It has been a busy month of writing, but illness hampered my progress towards the end. I submitted three stories for consideration in anthologies in January and have had one rejection. I also finished another story, which I’m hoping to submit to a horror-themed collection once it has been crowdfunded.
The nominations for the 2025 Ursa Major Awards opened mid-month and I have a few stories that are eligible. If you liked them, nominating my tales before voting closes on 5 February would be very much appreciated. Even if you don’t, please consider voting for your favourite stories and authors. The annual awards are one of the best ways of highlighting furry writing and a thumbs up is always appreciated.
Scotiacon is taking place next weekend and we are in the midst of the final planning for panels. There will be six writing panels overall at the con and I’ll be hosting two of them with Huskyteer. If you are a writer, please come along to the Writers’ Social on the Friday, while we’ll also be hosting a panel on Historical Fiction writing on the Saturday. It’s fun and collaborative, and occasionally informative too.
I received a nice review from Shiloh Skye concerning ‘Back to the Molly House’ in The Wideness of the World anthology this month too. He has reviewed all of the stories in the collection on his website. It’s still quite rare for me to hear feedback on my stories, so it’s nice to know they’re being appreciated. You can pick up the anthology here.
The new version of SoFurry launched at the start of the month, but I haven’t really had chance to explore it. It’s fair to say that the reviews have been mixed, while there are still some bugs that need ironing out. I hope that some of the major drawbacks are addressed as I do have some concerns, but until it has bedded in, I’ll reserve judgement.
I have been looking to secure more editing work recently as I’d rather work on furry fiction and non-fiction than mainstream marketing dreck. I’m hoping to make this a full-time career in the future, so if you are in need of an experienced editor or proofreader, please let me know. I’ll be creating a dedicated Editing page for this website once I’m back.
February is going to be a very slow month regarding writing as I’ll be in the UK for 18 days visiting family and Scotiacon, then I’ll be flying straight to NFC (if you’re at either con, please say hi). I’m hoping I can pick things up a little in March though, while the downtime should afford me the opportunity to do some much-needed reading.
Finally, this month has seen the highest-ever number of visitors and page views on my website, so thank you for your support. It has been very much appreciated.
January’s Reading:
Wild Hearts – Edited by Anastasia Spinet