2015: The year that was

31 December, 201531 December, 2015 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 3 Comments

japan 1drt6g As far as writing years go, 2015 was pretty good. I’ve acheived my goals, realized some dreams, and learned a few lessons.

I had numerous publications over the course of the year, and was pleased to be in the pages of Asimov’s Science Fiction and Landfall once again. My second stories in each of those magazines, over consecutive years, and that suggests to me that the first wasn’t a fluke. I may actually be doing some things right.

I also had stories in Perihelion, Capricious, Takahe, SQMag and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. A good mix of literary and science fiction.

Good news on the competition front too. I was first equal in the Gernsback Amazing Stories innaugural competition this year for my story “Penny of Tharsis Montes”. That should be out in the first issue in February.

I self-published numerous short stories, and five novels. Sales of these have been unspectacular. Included in the plans for 2016 is more learning about marketing, discoverability and the like. I’m confident I have a good product: I lack the skills to get it noticed.

I’ve also taken more courses and read more books about writing and business. I’ll continue that next year.

As Shadows on the Snow, Kendall and I had a lot of music come out. Kendall’s brilliant at getting the stuff out into the world. Thanks Kendall!

I managed to fit in a jaunt to Japan (hence the photo), which was fabulous. Almost a month there visiting Hiroshima, Kyoto and Naoshima Island among other places, sampling okonomiyaki (yum) and green tea ice cream (not so yum).

For the fourth year running I wrote every day (including on the trip, albeit slower). Also for the fourth year in a row, I wrote over a half a million words. Funny thing; the goal is 500,000, but I hit that on November 19th. With forty-one days left, I wondered what to do. Why not write another novel? So I ran with that. Athena Setting will came in at around 57,000 words and I’ve just finished it tonight, New Year’s Eve (squeaked in at 11.59). These days, it’s not often I’m up at midnight for new year, but there you go. I celebrated finishing the novel (as I usually do) by starting the next piece. Might even be a new novel.

For the first year since starting that word count, I also published over a half million (about 100,000 over that – not bad). I have more words (should say complete stories/novels) written this year and last, that haven’t made it out yet. Next year.

Next year’s goals remain the same, with clear additions. Write every day, write a half million words, and publish ten novels. Also; learn a whole lot more around business and marketing and so on.

Happy New Year everyone.

Nice review of “The Molenstraat Music Festival”

2 September, 20152 September, 2015 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 3 Comments

Okay, so I probably shouldn’t read reviews of my work (too much chance of that not going well). That said, Bob Bough of Tangent, one of science fiction’s reveiw magazines, has written a great review of my story “The Molenstraat Music Festival”, from the current issue of Asimov’s. Yay. Thanks. That’s one I was pleased to read. 🙂

The Molenstraat Music Festival in Asimovs

13 August, 201513 August, 2015 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 10 Comments

My novelette “The Molenstraat Music Festival” has just been published in the September issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. It’s a story of a far future that, among advanced technology, still has time for art.
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“I’m Tamsin Birchall.” She stepped down from the vehicle. She was tall, thin-legged and wasp-waisted. She’d had work done, but then everybody did these days, didn’t they? She was wearing a blue single-piece dress that seemed to wrap around her legs almost like slacks as she walked. Her hips swayed, but her shoulders stayed steady. She could be a dancer.
“I can help you?” Clancy said. He pointed back the way they’d come. “Stay on that road for another six or seven miles you’ll come to a nice, isolated beach. The water’s a long way down now, with the dry, but it’s still pleasant enough. The trees grow down to the sand’s edge, and there are some grassy picnic spots. Another ten miles on, up Freyberg Road, there’s a rooming house.”
“It’s not directions I’m looking for.”

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I’m thrilled and honored to be sharing the table of contents with science fiction luminaries once again. Brenda Cooper!, Jason Sanford, Vylar Kaftan, among others.

I’m also honored that Asimov’s editor Sheila Williams saw something in my little story. Thanks.

2014 in review

23 December, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 1 Comment

2014 has been kind to me. I’ve acheived a couple of lifelong goals: having a story published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, and winning a writing competition – The Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest.

I also wrote more than ever before. In 2012 I first took on measuring my output and writing every day. That year I managed around 507,000 words. 2013, still writing everyday, I hit 519,000. Last year I also made sure I only submitted stories to paying markets (that’s a long story for another time).

This year my current count is over 566,000 words and I might even hit 590,000. As well as the two pro “sales”, I sold numerous stories to semi-pro markets (some of these publishers have been very supportive as I’ve developed my writing: I have a soft-spot for them). The second half of the year has seen a slow-down on acceptances, but I keep writing new stories.

As well as numerous short stories and collections published indie, I managed to get out The Deluge, the sequel to The Tunnel in my Hidden Dome universe. Current writing plans have the third book The Eye out next year.

Speaking of next year: more focus on novels; more focus on getting things to publication; still writing every day; still learning about craft; more learning about business; less goofing off – I might have to give up a block of time to the new Tomb Raider game due out in 2015, but writing will still happen :-).

Overall a pretty good year (actually, an astoundingly good year). It’s given me a lot of energy to push on and feel confident I’m on the right course.

1000 days of writing every day

29 September, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

In 2012 I took on some new challenges with writing. One of them was to write every day. Not that before then I written lots, though I probably missed many days, just that on January 1st 2012 I started recording my writing. Last Saturday (if my math is correct) marked 1000 consecutive days of writing every day.

There have been some challenges. I crossed the International Date Line four times in that space (so gained a day going one way, and lost a day going the other – I wrote on the plane and in the terminals, so counted writing days). Some days I’ve had computer fritzes. Thank goodness I learned how to hand-write. Some days I wrote very few words (132 is the lowest I see on my chart), some days I wrote very many (1 day of 7928). Overall I’ve averaged around 1400 words a day – over 500,000 words in both of 2012 and 2013, and so far this year 394118.

I’ve published far fewer words, but have changed up a few things in the process from now so should be getting far more of those words out into the world. Fortunately some of those published words have realized some of my dreams – a story in Asimov’s, a competition win (and a couple of 3rd placings), a story in New Zealand’s premier literary magazine Landfall, among other things.

Inevitably life may throw something at me so the run of consecutive days will need resetting, but you know, that’s all right. At the moment I feel like my momentum is up and I’ll keep learning, practising and striving.

Robert Silverberg and Asimov’s

31 January, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

As a teen I devoured books by Robert Silverberg. The Man in the Maze, Those Who Watch, Downward to the Earth… the list goes on. I didn’t read everything – his output was prolific, I couldn’t even find them all – but his accessible, engaging, clever stories were a big part of making me want to be a writer. I’m sure many of my early tales were little more than awkward adolescent copies of his books.

Well, over time I guess I’ve found my own voice, and have published many stories along the way. Now, though, I’m thrilled to have achieved one of my dreams from those teenage years: a story published in Asimov’s Science Fiction. My novelette “Walking Gear” is in the March 2014 issue.

Not only that, but I’m sharing the contents page with Robert Silverberg.

Of course, Mr. Silverberg’s piece is his regular column, so getting a story in Asimov’s meant a fair chance of coinciding, but I still feel very honored. There are other luminaries in the issue too, like Mike Resnick, Ken Liu and Cat Rambo. Wow.

(Asimov’s on Kindle)