Happy New Year, everyone!

Welcome to the first blog post of 2020, which I’m posting from my writing cave during the first full week of my post-holiday winter hiatus from my side gig. This is the part of my year when I roughly lay out my projects for the coming year, and for the next four months or so in particular. I’ll be home a lot, which means I have a lot of writing time ahead, but past experience has shown me that I also tend to get stir-crazy, which does nothing for my productivity.

I plan to break up the monotony of being home alone five days a week through April with some household improvement projects, and hopefully that’ll prevent my brain from shifting into low gear.

And what do I have on tap for the coming year? My writing/release schedule is below as usual, along with my two shows (so far), but I also plan to attend the second annual New England Speculative Writers Convergence — a great event for indie authors in the New England area, for anyone who might be interested.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: I’ll be wrapping up work on the manuscript today and prepping it for release this month. Look for this awesome cover by Tricia Lupien on Amazon soon!

Action Figures – Issue Ten: Unintended Consequences: First draft underway, tentatively set for a winter/spring 2021 release.

The Action Figures Omnibus – Volume One: This collection of books one through three — Secret Origins, Black Magic Women, and Pasts Imperfect — with new cover art by Tricia Lupien, is set for a mid-2020 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: Final processing has been unexpectedly problematic, due to ACX insisting there are audio quality issues that my narrator insists aren’t there.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Blades of Glory: Audiobook reading copy is prepped and ready to go. Set for spring/summer 2020 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Sworded Affairs: Ready for editing. Tentatively set for an early 2020 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives: Book five is in the plotting stages. Tentatively scheduled for a late 2020 release.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

• Arisia 2020 – January 17 – 20, Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. I’ll be in the dealers room and on the following panels, both on Saturday, January 18: Getting Into Character – Cosplay & Costuming, Panel – Otis (2W), 4:30 PM; Fiction That Dies Unseen – Literature, Panel – Marina 2 (2E), 7 PM. For the full weekend schedule of panels, workshops, and event, go to the official Arisia website.
• Boskone 2020 – February 14 – 16, Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. No panels this year, but I’ll be in the dealers room again.

The New England Speculative Writers group has a new preview book for newsletter subscribers. Pick it up and read the opening chapters to Well-Behaved Women – Awakening and other stories.

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