One more day

The deadline for the Christmas anthology is midnight on December 1st.

I have to be pretty strict with this one. It’s also time for quarterly payments to authors and I’ll have to have the anthology assembled and published within a week – it’s going to be a rough week.

Next year I’ll set open and close dates for these anthologies earlier. I know it’s hard to write a seasonal story out of season but I really am cutting it very close to get those books out on time. So, next year, Halloween will close mid-September and Christmas will close mid-November.

The Easter anthology isn’t themed, it’s ‘anything goes’ so although it’s slated to be ready for Easter it doesn’t really matter too much if it’s a few days over. The themed ones have to be out in time for the holiday they follow.

Underdog Anthology 7, ‘Christmas Lights… and Darks’ is about ready to roll. There is no fixed size to these books, they need to reach 100 pages or the cost of the book will be too much for its size, but there is no upper limit. If it ever gets way too big, of course, it could be in two volumes. There’s no danger of that so far.

We have another new author – I’m pleased to note that every anthology has had at least one new author so far. This time, one of the authors has included a photo of themselves. I’m tempted to do that too. Mine are horror stories, after all, so it would be appropriate. Actually, I have been photographed. I’m on the cover of the first Underdog Anthology and on the cover of Margo Jackson’s ‘The Mark’. I’m in ‘Treeskull Stories’ with my trusty scythe, opposite the opening page of Roo B. Doo’s ‘Trick or Treat’. This time I might show my face. Best cover the mirrors…

There’s still time to send in a story, I placed a deadline and I’m sticking to it. I wish I’d placed that deadline earlier but I didn’t and as a hideous goblin of my word, I’m not changing it now. All the stories in so far have been edited, there is no backlog, so all I’m doing now is assembling it. This means I have time to lumber my co-editor with any late stories. She has a day job but the deadline is tomorrow night so it’s a weekend.

Actually, one of the late stories is me. Yeah, I love the pressure pulse of a rapidly passing deadline. There’s nothing more motivating.

After this I won’t do much more publishing before Christmas. I have to spend time with CStM before she forgets what I look like and I have a granddaughter who is about to experience her first Christmas and who will be utterly spoiled. Also I need a rest. I’m just a frail old man who’s tired and slow, my legs are cramped, my arms are feeble, my nose is knackered…

If you have a novel raring to go, give it one more pass and send it in January. I’ll have finished clearing out the lab by then and I’ll have all the time in the world and should be almost hangover-free by the 5th.

Soon, I’ll put up the cover for this one and the contents page.

Then I’m going to try out this ‘sleep’ thing I’ve been hearing about.