Summer Schedule + Upcoming Hiatus Announcement
Posted on June 30, 2010 Posted by John Scalzi 25 Comments
Here’s the deal: Starting tomorrow I become President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and because what SFWA is doing on the board level doesn’t conveniently snip off when one board tenure ends and another begins, I and all the other new members of the board are jumping into the deep end to continue the fine work the current board is engaged in. Additionally, while you weren’t watching I’ve been gearing up for a new novel, and now I’m in writing mode for that. And if that wasn’t enough, between now and mid-September I’ve got travel that is likely to keep me off the Internets entirely.
So, with that in mind, two announcements.
One, for the month of July I’ll be trimming back my time here on Whatever and other places on them there Internets, with an eye to devoting a solid block of time each day to a) novel writing, b) SFWA business, c) other crap that doesn’t involve me glassily cruising through my RSS feed for hours at time.
How will this affect Whatever? From your point of view, it possibly won’t; thanks to the magic of “scheduled postings,” I can write stuff any time and have it appear any other time, thus making it appear that I am the same procrastinatory bastard I usually am. In fact, this very entry was written ahead of time, and scheduled to appear when it did. See, it’s like magic, it is. So when I’m done doing real work, I’ll likely sign on, bang out a post or two, and then schedule them up so your daily Whatever fix will appear as it already does, more or less. So the only real sign I’m (mostly) away will be that I probably won’t be as engaged in the comment threads, although, to disappoint the excitable troll element whose ears just perked up on that bit, I’ll still graze through the comments unseen during the day and will happily wield the Mallet of Loving Correction on all who need its gentle caress.
So that’s July.
Two, from August 1 through September 12, I will be on hiatus. Which means I’ll generally be as far away from them there Internets as you can get. I might drop in a cat picture or two just to keep you all from setting fire to the place, and if I win something in Australia in September, I’ll be sure to let you know. Likewise, it’s possible I might write up some stuff in July and then schedule it for release during my hiatus. But in terms of being here? I won’t be.
How will this affect Whatever? Well, as noted, I won’t be around. But otherwise, it will keep running and functioning. That’s because I’ve hired a site manager (the fabulous Kate Baker) to keep the place going while I’m away. Under her watch Big Idea pieces will still be put up, as well as other stuff, which may include (but not be limited to) guest posts and bloggers.* I’ll also be handing over to Kate possession of the Mallet of Loving Correction with the admonition to wield it freely and with the merciless compassion of angels, so on that end things will be as they ever were. I know, trolls. You were so looking forward to running free around here. Maybe next time.
While I’m on my Whatever hiatus I will possibly still pop up on Twitter and Facebook with a smartass comment or two, but honestly, the point of the hiatus is to be away, so I wouldn’t count on too much on those scores, either. Oh, don’t give me that look. You can live without me for six weeks, especially when there will still be cool stuff on Whatever to read. You’ll be fine, man.
So that’s my summer schedule.
I dunno, John, that hiatus thing sounds suspiciously like a… vacation.
Oh and.. new novel? Really? What’s it about? No, don’t tell the world, just whisper it…. what’s that? Lucas who? Oh Geo… er…
never mind.
And in case that bit of clever went into failure mode – have fun in Australia when you go.
Go, do, have fun, work hard, and as the song says … see you in September (or whenever you show up.)
Have a wonderful summer.
Gone fishin’ he is.
(And writin’ and travellin’ and presidentin’, too, while he’s at it…)
(And about the guest blogging thing – I guess you’ll have your people call their people and you will – or they will – do lunch, dahling…?)
I probably haven’t got around to saying this but congrats on the SFWA thing and I’m really kinda looking forward to seeing what you and Mary and the rest of the crew do with the place when you start rearranging the furniture. In the meantime, until things start getting strenuous, enjoy the (rest of) the summer…
You travel a lot.
And now the era of Presidente El Scalzi has come upon the east coast. Skeezy magazine proprietors and major publishing houses tremble in their beds, failing to fall into their usual sweet dreams of bilking writers and customers alike.
All hail Scalzi the Liberator!
As a fan of your writing, I’m thrilled with the promise of Seekrit Works For To Be Amazed By At A Later Date. As a fellow procrastinator, these guest bloggers have big shoes to fill for my personal demand of What Things I Read Whilst I Should Be Doing Something Else.
P.S. If this bit of cleverness has failed into assholery please don’t send me to one of your Seekrit Detenshun Kamps.
Hmm.
In combination with information contained in certain other communiqués, this suggests that our host will probably be away from the blog when the world learns the identity of the definitive chronicler of the Unicorn Pegasus Kitten Incident.
Which, in turn, suggests that the power of the Infamous Clown Sweater may be greater than many of us had first supposed…or possibly just that John figures it’s safer not to be around when we find out what was really going on in that picture.
Man, and the summer was looking so good. Still, a new novel. Something to look forward to. What 18 months? Hopefully sooner. Have fun, work hard, do a good as President, try some Pure Blond beer down under. We all here will somehow make it through this.
Well, okay, but just don’t pull an Aaron McGruder on your heretofore faithful audience…
Congratulations on the new position. Have a great time. Careful of those jellyfish. And black mambas.
Can I NOT be a guest blogger?
…did you see what I did there? :)
John C. Bunnell:
“this suggests that our host will probably be away from the blog when the world learns the identity of the definitive chronicler of the Unicorn Pegasus Kitten Incident.”
If such an announcement is made during the hiatus, I’ll surface to make it, never fear. For a lot of the hiatus I’ll be at home, just not on the Web.
Harry Connelly:
“You travel a lot.”
And this is a year I intentionally took off from traveling! Clearly I failed at that.
“I can write stuff any time and have it appear any other time”
Awesome! Do you do requests? If so, please schedule the post with the 2012 presidential elections result for, let’s say, the 4th of July.
I was going to ask for the World Cup results but that would betray my Dutch nationality; also: If you’re going to violate causality better make it count!
New novel! Novel novel novel novelnovelnovelnovel….
As long as you occasionally post one or two sentences about how the new novel is progressing nicely and is going to be AWESOME, I’ll be happy.
I would like to point out that I seriously considered granting John the gift of bi-location, particularly since John does a better job talking about my work than most people who claim to believe in me.
Alas, I had to clear that with Dad, and He’s still ticked The High Castle didn’t come out when it was originally planned.
I tried, but yanno, that’s showbiz… Er, um, book biz?
And don’t get Dad started on that whole Justin Beiber thing. I told Satan, “Justin Beiber? Look, we gave you Ozzy for a reason, man. Stick with what works.”
So rude. He wasn’t like that before the beard.
New novel – YAY!
Hiatus – boo hiss how dare you try to have a life and a career and a travel scheduled and a new position and not cater to our every whim boo hiss.
Still. New novel. Yay! Woot, even.
Also, I am totally stealing the term “Mallet of Loving Correction” to use in disciplining my children. I may even purchase an actual mallet. Where can you buy those big carnival strength-testing ring-the-bell ones?
I now have this delightful image of Kate preparing for the summer: spending time each day playing “Whack-a-Troll,” trying to better your score.
Yes, clergy are an easily amused lot.
You might want to have someone checking on those magic posts. I have had a number fail to post on schedule when I depended on the back-end doing what the front-end wanted done…
Just saying.
Have a great time getting things done. I don’t thnk any of us want to stand in the way of you writing a new novel.
John, you are worse at not traveling than I am at math (and it was discovered over the weekend that I get confused and disoriented if expected to count past eight).
Do we get to suggest OTHER people we’d like to see post here?
Then again, everyone I can think of is someone you linked to in the first place.
Well, John, I’ve just been handed an open-ended vacation from BigHugeCo that they’re only funding for a couple of months, but the state will pick up for an additional 98 weeks, so I have time on my hands.
Just sayin’.
Oh, wait. I’m doing revisions and going to school.
Never mind. Carry on!
SFWA? Shouldn’t that be SFFWA?
Why don’t the fantasy writers in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America get their own F?
Inquiring minds want to know.
John Kingman:
My personal theory is “science fiction” is covered by the “S”.
Can we recommend someone as a guest blogger?