Yellow>>>Orange
The Green Room welcomes fall by announcing a new book title, anticipating a new person, and gearing up for rainy weather writin'.
This week I’ve felt a flutter of neglect toward you, my dear Green Room readers. I owe you Summer Fruit Power Rankings. Or really any sort of post at all!
For inspiration, I went back to last September’s rankings, and there I was a year ago, apologizing in the first paragraph for the slow output here. Maybe slow Septembers are a pattern, I thought.
But then I remembered year’s lull in Green Room posts was mostly due to writing my first Cascadia Chronicles novel. And it’s actually that story which is drawing away my writing time.
The first novel now has a name: The Blue Beacon.
I’m in the middle of rewrites and my plan is finish a semi-final draft before December. My plan after the book is wrapped is more complicated. Over the last few weeks, I’ve researched and met with folks in all different realms of publishing, and one big question was: What should I do with this story? Indie publish? Serialize on Substack? Look around for a mainstream publisher? And if I chose one path, did that necessarily disqualify the others.
I haven’t reached a final decision, but for all the Web 3.0 uncertainty, my impression is there are a lot of tools in place to build a successful story franchise on one’s own terms. As S.D. Smith, the author of the underground hit animal fantasy series The Green Ember, put it in this interview:“There’s never been a better time because the gatekeepers are down.”
Except I don’t mind quality gatekeepers and I hope my book finds the widest audience possible. In the meantime, the plan for The Blue Beacon right now is to serialize the book for subscribers at the Cascadia Chronicles Substack early in the new year.
These stories have already built a community, and serializing could be a proving ground where I can keep editing and test launching the books to a wider audience. Still, I don’t want to give away my story for free.
The rewrites are mostly fun so my goal is to work on that while simultaneously immersing you in quality Green Room content through the fall and winter. Assorted stories which I hope will amuse and/or inspire you are forthcoming!
Also Forthcoming
In this first week of fall, the Greens and Drakes and many others besides are awaiting the arrival of a new family member! Last word is Tyler and Rachel should be welcoming their new son or daughter soon.
Abba, we ask for safe delivery, good health, and great blessings on Tyler and Rachel and their child. Amen.
Green Guides
Green Guides, my new writing coach service, is chugging along wonderfully. I’d give you some client updates, but that’s none of your dang business!
What I will say is I feel quite proud of the progress my writers are making, and I still feel as though I’ve found a second calling in coaching storytellers. If you have a story itching to be free, please let me know. Because the upcoming months are a perfect time to write. Like, maybe you got something going for NaNoWriMo, or maybe you feel a stirring to tell your story sometime other than November. Whatever the case, I would love to help.
And if you’re a writer working on a project or if you’re looking for folks to write with, I can also point you to some warm and welcoming writing groups.
The glory of Orange Fall is here, but the mucky terrors of Brown Fall are also up around the bend, so please enjoy these last days of heat and the first days of layering. So tough to top those light-jacket days.
Thank you very much for reading. I am grateful you’re here, and I look forward to sharing fresh stories with you soon.
The Blue Beacon it is. Nice!