It’s sad to admit, but these days I’m struggling to find time for all the various projects I’m in romantic love with. These include podcasts, mostly, but also videos and general media analysis.
My focus lately has been on fiction writing. I’ve published something like 30 short stories this year either on my own website or via magazines and anthologies. I’m also about halfway done with a new novel after finishing a whole big one back in January. None of that includes all the various short stories I’ve written that either haven’t been published anywhere or I haven’t submitted them, and there are many. At this point I’m writing about three a week, sometimes more and rarely less. (And before you ask, no, I do not use AI for these in any capacity).
Of course, many of you are ever-curious about The Pixar Theory, or more specifically the new version of the book. I forget where I’ve already shared this publicly, but the book itself is complete, barring a couple edits I know I’ll need on the Elio chapter. It’s far better than the original 2015 version, which was no small task and genuinely took years to iron out the wrinkles.
So why isn’t it available to purchase?
That’s the obvious question, all right. The short answer is that I need an agent to help me sell the book to a publisher, and that hasn’t happened yet. And that’s on me because I’ve been negligent in querying agents about the book. The problem I’ve run into is simple: It’s quite hard to query two or three books at one time, especially when they’re so different.
What I mean is that my efforts to publish fiction books is getting in the way of efforts to publish a non-fiction. This is because agents take on clients based on how a writer’s career can shape up into something mutually beneficial. Agents tend to be wary of signing on writers like me who are unpredictable. Sure, they could ostensibly get my non-fiction Pixar book to publishers and finagle a good deal out of it. But what happens next? Well, that’s the difficulty because I have no interest in continuing to write non-fiction Pixar books. I’m actively writing and publishing creative fiction across multiple genres, namely fantasy and speculative. Which leads to the other obvious question:
Why not self publish?
And don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I haven’t considered it. But what many folks don’t tend to understand about the publishing world unless they’ve truly dabbled in it is how expensive and time consuming it is to self publish. It’s also a huge risk, and all of that risk is placed on one person shouldering the project. You. Or in this case, me.
Between cover designs, professional edits, layouts, the ISBN, and a comprehensive marketing plan, publishing The Pixar Theory would be a massive undertaking. I’d almost certainly have to do a Kickstarter, which on its own takes a lot of time and wish fulfillment to get off the ground. Hence, I’m still in the process of weighing all these questions in my head as I read all your emails, comments, and DMs asking about a timeline for the book. On the one hand, it humbles me to know so many are genuinely excited about it finally releasing. On the other hand, the pressure can be a little overwhelming. Failure, either in producing a high-quality book that matches these high expectations…or failing to release the book at all…has me in an emotional tailspin, and I’m not yet sure how to land the plane, let alone where.
Which brings me to this journal.
It’s a new format. And by new, I mean rather old because it’s essentially a blog. But calling things “blogs” is not yet fashionably retro, at least not to my sensibilities, so for the time being “journal” will have to do.
Because at the moment, I don’t quite have a place to write from the heart on varying topics with no editorial oversight. My substack, Cetera, has blossomed into a literary publication. Cinemaholics is a niche film platform for longtime fans of the podcast that I co-run with Will Ashton. And InBetweenDrafts, while a website I co-founded, has become a sprawling, multi-quadrant pop culture destination for tons of writers and readers, not a place for my random ramblings.
But I’ll always have this site, which started it all. Well, fine, it was the third try after a movie blogspot and a music-focused Tumblr, but those hardly count. I stopped updated this site because my focus on film and pop culture moved me to those aforementioned platforms, and this one became a bit of a relic, still garnering eyeballs for the Pixar Theory articles and some other fun essays I wrote over the years, but nowhere near to the same degree. Partly because no one reads websites anymore, they’re on social media. But these days, social media is a cesspool, so now everyone is on Substack. But everyone on Substack is miserably trying to get everyone else’s attention, and so I’ve come back to this place, which can be (for now) my cozy little den of sanity.
One thing I want to do often on this “journalong” is respond to emails, particularly ones that don’t quite the fit the mold of my fantasy writing podcast. I get a lot of emails from aspiring writers these days, and I need another location to respond to them in kind. Additionally, I want to recommend terrific writing and keep people updated on what I’m working on. Which is how I’ll conclude this entry.
What else is new.
This past week, I had a string of great news. First, one of my short stories has officially made the shortlist for a prestigious contest, and the winner will be announced in early September. It’s for the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival’s “Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize.” I’m one of five on the shortlist, and I’m eager to read the other entries as soon as possible. In the near future I’ll share more on the story I submitted, as it has not been published anywhere yet.
Additionally, the kickstarter for an anthology I’m part of has officially gone live. The publisher is Oddity Prodigies, the anthology is titled “Where Legends Walk,” and they recently reached their goal. The current aim is to have the print and digital version available in November. You can still check out the rewards and tiers if you’re interested, as my story (titled “Illegals”) will sit next to a plethora of other superhero stories. I’ll keep updating about this one as well.
Lastly, I received a tremendous amount of positive feedback for my latest short story on Cetera, which is called “The Hunger Beneath the Warrens.” Not just for the story itself but also the artwork we did. The short pitch is that it’s essentially Watership Down with zombie rabbits and in fantasy world a la A Song of Ice and Fire. I’m quite proud of this one, and both the written and audio versions (which I narrated) are available for free. I hope you check it out.
If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to this website so you’ll get regular email updates from me. Or you can always add this site as a bookmark. Whatever feels right for you. See you next time.