Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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I can’t see why…

Back when I was working on my Doctorate in Geology, I started dabbling in coding – I learned a bit of R and a bit of Python. I had got my BSc in Paleontology with a work that relied massively on data analysis, and afterwards I had taught Data Analysis for Natural Sciences, relying mostly on Excel and on third-party software. It seemed like the right time to learn to code and develop my own software.

The thing went nowhere (meaning, my R and Python coding skills never saw an application), and I was told quite often…

I can’t see why a geologist should need to learn coding.

Now, interestingly enough – for me, at least – I had already been told similar things a number of times in my past. Let’s see…

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Epic

There are three stories I want to write this month, to submit to two different anthologies and a magazine. Checking the calendar, I see I will have to write one story per week, seven days from first draft to submitted text. It’s OK, I can do it – we are talking stories in the 3000-5000 words range. Two fantasies and a mystery – which is good, because it means there will be a modicum of variety.

One of the three stories should be, according to the publisher’s guidelines, “epic fantasy” – and I have heard some ask, how can you fit an epic fantasy in roughly 4000 words?

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Deserted places

You might remember the post I did on the 14th of February about a story featuring a man and a woman meeting for years in a deserted, modernist city in their dreams. The story I will write one day and call Still My Favorite Song (if you don’t, I’m sure WordPress will place a link at the bottom of this post – ain’t technology wonderful?)

Well, I did some very marginal work in these two weeks, say ten/fifteen minutes a day, sort of outlining how a novel might look based on that idea, and also did some minor, very minor research.

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Today’s workload

So today I

  • finished revising Sons of the Crow and passed it to the beta readers
  • hammered out 3000 words of a book I am contracted to write
  • did a 2500-words translation (still need to revise it)
  • outlined an article I’m sending to a magazine on Monday
  • posted a cover reveal for my patrons (will go up in two hours at the time of writing)

Then I ask myself why I so often feel depressed on the weekend.
Ah!
Because yes, I should be proud of the work done, but really, it sometimes feels like there is no difference – week day, weekend, summer, winter, day, night…

So, I’m calling it a day. Today for the first time this year I was able to take a long walk during lunchtime, and it’s fine.
Now I will dedicate the rest of this day to decompressing.
And, also, to jot down a few ideas for two stories I’d like to submit to two magazines this month. But, you know, at a leisurely pace.


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Rayne Hall’s Author Branding – a review

Book pre-orders – I love them. It’s one of the perks of following a writer: you sometimes get the chance to pre-order their books, maybe save a few bucks, and you feel sort of special. For a lot of strange reasons pre-orders are not that popular in my country, and whenever I tried to set-up a pre-order for my books the results were underwhelming. But as a reader, provided I’ve the money on my credit card, tell me where I need to sign.

Case in point, Rayne Hall’s latest writer-oriented handbook. I have half a dozen of her previous handbooks, and they are great: short, focused and to the point, very practical, very savvy, fun to read and useful. When I got the opportunity of pre-ordering Author Branding, I just clicked on the button. Now it’s here, and I have spent some time before dinner to dig in, and then changed my schedule for the rest of the evening: editing can wait, I want to read this baby to the end.

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