Liner Notes #14: Medley
It’s 2025 and once again I have completely failed to make good on my vow to write a mailing letter in a timely fashion. Newsletters are supposed to be the best way to gain and maintain readership, but I’m afraid I’m simply not built to put writing out in a regular fashion, unless it’s updating a fanfic on a schedule. The nice thing about fic, however, is that it ends, and I can keep a schedule as long as I know there’s an end to it. The mailing letter? That’s a road that disappears into the horizon.
But, as it is a release year and news will start ramping up soon, maybe there’s a workaround, a compromise, if you will, between an author who is rather terrible at writing regular missives and the readers who are here, ostensibly, to read them. Buttondown just introduced pop-up newsletters, which are limited-run newsletters focused on one and only one topic. They end when the event in question is done. In this case, I’ve been considering a pop-up newsletter focused only on the publication of The Memory Hunters. I’d get into the nitty-gritty of what’s happening from week to week, even if there’s nothing happening, and I’d stop after the book tour is finished.
I could, of course, also just send this newsletter out more frequently and change the header image to reflect when it’s an issue only about The Memory Hunters. Well, it’s food for thought and stuff to chew on—but unfortunately, I have sensitive teeth.
To be frank, however, the last half year has been packed full of events. I think, in order to survive, I had to forget that things happened. I departed social media in the fall of 2023 when I caught COVID and just stayed away afterward. Life has been full enough that I don’t have that much time to spend creating content, although now that The Memory Hunters is set to drop on July 25, I will have to be back on socials. Much of the absence continues to be because of family issues; both kids are high needs and when they need me, everything else gets shunted aside, likely to the next county over.
I also had some gnarly copyedits cross my desk in the last quarter of the year, which led to no sleep, high stress, weight gain (thanks, cortisol), and visible aging. I’m hoping now that I’ve cleared my docket, I’ll be able to do things like sleep normally again. The Get Money Speed Run is officially over so I can focus on writing the sequel to The Memory Hunters.
Right, so, what did I get done this year? It feels like precious little, sometimes. Here are some numbers, I guess.
Words written: 305,713 (January through March was entirely a fugue state)
Books edited, not including my own: 11
Miles driven: At least 6257
Dalcroze lessons taught: 140ish
Kilometers averaged per week, on foot, at Interlochen, not including Dalcroze class: 43
Concerts attended: 9
Basketball games attended: 1
Hugo nominations: 1.1? Strange Horizons picked up a Hugo nom for Best Semiprozine, but I was only involved in the wuxia and xianxia special issue, so I will take that 0.1. Giganotosaurus did get a Best Semiprozine nomination, and I am definitely on the editing staff for that!
Hugos won: 0.1
Horse Girl dreams fulfilled: 1
Hours of Dragon Age played: 93
Hobbits taken to Isengard: 0. I am not an Uruk-hai.
What’s coming up for me this year, other than a book release? In April, I’ll be teaching a class at Futurescapes based on my Texas Hold ‘Em structure. I’ll also be at Jordancon in April and will probably show my face at Love Y’all in February. I’m at Interlochen in the summer again (do I love my work or do I just not know when to quit?). I’ll be at Worldcon! I’ll also be signing books at Dragoncon! And then when I’m off book tour, I want to hermit in the studio and lie on the couch and do nothing.
Okay, and yes, the music. Khruangbin dethroned Hozier on my Wrapped this year. Arooj Aftab made a first appearance in the top 5 alongside Fujii Kaze and Frank Ocean! But here’s what I’ve been listening to lately:
Purity Ring, another eternity (I still have no idea what these lyrics mean)
Watcha Clan, Radio Babel (special shoutout to “Osfour”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plZNqcSnbjEVulfmon, Dot
Theo Katzman, “What Did You Mean (When You Said Love)”
https://youtu.be/kd-8yZ1hhko?si=5idD3BhOyTCpmMToJoni Mitchell, Blue
To bring it all back around, that photo at the top—I took that yesterday on my walk to the studio, then edited it in VSCO. The shrine is a bit out of the way and has, um, an eclectic collection of items. Truly an organically grown shrine to whatever gods and spirits you think should be there. I’d meant to take a picture of it over the last couple of years and at long last, I have done it! I’m hoping in 2025 that I can return to photography, as well as my volunteer gig at the garden. I miss that place a lot.
Uh, and I also bought myself a cowbell.
See you on the B-side.