I haven’t written a new letter lately because nothing seems to be finishing, ever.

I have been editing and writing for someone else’s RPG. It was a medium-sized job: not a lot of words, but the editing for the project is fairly intense, and the writing is more creative than usual for other peoples’ projects. I lost about six weeks on the project to the vertigo and associated foolishments, but I buckled down and got everything done four days before the deadline, which was 4/30. An hour after I sent the files, I received yet another file (due 5/15), which is meant to be an edit but will involve restructuring, and that always means rewriting.

            My brain was so set on this project being done that it took me days to get on top of it, but at last I figured out what had to be done, and started work. And after four days of developing the outline, the technical approach, and the hard part, the introduction and first sequence, I %$@(& cancelled saving the new doc. Because I apparently didn’t save the doc at any point in those four days. As in, it can’t be found. So now it’s simultaneously stale and urgent.

            And the reason I accidentally cancelled the save? The week’s been sub-mid. I was distracted and stressed last night and I was cleaning off my desktop with a TV show in the background and there it went.

***

Part of why I want this done is that I have three more small projects, and after that I am taking off until at least the end of the year to do my own work. I’ve been proceeding with what I have taken to calling the chapbook project (the complete collection of my short stories, in a series of 15k-25k chapbooks available as ebooks and perhaps in print). Each story would have a discussion of the story, as well, and these all would post up on Patreon, as well. It should be an interesting project for me to do, and perhaps for others to read.

The trouble with doing freelance work right now is that it postpones the thinking I need to do about my writing in the future. It’s so easy to take another contract, because it pays (as creative work with so-called reliable publishers doesn’t always), and who doesn’t like money?

 ***

In other news, the world is crazy, and we are all paddling like cats in a flood, looking for something to climb. May we all find the tree we need, along with some other cats to wait it out with us.

*** 

Anyway, here’s the next while:

·    I’m writing a daily haiku (usually) over on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kijjohnson.bsky.social

·      Coming up in the not too distant future, a flash story of mine will be in Abyss & Apex: https://www.abyssapexzine.com/. When? They haven’t told me yet.

·      June 25–28, I’ll be giving a guest of honor at MythMoot in Virginia. https://signumuniversity.org/mythmoot/

·      Still planning on retooling my Patreon, but timing is dependent on getting some chapbooks done.

Stay kind, be cool, support artists.

Join me over on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/kijjohnson

Or check out my website: https://kijjohnson.com/

Or my bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kijjohnson.bsky.social