This isn’t going to be my usual Writing Wednesday update of how the writing is going because, frankly, the writing hasn’t been going very well at all this last couple of weeks. My application for citizenship was processed, and I have a test to write in two days, so I’ve mostly been using my free time to swot, a skill that has certainly atrophied over the years since university. I’m learning, though, and I think most of it is sinking it.
Alongside that, I’ve not had a full night’s sleep in… uh… It’s April now, right? Well, I think since I got back from New Orleans, I’ve not actually slept more than four or five hours in one go. I’ve also had two nights this week already where I’ve not slept at all.
This happens to me. It comes, happens, and goes, so I know it will turn around.
In the meanwhile, I’m going to practice not looking at word targets. I’m still working on the novels and short pieces, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve turned off the word counts and the daily goals and am floating to and from the keyboard as I can. I’m walking the dog in the sunshine as much as possible (he also found a massive wet and horrible body of filth to roll in the other day, which ate up an hour extra of unscheduled ‘clean and dry the dog’ to the task list) and trying hard to be okay with just resting instead of sleeping (another skill I’ve let atrophy since the last time I got smacked by this level of insomnia).
I’m actually willing to bet that the moment my citizenship test is written, I’ll come home and fall asleep. I’ll be annoyed at myself for letting it bother me this much, if indeed that’s what happens, but there you go.
So.
In place of word-counts, I’ll just repeat that I’ve got some giveaways going on, and the book launch is in less than a month.
Giveaways? Yep. Giveaways!
Click here to enter the giveaway for Triad Blood.
I have two giveaways underway at the moment on Goodreads. The first is for a copy of Men in Love, edited by Jerry L. Wheeler, which just released. The second is for Triad Blood, which, oh, hey, that’s my second novel and it’s not even out yet!
Click here to enter the giveaway for Men in Love.
If you want to enter the giveaways, just click on the covers here and you’ll end up on the Goodreads giveaway pages. I did have to limit it to Canada and the U.S. thanks to postage prices (I wish I could do giveaways of e-copies, too, but Goodreads doesn’t allow that).
Obviously, I hope giveaways attract attention, and in the past they’ve been a good way to generate reviews. Which is already happening for Triad Blood (and “Three,” too, which surprised me!) thanks to NetGalley. My first review of both has been more-or-less a positive one, so I count myself lucky. Fingers crossed these guys find the readers they’re looking for.
Less than a month until Launch of Triad Blood. RSVP!
Speaking of Triad Blood… The launch of Triad Blood event posted is over on Facebook, right here. It will be at After Stonewall, here in Ottawa, on Thursday the 12th of May. That’s less than a month from now and that’s terrifying! More details are available through the event link. If you’d like to come, make sure you RSVP, as the owner has to watch for capacity laws.
I’m likely to have a silly game ready by then, too. Yep. That’s right. A silly game.
Open Calls I Know About (and find tempting)…
- Flight – Flash fiction contest with a theme of “flight,” Mischief Corner Books, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
- Gents: Steamy Tales from the Age of Steam – Gay male erotica set during the Victorian/Edwardian era, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
- Survivor – SF/F anthology looking for stories of everyday trauma survival, Lethe Press, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
- Magic and Mayhem – Mage/cyborg or tattoo artist/soldier stories (very specific, but it’s for a charity anthology, details at the link), Gay Romance Northwest, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
- Novella Call – The Book Smugglers, Deadline: May 30th, 2016.
- Animal Magnetism – Tales of men drawn together over their love of animals, JMS Books, Deadline: July 31st, 2016.
- This Wish Tonight – Holiday M/M Genre romance, Mischief Corner Books, Deadline: August 1, 2016.
- A Scandal in Gomorrah: Queering Sherlock Holmes – Queering the canon or something more transformational, Lethe Press, Deadline: January 1, 2017.
Don’t forget to check the Lambda Literary site for more calls, as well as the Queer Sci-Fi calls for submission page (always a trove!)
'Nathan Burgoine 