September
Again, welcome again to this newsletter! Again. I hope you are finding it useful, enjoyable, or both. If this was forwarded to you, consider subscribing:
September was mostly lovely. Because I have been working hard on the game design and the game edit, both Very Large Projects, my downtime entertainments have simplified. I can only contain so many smart things in my head at a time, and when I'm being productive, I tend to binge things I am at least somewhat familiar with. This time it is a book series, the Golden-Age Miss Silver mysteries of Patricia Wentworth, and all of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I've read all of Miss Silver in recent years—I think I discovered her only during the lockdown—and it's just as much fun the second (or third?) time. The mysteries are clever, the young lovers (because in Golden-Age mysteries there are always young lovers) are interesting, and Miss Silver, a 60-something former governess turned private investigator, is entirely adorable. If you want to try them, the first is Grey Mask, from 1928,and if you like them, well, there are thirty-one more. As for ST:TNG, I haven't watched any of it in decades, but it is a perfect background for knitting (currently a ombre scarf from a beautiful variegated yarn). Some has aged well, some...not so well; and every so often one of them is brilliant, moving, or both. I also managed to have dinner with various friends, attend an art fair on a lovely sunny day, visit the Renaissance Festival after 24 hours of rain (my favorite sort of RenFaire day), and attend the Kansas Book Festival to be on a panel.
But most of the month has been writing and editing, editing and writing. Details below!
Appearances
I'm pretty appearance-light for the winter. I was a GoH at last year's World Fantasy, and a GoH at ConStellation in Lincoln, Nebraska, but it's really only been that and a couple of signings I set up. Oh, and a month of workshops in the summer, I guess that counts? It feels weird, but since I started all this game editing, I have appreciated the extra time.
Sales & contracts
I have fantastic news I can't say much about yet: I have a buyer for a roleplaying game I am designingl! I sent a 15k document to the publisher which outlined the game mechanics and setting, and he loved it. He's sending me a preliminary contract in the next two weeks. I'll be talking a lot about this project in the future. For those of you who are readers, not gamers, I've been designing with the intention of creating something well-written enough to read like accessible but experimental fiction. This is a big challenge, but honestly, I think I am uniquely situated to try.
Patreon
Since Small Beer collapsed for me, Patreon is my most reliable source of writerly/freelance income. Last month, I had 100 donors exactly, and this month, the number has crept up to 102 donors. They say that 1000 hardcore fans basically can support a writer, and, well, if I do the math, that's actually probably true. So, if I add two new donors a month for the next 450 months, I am on clover. (My donor-to-dollar ratio is a bit skewed because I have one marvelous donor who gives $250 every month. If they ever need a kidney, they know where I am.)
Projects in progress
Mystery Flesh Pit National Park: The RPG [editor] is in production, due late this year or early next. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ganzagaming/the-mystery-flesh-pit-national-park-rpg/posts
Dreamland RPG [writer and editor] is in pre-kickoff, I think; details as I get them. I have seen a bunch of art and it's glorious! I just had the fun of being in a playtest GM’d by the designer, Jason Thompson, and it was great fun. https://www.dreamrpg.com/
Kobold Press TTRPG project [editor] is in my hands. I have two months to finish the edit, so wish me well.
Seekrit TTRPG [designer] is now waiting for a contract, as I said. We are talking about a Kickstarter launch in May, and that means I have, um, 70k or more words to write in the next six months. And this is going to be quite research heavy...my favorite kind of writing.
Workshops & classes
The books on 2024 workshops are officially closed! Details for the 2025 workshops will be forthcoming.
For any of you who know of Barbara J. Webb, my colleague in the workshops, she now has a newsletter as well: https://buttondown.com/bjwebb
That's this month! In October, I will be visiting my mom in Rice Lake, talking to a financial planner about my future, playing with the cat, and writing and editing a whole lot. Thank you for wanting to know what's going on for me and my work--
Take care, stay kind.
—Kij