I'm About to Become a Full-Time Writer (For 3 Months [Again])

 I hold three jobs that actually pay the bills. Like most writers, I like to consider my writing a job, a fourth job in my case. Sometimes I consider my membership to the HWA still a fifth job, since I attend meetings, and am the Virginia chapter's events coordinator, but it does not pay me any money. In fact, it costs me a little in membership fees, but I enjoy it nonetheless, and it does provide me connections and opportunities to the publishing world. My main gig that pays the pills is teaching as adjunct faculty at two higher education institutions, which means my summers are (mostly) off. I have a third job that pays a few bills, and I continue working there during the summers, but I still work far fewer hours during the summer months than I do during the school year.

So one of the main things I do during the summer is write, and write a lot more than I do at any other time of the year. It is my most productive season. Most of the short stories, poetry, and non-fiction projects I've published in the past were written during the summer months. That does not mean I do not write at all during other times of the year, but I do have months where I can devote more time to writing and publishing than other moths. My annual writing schedule is something like this:

January: I'm off the the few weeks, but recovering from the holidays. I still find quite a bit of time for writing.

February and March: Early in the semester, I have some time for writing, but once essays start coming in that need grading, my writing time starts to dwindle.

April: Essays pile up to nearly unmanageable levels. Very little writing gets done.

May: First half of the month is finishing up finals and grading, but once final grades are posted I write nearly a full time schedule.

June, July, and August: The nearly full time schedule continues and I can usually be pretty productive during the summer month. Even when classes first start up in late August, not much needs grading yet, so I still find quite a bit of time for writing.

September and October: Since I write primarily horror, these can also be particularly busy months, attending cons as well as classwork starting to pile up. Still, because I primarily write horror, it is also a particularly inspiring time of the year, so I can usually continue to work in at least some writing time.

November: Essays and other classwork piles up again, so not as much writing gets done, with the exception of Thanksgiving break.

December: Not much gets done in the beginning of the month, and after classes end, I usually plan a trip to see family for the holidays, but I still usually work in a decent amount writing time after the fall semester ends.

And if you don't think there's that much grading to do when teaching college English, here is a photo of a stack of items needing grading I took in days before everything was turned in digitally:

I read about 1000 pages of student writing per semester. I could be reading War and Peace twice annually.

But then the summer comes and I get to pretend to be a full-time writer for three months out of the year (albeit a very poor one, since I also do not get paid over the summer). Still, I always feel as though I could have and perhaps should have been more productive during those summer months. I do create an annual summer writing to-do list (along with a summer honey-do list I make up with the wife, where I work around the house and complete some household chores that need attention). So that end, (um, the writing one, not the honey-do list), I thought perhaps if I published my summer writing to-do list here, I will hold myself accountable and be more productive this summer than in years past, so to that end here it is:

1. Make a Word file of all my class notes, (One school I teach at is changing over from Blackboard regular to Blackboard Ultra, so my files may not be good any longer. Besides, I have been meaning to do this for a while now. I even applied for a stipend to have my notes published as an Open Educational Resource)
2. Finish putting together the short story and poetry collection for self-publication. This is a project I started during the spring semester, and it is pretty close to being finished already. It will feature most (but not all) of my previously published short stories and poems, and a few new short stories I have been shopping around for a while, and have decided to add to the collection.
3. Finish editing Blood of the Werewolf. It is so close to being ready to send to an agent or publisher. It only needs about 50 more pages of editing, and maybe one last quick passthrough for continuity. This is a top priority this summer.
4. Work on a rough draft of Osiris, the next in my series of historical horror tragedies. I'm thinking about joining Camp Nano to punch out a good portion of a rough draft in July.
5. Edit the short story "The Vampire's Coffin" which I did for a writing group recently. It's pretty short, so this should not take very long.
6. Finish that next section of Franksploitation non-fiction book and write the proposal on Frankenstein in film. I'm embarrassed at how many years this appears on the list and does not get done. Especially, since the sample chapters are actually pretty close to finished.
7. Edit and resubmit a non-fiction article on Ed Wood to a literary magazine. I have done this a few times, but still have not found the right market for it.

Aside from all that, I will continue to do my usual submitting more poetry and short stories to various publications. Chances are I will still not get all of this done even this summer, but it never hurts to shoot high. My hope is that publishing it here will help make me more accountable and hopefully more productive this summer.

Researching the Research

It's been a while since I posted here, partially because it's getting to be the end of the semester, and I'm up to my elbows in papers to grade. This will continue until the end of the semester when all grades have to be turned in on May 8. Therefore, my posts here may be a little sparse until then.

Anyway, since it looks like I need to try and bulk up my nonfiction credits to get into a terminal degree program (which I sometimes refer to lovingly as a terminal illness), I've decided to start looking over a few items I wrote during my previous two master's programs (yes, I have two master's degrees). I'm updating a few items, including links, as some of them are now dead. Even some of the citation styles have changed slightly since then.

In other words, I've been researching the research. I have several items I feel may be good enough to publish, if I can find the right market for them. It takes a bit of a brain shift to move from fiction to nonfiction writing, especially nonfiction writing that requires research. I've also been making lists of new articles I want to write this summer. As adjunct faculty, I have a lighter schedule over the summer, so I will have more time to write.

The hard part was coming to the conclusion that to get into a PhD program you have to have already published research, even though avenues to publish are fewer and farther between when not in a graduate program. It's that age-old question, how do you research outside of a PhD program, and how do you get into a PhD program without having conducted research.

Meanwhile, I've also been researching not only other PhD programs, so I don't make the same mistake of only applying to one, and being screwed if I don't get in, but I'm also researching MFA programs. It was my original plan when I graduated with my bachelor's and moved out of my parents' house to get a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing. Like a PhD, it is also considered a terminal illness, er, I mean terminal degree. I settled on a regular master's degree in English instead. I'd like to say I should have gone for the MFA all along, but looking back, I'm not so sure I would have gotten in then anyway.

Wish me luck on publishing and getting back into school, and I'll wish you luck in all you do too. Meanwhile, here's shot of me presenting my (in)famous Ed Wood paper I wrote in my master's program at last year's Monster Fest.

Monster Fest photos

Some time ago, I promised to post a few photos of Monster Fest 2017, so here they are:

The first one is of me doing my presentation on Ed Wood, titled "Your Stupid, Stupid Minds," the second is of me in front of the schedule of my presentation, the third is me and a statue of The Fly, fourth is Dr. Madblood, the horror movie host of Hampton Roads, fifth is the winner of the costume contest, and last is the other winners and runners up of the costume contest. Can't wait 'til next year!

Monster Fest past

Monster Fest has come and gone. I had a great time and made only one purchase, a Bride of Frankenstein action figure. I saw a King Kong action figure I was interested in, but when I returned to purchase it was already gone. Such is the way things work out for collectors. It was only $5 too. It had very few points of articulation though, but I still liked the way it looked.

Mr. Lobo returned to Monster Fest this year. That's me with Mr. Lobo in the picture above, although that picture is from a few Monster Fests ago. I'll try and get a few current Monster Fest pics up soon.

Anyway, I did a presentation on Ed Wood, and that went pretty well. You can read more about this whole event when I write a complete story about it in Wormwood Chronicles. Their website is here.

Oh yes, and I got three short stories published! Whoo hoo! Before anyone gets too congratulatory, it is self published. At some point I'll post my opinions on the whole self-publishing vs. traditional publishing thing. If anyone it is an anthology of several science fiction and horror short stories from a variety of authors, and it can be purchased here.

That's all for now. If you like what you see here, please friend me here on Google+. I promise I won't bite, unless you're into that sort of thing. 😈

Monster Fest

Now that I finally got around to posting about Fantasci, it's time for Monster Fest already! This year, I will be presenting a paper I once wrote about Ed Wood, titled "Your Stupid, Stupid Minds." It should be a lot of fun. I spent all last night watching Ed Wood films in preparation to refresh my memory on those films. The paper takes somewhat of a scholarly look at Ed Wood's life and career. It is very timely with transgender issues being all over the news these days. Ed Wood was not transgender, but he was sympathetic to their rights.

I come on right after Dillzilla is large main room. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. If you live in the Chesapeake, Virginia area feel free to come join us, not just to see me, but to see the whole spectacle of Monster Fest. Many horror hosts will be on hand, including Dr. Madblood, Mr. Lobo, and Karlos Borloff. Here's the link, and be sure to check out the schedule. Wish me luck.

Monster Fest