The Janet Project – Brian Fence

Imaginative TV and the State of Bao

First of all, I must reach out to my beloved Marissa for bringing me an image of the day; her Netflix queue lined up the most perfect mashing to create the best TV show for me in all of existence. Baking is Futile.

Now, onto deeper topics: the state of me, and how I haven’t posted in ages.

Most importantly: the personal, as it’s distracted me from everything else since January. My father became quite ill and was on hospice for many months, and my mother’s illness finally and rapidly progressed into heart failure. My mother passed in May; my father hung on until August. Both my husband and I were temporary caregivers, and the loss has been felt very deeply. I’m thankful for the friends and family who offered succor during what has been a terrible year for me.

Onward to happier things. “The Eighth Bible of New Egypt” is currently up for serialized purchase via Kindle Vella! Please take a moment to check it out if you haven’t already read it before in anthology form; it’s just in time for Halloween. 🙂 PS — give it a thumbs up! It needs some love on the new platform.

Now, the bigger questions. WHERE’S LENNA? WHERE’S MORE JACOB? WHERE’S THE JANET PROJECT?

Well, those are all really, really great questions and I can answer them all!

Freewoman (scheduled for 2021) is being pushed back to 2022 just because of the sheer insanity of my life these days, but over the next few weeks I should have TEASER ART from my beloved cover artist to tide you all over with.

“Jacob Orange” short stories. I actually have three more coming! One is complete, and two more on the way. There are hijinks with Napa cabbage, Eyeballs (yes, they must be capitalized here), and the divine wrath of Victoria’s high heels. Keep your eyes peeled for a release of the next story, “The Progenitor Machine.”

The Janet Project… I haven’t abandoned you, my beloved retelling of the Scottish ballad “Tam Lin.” I have good news: it’s pretty much done its first round. Then it goes through an edit (or two) from me and some peer review, and fingers crossed, you’ll see it at Barnes & Noble in a couple years. I’m hoping to ship it off to some agents/agencies by year-end, so maybe even earlier than 2023. Ambitious, huh?

I’m going to try to keep the blog up-to-date as time permits. The day job that’s paying the bills is a little intense at the moment, but believe me… there’s more to come!

As a special treat after the break, there’s a writing sample from me for a creative fiction publication. If you’ve stuck around this far, go ahead and read it!

Continue reading Imaginative TV and the State of Bao

It’s that time of year again…

Taxes, taxes, taxes. I know I’ve been MIA for a solid two months or so, but work and family have kept me away from the best part of my life — writing!

The Janet Project is currently still a WIP, but doesn’t have much more to go. Then I get to go through the joy of query letters! *shudder* If anyone has suggestions on a good way to write one, I’m more open than an Atlantic City hooker. Too crass? Too bad. Query letters stink.

As my day-job is in the financial field, I wanted to explain to those who write exclusively as their source of income that you might not have tax withheld from your advances and royalties. If you don’t want to owe a lump sum in April, you should pay estimated tax (April, June, September, January [of the next year]). This is more or less the same concept of withholding, as here in the US we’re required to PRE-PAY our taxes. So, to avoid any penalties… fork over some of your tax liability during the year and don’t get whammied up the rear end in April. 😉

This is perhaps the most boring post I’ve ever written, so I’ll link to a great music video by a group Chris and I are going to see live on Tuesday. It’s Snow Halation, by μ’s. It’ll be a nice diversion from all the stress going on right now. Definitely check out the vid and TODOKETE!! with Honoka.

Riot Blade Thanksgiving

Happy early Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has something to be thankful for tomorrow.

I’m feeling grateful for many things, especially the love of my friends and husband. I’m also thankful that Terra is close to mastering her Ifrit summoning board. RIOT BLADE!!

As random as that is, I wanted to give a general update: my mother is ill and hospitalized, so I haven’t had has much leisure to write as I’d like. I hope this Thanksgiving anyone who actually reads this blogs sends her warm thoughts of healing. 🙂

I’ll talk to you all after the holiday with updates on The Janet Project.

xoxo

An October Update

Howdy. Is everyone ready for Halloween? I’ve been obsessed with Dissidia: Final Fantasy Opera Omnia (see the pic of me as Aerith!) for the month, so things have slowed down a little.

We had a blast at our Halloween party:

I was Deadpool, and we had friends from all over come to join in the festivities. (I didn’t kill anyone with my katanas, much to my husband’s chagrin.)

Work continues on The Janet Project, and I’m looking for an agent. I’m also pleased to say that our local Keyport library will be hosting my first two novels, Librarian and Apprentice, so if you’re local… well, check it out! Literally. Ha ha. That pun works on so many levels.

xoxo

[P] is for Protagonist, Help!

An update long time coming! The talented Anisha Dadia is finishing up the audiobook of Apprentice, so we should see that available for purchase in the upcoming weeks! HUZZAH. Hours of eloquently narrated text perfect for the car or sessions at the gym as you get your workout on.

On another note, work on my next project, The Janet Project, (no pun intended), has begun! Everything is outlined and ready to roll, but I’m having trouble with the name of the protagonist… it needs to begin with a “J,” but nothing is speaking out to me. It can’t be “Jacob” (those in the know, know why). Ideas?

People with the perfect J-name will get a special mention in the acknowledgments section of the novel. 🙂 Email me or leave a comment! THE BEST J-NAME WINS.

PS: our families are finally happy; we did the big wedding thing! I might have pictures to follow.

Double PS: I will soon be collecting more Masters, and if you haven’t checked out The Literary Review, you should!