Early holiday purchases....

I decided to make my holiday purchases early this year.  After taking my mom book shopping at Barnes and Noble two weeks ago, I purchased books online.  I got the following:

Finland at War:  The Winter War 1939-1940.
The Battles of the Cornells and Falklands, 1914.
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Hero of the Imperium by Sandy Mitchell.

I reorganized my bookshelves and put everything in order.  I also purchased Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.  So I have about 13 hard copy books to read this coming year...

Writing second novel...

Work is progressing on my second novel.  I'm about 10,000 words into it.  I'm aiming for 80,000 words.  I hope to have it complete by July 1, 2015.

Great used book hunt...

I found a used book by Philip Jose Farmer yesterday.  I want to broaden my knowledge of commercial speculative fiction.  I'd read Farmer in the past.  But I can't recall what I read.  I also picked up Elizabeth Moon's Victory Conditions, Ben Bova's Orion and King Arthur, John Scalzi's Old Man's War, Gini Koch's Alien vs. Alien, and RM Meluch's Tour of the Merrimack:  The Myriad/Wolf Star.

I'm also looking for Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice and Stephen Baxter's Ultima.  I also have two WH40K Horus Heresy novels to read at some point, too.  There are other books I want to get.  However, I'll have to see what I can afford electronically.  Most of my new purchases will probably be ebooks.  They're normally cheaper and don't take up any space on my bookshelves.  However, I've been able to get new paperbacks cheaper than the ebooks editions recently.

Rather strange...  

Building literary agent database...

I put together a literary agent database of possible literary agents.  I have about a dozen agents, authors, and books so far.  I'll add more as I go.  I spent the weekend book shopping.  I bought books of different sci-fi/fantasy authors I need to read to know what's out there commercially.

I did start a new project.  It's a speculative fiction novel about interstellar colonization.  I don't want to give much away.  I hope it will be rather original when I get done with the rough draft.  I'm trying to write at least 2000 words/per week.  I should be done with the rough draft by the end of June 2016...

Literary Agent Hunt, Query Letters, and New Authors/Books to read

I spent the week writing a query letter and putting together a database of literary agents, authors, and books they represent.  I wanted to be authors I'd read or heard.  I wasted a lot of ink printing things out.  I finally got a small list assembled.  Some of the agents represent several authors I'd read.  I was told to have a list of at least 50-100 possible agents.  God, that'll kill me, lol!

Here's a list of authors and books I need to eventually read:

Ben Bova's Orion and King Arthur; John Scalzi's Old Man's War; Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice; Philip Jose Farmer's Doc Savage; R.M. Meluch's The Twice and Future Caesar; Robert Jordan's Wheel of TIme, Set #1; Gini Koch's Alien vs. Alien.

I now have about a dozen different sci-fi/fantasy books to read, along with these.  I'd be lucky to get one read a month.  I might be caught up on all my reading by the time I get Kepler Falling through WUTA and Big Books in two years.  It will take me that long to get done with my reading list...

However, I'll see about getting a query letter to WUTA one of these days. Soon.

Done moving

I finished moving last night.  I just have to clean up my old bedroom, vacuum it, and give my keys back to my former roommate Saturday afternoon.  I'm tired and worn out.  I thought I'd keep cool by moving stuff in the evening.  The humidity and heat didn't cooperate.  However, all the trips I made to and from my old house to my mom's condo paid off...

Setting up my downstairs office

I spent this evening setting up my downstairs office.  I put my laptop computer, books, CDs, and DVDs, in my father's old room.  I updated my computer files and backed everything, too.  I need to install Norton 360 on the laptop latter this weekend and hook it up to the local wifi server.  I've been using my mom's machine for Internet until then. 

I finished a novella recently called Ganbaatar.  It's based on the Mongol invasion of Russia in 1223.   I don't understand why my stories turn into novellas.  This has happened on several occasions.  I wanted a novel.  I got a novella, instead. 

Or my short stories turn into novellas, too.  Battle Damage is a case in point.  I rewrote a new character and scene index to go with it.  I worked on it this morning.  I don't think it'll take long to finish.  I'm taking a hiatus from new projects once I'm done with the rough draft of Battle Damage.  I want to work on a poetry chap book, Half A World Away, and my novel, Kepler Falling.  Those projects should take the next several years...