CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

The science fiction short story, Basofi's Choosing , and Volume 2 of my 2013 poetry and short story collection, The Year Just Gone have just gone live at OmniLit .

Finally finalised the edits and release of Anna and the Rock Dragons as Carlie Simonsen (in large print), and also found and finished C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2013, Vol. 2 (The Year Just Gone) . Both are currently available for order from the CreateSpace bookstore, and will appear on Amazon shortly as print-on-demand. Very excited!

Seriously, it's amazing what you can read if you take five minutes here or there, read a page, read a chapter. Here's what got read this month... okay, to be fair, I did start the Phelan towards the end of February, but he's in good company.

Establish a routine. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. I’ve spent the last three months trying to establish a routine and completely failing… and I’m not used to failing. So, at the beginning of this month, I sat down and tried to set up a writing schedule. Thus far, I have failed spectacularly, but I’m going to try again… and again… and eventually I’ll find a routine that helps me achieve what I need to. Part of that routine is to read blogs, so just as I came to this decision, I found this blog by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, talking about routine. Routine is important. I’ll let you know how you go. In the meantime, I’ve got to get back to the backlog.

I don’t usually write posts like this, but there’s been this debate raging over the Hugos, the manipulation of how entries are voted in (not illegal, and not really out of the spirit or somesuch), the valuations placed on literary over entertainment works, on those written by the young, the gendered or transgendered, the white or the not-white, the female or the male or the whatever—and it’s gotten a lot of people, writers and non-writers, all bent out of shape. To be honest, I don’t know how to feel about it, but it is having an adverse effect on some writers, who find it diminishes the enjoyment they have in their craft, and that actually does bother me. So, it got me thinking—why do I only feel sad? Why am I not outraged? Why don’t I want to get an opinion out there and defend it to the max? Why am I afraid at the thought of being nominated as opposed to never being nominated? And I realised that it’s because awards are nice, and amazing and all that, but that they’re not worth

So, I wasn't completely happy with the cover for Anna and the Rock Dragons, and I tweaked it some more. It's better, but I'll think about it.

The Mid-Term Study Break started today. You know why it’s called a Study Break? Because it’s the break you study in to pass the assessments due straight after. So, I get to sneak in a bit of writing and a truckload of editing and publishing and study like crazy. Next semester won’t be so bad… maybe… It all depends what I want to cut, and then what I add in. Overview New words produced: 2,128 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 0 Works revised: 0 Covers created: 0 Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Bloggery: 141 Publishing Tasks Created 1 blog posts for this blog—not posted; Continued edit on Anna and the Rock Dragons New Arrivals Nil

Well, dayum. Not a lot got done during this period, because I was studying. And I did not reach the 31,000 words I wanted to reach in March. On the upside, I’m only about 2,000 words short of where I want to be at the end of August.   Overview New words produced: 3,902 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 0 Works revised: 0 Covers created: 0 Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Bloggery: 167 Publishing Tasks Created 1 blog posts for this blog; Continued edits for Anna and the Rock Dragons New Arrivals I had a few ideas quickly jotted down. These will be put into the computer and recorded as they are finished. In the meantime, here’s one more: ShortStory424—Volevin and the Assassin: about a man’s meeting with an assassin.