“Be like a duck,” they say. “Look calm on the surface while kicking furiously underneath.” I’ve been following that advice for the past couple of weeks, in stealth mode. We’re four days into the new year, so it’s time to tell you what is going on in the Inkican universe. The future starts today.
My author mentor advised me in the second half of November to start preparing for 2021. “By January 1,” she said, “I want you to give me four things: Your latest draft of Mesh and three fully-developed novel ideas … three-page synopses.” It took me the next forty-five days to complete the task, and I’m pleased to say that you can see the novels in development by clicking here.
I’m still committed to writing MG/YA scifi stories for kids – the kinds that I read growing up that are both innocent and insightful. I’d love to be an author that inspires the next generation of young people, just as Beverly Cleary, Ivy Ruckman, and Louis Sachar did for me.
But Wait, There’s More!
I also worked on grinding out some short stories. I re-drafted Search and Rescue and sent it around for rejection consideration. Escape Pod was one of them, but they had some helpful feedback about the voice of the protagonist. We had a lively discussion about it over at /r/scifiwriting.
At the same time, I decided to self-publish ‘The Conquered’ and started work on a cover. It took ten or twelve days, but I’m pleased to share this result:
Not being a professional artist, I go through several rounds of feedback before the final result. You think your first try gets you to 100% but guess what? It only got you to 40%. I hate rejecting work I spent hours to create, but it’s the right move. Art is about carving out what is not beautiful, to find the beauty underneath.
So stay tuned: I’ll publish ‘The Conquered’ in a few days. In the meantime, please know this: I appreciate your support and encouragement. The past is yesterday, 2021 is now. We live in the future and it belongs to us.