The updates are back! Between the basement chaos and summer/fall markets, I’ve missed a couple months of notes. Lots to catch up on, but I’m going to try and keep this brief. Nobody needs a crazy detailed report of things. Here’s the shortlist.
~ August was spent tearing my rain soaked workspace apart. Fun fun. Went to some great markets. I stayed local for Bridgewater Farmer’s markets, hit Sackville for Collector Con, and did one Alderny Market Saturday.
The highlight of the month was my hugely awesome book launch for Mirror Bones at the amazing Dart Gallery! About 40 people turned out for the launch, and they weren’t all just friends and family. For the first time as an author I had fans come out! Folks who’d read stuff before and were excited for the new book. A serious milestone that STILL has me grinning. There was also a fun “pop-quiz” with a book giveaway, delicious blue drinks, and I read the first story in the collection, Cracking Daydreams.
~ September was a hot mess filled with rain, a market disrupting hurricane, and more chaos than I care to recount. Car trouble also grounded me for a bit, but I did manage to get out and sell some books here and there. Jammed a birthday into the month, but otherwise, not much to report. Finished clearing and drying the office, got it prepped and figured out the recovery plan.
~ October was much better than September! Insanely busy, but it’s been a great month! I hit five different market venues all over the place, so I got to meet a ton of new people (which I love). I did the last Bridgewater Farmer’s Market of the season, followed by another great CollectorCon. I hit the Alderny Artisan Market for the first time and found out that it’s a much better fit for my product than the standard Saturday market I’d been going to. Did the LCLC Fall Market with Jill the week after. Yesterday was the cherry on top with the wonderful Dead of Night Market in the beautiful Brewery Market building in downtown Halifax.
In addition to all these markets I managed a day at Hal-con where I touched base with a bunch of vendor friends, attended Peter Foote’s book launch for his latest sci-fi novel, and met a few new authors!
Throw in a whole lot of progress on the office and completing another “around-the-house” project, and it’s been a jam-packed, but good, month. I now have 80% of a functional floor in my office and 50% of my heat re-connected. More than enough for me to work, but I’m not “moved-in” fully. I’m not going to bring the things that got evacuated back down until it’s completely done. But I should be fully functional by the end of November. I’ll post some pics when it happens.
That catches everything up! So what lies ahead?
Here’s my November/December schedule.
November 2 – Dartspeak Open Mike at the Dart Gallery 7-9 (I’ll be there reading a bit of horror)
November 5 – Alderny Landing Artisan Market 11-3
November 12 – Alderny Landing Artisan Market 11-3
November 19 – Alderny Landing Artisan Market 11-3
November 25 – Merry Mahone Bay Market 10 – 3
November 26 – Bridgewater Holiday Market 10-2
December 3 – Bridgewater Holiday Market 10-2
December 7 – Dartspeak Open Mike at the Dart Gallery 7-9 (not sure what I’ll be reading)
December 9 – Ycon Collectors Market (Another trip to Yarmouth! Huzzah!)
December 10 – Bridgewater Holiday Market 10-2
December 15,16,17 – WORDS, WOMEN, and WAVES! At the Lunenburg Art Gallery!
Jill and I are hosting an all-weekend show featuring Jill’s fantastic paintings, my writing, and Judy Cooper’s textile arts at the Lunenburg Art Gallery! Times for when things are going to happen exactly are still solidifying, but you can count on an opening Friday night, showings and readings all day Saturday and Sunday, and likely a party Saturday night.
Jill is painting a massive 3×4 painting for the show and I am writing a story based on the image. Viewings will be accompanied with live readings that will happen several times a day over the weekend. The typed original of the story will be sold with the original painting. Prints (with copies of the stories) will also be available. The art, and story, are shaping up nicely! It’s going to be a fantastic, not-to-be-missed, event! Here’s an in-progress sneak peek of Jill’s beautiful painting I’m using as story inspiration.
As far as my writing goes, the lack of office has been like a bomb. No words, but, lots of planning and outlines. I have all of 2024 planned out. Patreon has restructured a TON and I’m pausing putting stories/chapters onto it until December. I need a month to sort out the new features, tweak my tiers, and update how I’m using it since it’s been years since I fiddled with that.
In an effort to make my monthly mailer more exciting and attractive to people, I’ll be including chapters of a serial novella. My new sci-fi novella, Patchworld Nova, will be 12 chapters long and released once a month within my newsletter. It’s a wild ride of an abduction story, but instead of a person, or group, being abducted, the entire province of Nova Scotia is physically lifted from the Earth and stuck into a patchwork collection of strange geography stolen from other alien worlds. It’s super fun weirdness with side order of strange. Chapter 1 will be in January’s monthly note.
I’ve also got plans for expanding The Mudfisher’s Catch into a longer, pocket-book sized story, I’m starting a horror novel called Shunt, and I continue to peck away at the epic and ever-growing Witchbough Daughters.
There you have it. As succinct as I could keep it. Hopefully, there won’t be any more life disrupting mega-floods that precipitate the need for 3 months jammed into one update.
I hope everyone’s having a grand ol’ Fall and you’ve got your lair’s all cozy and ready for the upcoming winter! See you next month!
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