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Hey Patrons!

Lots of stuff to talk about!

First, I have a new website! The super cool thing about this, with regards to you, is that I can lock posts so that only patreon subscribers can see them. I’ll be making mirror posts here for a while, but you should check it out!

What you will need to do is log into my site – murverse.com/wp-admin where you will have an option to log in with Patreon. Then you should see the locked post. Currently, the only locked post will be this one, but check it out!

Secondly, I’ve been coming to terms that I’ve been in some sort of depressed stasis this year. When depression hits you and it’s not sadness per se, but you find you look at your to-do list and decide nothing on it is terribly important, and you should play video games, and this happens several times, it’s time to look a little harder at yourself.

I don’t know if I am still coming down off of last year which was super busy and an emotional roller coaster, or if my health is bugging me because I’m having a pint of blood drained monthly and that can tend to mess with your energy levels just a wee bit, or if it’s something else.

Or if it’s the fact that I have depression and sometimes it rears its ugly head. Only depression doesn’t rear its head; it stirs in the water of your subconscious and starts a slow whirlpool that sucks you down.

Poetic, ain’t it?

Whatever it is, this morning I got up and had a very clear thought that I’ve been stuck for months now. That’s the word that keeps coming up. Glued to the floor, unable to move. So now that I know that’s what’s going on, I’m moving again.

What does this mean for you? Well as much as I’d like to say I’m all better automatically, I know that’s not how this works, ever. Right now I’m doing the metaphorical cleaning house, going through emails, making detailed lists, and looking to see what’s been gathering dust. Like communicating with this patreon. And the Ditch Diggers file that’s been sitting on my computer. Matt and I should be meeting today as well. I haven’t recorded an ISBW because, well, I haven’t been. But I will try to do one soon. I have to get moving on the book, after all!

So right now I’m just trying to be kind to myself, but remember that I need a prod, and when I reach for something like my iPad, maybe I can think of something a little more productive I can do. Like make awesome stuff for you guys. You’ve stood by me for months, some of you for years. That means so much to me I can’t even begin to say. But if I can keep my head above water and get out of this whirlpool, I will try to show you equal love and support.

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #74: Drinks with an Agent

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:53 — 17.3MB)

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  • Mur comes to you live from the Double Tree Hotel bar in Dearborn, Michigan as she flies solo this episode for a special sitdown with her agent, Jen Udden! It’s “Drinks With An Agent!”
  • Mur hits Jen with a listener question about how your suddenly defunct publisher’s reputation “taints” your work moving forward as you try to find a new publisher.
  • Jen talks about the different situations to which this problem applies, and how to proceed accordingly.
  • Jen also talks about how an agent perceives/handles this particular situation.
  • Mur and Jen discuss leveraging offers from small press when querying agents, and an agent’s value in the negotiating process.
  • Generous margarita pours and Mur’s reaction to them.
  • The common writerly problem of falling in love with ideas and staying in love with those ideas even when they don’t sell, and how to stay flexible.
  • Mutual author/agent respect and appropriate affection is demonstrated.
  • Knowing what your goals are, and living at home to achieve them.
  • Jen talks about her podcast, Shipping and Handling, and lets everyone know she is open to submissions!
  • Mur misses Matt. She says so.
  • Jen on Twitter
  • Shipping and Handling Podcast
  • Jen’s Submission Guidelines

Affiliate links to our books!

News, Personal

Update on me

HEY- Hugo nominations are open until March 15! If you’re eligible to nominate, don’t forget to do so!

January was crap. That’s all there is to it. It’s over now, which is great.

I have talked about hemochromatosis here, but the update is I can’t find a good hematologist. One did a quick breast exam, sent me for a mammogram, then set up a breast surgery appointment without discussing the mammogram results. (No, I didn’t go. Got another opinion.) The one I went to after that told me I didn’t in fact have both genes for the disease, and I could stop getting phlebotomies, but she wanted to check me yearly. Went in for checkup last year and POOF, she was gone, they had no record of this “misdiagnosis!” Turns out I DO have both genes, they even showed me the lab report, and the new hematologist who has taken over my case has determined I must have monthly phlebotomies to get my iron levels down quickly because it’s been building up.

Punch line- I haven’t met my new doctor. I speak to him through his physician’s assistant.

Second punch line- breast-surgery-recommending doctor (#1) has moved to my new hematologist’s office. I have said under no uncertain terms will I allow her to be my doc again. And if you know me, you know I’m not good at standing up for myself.

Are there any good blood docs in this fucking area of medical innovation?

Since this is my fifth pint of blood I’m losing in as many months, it’s starting to get to me, and I’m losing several days to exhaustion. I was going to try to get work done this morning, but it turned out that I wanted to complain/blog about my health instead. I really am getting older. Next, I’ll kvetch about the weather.

Nah- I’ll tell you that I have one ISBW and one DD ready to go, I just need to get them posted. Hurrah!

Writing: I started a new original book and a new project (vague, I know) recently. I will tell you more when I can. I also have a book for a younger audience coming out this summer, but it’s not announced yet, but it’s on Amazon for pre-order, so… that’s weird. This is not an announcement.

 

Oh and Reedsy listed Six Wakes in the 100 best sci-fi books of all time.

 

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #73: Teddy Ruxpin Sings Sean Grigsby

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13:44 — 49.4MB)

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[Good lord- this went out without the link. And only one of you told me…]

The Ditch Diggers come to you live from Jodie Foster’s Very Busy and Very Important Staff Room with special guest, author of SMOKE EATERS and DAUGHTERS OF FORGOTTEN LIGHT, Sean Grigsby!

  • Matt explains that this is their second go at recording the intro, and how he is Busy and Important.
  • We discuss the history and mythology of Teddy Ruxpin (no, really), and Sean promises to perform a metal cover of the Teddy Ruxpin theme.
  • Sean was supposed to be a guest at Ditch Diggers Live! at WorldCon 2018, but it didn’t work out.
  • Sean talks about who he is and the books he writes.
  • Also, Sean is a firefighter who, the day before recording, literally saved a puppy from a fire.
  • The Ditch Diggers and Sean discuss how the various non-writing jobs/careers they’ve pursued (such as firefighting and pro-wrestling) influence both the way they approach writing and the way they approach the business of publishing.
  • Legendary pro-wrestler and wrestling promoter Bill Dundee’s sexual fetishes are briefly discussed.
  • Matt asks Mur and Sean, “If you could go back ten years and tell your younger self one thing about the publishing industry, what would it be?”
  • Twitter Q&A! The incendiary topic of which cheese is best is thoroughly dissected, and we answer some actual freelance writing industry questions, too.
  • The customary end-of-episode shilling occurs.
  • Sean’s website: http://www.seangrigsby.com/
  • Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeanGrigsby
  • Smoke Eaters: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857667734/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_58mvCb6F0HE95
  • Daughters of Forgotten Light: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857667955/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_P9mvCb1S9SE45

Affiliate links to our books!

Podcasts, Projects

ISBW #403: Slumps, and Sherrilyn Kenyon Interview

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:31 — 23.9MB)

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Frankly, I’m in a podcasting slump, and change needs to come to keep me from podfading. I talk about some of those changes here, and then we get to the Sherrilyn Kenyon interview.

Did you know you could have heard this show earlier if you supported the Patreon?

Affiliate links below:

And my other projects:

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #72: Always A Bridesmaid with Brooke Bolander

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:13 — 42.5MB)

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  • Mur and Matt come to you live from Jeff Goldblum’s Douglas Adams Appreciation Center with special guest co-host, Brooke Bolander!
  • Mur explains the location of the show and how it relates to the Ditch Diggers’ struggles to book Brooke on the show (hurricanes, travel, and sick animals were involved).
  • Everyone catches everyone else up on what’s been going on in their lives and careers, including NaNoWriMo and other novel finishing efforts.
  • Mur masterfully segues into the main topic of the show, which is how to handle being nominated for multiple awards and not winning any of them.
  • Mur and Brooke talk about that feeling of almost getting there, but not, and Brooke talks about her many multi-award-nominated short stories.
  • The shenanigan engine thresholds of all three hosts are discussed, as is Robert Silverberg and dealing with the treatment of the less accepting older members of the SFF community.
  • dink jokes!
  • Public speaking for authors, and the many un-taught skills authors need to possess.
  • More dink jokes!
  • The perpetually premature onset on awards season, and everyone’s awards-eligible works.

Brooke on Twitter
Brooke’s website
Brooke’s 2018 Awards Eligibility Post

Meta

2018 Eligibility Post

2018 was a year heavy on the writing and light on the actual publishing. But here’s what I worked on and what I’m eligible for, if you’re in a nominating mood.

  • NOVEL:
    Solo: A Star Wars Story
    Six Wakes (several non-US territories including UK, Japan, Germany, Taiwan)
  • NOVELETTE:
    Bookburners Season Four: “The Blood-Dimmed Tide” and “A Message Across Worlds”
  • PODCASTS:
    I Should Be Writing
    Ditch Diggers (With Matt Wallace)
  • SEMIPROZINE
    Escape Pod (edited by Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya – also eligible for SHORT FORM EDITOR awards. Please nominate together.)