State of the Jaym

About a year ago, Charles Tan and Christie Yant pulled me aside (okay, so it was a Twitter conversation, but Very Stern) and pointed out that I needed an agent. The anthologies are taking off, and my career is wonderfully, hellishly diverse. I kind of had a moment where frustration got the better of me the other day, and Fran Wilde pointed out that it sounds like I’m leveling up—and I need to fight the boss smarter, not harder.

The problem is, I’m also slowly getting back into writing. Or, I was. 25k on a novel in two months, before Nebula season hit and derailed me from, well, everything, as usual. That was followed by the death of a long-time friend and other, assorted unpleasantness.

I haven’t written on my own work since February.

The funny thing is, I’ve had expressions of interest from several agents. For novels I haven’t written. I’ve got several more anthologies in the works. My first comic publication is coming out soon.

But I’m not *writing*, and I don’t want to go agent-hunting until I’ve at least got one of the novels drafted. Sure, I’ve written four novels in the past, but they were…well, they’re trunked for a reason. The two novels on deck now are very different from each other, and still only a splinter of what I’ve got lurking in my brain. So, you know, I need something to show an agent, but I kind of want to at least have one written and a strong outline on the other.

But that circles back to an earlier point. I had too many irons in the fire.

I parted ways with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America last month, due to diverging goals and methods. After five years with them, it was hard, but the amount of stress lifting from my shoulders is immense. There was a certain isolation from the industry and my fellow creatives that the position brought that I was never really able to express for professional reasons, but it’s wonderful to be able to participate in the industry again without so much constant second-guessing.

I am also dissolving official relations with another company, Realmwalker Publishing Group. They need someone who is available 24/7, who can run marketing through personal social media pages and who is hungry and flexible enough to help them build a marketing platform. James and co have a wonderful thing going there, and I look forward to seeing them storm their way into wild success,, but I hate actual marketing—publicity/public relations/communications are my loves—so we’ve made the decision to go our separate ways, at least until they’re ready to level up to where they need a communications director rather than a marketing director. I’ll still consult for them occasionally, and be available to their authors, but I’m stepping down as Communications Director.

All of this gives me time to refocus on my clients. Being able to set a schedule of work—rather than having to work them in around bigger schedules—will be good for everyone involved. It will also, I hope, give me time to get these two novels finished, maybe even time to get some new short stories written.

So that’s the state of things. I’m accepting client queries, and will be offering consultations on publicity, public relations, and crowdfunding, but I’m also going to be carving some time out to get some writing done. I miss it. And I’m afraid of what my friends will do if I don’t take their advice soon. Love is a terrifying thing, you know? So my goal is to have the science-fantasy novel done by the end of the year, as well as write the outline for the Apocalyptic California novel, and polish up or rewrite some of the stories I have lying around. I also have some stretch goals for RPGs that I’ll need to write, and a couple of short stories that I need to get written for anthologies.

So, you know, totally doable.