Fall has begun. It’s always a dark time for me, as the seasons change and the days grow shorter. I have settled into my phased retirement, however, so the semester is not so onerous as it once was. And each thing I do professionally, I have the opportunity to reflect on how it’s the last time — or nearly the last — that I will ever have to do that.
After the wonderful experience with the panel about the evolution of dogs at Worldcon, I decided to have my students research and write about dogs for my scientific writing class. I always try to pick a theme I haven’t chosen before. I have had my students study many things in the 23 years I’ve taught this class — tardigrades, autumn leaves, cockroaches, garlic mustard, frogs, monocots, terrestrial gastropods, leaf miners, earthworms, millipedes, etc. — but I’ve never done dogs before. I think it’s going pretty well.
I’ve been productive with SFF writing as well as fall begins. I finished a novelette, Bearly Believable; wrote a short story, Uplands; and have started working on a second, Tablelands, in the same series. (Both are sequels to Bottomlands, a story that has been accepted for publication, but for which I’ve not yet received a contract.) I wrote about using regular expressions to find other -lands words, so now I have a bunch of ideas for further titles in this series.
I have also written an article for Planetside, the newly renamed SFWA blog. I made a pitch back in August which was accepted. Once I submitted the manuscript, it was sent to a line editor for revisions, which went well. Now it’s with the lead editor for final review and to select some of the images I submitted to go with it. It’s been my first experience writing for Planetside and it’s been a real pleasure.
I’ve not been as diligent about getting work submitted for publication this year. I have two works “in press” though long delayed. But I need to do better at getting work submitted and promptly re-submitted once it’s rejected.
I have two public appearances coming up and anticipate a few more in the coming months. I will appear next month at WriteAngles on a panel about science fiction: Writing the Future. The following month, I am scheduled to be on a panel at SFWA Quasar. I have also applied to be a participant at LOSCon in November, Arisia in January, and the next Worldcon in August.
November is going to be busy. In addition to Quasar and LOSCon, on November 8, I will be selling books at the Mill District Holiday Arts Market and the following day, I will host a Straw Dog Writers Guild craft workshop entitled Worldbuilding 101 with James Cambias.
Around the equinox, I met with the amazing curators of @wss366 to talk about Wandering Shop Stories. It’s a great bunch of folks! We had a new curator join us since our last meeting and it was wonderful to meet her. I love our small community and it gives me immense pleasure every day to have a little creative exercise in the morning to start things off. Our next meeting will be around the solstice.
Although it’s depressing to watch the news, I am encouraged by more than just schadenfreude. Not everything is dark. People are waking up to the fact that AI is a hype and asset bubble. And it looks to me like, in running up against the real world, the Republicans are beginning to realize that actually governing is necessary. I rarely agree with what they’re doing but, occasionally — after exhausting all of the other possibilities — they do finally do the right thing. It’s something.
There’s a long, dark winter ahead. But spring will follow eventually.
