The Lawson Redirect
Most all of my writing time and energy is currently going to fiction writing. I can pontificate all I want about politics, and I truly have a passion for it and care deeply about the people currently getting the short end, but it is very tiresome and I do not get a cent from writing it. The election process has been going on for over a year and won’t stop any time soon. Regardless of the shenanigans that happen (or don’t) I fully expect this fight to last through election day. Some thoughts:
– I can’t care about the Hugo stuff this year. The choice of “no award” last year over deserving works because of who pushed for their nomination… despicable. I don’t have any faith that the “anti-Puppies” will do anything less than that, and continue to smear everyone in both groups as horrible sexist racists (despite any and all evidence to the contrary).
– I can’t feel passionate about another child-porn defender getting fired using the tactics the anti-Gamergate folks perfected. I’m not surprised by either side.
– How you feel about the FBI investigation of Hillary is clearly influenced by how you feel about politics. If and only if the FBI indicts or leaks a ton of damning information will we know anything truly concrete. (Were Sanders ahead and breaking away I imagine we’d hear more, but nobody wants to piss off the potential boss.) Most all of it so far is journalistic arm-waving.
– My governor is an idiot, and I’ve never voted for him, but I do support religious freedom up to and until that violates the rights of others. This is a bold new ethical dilemma to be solved by legislatures and courts. Suing someone out of business won’t win any hearts or minds.
– I’m not sure of the significance of the Panama Papers yet. Maybe my cynical side just always assumed that was the case. These rich assholes, ESPECIALLY the ones calling for more taxation, always use every loophole available.
– I don’t care about Wisconsin’s vote today. Clearly the vote of the people is not the primary concern of either party.
– I don’t have a problem with a gun that pretends to be a phone, but I wouldn’t buy it or trust my life to it. I certainly won’t freak out over something that isn’t even available yet.
– I don’t care about hypothetical questions regarding the potential revocation of the legalization of abortion. I have opinions on abortion but it isn’t going away short of a drastic change in our voting priorities. And it’s not important enough to vote on.
– I don’t care about Trump re-tweeting something mean about Heidi Cruz. I don’t care about someone using pictures Melania Trump was paid to take in a political ad. And I already knew Liz Mair was scummy.
So there’s the rundown.
I’m currently editing a few short stories in the Cigars and Legs universe – cases not quite big enough to be their own book. I may well throw the novel I’m currently working on into the collection as well if it doesn’t feel right as full length; a novella at current length with more to go until the end. I just never want to stretch for some arbitrary size book, and I don’t want to sell something not up to the quantity of the cover price. It would require a renaming but the current title is a working title.
I’ve also sketched a potential YA series in the vein of a B-movie; nothing that takes itself seriously. (Also considered a humorous 80s slasher film set on a fantasy world.)
And I’m working on an adventure style novel. Doc Savage, Indiana Jones, Rocketeer type stuff – just senseless fun.