CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

The cover for the first anthology to be released next year has now been finalised. It combines elements from the fantasy and urban fantasy short story covers published in 2017. This volume will be released January 27, 2019, and will be available for pre-order in December 2018.

In December 2017, I started to get my head around this writing-full-time thing—and also learned how to face down that feeling of facing an impossible task, and an impossible work load. I managed to finish writing the books for January, chase up a writer for their release, produce 5 covers, complete the edit, format and upload for the last of December’s releases, and then do the same for January. This is the writer’s equivalent of starting a business, I guess. Progress for December 2017 New words produced: 46,347 Outlines and Notes: 6,217 Works completed: 3 (1 YA novel, 1 YA chapter book, 1 novella) Works edited: 5 ( The Queen’s Game, A Planet’s Ransom, In Full Flight, Welcome to the Fruit Platter – Ellie, 366 Days of Flash Fiction ) Covers created: 5 ( 366 Days of Flash Fiction, The Queen’s Game, A Planet’s Ransom, In Full Flight, Welcome to the Fruit Platter – Ellie) Works published: 5 ( 366 Days of Flash Fiction, The Queen’s Game, A Planet’s Ransom, In Full Flight, ...

Well, if I thought the third week of December was busy, I redefined ‘busy’ for the fourth week. Again, not a lot of writing got done, but that’s the nature of being an independent writer. There’s no one else. Also, the editing and formatting of collections of short stories, flash fiction and poetry will take you three or four times as long as the editing and formatting for a novel.   Overall Progress for December 17-23, 2017 New words produced: 532 Outlines and Notes: 4,434 Works completed: 0 Works edited: 1 ( 366 Days of Flash Fiction ) Covers created: 0 Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Bloggery: 0  

Things went quiet here towards the end of last year—and that’s because things got a little busier than I expected. Here is a very brief look back at what happened in what I was counting as the third week of December.   Overall Progress for December 10-16, 2017 New words produced: 7,748 Outlines and Notes: 121 Works completed: 1 (1 YA chapter book) Works edited: 0 (began the edit on 366 Days of Flash Fiction ) Covers created: 5 ( 366 Days of Flash Fiction , The Queen’s Game , A Planet’s Ransom , In Full Flight , Welcome to the Fruit Platter for Ellie) Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Bloggery: 5,338

This week just gone I tried varying a couple of routines. The weather cooled down, so I chose to work first thing, and then walk after school drop-off. I also decided I’d use Ingress missions to give my walks some purpose, and settled on a couple of mission series, as well as some singles to complete the line of six I’d started. This worked well. Fitness settled, I got into my writing, and finished A Planet's Ransom , which was the last project I had planned for January. I also got in touch with Eleanor to see if the novella she’d promised for January was finished—and she turned it in on Friday, which means January’s line-up is complete. I worked up the base covers, and only have to finish them, and then do the editing, formatting and uploading to be on track. Given I’m starting to run ahead, I’ve decided I’ll try to finish a short chapter book to fill the remaining week in January, but we’ll see how that’s going by the end of the week. This week’s pri...

Last week saw some significant progress for the first week of September. It also saw a massive change of expected direction, with focus shifting to finding full-time work as opposed to full-time writing. I have four months to turn that around, but I’m a realist; it probably won’t happen. Ironically, that is only going to push me to try and prove myself wrong, but I doubt I can build a liveable wage from my writing in the next four months. The next twelve was a possibility. Once I start working full-time that goal will take a little longer, especially in today’s crowded market. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?   Week 1 Progress (September 3-9, 2017) New words produced: 9,171 Outlines and Notes: 0 Works completed: 0 Works edited: 0 Covers created: 0 Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Bloggery: 1,052 University Prep and Assignments: 2,808 (and uncounted hours) Writing News Last week saw some shorter works pro...