions by asking her where she gets her ideas!). 

I'll also be participating in a mentoring session for new writers at 3:30 on Sunday. Fun stuff!

And, because it's all fun and games in Virtualandia, Queen of Swords Press is also a vendor at the Twin Cities Book Festival on Saturday, October 17th and continues to be a vendor at Geek Girl Con all month. All these events mean that we're having a month long sale when you buy direct from the Queen of Swords Press website so please check that out.

While I'm plugging things, "Crimson Peaks and Melancholy Mansions: Writing Gothic Horror" class is coming up at the Rambo Academy on 10/25 and there's still room for a few more on the haunted house train. There are also scholarships available if you need them.

What else am I doing? Working on Week 2 of my Project Management class, reading submissions, working on Blood Moon and wrangling sundry things. Took most of yesterday off to do fun stuff like go to the American Swedish Institute (the civil rights quilt show is really powerful and very good), eat at the newly reopened FIKA, went to the Trylon Cinema (Minneapolis's plucky little art cinema, trying to hang on in the Age of the Rona) for "Mr Vampire" (always entertaining) and then watched Zorongo Flamenco's "Decameron 2020" online show of flamenco dancers dancing and performing in quarantine (really gorgeous). Zorongo is Minneapolis's own plucky little flamenco company which puts on some world class shows - this is a benefit for them, amongst other things, and is viewable for another week. $15 and definitely worth seeing. I also had a great time at Cream & Amber's Fall Mini-Market on Saturday: I got to do an in person event and talk to people (masked, distanced, in the parking lot), sell books, hang out with friends, shop for cool stuff and see some of my regular book buying customers. Cream & Amber is a lovely little bookstore/cafe/beer pub with a very nice patio; get a book and lunch and enjoy both outside before the snow flies.

More bulletins soon!


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First, this last week. Day job situation continues to suck rocks, but I have at least started my project management class. Not far enough along to know if it's a total fit yet, but I'm feeling engaged in IT-related stuff for the first time in a while. I definitely think I can use at least some of the things that I'll be learning, regardless of what happens next.

I spent much of the weekend at C'monfluence, this year's pandemic version of Confluence, Pittsburgh's long running sf and con. It had the usual online con ups and downs; I had 4 panels and a Kaffeeklatsch with Sarah Pinkster. Sarah was delightful, as were most of the attendees (I could have done without the one doing variations on "Of course, I've heard of Sarah, but who are you?" because fans gotta fan. I have not missed this behavior in my hiatus from in person cons). On the other end of the scale, the panel I surprise-moderated on "Who Was that Punk I Saw You With?" was fab - good panelists, interesting discussion, good vibe. Easily one of the best panels I've been on, ever. I also enjoyed my other panels and the other programming items that I made it to, including an interview with Martha Wells. So, good con all around, nice to see some friends online; I'd like to go in person someday.

On Sunday, I made lasagna, which I haven't made in forever, and had a friend over for dinner and "Vampires Versus the Bronx" on Netflix. Quite enjoyed it and would recommend. Monday night, I helped rescue a lost, injured dog by connecting various people online and finding the dog's owner, so that was nice. Otherwise, it's been work and classes and a talk by Alison Bechdel at the U. of MN last night. I also cranked out more on Blood Moon (soooo close) and some other projects and read submissions.

Oh, and George Floyd's murderer got bailed out so things around here are pretty tense. Prior to that, the mural got vandalized again and some fuckers burned down the medical tent at at the square the night before last (
Cash App: $612MASH, Venmo: @MedicalBus, if you can chip to help). Last night, we got all the helicopters  for a peaceful gathering at George Floyd Square. At this point, most of us in this area have some form of mild PTSD and man, do the helicopters kick that off! Everyone starts freaking out that we'll be dealing with more arson and other fun and it makes it hard to concentrate on the more important things, like supporting each other and making better communities. Not looking forward to that aspect of this weekend.

Tomorrow is Twin Cities Quorum's National Coming Out Day Event (online) and Queen of Swords Press will have a virtual table in the vending hall, which should be interesting. Quorum is the Twin Cities LGBTQ Business Association and this is their biggest event so I'm hoping for some sales. On Saturday, I'm off to Hopkins for Cream & Amber's Fall Mini-Market; Mike Merriam and I will be amongst the vendors with tables in the parking lot where we'll be peddling our wares. Lots of cool stuff to choose from and the cafe is open for takeout and patio service (and selling books). Sunday, we're going to the American Swedish Institute, which just reopened and taking in "Mr. Vampire" at the Trylon Cinema (little art cinema near us, limited to 20 people, masks on, no sitting near people you don't live with, etc.). "Mr Vampire" is the first of a gloriously weird series of Chinese vampire films that I remember fondly. Onward and upward!


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