Slack

No, not the business-oriented chat platform. Slack more as in J.R. “Bob” Dobbs.

Since I got Godthief completed and published, I’ve been feeling anxious because I don't have an immediate plan for what to write next. I have a number of story starts sitting in my slushpile, several of which I quite like, including one based on a scenario which I personally consider both quite alarming and a very real threat, but none of those starts has an actual underpinning story attached to them that I’ve figured out yet. And so far I’ve been unable to come up with a follow-on story in my Stardock universe that I consider good enough or complete enough to tell.

A couple of nights ago, I finished reading Folded Sky, the concluding volume of Elizabeth Bear’s magnificent White Space trilogy. I am in awe of Elizabeth Bear; she is a magnificent writer, and one who says a lot of things about society that I'd like to say in my own writing but says them better, and White Space is in many ways reminiscent of the late, great, and dearly missed Iain M. Banks. And of course I went on and re-read her updated author bio, and realized that Elizabeth — of whom I will repeat, I am in awe — has written fifteen books in twenty years.

Then I realized that I have published seven books in the past 18 months, written over the course of about three years total.

You know... maybe I could afford to cut myself some slack...