I had a little panicky setback last week, which has put me off-schedule with a lot of things - mainly writing projects.
What irritates me the most about this latest round of panic attacks is that I have nothing to panic about at the moment. Life is pretty damn good and humming along. I have a productive routine of early morning writing, day job, lunchtime reading, evening cello practice and lessons, and yarn projects. Throw in a renewed commitment to eating only real food and not junky, processed, food-like products (just because it's dairy-free and gluten-free doesn't mean it's healthy food), which has resulted in some weight loss as a delightful side effect, and some evenings out at the movies and to hear some hard rock cello as played by classically trained musicians from Finland, not to mention fall coming on and lots of creative stuff in the works, and what is there to worry over?
Still, this bout has been relatively mild so far, and I'm grateful for that. In a way, it feels like I hibernated all summer due to the yucky and oppressive heat, which really seemed to knock me flat this year, and the panic attacks are waking me up for fall, which is generally my most productive time of the year.
About that creative stuff in the works - I have a personal website in development, which will have five blog pages on it, including this one, and I'm going to release my first novel as an e-book. I am deep into revisions of the second novel, and while I would like to focus solely on that, I'm itching to try out e-publication. The more I hear and read about it, the more I like the concept. If musicians can bypass record labels and get their music directly to audiences, be they big or small followings, why not do the same with books?
I know quality is the biggest argument against self-publishing. Many people think publishing houses are the filter that makes sure only the good stuff gets out there. I would counter that there are quite a few books that get published through a traditional publishing house that aren't good at all, and they make you wonder what the publishers were thinking. In addition, quality is sometimes a matter of opinion. A book I think stinks may be gold to someone else, and vice versa.
If nothing else, the sheer variety of reading material will improve. We're already seeing that in the indie music scene - musicians that would otherwise be passed over by record labels are being heard and becoming popular, and deservedly so. Pomplamoose, anyone?
So Eidolon House will be my Grand Experiment, my Big Plunge, to see what happens and to see what I can learn and to see what people think of my writing. It will be available as a PDF, and if I can figure out how to get it formatted for Kindle and other e-readers, it will be available for those as well. No idea how easy or hard that will be, so it will be an adventure! Or a royal screw-up!
I'm doing one final copyedit first, though, and that's putting me behind in Phoenix Sonata revisions, among other things. I also need to finish the outline for the novel I will write in November for National Novel Writing Month. I'm looking forward to this one - it will be a fun novel to write, I think. I'm considering a 3000-words-a-day writing goal for this year. That would get me a more-or-less finished first draft in a month. It would also up the stakes for a me a bit. In my three other NaNo attempts, I didn't really have a problem getting to 50K words in 30 days, so a little more of a challenge could be a good thing. Still pondering this.
I've nearly finished crocheting a blanket. It's a star shape, done in green yarn. Actually, it looks like a giant lily pad, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. At least the pattern is addicting and fairly easy. I need to get back to the other blanket and the sweater I abandoned at the beginning of summer. I have cowls to show you, too, knit with handspun yarn from my friend Autumn. I think my next project will be a vest with yarn from the Sheep and Wool Festival.
Cello playing progresses slowly but steadily. Me and the new-to-me cello are quite chummy these days.
And fall's only just beginning...
