It’s been a weird year so far. Mainly because it feels like we’ve been looping the same month since march of last year. However, that doesn’t mean that nothing has happened.
I now have an actual shop for my t-shirt designs with a URL that’s memorable enough that you can tell it to people if they ask where you got your neat t-shirt/facemask/hoodie/tote. My stuff for sale is now at https://department-y.store why not treat yourself to something nice.
That Department Y URL is linked to the narrative podcast that I’m writing. It’s not quite ready for a Project File post yet but the writing is going pretty well. I have the first episode written and I’m on the final stretch with the second.
I keep expecting to run out of steam or suddenly be struck with doubt and decide that a podcast is a terrible idea but so far it’s not happening. Of course there is still a lot of work to be done. Not just with the writing and recording, but with the branding and the organisation.
If you want to support me in my efforts you could buy something from my shop or pop along to my Ko-fi page and buy me a virtual coffee.
As the pandemic continues, and Lockdown looms again, I’m increasingly hearing people complain about the idea of forcing healthy people to take precautions in order to protect the vulnerable. Well fuck you too.
Sorry. Was that a bit rude? This discourse is making me a little tense. You see I’m one of the vulnerable. I’m disabled and I have a couple of medical conditions that put me at a particular risk from COVID-19. When you say, “It’s not that dangerous. It’s only the sick and the elderly at risk.” I hear “I don’t care if you die so long as I am not inconvenienced.”
I care. I don’t just care about my own life. I care about my children, who’ve been pretty clear that they’d like me to stick around a bit longer. I care about my elderly mother and my uncles and aunts. I care about your elderly relatives even if you don’t. I care about my sick and disabled friends. I care about the medical professionals who’ll have to try and save us if we do catch it. I care about the NHS that could really do without the additional strain.
It’s not going to kill you to stay away from the pub a bit longer, or to wear a mask in public, or to have a quiet Christmas. Those sacrifices are definitely better than a few weeks of pneumonia which is a common effect of COVID-19 even for healthy people.
Anyway I feel I should be compensated for having to find out how many people don’t care if i die. So I designed a thing.
This is not about writing. This is about T-shirts.
I enjoy designing t-shirts and okay, if I’m totally honest, it’s still writing because the t-shirts do have words on them. It’s taken me a while to find a way to put my designs out in the world without costing me any money. So far it seems like I can list my designs on Teespring without having to pay up front as long as I don’t want a shop front.
In my last post I mentioned the Zeppelin Watch design from my other blog. Well some people have actually bought some. People other than me. I might actually see some of the money. So I’ve listed another couple of designs.
Choose your fuel – Coffee or Tea? Vengeance or Rage?
Those are photographs I took (apart from the Zeppelin Watch one which is in the public domain). The words are my own. You can buy the t-shirts, totes, masks and mugs safe in the knowledge that you’re supporting me in my writing and you’re not ripping off anyone’s intellectual property.
I particularly recommend the mugs and the hoodies.
It’s been a wee while since my last post so I reckon it’s time for a general update.
NaNoWriMo and Preptober
It’s nearly that time of year again. National Novel Writing Month. Every November millions of people around the world come together to write the first draft of a novel (at least 50,000 words) in thirty days. I’ve done it every year since 2004 and as Municipal Liaison I organise my local group. Preptober is the even more informal challenge of preparing for NaNoWriMo.
You might think NaNoWriMo would be easier this year than it usually is. More people working from home, less pressure to go out and socialise and the shitshows of the US elections, Brexit and a global pandemic to want to escape from. On the other hand there is also the crushing existential angst, the financial worries and the fight for democracy to distract us and make us feel like our silly little stories are unimportant. We can’t even meet up in person to support each other.
I’m doing my best to build my local group up using tools like Discord and the NaNoWriMo forums. I get the impression that a lot of people just aren’t feeling it this year so I need to work particularly hard not to tie my feelings of self worth to the success of the group.
Black Holes
Over on my personal blog there’s a new post up in the ongoing Zeppelin Watch series. It’s full of Black Holes and Science! Check it out.
T-shirts
Also on the blog is the link to the new Zeppelin Watch t-shirts, also stickers, tote bags, mugs and face masks. If you choose to visit the site don’t be put off by the shipping charges. I’ve had customers tell me that the price they were initially quoted for shipping dropped when they got to check out. I have some other T-shirt designs I hope to upload in future. Here’s a sneak peek at one.
Pitches
The other thing I’ve been working on is a pitch. I can’t say much about it just now but I do have some thoughts on pitches and how they differ from querying agents or submitting to publishers. Once those thoughts crystallise I’ll have a blog post about it. It’s entirely possible that it will mostly be me complaining that I have to actually write stuff down like some sort of peasant, rather than publishers and production companies coming to my door to beg for my golden words.
Why can’t I achieve success just by thinking about it?
H.F. Calder, author and artist. 