On awards, emotions and juggling multiple projects

In case you missed the news, I'm now a Nebula award winner! My nine co-writers and I were pleased and, I think it's fair to say, somewhat astonished by our win in the game writing category for A Death in Hyperspace. I can't say what was in the voters' minds, but it feels to me like a vote for small, weird, indie works of the heart, and it's just lovely. With so many of us on the ballot, we don't all get enormous lucite cubes (the Nebula trophies) but my certificate's in the mail. I really like this overview by Stewart C Baker about how A Death in Hyperspace came together, if you're curious.

Awards are strange beasts. I've had four Nebula nominations now, and three of them are for game writing (as is my only win), even though games are not the bulk of what I do or what I'm best known for. There are so many dynamics that go into it all. It can also be an odd thing to cope with; the emotions that accompany being on an award list can sometimes take us by surprise and be more complex than one might think. (This is probably especially true for those of us with imposter syndrome, and fear of taking up space, and mortifying terror of showing off). I actually struggle with all of that more than I struggle with disappointment over not being on awards lists (which happens most of the time! I've never been nominated for a Hugo, for example.) 

Not being on an awards list is the default expectation, to me, so it doesn't sting at all. And I've never been disappointed when I’m nominated but don't win; it truly is an honour to be on a ballot in the company of one's peers. What makes it all more complicated, of course, is the feeling of obligation to the work and to the team behind it. We want our books, games and stories to have the best chance of finding readers (and, frankly, paying for the groceries) and while awards don't always translate to a bump in sales, anything that might introduce your work to one more reader is welcome.

Anyway, what I really want to talk about this week is occasioned by the fact that copy edits have landed for Mercutio, which is very exciting. At this stage, my editor (Jane Johnson) and I have already worked through any structural issues (characterization, plot, etc) and we're happy with what's on the page. So another editor has gone through line by line and checked for clarity and consistent style. (I cannot get into the habit of putting an S at the end of toward to save my life, even though I made a concerted effort this time!) Copy editors also check for any hiccups in the plot (a character being described one way on page 10, another on page 74), and they check on things like timelines (always an area where I'm prone to make errors, since I revise so much and tend to write novels that take place over many years.) 

Once the copy editor's done, the publisher sends the marked up Word file to the author to check over, make changes, or veto them (typically by writing "stet" in the margin, which means "let it stand.") I'm really enjoying going through these thoughtful copy edits, and re-reading the book as I go. (I love this novel.) I've also started putting together suggested pronunciations for the audiobook. The publication date is April 2026, which gives you a sense of timelines in Big 5 publishing.

Having multiple books in various stages of the pipeline means juggling projects. I've been a freelancer since 2015, cobbling together a living from disparate sources and answering to myself for how I spend my hours. I thought it might be helpful to share my main tips for dealing with multiple projects at once. As with most advice, this is just what works for me, and my brain and my circumstances, so please take what's useful to you (if you like) and discard the rest.

Here's what I have on my plate this week:

1. Copy edits on Mercutio

2. Drafting a new novel

3. Ongoing research for that new novel

4. 10 hours of contract non-fiction work (writing a report drawing thematic links out of research I've done about workers in the informal economy, plus some related projects at various stages)

5. Preparing for my June 28 workshop at the Loft on retellings (still room if you want to sign up)

6. Writing a short profile of a writer for a magazine (I did the interview last week)

There are also the "things I'm aware of", which I don't have to work on this week, but which I know I can't ignore forever. For example, developmental edits will land for The Swordmaster at some point. There's this newsletter. There's a promotional blog post I have to write for The Tapestry of Time's US release next month and some writing-related events I'm emailing people about.

That's all just for paying work, or in support of my writing. On the volunteer side this week, I had a mobilization committee meeting for the union of which I'm a member as a university contract instructor, and I have some email-level work to do on that as well (I’m co-chair of the committee). I also had a meeting and some work to do for a writing community I'm part of. And I had a meeting and some emails with my mentee via SFWA's mentorship program. I'm reading an advance copy of a novel I was sent to blurb (it's great).

And, like everyone else, I have the life stuff: I have to make a doctor's appointment, the furnace is due for maintenance, the kid's writing his exams, we're in the middle of several household projects, yada yada. As a longtime freelancer, those things don't really live in a distinct box in my head; it's all just stuff on my plate. (Some freelancers do compartmentalize more than I do.)

So here's how I approach it.

1. I lean into the productivity benefits of being able to switch from one thing to another. Too much of anything gets exhausting, after all. After 50 pages of copy edits, the brain needs a break from that. Luckily I have other work I can do.

2. There is a limit, though. I have found that what leads to burnout, for me, is not so much the hours of work, but the number of projects. Even something like "edits might land soon but they haven't yet" contributes to that load. So when that list starts to feel overwhelming, I will look for shorter projects I can knock off the list. That's why I just finished and sent that magazine profile; it's off the list now.

3. The kind of work I do in a given hour accords to the quality of my working circumstances for that hour. I will work on drafting fiction when I'm at the coffee shop with my writing buddy, because that is heavy brain work and that is where I focus best. (This is not true for everyone!) If I have low-brain work to do, like answering emails, I will do that during the hours when noisy stuff is going on in my house. I tend not to do much except social media and email for the first hour after I wake up, because my brain does not work well in the morning. Again, this varies by person, but the point is I get more done if I work on the low-brain stuff when conditions are sub-optimal and save the good hours for the work that needs them.

4. Keep a project list. This is to help reduce the load of "what am I forgetting?" I can't get the awareness of all the stuff I need to do out of my brain entirely, but it helps not stressing about having to remember it all. I hasten to add here that neurodivergence means some people love lists, some people don't. I'm a listmaker. But do what works for you, always.

5. Be aware of my limits. LOLOLOL. I have failed on this one so many times. Where this really gets tricky for me is in taking on multiple novel-sized projects; I found writing big interactive fiction projects while writing a novel very difficult, for example. Right now, having multiple books at various stages (plus a few I am daydreaming on that I haven't mentioned) is causing some slowdowns in ye olde mental hard drive. The real limit there, for me, is that daydreaming: I always like to have a single big project on which part of my brain is always churning. So I can have Mercutio in copy edits while the next novel is in draft, but having two novels in draft – because they'd both be churning – would be very hard for me. I've done it before but I try to avoid it.

6. On that note, having a mix of small and big projects works best for me. A two-day magazine article or short story can slot in nicely to my life right now, but another big interactive fiction project cannot (I considered adding one to the mix recently and just couldn't – I reached my brain load limit.)

7. Reduce the work around the work. This is why I hardly ever freelance journalism anymore; it's not just the research and writing (for low pay, naturally) but the pitching. Same goes for short fiction: I'm not writing short stories much these days, because the submitting, man, it's a lot. When someone commissions me to write something, though, I'm likely to say yes. And when I don't have any other work that can pay the bills, or I really, really want to write something anyway and just need a home for it, I'll pitch. But when I have options, I focus on work where I already have a relationship with whoever's going to pay me and I can just dive in to what they actually are paying me to do.

I was worried this newsletter would be too short, ha! I hope something in all that was helpful or at least interesting as a peek into my particular brain, and I hope the next two weeks bring you good things.