SELECT * FROM Shane

2011 was a huge year for me. I started studying towards a PhD, and dropped out eight weeks later. Annie became interactive and therefore awesome and demanding. My writing reached new heights of prolificism. I got a publishing contract for The Lesser Evil, and have begun negotiations for its sequel, The Road to Hell. I created a Twitter account and two Facebook fan pages (here and here), and revived this languishing blog. I revamped my website completely from the ground up. And through it all, full-time work and the commuting thereof continued to dominate upwards of 50 hours per week.

But busy as I’ve been, I knew there was more planning to do. It’s never too early to think about the future. And it’s starting to look like 2012 will be at least as busy as this year.

But first, the year that is still to come, as the events of October, November and December are going to have an unbelievable influence on what happens next year.

Two Thousand and Eleven

NaNoWriMo

The National Novel Writing Month has been my favourite annual writing event since 2004. I participated last year, as a rebel. A rebel is someone who eschews the 50000-words-in-a-month goal and sets their own goal. For me, my goal was 75 pages of art for The Lesser Evil, a goal I achieved.

This year, same goal, different book. My motivation to work on The Road To Hell needs a big kick up the rear right now, and I intend for the month of November to be that kick.

Self-promotion

I am to be the featured author in December’s issue of ACT Write, the monthly newsletter of the ACT Writer’s Centre, which is a brilliant opportunity for me to promote my book and get myself out there.

DAZ3D are also putting together a profile piece on me and my work. I have attached a link to a draft web page that contains the article, here. I don’t know when this will go live, but the content should remain the same.

Aurealis Award

The Lesser Evil (vol 1) is being nominated for a 2011 Aurealis Award in the graphic novel category. The wonderful folks at ACT Comic Meet received an email from the organisers asking for any suggestions for graphic novel entries, and my name was put forward.

It’s brilliant to just be a part of this event, but the stars I can’t quite keep out of my eyes keep whispering: you might even WIN.

Other writing projects

I have recently completed a short (9 page) comic story entitled Parlour Tricks for the ACT Comic Meet’s upcoming Beginnings Anthology.

Since writing it, I’ve been looking over it again and again, and I’m pretty much convinced that a full-length story is the next step for this new world I’ve created. Stay tuned for more information.

Preparing for 2012 – Book2

While exploring a list of Twitterverse folk to follow, and promote my book to, I came across a link to this rather incredible page: Book2

Here’s the deal.

Book2 applications are invited from writers who wish to write their second book/play and who have a contract in place to publish/perform the work.

Writers can apply for $50,000 for living allowances (including childcare) and/or assistance with travel and research costs associated with the preparation and writing of their nominated project. Writers may apply for assistance towards a specific phase of work, such as research or a final draft; or a combination of activities to occur over a period of up to 12 months.

Applications closed on 17 October. I got mine in, of course, for The Road To Hell (for which a publication contract now exists! More exciting news.). Now the waiting game begins.

And other things

There are two things that will really influence the events of 2012 more than any others. Obviously, the first is the (forthcoming) outcome of the Book2 grant application, which could drastically increase the amount of time I have to do my writing in 2012.

The second is this:

Katie is pregnant with our second.

Wait, I think I said that wrong. Let me try again.

KATIE IS PREGNANT!

After months of trying, and following some devastating news that we might not get pregnant again, and after Katie endured a painful month of hormone therapy, we can finally announce some good news.

Come June 25th 2012 (or thereabouts), life is going to be even busier!

Two Thousand and Twelve

There’s a lot going on at the moment, and there’ll be even more going on next year. I’m down to 5-6 hours of sleep a night; looks like that will be dipping further!

But I wouldn’t have it any other way.