Hey, I Gotta Write a Book, So I’m Outta Here Until December
Posted on November 11, 2014 Posted by John Scalzi 42 Comments
The End of All Things is due at the end of the year (the book, not the actual apocalypse) and my progress on it is a bit slower than I want it to be, in part because recently I’ve been a bit too easily distracted by the Internets, in all the glorious shininess. So starting tomorrow through the end of November I’m taking a break to focus on work.
What does this mean? Basically, between now and December 1:
1. No updating here, except possibly to remind people about the fact they can get signed, personalized books from me for the holidays (and yes, I see what I did there), or the occasional cat/sunset picture, through the end of the month.
2. Much less active presence on Twitter and other social media, especially during the work day.
3. Scaling back e-mail responses to primarily business questions — i.e., if you’re not my editor, agent or otherwise paying me money to do something, expect response to be slow if at all. The exception to this are Big Idea queries; I’ll be scheduling December and January slots.
4. On my end, much less paying attention to the outside world, including news and Internet outrages. Basically, if the world explodes figuratively, it will have to do so without me through at least December 1. If it explodes literally, well, I guess I will have been wasting my time writing this novel, but then, at least I’ll go out typing.
I know, I know. It’s sad for me too. I love me some farting about on the Internets. But the thing is, people pay me to write the books, and the book has already been scheduled by my publisher, and other folks are already on the clock to get it out on time. Which means I should finish it on time so they aren’t left hanging, my readers get a new novel in 2015, and I am able to eat and pay my mortgage. Priorities. They are a thing.
So: See you all again on December 1st. Have an excellent rest of November, and if you’re in the US, Happy Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks. Catch you on the other side.
I’m totally with you on that one! It’s hard to write a book and blogging distractions can be detrimental.
Goodbye, John. See you in December!
I hope the bookwriting goes well and quickly!
Oh, the things we must endure just to get our next fix from you!
Just kidding. Go, write, and see you next month.
Go get ’em tiger! I will be so very happy to read your fine words.
Understandable…but dang. Does this mean you’re not going to be able to put up the cookie recipe?
Here’s wishing you the best i look forward to reading an excerpt at least, See you when you return.
In my own little slice of writing hell, so I feel your pain (albeit in much shorter increments, avec funny pictures). Best of luck on TEOAT.
Like the film clip here says (see about 1:20 in) “write well and live”! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX6v4W71hrE
I look forward to the book next year!
Good luck and I look forward to buying your book next year.
As much as I will miss your blog presence, a new book is worth it. Gotta get a new Scalzi novel to read.
Go to it, John. Best of luck and looking forward to it!
Another damned thick book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr.
GibbonScalzi ?Be well, enjoy the work (as we will enjoy the results!) and I’ll try to use some of my Whatever time to get back on top of NaNo.
Good luck and good skill, John. Thank you for being one of those authors that does not just listen to the sound that deadlines make as they go whizzing by. Your diligence helps to feed my words-in-a-row habit.
So writers goof off on the internet and play video games just like teenagers and college students. Then they pull all nighters , get illegal ritalin , and drink bottomless cups of coffee to finish their book/term paper.
So producing 1 book per year means writing 1 month per year.
Lucky you. Writing IS your “day job”….
Speaking for book production people everywhere: Yes, please deliver your book on time so it doesn’t have to get rushed through half-assed. We take pride in our jobs and hate when we can’t do them right.
Speaking as a reader: Yes, please deliver your book on time so the production people don’t rush it and mess it all up. I like reading proper copyedits and decent typesetting.
Guess:
You’re erroneously assuming that I haven’t been working on the book already, and that I intend to be finished at the end of November.
GRAMMAR LESSON: Commas are important. Note, for example, the difference between these two sentences:
1. Guess everyone but you understands the concept of a home-stretch sprint.
2. Guess, everyone but you understands the concept of a home-stretch sprint.
The first has an implied subject (probably ‘I’), and the first word is a verb. The referent of the ‘you’ is not given.
The second is clearly addressed to a specific person, and from context, clearly a one-note commenter who does nothing but sneer.
Happy writing :)
So you’re doing this year what you did with ‘Lock In’ last year? Hope it all goes well, looking forward to the book!
Good luck!
I really enjoyed your last two books John. So while I will miss you posting here I’m looking forward to what that absence produces.
Suicides, wife beatings, mindless zombies wondering the streets, people unable to think for themselves and other silly mayhem will now ensue
Good luck with the book :)
Congratulations on being the Arisia GOH for 2016 (they just announced it.) Hope the book is done before then :-)
I recall you mentioning at some point that you set yourself a daily goal of producing a specific number of words. Out of curiosity (and apologies if you already discussed this elsewhere), do you ever get caught up in where the story is leading you and just keep going on it even after you’ve reached your daily target? Or do you already have the story arc so thoroughly mapped out before you start that it’s just a matter of cranking through the pre-determined daily production goal?
From things he’s said before, yes he does, and no he doesn’t. Hope that helps .
So we could conceivably crowdfund you to just sit around being brilliant here, yes?
WHO’S WITH ME?
Do what ya gotta do, man! I think we’ll all get through it somehow. See you on the other side.
@Chrissy (johns spouse): Time to take away your husbands internet. He isn’t getting his work done. He shouldn’t have time to respond to me. Like myself you actually have a real job. So I can identify with your need to lay the hammer down on John so he actually produces.
Guess, do you think you’re doing that kind of amusing put-down thing that good friends sometimes do to each other as a joke? Because with no evidence that you’re actually in that kind of relationship with Scalzi, from here all it looks like is the failure mode of clever.
Cally: exactly.
And if Krissy thought it needful to take away John’s internet, she’d have already done it by now. Firmly. Definitively.
Except, y’know, she’s his wife, not his mother: the Scalzis treat each other as competent adults and trust the other to manage their professional affairs competently. John doesn’t tell her how to do whatever her job is, and she doesn’t tell him how to write.
This relationship style is probably why Athena is so awesome.
Happy Thanksgiving!! Good luck with the book.
Is your new book going to be a sequel to “Lock In”? Because I finished that book yesterday, and boy, howdy, would I like to read more adventures with those characters.
@Marta: I think John said the next book is an Olds Man War universe book.
But will the cat let you write? Recent twitters suggest the answer is Nyeooow!
I must confess that I get a little twitchy without you being scathing, but, thanks to Internet drama happening elsewhere, I have acquired a long list of authors to try in addition to the recent Big Idea books.
See you in December…
Cally:
Lurkertype:
Nothing to add, really. I just wanted to see both of those again, and say that they fit into a little place in my heart that was waiting for them.
Writing is in the blood, the ink can be an acid or base. It can make you happy or sad. Hope you have a good amount of good ink which brings a smile to your face while you write.
Yea!