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Richmond Marathon

This month I ran the Richmond Marathon in 4:32:05! It marked the third marathon I've started and the second one I've finished.

Among the things that occurred to me during the race (turns out you have a lot random thoughts over 26.2 miles) is that writing a novel is in many ways like a marathon. It's too long of a journey to see the end while you're in it... you just have to buckle down, tackle the moment, and hope for the best.

Sometimes you gotta just embrace the journey, even when it's hard!
- Nalin

Writing Update

My first directly self-published short story, Anpo (The Dawn), has been released as a free ebook on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Apple Bookstore, and Kobo! The release includes a cover art collaboration with friend and colleague Trish Revolinksy. You can read an interview with cover artist on the blog.

The Fiction Studio at the Muse Writing Center continues, and has helped me generate about 11,000 new words for Rassam's Eye, in addition to some revision of existing scenes. At this point I am definitely going to miss my end-of-year deadline for a first draft, but things are going well, so I'll take it!

Thanks to the Muse, I'll be able to attend the AWP Conference in Philadelphia this March, and that, I hope, will be enough of a fire under my butt to get a draft (and a summary pitch) for Rassam's Eye done before then. Hundreds of small presses and indie publishers will be there, as well as agents! As I mentioned in my blog post Defining Writing Success, I remain a bit skeptical that traditional publishing is a good path for me... but I figure I might as well keep my options open.

My latest short story, The Karma of Ponds, remains under consideration with the publishers of the anthology Mirror, Mirror: Modern Myths. I think it's actually a good sign that haven't heard anything back yet... it (likely) means the story wasn't rejected in the early slush rounds. So hopefully I'll have good news to report next month!

Fiction Consumed This Month

Books:
  • Finished Iain M Banks' Excession. It's good. It's not great. Per usual, I enjoy Banks's over-the-top outrageous space opera vibe, under which he cleverly lays out several serious thoughts about humanity and societies. However, I felt a little let down by the ending of both the individual arc of the protagonist and the overarching meta-plot taking place within the broader Culture surrounding him.
  • Waiting on Jane Goodall's The Book of Hope (nonfiction) from the library, so perhaps taking a break from fiction for the next couple of weeks. Open to suggestions on what's next!
Screen:
  • Saw Villeneuve's Dune on opening day at the IMAX and absolutely loved it. This newsletter is already long enough, so perhaps I'll queue up another blog post to gush about it somewhere else!
What have you been reading or watching? Any recommendations for me?

Hope you're reading something great in a cozy place surrounded by food and family! Happy Thanksgiving!
I do love getting your feedback and comments, so please continue to reach out. Thanks for reading, and see you in the next issue!