November has come and gone, which was far too fast and is slightly terrifying.
With that, we’re into December, and very nearly at the end of 2020. Much as it’d be nice to think that 2021 will be Generally Better, it’s not as if all the world’s problems are gonna disappear the moment the clock strikes midnight on January 1st 2021, but… hey, we truck on.
So how did November go?
Well, Chronicles from the World of Guilt is still with beta readers (whom I ought to chase, really). I have a bit of very useful feedback already, and I’ll be looking at that and revising this collection of dark fantasy post-apocalyptic short stories as my next project after I’m done with…
Friends Close, Enemies In The Toaster is an extremely work-in-progress title for a story set in Achten Tan. I mentioned in the last update that I’d be doing this for National Novel Writing Month, and I’m pleased to say that I managed to write my targeted 25,000 words in November and aim to finish the story at around 35-40K by the end of the year. Then that’ll go out for feedback of its own, and who knows what’ll happen then?
I’ve also been editing Loathsome Voyages, an upcoming weird fiction anthology by Skullgate Media. CD Storiz and I are teaming up as editors on this one, and it’s going really well! Expect to see that releasing in early 2021: it’s filled with 14 awesome pieces ranging from truly unsettling to sort of hilariously shocking, uncanny to bizarre and everything in between. (Including one of my own!)
To December!
The plan is just to be happy with whatever I can get done, since December is likely to be a busy month at work and also one for hopefully enjoying a little bit of chilled-out time, and perhaps even some family time (while staying safe and adhering to restrictions, of course).
My hope is to be able to finish Friends Close, Enemies in the Toaster (and ideally come up with a better title) and write at least one or two shorts for submitting to magazines and anthologies and such. Those are my modest goals, and I’ll be thrilled if I can do all of those things.
There’ll also be trucking-along progress on EDGE/CRASH, the fancy multimedia project I mentioned last month (oh, and I got to make my first appearance on a livestream for something to do with that in November!), and I’m sure I’ll just generally be thinking about all kinds of other stuff too.
And that’s the update. Stay safe, be kind, and review indie books. Whatever you do or don’t do in December, I hope it’s everything you hope it’ll be.
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Chris Durston 