CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

It's been a long while since I could set a goal and then not be guaranteed that it would be the one thing I would...for whatever number of reasons, fail to achieve. It's been almost as long that setting any kind of deadline would cripple me, instead of energize me like it used to do. It's been an equally long time since I wasn't sure I would fail no matter how much effort I put into something, no matter how 'right' I got it, no matter how well it worked for anyone else...and then tried to do it, anyway. Years. At least two. Twenty-four months. Or 730 days. And probably a couple of years before that. We won't get into hours or minutes, but, whichever way you slice it, it's a very long time to live with the hope that the storm will pass, and to keep trying to move forward in spite of what Life throws, in spite of the doubts others have in you, and in spite of the absolute surety you feel that you *will* fail, that it will not matter how precisely right you...

It's a mixed smorgasbord, today, as I pick up the pieces of the latest bit of Life. I'm working at getting my writing, production, publishing and video schedules back on track.  The Update This week, I made my first submission for the year, and completed a second...although that one's going to need a home. I also dealt with an unexpected work issue that will mean some significant changes on the writing and youtubing front - yes, you will see some more content from both, and finally, I was able to return to working on my novel. This Month's Goals: (Because it's never too late.) 1. Complete Dark God's Rise; and 2. Make 2 more short stor y submissions . It's small potatoes, but I need time to recover, and get an idea of what the new routine looks like . In September, I'll have a better idea of my capabilities. For now, these three things are the limit. The Poem: Like any upheaval, this latest one bleeds out in words. Here's one of the pieces that arriv...

In Which Life has Changed Over the last few months, and years, you will have noticed a change to my blog - not so many posts on writing and then, more recently, a few on releases, pre-releases and books on sale. I have been writing...just not as much for myself as I should have been over the last few years, and much of my work has been for someone else and not for me. In short, I entered a partnership where I was told it was "impossible" for any other arrangement but a ghost-writing one to be had, and promised that when that changed, we would enter a royalty-based agreement. I undertook an exercise of trust, and took a while to work out there was no impossibility, and the trust demanded had been betrayed. My bad. I ghost-wrote over twenty novels in the last four years, none of which are paying me royalties, as they would have if I'd been in the royalty-based arrangement I asked for at the start, which meant, when hard times hit, as I had foreseen, and the realization th...