Grown-Up Problems

Dearest readers,

I am secretly 12. Well, not really, but that's the the disclaimer I often find myself attaching to the everyday. If I didn't have a job, bills, and a dwindling metabolism, I assure you I'd be doing nothing but playing video games, building LEGO towers, and immersing myself in the fictional worlds I create while hunched over a keyboard. Life is hard at 23, and 24 is rapidly approaching.

This year, I traded a freelance career for a big-girl job with an Internet conglomerate, starting out as a coordinator in the content department then climbing my way into management. I love my big-girl job. I love the 9 to 5, the people I work with, the projects I'm working on, and how much I've grown as a writer and editor since taking the job. The only drawback is that it cuts into my personal writing time. I knew that would be an issue going into the grown-up world, but I've been forcing myself to dedicate at least half an hour to creative writing every day. Sometimes, all that comes out during that half hour is "blaaaaagh, I'm too tired for this nonsense," though, so some days are better than others.

That said, I'm buckling down -- I'm determined to have Book Number Two finished within the next three months. Given my current word count, that roughly translates to writing a minimum of 500 words/day. Totally doable now that I'm in crunch mode. I'm pushing to do closer to a minimum 800 words/day so I have ample time to edit within the 90-day period.

We'll see how this goes. During the final two-week haul for Zhukov's Dogs, my immune system kindly requested I go fuck myself and took a long holiday that ended with me in the hospital. I wasn't working full-time back then either, so I expect Book Number Two will likely kill me. When I'm gone, dearest readers, please use my tragic death as an excuse to buy more copies of my books.

As a closing thought: Book Number Two finally has a title! It will probably change, but for now, I'm calling it The Spark. It's a delightful blend of fantasy, sci-fi, and action that's neatly wrapped up in the New Age genre, and I can't wait to share it with you.