Category: Patreon

  We’re now comfortably into September, and I’m almost three weeks into my September-January writing season.I finished up last season by putting together a series outline for my space opera project, Legacy of a Silver Age. The four books are stitched together with a lot of connections between them, and it is really close to something… Continue reading September Utterances

  This morning I got to do something very special: change my pen’s ink cartridge. It always feels a little auspicious – slinging that much ink is an achievement every time.(Also, when a cartridge-fed pen runs out, refilling it feels adult and responsible. When a disposable pen runs out, it’s always, ALWAYS frustrating. Get refillable pens!)So,… Continue reading An Update In August

  Once more, hello!So, last month’s main news was integrating my copy-edits from Jon Oliver (https://www.jonolivereditor.co.uk/), which you can see more about in the last peek over my shoulder. I’m very happy with the results and feel a lot more confident about my manuscript as a result, and, thank you all – it’s the Patreon support… Continue reading July Update

If you hadn’t noticed, and you might not have, some pretty serious allegations about harassment have been appearing across the entertainment industry. People in science fiction and fantasy publishing have been mentioned, along with the more prominent figures in comics and gaming, and... I really don’t know what to say about any of the allegations.What… Continue reading A difficult June past

  I may, or may not, have had Covid. Crazy, huh?The story goes something like this – earlier this month I developed a fever that hit me like a sledgehammer, then, thankfully, it went away. A very mild cough followed, along with some very kooky fatigue issues that haven’t entirely cleared up yet. Due to the...… Continue reading May things get better.

  I trust you’ve washed your hands. You haven’t? Go wash your hands – fingertips, backs of the knuckles, between your fingers. Lots of soap. Done that? Okay. Last time I updated you all on my progress, over here, we were at just under a million cases globally. We’re now past three million. It’s a scary number,… Continue reading April Disinfectant Showers

  Wash your hands. They washed? Okay. Chances are good that you, like an astonishingly high percentage of the global population, are in the middle of an unprecedented lockdown, or quarantine, or shelter in place. It’s a wild time to be alive. It’s a wild time to try and get ahold of groceries.Me and mine are doing… Continue reading Marching At Home

So. As my patrons know (thanks to the recent peek over my shoulder), I have been grinding my face against outlines for what is starting to feel like forever. So far, though, I find something useful to add or tweak every day, so I think there’s still a lot of forward progress happening.That’s good.Less good?… Continue reading Leaping past February

Just a quick announcement from here - as of March 31, the Patreon will - at long last - be unpaused. From now heading forward I will start to throw up snippets and whatever else I'm inspired to do alongside the work, just so there's enough of a lead-in period current patrons will have some… Continue reading Patreon back online (at last)

  So life’s getting kinda busy for me. Mostly in a good way – I’m getting hours and hours in at my keyboard, and while not all of that time’s spent writing (I just finished a 20 page world bible, for instance) it is all feeling productive and wonderful.In order to achieve that, rather than looking… Continue reading January Update (+ Thoughts about future Patreon efforts.)

  The thing about New Years’ resolutions, and why they fall by the wayside, is that they tend not to be decisions. They tend to be hopes and dreams. ‘I’ll go to the gym every day.’ It doesn’t sound like a hope and dream, but it is – it’s the result that’s the hope and dream.… Continue reading December Decisions

  Mistake tolerance. This is a term invented by Adam Savage in his book, Every Tool’s a Hammer. Naturally, as a lifelong maker and engineer, Adam Savage uses mechanical concepts as a way to frame his life philosophy. And I think it’s resulted in a very, very valuable perspective. Mistake tolerance is akin to mechanical tolerance.… Continue reading November News

  As I’m sure you’ve all heard, Brexit has been delayed. So that’s one thing off the collective national back, at least until January. My relationship with my work is... improving, lately. I’ve managed to do some hobby non-fiction writing, although very little of it is suitable to see the light of day anywhere. Think in terms… Continue reading October Update

  September has been a really long month for me, mentally. Making that long story short, what I can say is that as my mental health improves, it means I can look at deeper issues or things I just kind of shoved aside and ignored while under a lot of tension. While this is absolutely helpful,… Continue reading A September Update. (Still paused.)

 So. You all know I live in London, right? And you’ve all heard of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, AKA our prime minister, AKA Tory Trump?It was funny, and then it was alarming. Then Hong Kong’s protests got crazy, then people were marching to try and stop a ‘coup’ – in that Johnson’s government is… Continue reading A (not so) August update