You want an update? I gotcher update right here, pal.
• Have you told the world yet how you’re going to die? New Tumblr. Curating fears and fantasies about our deaths. Go there. Tell me about your death and how you envision it. THIS IS HOW YOU DIE. As a sidenote, received a butt-ton of entries for that — if yours hasn’t shown up, it’s possible it’s in the queue. (Also possible it was a little too out-of-theme. Some entries were fun but were more about cheating death than death itself, which felt like — well, it felt like a cheat. Go figure.)
• Maybe you saw yesterday, maybe you didn’t, but Abaddon Books has asked me back into the writer’s stable, even after that… incident with the donkey (“Chuck Wendig Returns To Abaddon“). And what will Chuck — er, me — be doing? First up is a sequel to DOUBLE DEAD called BAD BLOOD. Your favorite vampire-in-zombieland is back, this time in e-novella format. Second up is I’ll be writing a novel to spearhead a new urban fantasy series called GODS & MONSTERS. Which pretty much tells you all you need to know about that. Thanks to Abaddon for inviting me back!
• Oh, one other tidbit there from that blog post — DOUBLE DEAD was the fastest-selling Abaddon title of 2011? Mine is the face of joy at news like that. Very exciting stuff.
• New “Penmonkey Incitement” count — we’re up to 737. Which means we passed both the 650 and 700 marks, which means it’s time to give out two more postcards and one more t-shirt. (More information on the Penmonkey Incitement promotion right here.) I’ll pick in the next 24 hours and email folks who won — so, if you’re looking for a shot to nab a free postcard or t-shirt, remember to procure a copy of COAFPM and be sure to let me know about it at terribleminds at gmail dot com.
• GIMME SHELTER, new zombie anthology. I’ve a tale in there, along with great stories by Tee Morris, Mur Lafferty, Filamena Young, Phillipa Ballentine, David Hill, Pete Woodworth, and more. Out now!
• Slowly but surely putting together that terribleminds Kickstarter.
• Those asking about the next Atlanta Burns book, BAIT DOG? I’m noodling making it a full novel instead of a novella. Feels like there’s so much more to it than the novella I’ve written, so I might blow it out and go bigger with it. Keep your grapes peeled. Ohhh, and speaking of Atlanta Burns, SHOTGUN GRAVY is now $0.99 at Amazon and B&N.
• Got edits back on the next Miriam Black book, MOCKINGBIRD. Eeee! And ow! And eeee! And ow!
• Looking for DINOCALYPSE NOW news? Done by the end of the month. Ish. Easily one of the most challenging things I’ve ever written. Worth it, I hope. But a serious challenge. Go ahead: ask me why!
• My “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing” post went very, very viral. Like a rampant case of chlamydia it spread like fire across the writer’s net — in two weeks it’s become the biggest post ever here, and led to this site easily blowing up the previous record for views in a day, week, and month. Glad everybody liked it, and thanks everybody for spreading it around.
Your turn. What are you up to?
Susan Kelly says:
Congratulations on your Abaddon deal, Chuck! That’s got to be exciting for you. And also: OMG, you have a lot of things to do.
What am I up to? That thing about writers need goals? I’m trying to learn that. I have no problems setting goals; it’s respecting the fact that I have this goal, dammit, that’s proving difficult. There should be AA for slacker writers.
Onward.
January 19, 2012 — 12:33 AM
Marlan says:
You are on fire these days Chuck. I’m really excited for you.
I am revising a strange book that I really like, but wonder if anyone else will. It involves fungus zombies and fairy abuse… so there’s that.
My editor is about 75% done with my first novel, so that’s inching closer and closer. Hopefully it will be out this year.
Aside from that, I’m just trying to keep my head above the 2000 a day word count marker.
5-Hour Energy is my friend.
January 19, 2012 — 1:42 AM
Auburnville says:
Chuck, that all sounds very cool, congratulations!
I had a chuckle when I spotted your post being shared by friends, that I know have never visited “Terribleminds” before… Great stuff.
What am I doing, almost finished the first draft of my first novel… Its taken awile, the usual story – Writing time Vs Job, Kids, demanding other half, can you believe she expects me to spend time with her watching TV and something called “snuggling”. She tricked with that one, by the way, it is not what Han Solo or Blue Beard used to do.
Well, they might have done… but it was never in the films!
January 19, 2012 — 4:18 AM
CjEggett says:
Great stuff. Looking forward to DINOCALYPSE NOW! It’s just a great title for a thing, any thing.
Also as a side note, Amazon informed me that they cannot fill my pre-order for Blackbirds, and suggested I purchase… Blackbirds instead! Did the format change? I also wondered if you were considering doing an e-book/kindle version?
Me? Finished the first draft of the novel I started in November and am returning to bash it into shape. I wrote the first 10,000 words on my phone in snatched moments, so there’s a lot of editing to be done there!
January 19, 2012 — 4:36 AM
Todd Moody says:
Congrats on Double Dead kicking ass! I’m in the last segment of the book. Side note I actually lived at Altus AFB for a few years in the 90s. Can’t beleive nobody esle has asked so I will … why was DINOCALYPSE NOW! such a challenge for you?
For me, I’m about a third of the way through what I hope is the last revision before shopping my first novel. Air War College may get in the way though. I can’t keep putting off finishing it.
I’m really looking forward to BLACKBIRDS, pre-ordered already.
January 19, 2012 — 7:46 AM
Amber J. Gardner says:
Why is DINOCALYPSE NOW! a challenge? I mean, other than the fact you’re writing a book titled DINOCALYPSE NOW! ?
And Congrats on kicking ass on all fronts! You’re a true inspiration and awesome role model.
Me? Procrastination still has me so no progress on the novel or my superhero noir e-series project, but I’ve never been more spiritually content, so there’s that?
Oh and I may finally get some money from putting words down, maybe not for fiction, but it’ll definitely be the first time I’d be paid for writing. 🙂
January 19, 2012 — 8:31 AM
terribleminds says:
@Amber/Todd —
DINO NOW is tricky because it’s fun and fairly light and pulpy and, ultimately, very earnest. These characters have arcs and conflicts and what-not, but it’s very different from what I’d normally write — and I don’t mean in terms of adult content (some of the stories in IRREGULAR CREATURES are PG-13), but it doesn’t benefit from digging into their heads quite as much as it would be were it another story. The conventions of pulp — lots of cliffhangers and mortal danger and all that — are tricky to balance then with interesting emotional cliffhangers and such.
Plus, I’m playing with characters that are ultimately not my own — that’s good because it gives me distance, but it’s also hard because, well, it affords me that same distance.
Still, I’m hoping it reads like I’m writing it — fun, strange, two-fisted dino-ape-time-travel action.
— c.
January 19, 2012 — 8:38 AM
Lindsay Mawson says:
Can’t wait to read Double Dead and Bait Dog!
Right now I’m working on edits for Exposing Dallas http://www.lmawson.com/exposingdallas and making sure things coincide with its sequel before its release in June. Lots of work but I love it.
January 19, 2012 — 9:02 AM
terribleminds says:
I should also note that anybody who hasn’t yet read DOUBLE DEAD —
Well.
Ahem.
*nudge, nudge*
http://www.amazon.com/Double-Dead-Tomes-Chuck-Wendig/dp/1907992413/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
— c.
January 19, 2012 — 9:05 AM
Rebecca says:
Well, that’s a full dance card. 🙂 I quite like the sound of DINO NOW.
I’m revising my current novel’s first couple of chapters so I can apply for some workshops.
January 19, 2012 — 9:10 AM
John Twitter:awesome_john says:
“Ish” always makes me very happy. I look forward to it, if only so I’ll be infinitely less an irritant.
There are not enough words of congratulation I could heap upon you.
Awesome.
January 19, 2012 — 9:24 AM
Samuel says:
I’m launching my two primary novels forthwith, and working on a third.
I’m considering a blog but the topics I want to write on are controversial and may do me more harm than good. However, I am not inclined to bother for lesser topics.
I am posting up my assembly of short works as one book, also, including my “best of” blogs when I used to be somebody on teh interwebz. I reckon nobody will care much about it, unless they find my other work compelling… or if they want to read my true story about the person I killed when I was 14 years old.
I reckon that story will have some impact. It certainly does for me.
In other news, I am still vying for a certified penmonkey t-shirt, by hook or by crook. My oldest son turns 18 in March. I am also considering riding the Santa Fe rails like a hobo when the weather gets warm, as research for my next book.
should be a hell of a ride.
write on, Chuck. I appreciate your work.
January 19, 2012 — 10:16 AM
Darlene Underdahl says:
I’d like to see Bait Dog as a full novel. I’m sure it’ll make me cry, if I’m guessing the plot correctly, but people need to know about these things. And your heroine can kick SERIOUS ass.
January 19, 2012 — 10:20 AM
kathyn magendie says:
What I’m up to is not writing the new novel. Got to be a metaphor or lesson or sumpin in there somewhere. Huhn.
Congrats on the viral and other goings on’s!
January 19, 2012 — 11:26 AM
Stephanie M. Lorée says:
GIMME SHELTER looks awesome. I just popped over and bought it.
Also, keep us posted when BAD BLOOD releases. I frakkin loved DOUBLE DEAD, and I want more adventures with my favorite vampire… but he’s not really 100% vampire now, is he? Oooooo…
Congrats on all the great stuff, Chuck. Keep being a badass!
January 19, 2012 — 12:18 PM
terribleminds says:
@Stephanie —
Coburn is something… different, now.
And BAD BLOOD releases in… May, I think?
— c.
January 19, 2012 — 12:25 PM
Ellie Ann says:
You have so many awesome things going on! Cool. I can’t wait for BAIT DOG.
I’m freaking out today about iBooks for authors … the software is so incredible and I love what it will do to the transmedia projects I have going on. So, I’m learning it, and I see it playing a big role in my future as an author.
January 19, 2012 — 6:31 PM
Bill Cameron says:
I’m watching daytime television.
And … other stuff.
Secret stuff.
January 19, 2012 — 6:36 PM
terribleminds says:
@Bill:
That is a very quaint metaphor for masturbation.
Well-played.
— c.
January 19, 2012 — 6:38 PM
Elizabeth Poole says:
YAAAAAAAAY DOUBLE DEAD SEQUEL!
That makes me so happy. Also excited about MOCKINGBIRD coming out, and the idea you’re writing an urban fantasy makes me squee with joy since it’s my favorite genre and the once I tend to write in the most often. I’m really interested to see what you’re going to bring to the genre.
I am:
*delighted I finished the first draft of my zombie apocalypse novel despite it winning a gold medal in the “Shitty First Draft” category.
*gestating my son and preparing for the apocalypse he’s going to rain down upon our household.
*preparing to edit/rewrite another first draft of mine that is also really shitty. The first few books I wrote the first drafts were much cleaner. It’s odd that the better I get at writing, the worse my first drafts get. I mean, god awful. Plot holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through. Missing scenes. Beginnings that don’t match the end. Etc, etc.
*critiquing my friend’s shitty first draft (her words, not mine).
*working on getting my website up and running.
I am sure there’s more, but I’ve forgot.
January 19, 2012 — 7:31 PM
EC Sheedy says:
So happy to hear Coburn will ride again. Frickin’ fab character! I loved Double Dead. You’re writing career is on fire, Chuck–glad to hear it.
Yay, Coburn, whatever you are…
January 20, 2012 — 3:03 AM
Becky says:
Great stuff! Congrats Chuck!
January 20, 2012 — 6:46 AM
Paul Philip Carter says:
Wow what a mouthful! (keyboardful…???)
Anyway, congrats!
January 20, 2012 — 4:19 PM
Anthony Crociata says:
I loved “Double Dead” – I actually had three of my friends throw down the cash and grab a copy – I was not giving mine up. I’m a little bummed that the second isn’t paperback, I like paper – call me old school, but there is nothing better than the smell of binding glue.
January 20, 2012 — 5:59 PM
Travis Newville says:
Can’t wait to read “Gods and Monsters”. I’m a big fan of sci-fi/fantasy.
January 21, 2012 — 10:31 AM