This year, I’m trying something a little different. Michael Stackpole has something that was featured in his podcast The Secrets… 21 Days to a Novel.

So, for the next 21 days, the 21 days leading up to the beginning of NaNoWriMo, I’m going to follow his steps, and get a good foundation to begin my 50,000 words in November with.

Here we go…

The Dragon Page/Slice of SciFi part of the signing didn’t go off quite so well, unfortunately. Between Mike, Mur, Evo and myself, I don’t think we signed a single copy. The copies of “So Say We All” that I had been told would be there weren’t, so I couldn’t have signed anything if someone had wanted it.

The fun part was getting some of books of mine signed. I talked with Melanie Rawn for a little bit while she signed 4 books for me, and I was completely tickled. Her Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies rank up there as some of my all-time favorite books (and those first three are the only other books besides Stover’s “Heroes Die” and Steve Perry’s Matador trilogy that I’ve bought multiple times and given to others to read).

I talked with Emma Bull and Will Shetterly for a long time after she signed “War for the Oaks” for me, and my only regret was that I couldn’t find my copy of “Bone Dance” to bring for her to sign. She talked about a book coming out in July, “Territory”, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that one.

Then I had my ancient copy of “The Gift of Magic” signed by Lois Duncan, and spent nearly an hour sitting with James A. Owen as he was signing and drawing in copies of “Here There Be Dragons”. He told all sort of fascinating stories about the artists and writers he’s worked with over the years, and now I’m just waiting for him to send me an email so we can get him scheduled for a chat at Dragon Page. My day of getting things signed at the festival was complete.

Afterwards, I drove Jim Butcher back to the studio for his interview, and we chatted about all sorts of scifi television geekery. Turns out we’re both fans of Robert Hewitt Wolfe’s work for similar reasons: Andromeda, the first two seasons, and more particularly, Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria by Barbarosa.

aside: For those, like me, who are interested in writing for television, check out “Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy for Television” by Joe Nazzaro (Titan Books, 2002). It contains interviews with folks like RHW, JMS, DC Fontana, David Greenwalt, Michael Piller, Joss Whedon, Jonathan Glassner, and Rob Tapert. Some of it’s fluff, but overall it gives a pretty good look into the minds of some of the best TV writers out there.

As I was driving Jim back to his hotel, I fessed up on some of the things that had me stuck when it came to finishing longer works, and he suggested I take a look at his Livejournal entries about writing. I don’t think I’d ever seen that part of his website conglomeration before, but I’m glad he pointed it out to me.

Between those suggestions, tidbits from a couple other sites, and Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art” (both the 1st edition faux-metallic hardcover copy and the MP3 audiobook), I believe I can get back into the long form groove.

And I also suggested that he give “Heroes Die” and “Blade of Tyshalle” a try when he gets a chance.

In one of his recent posts, he says that agents are navigators, and for some reason my brain immediately conjured up images of grizzled veteran wilderness guides, armed with only experience and laptops, ready to guide an author through the exotic Outback or Rainforest of the publishing industry.

Only on this trek, they aren’t searching for treasure. They carry the treasure with them, or more precisely, the author is carrying the treasure and the agent-guide is searching for just the right ancient temple or lost city. That treasure will be a long-sought key that will provide entry for the author to that hidden realm they find together.

The catch is, once that treasure, the finished manuscript, is used to gain access to the higher realm, the author has to have the courage to leave what they perceive as a paradise and venture back into the real world. Once back “home” the author will create another treasure and the agent-guide will take them on another trek to find another realm for that treasure to open.

I don’t know why that imagery popped into my head, but I thought it was cool when it did. Only, now I don’t know what adventure metaphor to use for editors…

My NaNoWriMo progress hasn’t been as consistent as I would have preferred, but I do want to get to a decent wordcount before the end of the month.

I need more time to read, too.

NaNoWriMo beckons to me again. It’s only 50,000 words. It seems like such a small number, compared to the epic tomes that line my bookshelves, but it’s also a commitment at a time when my time is in demand by many.

Maybe this is one way to pull back time for myself. I still have a week or so to decide to jump in.

update: oh crap… the NaNoWriMo folks want podcasting help. Someone stop me!

Fortunately, it’s been a good sort of busy. Very good.

My second writing sale will be my first one published, it seems.

BenBella Books’ new Smart Pop collection, So Say We All: Collected Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica, will be hitting the shelves in late October, and I’ve seen the finished proofs. It’s rather giddy seeing my name on pages of a published book.

I think the other book, Writing Fantasy: The Business End, the Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy from Dragon Moon Press, has been rescheduled for a release date at the end of November, which mean 2 publishing credits in the same calendar year. This is a big step for me, and I’m working to increase that pace for next year.

Not a bad way to spend a couple days off.

After doing some work on tweaks for a BSG essay, I’m going to play with a new writing application that Evo discovered, called CopyWrite. If it’s even just a teeny bit better than Word, I’ll eventually buy the full version.

I need to find more freelance assignments to complement the days spent massaging people.

Sunday morning, Ginjer Buchanan told me that my story had potential, and she’d be interested in seeing a completed manuscript, when it gets to that stage.

I’ve got some work to do.

So I’m spending most of my time manning the vendor table for Farpoint Media Group (formerly known as The Dragon Page Radio), meeting a few people here and there.

Oh yeah, they also have those 10-minute agent/editor meetings set up, and OH MY GOD I have a meeting with Ginjer Buchanan Sunday morning.

The only thing I’m nervous about is that it will be my first real face-to-face pitch meeting, and that’s something I haven’t done before.

There will be chances to meet with agents and editors, and in addition to my own work, I’m putting something together on a small book my mentor’s been working on for quite some time.

And I’m still fairly nervous about showing my work… time to get over that, huh?