Tuesday Kuykendall

First, happy December–for the first time in my adult life I’m wishing for snow. Until is shows up I’ll have to be satisfied with last years photos.

For those of you in a hurry, here’s the most important thing:

I’ve created a new page for The Algorithm’s Edge on my blog and updated The End Of Species 499. (See the bookcover there). I’ve included the first chapter of both novels and a field to subscribe for notifications. Anyone reading this letter right now is already subscribed, but if you read it and like it, I am hoping you’ll tell your friends? Every little bump helps.

I wrote another essay this morning on Medium about using cutting-edge materials science topics in sci-fi writing. You should be able to read it without a subscription here

If not, let me know and I’ll repost it on my blog.

Now for more random matters:

The other night, Bill and I were watching Seth Myers, and he shared a montage of news broadcasters spouting versions of “I can’t believe it’s already December,” completely ruining that cliché for me. That’s okay; it was stupid before that, but now I understand how stupid. I think about things like, “What if we were ancient hunter-gatherers?” We wouldn’t care. It wouldn’t mean anything. It doesn’t now either, but in a culture obsessed with youth and productivity, it’s hard not to care too much about time. This is what retirement does to me. I have more time for mind wandering – something I was always admonished against as a child. I love it!

I ended Novel November with a draft I titled, “There’s No Such Thing As Human’s” about a dragon from an alternate universe who, quite by accident, falls through a wormhole into our universe. The challenge was to write 50,000 words within the month of November. I ended the month with 57,537 words. About 5000 words were written in October because I needed to sort out what I wanted to write. It will sit on the back shelf for a while until I finish, at last, my first two books. I am quite proud of myself.

The Algorithm’s Edge, my book about a guy living in a smart house and the absurdity of the attention economy, is finished. Well, finished enough to send to beta readers and queries to agents. I started querying on Friday. I sent a letter (electronic) to fourteen agents. Normally, you wouldn’t expect to hear back for 8 weeks to forever, but first thing Monday morning, the first rejection was in my inbox. Hmm. She woke up, turned on her computer, took one look at my query, and said, “No Thank you.” 

Oh well. I suspect that’s going to be most reactions. I keep trying to find other novels in similar veins, but, if anyone is writing them, publishers aren’t publishing them. I can’t help that; I will not write stuff just to sell it. I also learned that agents often use AI to pre-screen their queries. I don’t blame them; they get thousands of them a week. But I’m also not going to stress about keywords I need to insert to get past the AI.

If you detect a note of screed in there, you are correct.

So, I will be looking at self-publishing—again. I was thinking about doing a Kickstarter campaign to help me raise funds for both the books but I’ve learned that without at least 500 subscribers, it’s unlikely to be successful. So first, I’ll have to create a following. (imagine thought bubble here: I hate social media and marketing—hate, hate, hate it—passionately). So that’s what I’m working on now.

I mentioned Medium last month, and I’m still working on getting followers on that platform. I’m avoiding social media beyond just posting a link to my updates because everyone knows it’s a waste of time. Anyone who is reading this got the link at the same time I posted it. If potential readers weren’t looking at their feeds at that moment, they won’t know this exists. I have looked at Pinterest, and it is promising because the pins stay put.

Well, that’s it for this month. I hope everyone is having a wonderful winter! Happy Holidays.

Now I have to stop procrastinating and get back to editing my book.