We’re gearing up for the summer over here at Gladstone House, which means a fundamental shift in our relationship to time. No biggie! I’ll be traveling a bit more than usual this summer—teaching at Alpha Young Writer’s Workshop in July and attending GenCon in Indianapolis that same month, and of course going to WorldCon in Los Angeles (technically, Anaheim)—and we’re facing shorter child care hours as well, what with the shift from school to summer camp. I love spending lazy summer afternoons with my kid, but those hours come from somewhere.

And for the next few months, I think they have to come from this newsletter.

See, with three major projects under way—and a fourth still getting off the ground—and a big damn writing goal for the end of the summer, hands-on-keys time will be at a premium this season. I think I can do almost everything I plan to, but not while keeping a weekly cadence of more or less carefully revised 1000-plus word newsletters. I know! I like writing them too! The trouble is, they take a while to put together, and I have a hard time writing anything shorter. There’s a little gremlin in the back of my mind that just keeps shouting, “and one more thing!!” when she’s not shouting, “wait a second, you forgot about THIS angle!” And sometimes she jumps me during breakfast with a way to restructure my argument and make it about 3x better, which will only take an hour and a half that I really need to use to write… you know.. novels!

This is all manageable and even a bit fun when there are hours in the day I might otherwise be wasting trying to come up with something to say on social media, but… well, this is going to be the kind of summer where I’d just cold-turkey the social apps because I don’t have the time and they’re not giving me anything anyway. The apps, ultimately, don’t need me and I don’t need them. But I do care about y’all.

I’ve been going back and forth on what I can commit to; for the moment I think I’m going to aim for two issues a month, plus any time-critical announcements as they strike. That sounds like a pleasant balance, and hey, it might even allow me to build a bit of a backlog going into fall. I’ll also think about more lightweight topics. Perhaps a Q&A section, or an overview of recent reading? Certainly, if any of y’all have questions you’d like answered—about my books, publishing, writing, fiddling, rpgs, whatever—feel free to send them my way!

And speaking of announcements: next week on June 4 at 7pm I’ll be at Brookline Booksmith in conversation with Ray Nayler about his new book, The Palaces of the Crow. I’ve not had a chance to meet Nayler before but I’m particularly excited for this conversation. Also I always feel good when I visit Brookline Booksmith, because when I was a kid I had a t-shirt from them with the Groucho Marx quote, “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” Come on by, talk books, and say hello!

Otherwise, happy reading, friends. Take care of one another. Work for the liberation of all sentient beings.