My Life as a Writer: Still Burning Hugo

I'm working on The Burning of Hugo. As of this post, I'm at 1/8th completion of the manuscript in revision. I should finish by Christmas Day.

My aim is to publish via Kindle before New Year's Day, and POD via CreateSpace sometime next year. It won't be pretty, but I aim to have it up and available for your post-Christmas reading when you need a little something to round out that Amazon order using the gift card your folks got for you.

The overall objective is to start building momentum. Mike Cernovich said this earlier today:

Go write 2000 words a day about your movement. You'll have a book in 2 months. Or keep hating on me. Your choice!

— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) December 2, 2015

I'm choosing to write. It's already gotten me one manuscript (that needs revision), and it's getting me another right now. This builds momentum for me, momentum being far more important than fussing over the details. I'm in a position right now where I can afford to fail, but only if I keep the cost for any individual project low enough, a position where the concept of "Fail Faster" is most useful.

(Summarized: Be aware of when a specific attempt can't hit your objectives. If that happens, cut losses immediately to minimize damage, and push on to try again at best speed.)

I know what kind of fiction book I want to write, and it's the sort of book I grew up with: fast-paced adventure stories featuring iconic heroes, as often as possible to be well within the SF/F realm, that fit inside your jacket pocket and sold back in the early-to-mid '80s for a couple of dollars. The sort of books I got from reading E.E. Smith or E.R. Burroughs, instead of Hickman & Weiss or the other increasingly-obese speculative fiction works. (I save the bigger books for my non-fiction work, where that space is better employed.)

I'll have a post by the end of the month explaining what I intend to finish and publish next year. Hopefully, by then I'll also have The Burning of Hugo available for sale. Knock on wood, folks. I'll take all the good luck I can get.