Human Suit and Patchwork Hearts

Well, I think most agree 2016 can be on its way and perhaps the door can hit its ass on the way out. Then we can barricade the door shut again. On the bright side, 2017 brings the return of Twin Peaks and Agent Cooper, so if Trumperdink can hold off on WWIII just long enough for Showtime to air all the episodes before I have to start my underground railroad, I’ll consider it a win for the year.

I’m away for the holidays (for the first time in…ever?) and staying for a few weeks with one of my brothers and his family. I get to do normal human things like a normal human person and learn what it’s like to live without the crushing weight of existential despair all the time (until I inevitably sign onto Twitter again). A human suit is both simultaneously ill-fitting and natural. I have made little bits of progress with the WIP for the first time in months and if I can just figure out how to get through this heist scene (not my forte) and move the action to the first emperor’s tomb, that’s bound to improve my productivity. I’ve mostly written the epilogue, and I’ve got the beginning, so now it’s just eight-odd thousand words of Oreo middle to figure out.

Nine days left for stuff this year:

1. Bloodlines is 99c. The Demons of Oblivion series is now complete (for better or worse) and that book is where it all begins.  Virtual stocking stuffer?
2. Odin’s Spear e-ARC giveaway, complete with signed books and tuckerization. This is likely the last contest I will run for the foreseeable future (seriously stop me if I even contemplate it) so hop on board while you can. I am otherwise giving up on reviews forever–I just don’t write books people want to talk up and that’s okay, I love you all anyway because I’m a lurker too.
3. 2016 is terrible so get Solomon’s Seal for 50% off at Payhip with the coupon code 2016ISTERRIBLE. I’m original like that.
4. Patreon drive: get your name in the “credits” of Odin’s Spear by pledging any amount as a Patron of Snark by the end of the year.

This time next year I’ll be able to post Livi’s post-Odin’s Spear Christmas novella for Patrons of Snark so that’ll be fun.

In shaping the epilogue of Livi #3, I’m getting a clearer sense now of the shape of the book and the shape of those first three, how they might stand as a trilogy if I decide not to keep publishing. The fourth is already done and is one of my favourite things I’ve ever written (it is The West Book and both makes me giddy as well as breaks my heart), but it starts a series of emotional cliffhanger types of endings, and if I publish that book, I’ll have to publish the rest of the series (ten…ten! They’re mapped out and I need ten for the complete story). I’ll decide next year if that’ll make any kind of sense or not. Those who have read the first loved it, and that’s heartening and what I try to focus on even if it can’t feed the cats while I work on the next one.

For now, I have to get back to that heist with my Zheng’s Tomb soundtrack in the background. Here’s a bit of Livi and West:

Patchwork hearts lighting up the dark.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, folks.