catherineldf | Entries tagged with accountability post

Okay, first the big news for those who may not have seen my last post: I got a job offer! I'm scheduled to start a week from Monday once all my paperwork and drug test (happening tomorrow) clear. It's a contract gig, not clear on how long it will run, but estimated at several months, moving into next year. I'll have to juggle insurance plans because my new contracting company doesn't do family insurance, so that'll be a thing in the next week or so. At the moment, mostly just relieved. I also got a writer's grant from the Ladies of Horror Fiction (see last post), so very pleased about that.
In addition to that, this week I:

Had a lively and successful book table at St. Cloud Pride, despite our table banner breaking and my Square card readers no longer working with my phone.
Got Jana's art event at Dancing Bear Chocolate rescheduled to 10/10.
Got asked to be a judge for a local arts grant (the funder turned me down last cycle, but I guess my application was impressive? Anyway, accepted).
Had a lovely time at the Parkway Theatre with friends watching "Big Trouble in Little China" for the umpteenth time.
Went to an outdoor Minnesota Book Publishers Roundtable/Professional Editor's Network networking event and had a nice time.
Posted the cover reveal for Obviously, Aliens by Jenny Goloboy to the Queen of Swords Patreon. Working on having ARCs available this week. Let me know if you like humorous science fiction.
Got invited to be on the Writers Drinking Coffee Podcast this week - will post air date when available.
Threw my hat in the ring for vending at Columbia Heights Pride.
Did some edits, reading of submissions and writing. Almost done with an article draft due soonish.
Filled out paperwork for new job and wrangled unemployment.
Got interviewed for and quoted in a piece in Modern Retail about book publishing and supply chain constraints.
Met with Julia from Bingley's Teas and made progress on the Queen of Swords Press tea blend. More info coming soon!
Did the sporadic Costco run and stocked up on some needful things.
Did a lot of administrative tasks.
Became a small business endorser of Yes 4 Minneapolis, which is the amendment that supports creating a new Department of Public Safety in lieu of the current arrangement in which the police department tells the City how high to jump on a regular basis. No, for the two hundredth time, it does not "defund the police" or "fire Chief Arradando," despite what you may have heard on Next Door. At present, one reason that it's impossible to reform the police department is that many things, including head count, are controlled by the Minneapolis Charter Commission, an unelected and non-transparent body that has no obligation to the people actually living here, and the Mayor's office. Every other department is managed the Mayor's office working with the City Council, and the MPD is the only exception. Spoiler alert: that's not going so well.

And that's it for the moment!

Well, I was doing pretty well at weekly posts. Will try and get back to them this month. I've been doing more writing and sundry other things as well as more interviews and more job applications. So far, some interest, but no results on the job part. Sigh. There was a brief COVID exposure scare last week that turned out to not be a thing, some time with friends and other fun stuff though. So here's what I did do:

Author Reads at Fae Productions - I got interviewed about my work and Queen of Swords Press and did a reading from the Wolves of Wolf's Point books in full Goth regalia. Follow the link to the video!
Got a new piece up at the Sirens Conference blog about some books that feature queer monsters and magic.
Interviewed for a couple of jobs, applied for a few more. Continue to be unemployed.
Finished one new short story and revisions to a second and submitted both. Talked to the Twin Cities Book Festival and will be included in the local author's showcase (previously, I was hoping to go to Multiverse Con in Atlanta). Talked to sundry entities about book reviews, author interviews and possible classes and got the ball rolling on some of this. Applied for some more events and got into a few more.
Worked on novel edits for the next Queen of Swords Press book and read submissions.
Went to movement class (I've been taking a weekly movement class at the Cassandra School for about a year now), the MN Arboretum and the Apple House and the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.
Made chocolate goat's milk ice cream and canned fresh apple sauce. The latter necessitated borrowing a canning pot from someone in my neighborhood Buy Nothing group since mine has vanished. I also bartered a couple of books for a bag of vegetables, which was somewhat coincidental, but handy. Might try and can spaghetti sauce this weekend too, while I have the pot.
Watched the "Long Kiss Goodnight" again and it holds up pretty well.
Some reading for fun, some tv watching for fun and a LOT of kitty cuddles.
Did some yardwork and rehomed some things via the Buy Nothing group. This is pretty fun - I recommend joining or starting one where you live. Before our big group seeded (broke into smaller, more local groups), people furnished several apartments for folks moving out of shelters into permanent housing as well as helping raise a bunch of mutual aid packages and assisting some neighbors who were food insecure. Mostly, though, it's an opportunity to pass along stuff you aren't using and get things you do need while meeting some of your neighbors.

Back to the grind tonight - I'm hoping to finish another big project this weekend, then finish an on demand class I owe Cat and get an Ebay stores setup for selling some things that aren't giveaway items. More news as I have it!

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!

This week had been a LOT, even by my standards! I left last Wednesday for the wilds of Wisconsin to teach at the Novel in Progress Book Camp: Speculative Fiction Edition so I could spend the night in Lake Mills, Wisconsin and drive in fresh and rested in Thursday morning to teach and panel and such. Lake Mills is very charming midAmerica: I stayed at a lovely Victorian B&B run by an older gay couple and their charmingly crabby elderly kitty, had a nice conversation with one of the other two guests, visited the farmer's market, did a very tiny amount of shopping at a couple of local shops and had a very pleasant time. It was my first time away from home overnight in nearly 2 years so it was a bit of an event! And from there, it was on to NIP and an action-packed schedule. The grounds were beautiful, the students very focused, the other pros interesting and engaging - 10/10, would do again. Which is good, because I've been invited to teach there again next year if we can get scheduling to work out. After that, I got to drive back in a horrible series of rainstorms that doubled the drive time (bearing in mind that I haven't been more than an hour and a half away from home in nearly two years). But made it home, despite having to miss my planned lunch with Madison friends.

The rest of the week

So the Very Cool Things: on Thursday night, I discovered that a Queen of Swords Press book had received its first starred review from Publishers Weekly! Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore will be out on 8/20 and it is glorious queer hopepunk/climate fiction (and up for preorder now!) with a bi trans protagonist and an all-queer cast. :-D
Next bit of news hit early the next day: The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater won New Zealand's Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collection! This was A.J.'s first book, our little Pandemic Book and Queen of Swords Press first award win (A.J. has won multiple times for their short fiction)! We are very psyched. :-D
Then on Friday night, I finished polishing up an article on writing marketing copy and submitted it and it got accepted the next day. So by the time I left NIP, I looked like the one very successful small press publisher/author. :-D
Had a fun time doing an author reading from Blood Moon at OutwriteDC on Sunday.
Got Jana a tiny show at Dancing Bear Chocolate's Sunday Artist series (9/12 12 -4PM). We'll be in a tent outside selling her handmade boxes and books. Dancing Beat is in the Victory Neighborhood of North Minneapolis, the owners are lovely and their chocolate and baked goods are amazing.
Pitched some more nonfiction and have almost finished tweaking a story to submit.
Worked on a couple of other fiction projects.
Interviewed for 2 jobs - 4th time for 1, second time for another. Did not get the 4 time interview one but they may pull me in for something else. Don't know about the second one, may have a 1st interview at a third place next week. At any rate, still unemployed, tired of interviewing and rather frustrated.
Cancelled on Multiverse Con with reluctance, but had to be. 3.5 months of unemployment + dicey insurance situation + COVID surge in Georgia + Delta Airline's attitude about vaccinations and safety (that being "screw it and screw you; we don't care" - we are a hub city for Delta so it's generally our best option for direct flights) was just a bridge too far. :-(
Applied for a couple of other events - more news when I have it.
Read submissions.
Saw Suicide Squad 2 and mostly enjoyed it.
Had a complete crash and burn day and spent it icing a mysterious foot injury, nursing a migraine and binge watching Season 3 of the BBC Three Musketeers series. Not quite as well written as the previous 2, but still fun and I thought they handled the ending well.
Took toxic waste (batteries and old paint) to country drop off today.
Took on moderation duties for a horror panel at Skepticon tomorrow (see pinned post)

And now back to virtual Readercon and hopes for another round of good luck next week.

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!

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!

It has been a full week. I'm finally starting to come out of my mental fog of recent weeks enough to recognize that I was very, very run down. I'm by no means caught up with much of anything, but I'm making progress and am giving myself regular breaks, which helps. I'm still fretting about being unemployed and not getting everything done, but so it goes.
Since last Wednesday or so, I:

Went to Rush River Produce for the annual picking of the blueberries. We got 5 pounds of really tasty ones, which are now in the freezer and will get used over the coming months.
Had 2 job interviews on Friday. One may result in a job offer if the manager can get funding (I'd be replacing a friend who got moved to another position) soon, the other one I thought was okay, but had some issues. So, naturally, I got a call back for that one and have interview 2 tomorrow. No word on the one I was hoping to get called back for so I suppose I need to let it go.
Went to the Midtown Farmer's Market on Saturday and ran into friends I haven't seen in months and months. Had a lengthy chat and got pesto fixings, which is what I did when I went home.
Grabbed lunch at a taco truck on Lake Street and went to the Twin Cities Antiquarian Book Fair. It was odd, as I expected, but I ran into some people and Greg from DreamHaven gave me a book. And Patrick Coleman to drop off my latest titles for the Catherine Lundoff collection at the MN Historical Society this week before he retires so that's another thing on the list. Really nice to see him and hope retirement treats him well.
Had dinner at the Riverview Wine Bar during an unexpected Machinery Hill concert and barely got to eat before going to "Black Widow" at the Riv. Enjoyed all of it! Except for that end credits scene which just reminded me of how badly the MCU failed her character. So maybe skip that part if you share my sentiments.
Worked on my Teachable class, recorded a short reading for the Queen of Swords Press Patreon, pulled together some bonus material for Scarlet Ferret Books (small indie U.K. ebook store that carries CInrak and is adding Silver Moon), worked on my next Sherlock Holmes story and my next novel in progress chapter, worked on edits and promo and so forth.
Went to Lark Toys in Kellogg, Fair Trade Books in Red Wing and other fun spots on Sunday with Matt. Made a veggie stirfry when we got back and we all watched "Cast a Deadly Spell," an early HBO Lovecraftian noir flick. Found the premise interesting, but some things really do not hold up well.
Doing a reading at Strong Women, Strange Worlds tomorrow night (see pinned post for links) and supporting Alex at Madame Askew's Virtual Steampunk Book Club this Sunday (link above).
Yard work and sundries! This included selling off the expandable ladder that we don't use and giving away an ancient craft tent that I found in the back of the garage.

Off to go finish a few things before calling it a night.

Feeling better, finally, though still wrangling a bit of a cough. Spent today picking blueberries and traipsing around farms in eastern Wisconsin, which was delightful. Last weekend's drag show was a lot of fun too! I also got to have lunch with a friend I haven't seen in a year and a half, picked a bunch of tart cherries and currents in the Bancroft Meridian Garden and made cherry-current chutney. And I gave some things away on the neighborhood Buy Nothing group and was gifted with some herbs from a neighbor's garden.

Other items of note:

Had a screening interview for the job I applied for last week and felt like it went well. I find out tomorrow or Monday if I made it to Round 2 (I expect there to be at least 3 interviews for this).
Have a phone interview tomorrow and followed up on a referral for a different job.
Did a practice run for the Strong Women, Strange Worlds reading on 7/15 (which reminds me that I need to do a timed practice run).
Sent Foxhunt out for reviews and discussed the finalized interior design. So excited about this book!
Started talking to cover artist Dian Huynh about the cover for Jennifer Goloboy's Obviously, Aliens, which we'll be publishing in December.
Read some submissions for Queen of Swords Press; we're getting a lot of things that do not fit this reading which is your reminder to read the guidelines and try to familiarize yourself with what a publisher actually publishes and is looking for.
Did lots of fiddly administrative things and worked on the new short story and the next novel chapter for Patreon.
Did not make much progress on the Teachable class and need to dig into that tomorrow.
Going back to the Twin Cities Antiquarian Book Fair for the first time in two years this weekend, but this time on a tight budget and just a few months after the death of my friend, Dave Christenson. Feeling a bit iffy about it, but will see if I can go and think of it as a semi-new event, rather than a familiar one with big loses.
Going to see "Black Widow," because of course I am. Part of this week's cold recovery has been watching the earlier Fast & Furious movies so I'm clearly in an action frame of mind.

And now to bed and hopefully sleep off this trailing bit of cough that I haven't shaken yet.

As noted in yesterday's post, I came down with a hellacious cold early last week and only recovered my voice completely yesterday, so productivity has been a gradual thing. I did manage to talk to a couple of recruiters (before I lost my voice) and sent in a resume to a local company via a friend's referral. I'll knuckle down and do more applications next week. I also managed (before I got sick), a trip to see actual in person theater for the first time in a year and a half (MORLS - highly recommended) and a trip to a movie theater to see "In the Heights" (which we enjoyed). Since recovering (yesterday), I've also been to see "Fast & Furious 9," which was ridiculous and fun. Plus a couple of outdoor meetups with friends and one gaming night before I got sick. Jana also got to go to Utah to visit friends and family for a week, thanks to a friend's generosity.

What else has been going on?

Wrapped up this year's Pride StoryBundle, which looks to be the best one so far in terms of most bundles sold and most $ raised for Rainbow Railroad since this started (Melissa Scott kicked it off in 2017 and I came on as co-curator 2 years later).
Applied for an IT job that looks interesting and promising.
Got our latest title, Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore, up for preorder. This is a great new queer climate fiction/hopepunk science fiction novel featuring a transwoman protagonist by another terrific queer author from New Zealand and it will be out on 8/20/21!
Got a bunch of stuff out for reviews, etc.
Kicked off a Smashwords sale on Queen of Swords Press titles.
Started working on a new on demand version of one of my classes for Cat Rambo so I'm learning Teachable now.
Finalized a couple more readings, panels and classes and an event table in the next month or two.
Did an author reading and interview at a new to me romance group, Romance in Her Prime, which features older heroines and was a lot of fun.
Picked up another story rejection, which was less fun.
Got a new chapter of my novel in progress posted for our Patreon.
Started a new short story.
Sold some of Jana's tools and unused equipment and did some giveaways to start decluttering the house.
Started work on a new publishing/editing resume to sue for those kinds of job applications.
Did some job networking.
Made reservations for tomorrow night's drag show at our local coffee house (the drag queens perform on the street while people watch from the patio).

Next week, follow up and finish up more of same, plus get some more stories and article pitches out the door and go blueberry picking.

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!

It's been a really wild month since my day job ended midMay. My contracting company hasn't been able to place me and their HR is engaged in some shenanigans about health insurance so I am currently between jobs and we are currently "between insurances" since my stop gap ran out last week. I'm currently trying to get us back on the stopgap policy again until I get another option figured out. Added to some other things going on that I am not currently at liberty to discuss and it's a LOT.

I'm going to go back to the weekly accountability posts, seeing as I am once more between jobs and all, but I also wanted to do a quick reminder about the Pride StoryBundle, which is still in full swing:

Pride Month StoryBundle - June 2 - July 1st. Our annual event, this year featuring books by Melissa Scott, Matt Bright, A.J. Fitzwater, Andi C. Buchanan, R.B. Lemberg, Eboni Dunbar, Cecilia Tan, dave ring, Leigh Harlen, Anya DeNiro, Langley Hyde, Heather Rose Jones, J. Scott Coatsworth and Catherine Lundoff and benefiting Rainbow Railroad.
r/Fantasy Queen of Swords Press Reddit AMA - June 4th online, 24 hour Q&A featuring A.J. Fitzwater, Alex Acks, Rem Wigmore, Jennie Goloboy and me, plus visits from a couple of Scourge of the Seas authors. You can read our comments and posts at the link.
Had a good time at the SFWA Nebula Weekend and enjoyed the programming.
Edelweiss BookFest. Check out the Editor's Pick video for Queen of Swords Press title The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater. This was a pretty good conference and I'll definitely attend again, if possible.I was pretty disappointed in Publisher's Weekly's U.S. Bookfest genre offerings and will skip this one next year.
Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention 2021. This was a good panel discussion and an evening well-spent!
Coming up this week! Twin Cities Lesbian Fiction Book Club - June 16th, 7PM. Discussing Blood Moon with me. This is an invite-only online event, so please let me know if you'd like to attend.
I'm also doing a queer steampunk discussion on Friday.

I've been doing some odds and ends to bring in some $ while I've been tackling the Month of All the Things, and one of these has included doing a spot of freelancing for Library Journal. I got to interview a bunch of folks at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill about this terrific project they're working on. On the Books is a searchable database of a century of Jim Crow laws, as well as full text of laws that impacted the lives of African American people in North Carolina and a bunch of interesting looking teaching aides. Definitely worth checking out!

I've also been working on a new class and will be starting on building an on demand class this week, submitting more things and wrapping up developmental edits on a book. And job hunting. The summer begins...

3 weeks into new contracting gig and people are STILL being pleasant to me and saying nice things about my work, so that's good. Here's where we're at:

Finished blurbing Melissa Scott's forthcoming queer epic fantasy, Water Horse. It's a good one, folks!
Wrote an impossible number of blog posts and a very big interview and turned them all in. I will be on 18 blogs in the next few weeks and hopefully sell some book.
Picked up 3 more readings - I'll be reading from Blood Moon at Rainbow Space Magic this Saturday (3/13), at DreamHaven Books on 3/17 and at the Broad Universe RFR on the 28th. I'll be reading from my historical fiction on 3/20 at a Facebook event and my short horror at The Story Hour on the 24th.
Got some nice graphics for Blood Moon, which is also now up for preorder at Indiebound and Bookshop.
Saw some lovely early reviews for Blood Moon, including this one at JudeintheStars Book Blog and Jerry Wheeler's lovely thoughtul review at Out in Print: Queer Book Reviews.
Wrapped up almost all of the Pride Month StoryBundle planning. Melissa Scott and I are co-curating and it's going be an awesome lineup.
Me and my stuffed werewolf appeared in my second kind of terrible Instagram video.
Finished Black Sails and it is pretty awesome.
I had a great time teaching Book Promo on a Budget on 3/7 and will be teaching So You Want to Put Together an Anthology? on April 10th at the Rambo Academy.
Dealt with "city under siege" issues: gonna be a long couple of months here in Minneapolis. Sigh.

Now to go see if I get this book pitch done before I have to go to sleep.

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!

I have been unemployed exactly 2 weeks. Am I caught up? No. Have I made progress? Yes. Do I still have miles to go before I sleep, as it were? Definitely. Everything always takes longer than I think it will, the Catherine Motto.
Accomplished since last week:

Learned to make soft pretzels. This was fun and kind of futsy.
Attended 2 different seminars, one on small business organizing though Dream Foundry and the other on content marketing through the Minnesota Book Publisher's Roundtable.
Applied for our Minnesota political donation refund (this is a thing here).
Got unemployment sorted so I can actually collect some for a bit. It ain't much so I'll have to come up with other plans soon so as not to drain all our resources.
Followed up on and got dates for my upcoming Springboard for the Arts workshop and set up a meeting with Cat Rambo to start the process to record some of my classes and make them on-demand.
Dropped off donations at Free Geek.
Drafted a Queen of Swords Press Kickstarter for recording audio books and sent it out for review.
Finished a new chapter of my novel for Patreon, wrote most of a new story draft (due next month), started another new story and followed up on a fiction project that we dropped the ball on at the end of last year.
Elise Matthesen made some glorious jewelry and sent me part of the proceeds for Queen of Swords Press. They sold instantly, but here's the pendant and the earrings. (Please buy Elise's other jewelry too!)
Saw a bunch of lovely people sign up for the Patreon. I normally channel part of each of my paychecks into the Press to give us operating capital and keep things stable between big sales, promos and other things that give us a boost; we still have months where we have less than $100 coming in so the Patreon and our Ko-fi help us weather those months as well as helping us do wacky things like some advertising, etc. If we can get to $200 or more on the Patreon, we would be reasonably stable. If we could get to $300 a month, all our baseline expenses would be covered, we could take on new titles, etc. And pay me my royalties, which otherwise get channeled into the Press. Big shoutout of gratitude for everyone who's supported us so far!
Dusted and decluttered the dining room.
Sent my watch to be repaired.
Read submissions and Melissa Scott's forthcoming novel, Water Horse, which I'll be blurbing. Finished reading and blurbing Juliette Wade's Transgressions of Power.
Wrote part of my friend Dave Christensen's obituary.
Got my profile set up for the Professional Editor's Network - I'm unofficially open for small editing projects, publishing coaching, etc. I should have more detail and price list up on my website by next week.
Talked to a recruiter and began following up on jobs that people told me about.

Now back to the grindstone. I haven't managed to deal with healthcare yet, so that's a big stressor right now. Gotta dive back in and tackle that next.

Like many other people, I'm relieved and reasonably happy with today's events. I'll go with cautious optimism for the next while and see how it feels to try that on again. Favor quote for today: "Big day for complete sentences." (Bryan Taylor Cohen). :-)

I've been unemployed for a week now so I'm planning on doing a weekly post about what I'm up to in the interim:

Built a giant spreadsheet checklist and began working my way through it.
Taught "No More Lone Wolves: Writing Characters in Community" at the Rambo Academy on Saturday and had a very good class.
Was on 2 panels at virtual Arisia, which went reasonably well, and attended a couple of other events. Had a pleasant time.
Applied for unemployment
Activated my LinkedIn job search and started following up on tips and such.
Worked on my next chapter for my Patreon novel in progress and got it posted.
Put in for our State of MN Political Donation refund.
Started looking at trying to get Jana a PPP loan and bogged down.
Began to tackle the giant cleaning and organizational projects that I've been wanted to get done for months now.
Sent out promo info and blurb and review copies of Blood Moon (coming 3/15/21!)
Mailed people their book orders.
Blurbed Juliette Wade's new novel.
Read submissions.
Began poking at my new online accounting class.
Started organizing for taxes.
Also, on the Queen of Swords Press front, delighted to see a story from The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater on Nerds of a Feather's Hugo Recommended Reading list!
Thanking lots of people for supporting my Patreon and the QoSP Ko-fi. buying Jana's work from Etsy, buying books from Queen of Swords Press, and in the case of Elise Matthesen, making a lovely piece of jewelry and auctioning it off. (See previous post for links). You all rock!
Watching: Black Sails (finally - enjoying!), new Batwoman (liking a lot), Miss Scarlet and the Duke (PBS - Victorian mystery, also liking a lot) and Wynonna Earp Season 3.

Next up, finish a short story, finish submissions, finished drafts for Kickstarter project and send them out for review, and then tackle the next hundred or so things. Onward!

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Accountability Post, Once More with Feeling
Accountability Post, Again, Part the Next
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Dwelling in Probabilities

Catherine Lundoff's blog

Entries tagged with accountability post

Accountability Post, Once More with Feeling

Accountability Post, Again, Part the Next

Weekly Accountability Post, that's rapidly becoming more biweekly

Weekly Accountability Post, the Return! Plus cool things!

Accountability Post, Redux

Weekly Accountability Post: Back Again for More!

Weekly Accountability Post, the Return (Again)

Weekly Accountability Post

Accountability post, part the whatever

Not so weekly accountability post

Back to the weekly accountability posts for a bit...

Weekly Accountability Post (the 7th, but who's counting?)

Weekly Accountability Post, Part the 3rd

Weekly Accountability Post, the 2nd

Weekly Accountability Post, the 1st