July has been one of the most mixed months of my life.
On one side, I finished my latest collection, Mirror Bones, and have had wonderful responses to it so far.
On the other, the severe storm that hit Nova Scotia almost completely destroyed my office. The stream behind my house, which has never risen more than a couple feet, even with the worst hurricanes, swelled to over 400% more than the highest it’s ever been. Over 8 feet from where it normally flows. 3 months of rain in 12 hours. My office had over 4 feet of water. My desk, tables, and all but the highest shelves, was completely submerged. I managed to rescue most of my stuff, but it wasn’t easy. At one point, at 4am, the water was rising so fast I could see it happening.
This whole event has been very difficult for me.
For years, living in Chicago, I did not have an office to work in, and there wasn’t space for much of the stuff I’ve accumulated over the course of my life. Things that inspire me and I like to have around were relegated to boxes. When we moved to Bridgewater, and got the house, my “office” was a tiny upstairs closet. I managed to get some of my things out, but not nearly all of it. To remedy this, I spent the better part of three years literally digging a room out of solid stone in our basement. I moved over 2 tons of rock, bucket by bucket, through a tiny window. I insulated, built walls and a floor. Nothing professional, mind you, but adequate for me. The first year it wasn’t insulated/heated well enough. The space wasn’t viable all winter. But, finally, last fall, I got it all done. A permanent space, with all my boxes unpacked, and plenty of privacy to write. My productivity, since I moved into an even semi-functional office, has gone through the roof.
Now, less than a year later, some freak “never before in history” storm has ruined that space. All the flooring, insulation, and more has to be torn out and redone. It all needs cleaning/sanding. On top of this, now that I know where it flooded in from, I’ll need to build exterior retaining walls in order to prevent future flooding. The bank and ground along the stream is wrecked too, meaning there’s a tremendous amount of landscaping required. It is a reasonably expensive and very time consuming repair job. I’m on it, and it will happen. I’m too stubborn not to make it work. But, at least for a while, I’ve added fending off hopelessness to my “to-do” list. For now, I’m set up at a card table in the living room. It will have to suffice.
Enough about the damn flood though. As I said, this month was a mixed bag and the other side of the coin is very, very shiny!
In addition to a pair of great weeks at the Bridgewater Farmer’s Market, I attended both Sackville Collector Con and Geekorium. Unfortunately, I missed my monthly trip to Alderny Market on account of the storm. I had 10 shiny new copies of Mirror Bones in pre-release for Geekorium and sold out of all of them! I’d have sent more to new homes if I had them. All said, almost 4 dozen books went out into the world this month!
I will be at the Bridgewater Farmer’s Market twice in August, bookending the month on the 5th and the 26th.
I’ll be at another Collector Con in Sackville on August 12th. Those are turning out to be great fun.
I’ll be at Alderny Landing Farmer’s Market on the morning of the 19th, spending the day in Halifax, and then having my great big, awesome, Book Launch Party for Mirror Bones at the Dart Gallery that evening!
You can get directions and more details at the Facebook Event Page. I’m really hoping that everyone who’s able to makes it out. After the month I’ve had, it would be wonderful to have a party surrounded by friends and weird fiction fans!
I’m going to wrap this newsletter up with an apology to my Patrons for not posting any new fiction this month. I have Part 2 of the Mirror Bones story all ready to go, and was all set to share, when the whole flood fiasco happened. Obviously, I’ve been derailed. I’ll put it up, followed shortly by the third and final part, in a few days. The months that I’ve missed putting up new fiction, across the nearly 7 years of running my Patreon, are few and far between. I know you all understand the circumstances, but I still despise missing my goals. Your patience is seen and appreciated.
That just about wraps the month up! I’ve got some more news about upcoming projects, but I’ll save that for the August newsletter. I hope everyone’s enjoying their summer, un-cooked, un-flooded, or un-whatever-might-ail-you!
See you next month!
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https://linktr.ee/judemire
I’ve been adding to my online shop lately. If you want a Story Card or Signed Book in the mail, you can find them here:
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If you want to help with putting strange stories into the world, the best ways of supporting my writing are to…
1. Sign up and become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/judemire
2. Buy my books.
3. Rate and review my books on Amazon or Goodreads.
4. Comment on my social media posts. Likes and shares are good too, but they do less for the algorithm. Comments are king.
5. Feed me tacos and tequila.
I’m not sure how much that last one helps with marketing, but I know I appreciate it!