June updates: What I’m up to, and when you might see more from me

As a teacher, this is the time of year when I often stop and breathe for what feels like the first time since September. The school year is almost over. It is also the time when I tend to look at my blog and go, “Oops!”

So, there went 2020-21, and let me say good riddance. Let’s not discuss why that year was lousy over-all, suffice to say it generally was.

On the subject you’re probably most interested in:

Remember that “flash fic” 1-chapter of Mancer 4? Well, it was the start of an obsessive writing spree that delved into the politics of Kavet and the Abyss, introduced new characters, explored what it truly meant to be a mancer, and culminated in a presidential election—because it was November, 2020, and what else was I going to write about? 100,000 words later, the first draft is compete. I’ll try to find some time to go through and decide what I’m able to share, but despite my “it doesn’t need to be perfect” resolution, I would like it to at least make sense.

Will I publish the whole thing? I have no idea yet. Like most first drafts, it’s not anywhere near ready to see the world yet.

In case you’re wondering what I was doing while I wasn’t updating:

In November, 2020, we had a pipe break in our basement, necessitating much work with our homeowners’ insurance and a week’s stay in a hotel (3 adults, 2 kids, 3 cats), so that was… fun. I channeled my anxiety about that and a minor health problem (diagnosed, waiting for a pre-op meeting to discuss if surgery was needed) into writing, which is much of how Mancer 4 was finished. It’s now out with my first-round beta readers.

In December, 2020, that minor medical issue suddenly became a major one. I won’t go into much detail, except that I went to the ER on December 6th and didn’t come home until December 27th, then spent most of January and February in recovery.

March through May was focused on returning to day-job work (teaching), getting my seniors to graduation, taking a course on Sheltered English Instruction (required to renew my teaching license), and finishing the first major rewrite of what had been my 2016 NaNo, previously titled “Terrible Falcon NaNo,” and more recently titled Disappearing Isle. Isle takes place post Promises to Keep, and features the shm’Ahnmik (falcon shapeshifters).

Now it’s June. My seniors have graduated (Congratulations, Class of 2021!), my oldest is finishing Kindergarten on Friday (oh goodness!) and my youngest is now 3. I’ve started coming out as nonbinary at work, and I’m almost at the point where I’m prepared to ask my therapist if we should be talking about a PTSD diagnosis related to those three months of medical drama.

In the meantime, I’m still writing. Here’s the status of my various projects:

• Silent Prince, originally inspired as a gender-flipped, queer retelling of “The Little Mermaid” from the perspective of the regular, non-royal folk surrounding them, and now… I don’t even fully know, but it’s gone off the rails and I’m having fun with it. I’m about 85,000 words into what was supposed to be a short fic (oops!).
• Castle on the Hill, another fairytale retelling, this one kind of a mashup of “Beauty and the Beast” meets “Rapunzel” meets “Robin Hood”. You can tell I’ve been watching Disney flicks with my kids, and feeling the need to tell something better.
• Along the same lines, I’m planning next steps for my own version of “Briar Rose,” better known to many as Sleeping Beauty. It’s a version of the tale I told when my young daughter asked for a story—a couple years ago, now—which I ended up writing out. I’m hoping to illustrate it and possibly self-publish.
• Sororcula, which I mentioned a while back, is complete in Version 3.0 (I actually have two silly quickly-made covers for it, because… because I did?). I have no idea what I’ll do with it. It has some problematic aspects I don’t know how to fix, a lot of which comes out of my own gender-questioning. So it’s also on a shelf for a while.

Oh, and (THIS IS NOT A LITTLE THING, BUT I’M GOING TO DESCRIBE IT AS IF I’M TOTALLY CHILL AND NOT EXCITED OR NERVOUS SO YOU THINK I’M COOL) I’ve been working with someone to possibly turn Hawksong into film. Nothing solid yet, but feel free to make some noise online, on Twitter (tag me!) about that idea, okay?

(Way to bury the lead, Amelia…)

So, that’s what’s up right now. If you want to keep in touch, remember that I post to Twitter frequently. I read my DMs regularly, but I’m terrible at replying to them, especially when it’s something I want to take time and write something coherent in response to.

I’ll try to get more of Mancer 4 up in the near future; feel free to bug me on Twitter if I don’t. The ADHD is strong with this one, and this blog disappears from existence when I’m focused elsewhere. (Thanks to GeoChris for prodding me this time)

On the subject of the website, the other project I would like to tackle this summer is adding a page where you can look up Content Warnings for each of my books. There are aspects of my work that are problematic because I didn’t know any better at the time, and aspects that are challenging because I use my writing to process my own life, including trauma. I will apologize for the former—I am trying to learn and to do better in current and future works—but I won’t apologize for the latter. However, I can provide CWs so people can make informed decisions about what they want to read.