val's newsletter—now 100% more consistent (probably)
The last time I sent out a newsletter was back in January, where I wrapped up how 2023 went for me. It’s now the end of July, and I have a lot of neat updates for everyone!
Some Newsletter Changes!
First, this newsletter will be monthly now, going out on the last day of every month. It’ll have links to things I posted, including things like blog posts, and also occasionally things I’m reading, watching, or playing. Basically anything I feel might be worth shouting out! Or just, I don’t know, some writerly thinky thoughts. It’ll be fun.
Short Story News: This Year’s Publications and Acceptances (So Far)!
I promised to send updates for publications, then promptly got too anxious to send out anything. So have all the short fiction news for the year so far that I definitely didn’t too insecure about self-promoting:
“Sending Signals” was released in Translunar Travelers Lounge Issue 10 on February 15! That was a while back, but please go read and love my awkward Dyson sphere and ringworld just trying to be less alone in the vast cosmos.
“Emotional Resonance” will be in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024, scheduled to release October 22. You can pre-order it here. Still over the moon about this one. I don’t think I’ll ever stop flailing about my queer story included in one of the most prestigious short fiction anthologies. Shoutout to Hugh Howey who guest edited this year and felt my two sapphic giant robots, falling apart and drifting away together, were worth being next to some seriously talented names in that table of contents.
Speaking of the moon!
“On Lunar Magic and Gryphons: Sofia’s Edition” will be part of Flame Tree’s Moon Falling anthology, scheduled to come out later this year (around November it seems)! Don’t worry, I will share links when it is properly available. This story has a lot of my frustration at perfectionism and who is determined to be “good enough” baked into it, which is why I’m a bit (pleasantly) surprised it got a yes. And yes, this piece may or may not become a novella someday, bare minimum (with much more refined worldbuilding that I am resisting delving into just yet).
Short fiction has been a joy to dive into the last couple years, and even more rewarding to see others, well, emotionally resonate with my writing. I can only hope the same will happen with my longer work. Speaking of which!
Novel Progress: We’ve Entered Revision Stages!
If this is your first newsletter: I am working on a queer mecha space opera novel. Dragons are also involved, and my protagonist is also biracial and disabled (like me). It’s become near and dear to my heart, which is both terrifying (in that I’m scared you all won’t enjoy it someday) and exciting (in that I hope you all enjoy it someday).
But it finally happened! After two years of worldbuilding, drafting the first chapter only to restart again and again, I finished my novel draft end of June. I typed THE END on my phone in a cute café in DC waiting for a book signing later that day. It was such a perfect draft ending.
Now I’m in revisions stage, the first time I’ve ever made it this far with a novel. It’s wonderful and slightly tedious, having to read back and find every detail I’ve randomly thrown out there in haste while drafting. But watching this shape into something that actually resembles a novel is so rewarding, and I hope I have many more and exciting updates in the coming months. The plan is to have the novel queryable by end of the year or early next year. It’ll largely depend on how much the semester ahead drains me.
I’ve also determined that 2025 will be the year of novella drafting. I have several I’ve been sitting on, and I think they’d be perfect distractions during the querying process.
I also have a fantasy heist idea that may or may not become my next novel. At the very least, I might draft some of it to see at some point in the next few months, to give myself something drafty to work on when revisions get too boring (again, ADHD brain needs something at all times to give it short-term dopamine, it’s balancing that with forward progress on primary projects that’s tough).
And Now, Non-Writerly Content Updates
Hi, yes, I do also still play indie games and stream! I’m slowly getting through uploading my Dredge gameplay VODs on Youtube. I do this when I have energy to hear myself and not be hypercritical of my, well, everything—which is why the updates are sporadic and inconsistent. I apologize for that. I had grand let’s play plans, too, but it’s all come to a slow crawl. Continuing said let’s plays and getting my VODs (at least of full playthroughts) as well as monthly clip compilations are still in the works, but they’re not a primary focus at the moment so will be on an “as the brain decides it wants to focus on this” basis.
If you want more bite-sized gaming content, you can also catch gaming clips on my TikTok here. There were some pretty silly Baldur’s Gate 3 moments—though I sadly had to quit playing on stream due to streaming time constraints.
And speaking of streaming! If you’d like to come cowork or cowrite with me, Wednesdays @ 1:30pm Eastern Time are now permanently Coworking Wednesdays. Because I start college in a month and it’s been wildly useful to have a stream day where I can hang out and write.
Oh! And I have been in several TTRPG actual plays (APs for short) this year too. Really just dove headlong into TTRPGs this year, frankly, and have loved every second. I will include a link next newsletter update to a page on my website listing all of those.
I’m sure future Val will have all that organized in 30 days. Absolutely.
I also got to work on some writing content for Warrenguard, a dragonriding TTRPG that had a very successful crowdfunding campaign. I can’t wait for it to be fully out and available for folks. Yes, I also find it deeply amusing that I manage to work on dragon related content no matter where I go. I may also be working on narrative related things for the next project Luck of the Harbor has in the works. Who knows.
And that’s about it for now! This newsletter is slightly longer than future months will be. Maybe—you know what? No. I’m not going to promise shorter updates, actually, I might end up writing a whole essay on the merits of cheese or why every story needs a dragon or dragon-type friend.
Plus this is a moment of self-confidence. If you’re reading this, you (hopefully) enjoy my flailing. So thank you, I will likely continue to be this way.
For More Frequent Updates: Mini-Spaces!
If you want more than a simple monthly newsletter update, and with more in-depth commentary on what I’ve been up to in life and writing, reading, etc., I post public Mini-Spaces on Patreon every other Thursday. Comments are restricted to members only, but you can become a free member! Though I do appreciate anyone who throws $1 or more my way, the tiers are glorified tip jars at the moment. Patreon, Ko-fi (an alternative to Patreon for folks who don’t like Patreon), and Twitch subscriptions are how I currently pay my medical bills. Anything y’all throw my way will either go towards paying for college supplies and textbooks or bills, whichever is more immediate.
Finally, Something Completely Different: Go Read This Short Story
I really love short stories, and feel folks should read more. Is this a new segment? Maybe so. Will I remember this every month? Who knows, I have ADHD and am about to start fulltime college courses. Anything could happen. Let’s find out!
This month’s short story that absolutely blew me away:
“Cicadas, and Their Skin” by Avra Margariti
“Linden Honey, Blackcurrant Wine” by M.R. Robinson
Hah, you thought I could only recommend one short story? Impossible, I’m too indecisive.
That’s all for July—thank you for being one of the folks interested in updates from me. This year has been amazing for writing career progress, and I hope it’s only up and up from here 💜