I think it’s because it’s an old story that I wrote in 2021-22 and I edited/reviewed it so many times that I just can’t motivate myself to edit it on my own again. It would be a lot easier if I got someone that followed me through the process because it would feel like I’m not entering the echo chamber again, but maybe that part will begin next month (hopefully!)

Well, summer is hardcore SUCKING here (been raining for like 12 days out of the last 15…), so I got the chance to write a bit more.

Done this month:

• Translation of ALXD’s Solarpunk Seed Library to Italian (also the reason why I had to delay this update for a few days)
• Finally started the Kanteletar novel! Only three chapters in so far, and only in Italian
• After reading mostly fiction for six months, I read an essay (Work by Andrea Komlosy) and damn, it felt so refreshing!

To be done in July:

• Finish the first Kanteletar story and translate it to English
• Edit that god-forsaken fantasy I’ve been postponing for… I don’t want to count the months even, lmao
• I’ve had another cool idea for the Meteorina, so maybe sketch that down too?

Hey, that’s great! In case you feel like sharing in the future, I’d love to add it to my “neighbour” links, so more people can find it! And I also can point you to some webrings to join, if you want 😄

I love these kinds of reviews! I’ve been reading so many books that either botch the ending or disregard their core themes in the last few years, that at this point I look for such reviews before putting in the time and effort to read the book itself. Avoids so much frustration!

Never heard of that, but I’ll make sure to check it out! I liked this different approach to storytelling, and I’ll definitely come back to it in the future… as soon as the frustration dies out! 😂

Keep us posted if you find something cool among the 60s sofi! I’m very interested in discussing those ideas, but often the 70y old American English makes it harder for me to read smoothly. I tried reading A Canticle for Leibowitz this last month and despite the cool concept (that was what made me read it), I’ve been very unimpressed by the actual reading experience.

As for the block, I can 400% guarantee it will end as soon as your stressful patch ends, so best of luck for that!

Tough month because I’ve been swamped with a number of things, but here’s a bit of progress:

• Took part in a Solarpunk Game Jam as a writer with an Indonesian team, for which I wrote ~25k words of dialogues on Inky. Eventually our devs didn’t manage to make the game playable by the deadline, but it was a fun experience and I’ve learned how to do branched dialogues and storylines
• Sketched a new setting, perhaps to be used in the future or lent to someone who needs it. It’s a world with varying tides, so that “land” isn’t defined and stable and maps can’t be drawn.
• Wrote a ~1k word short story on another author’s setting

June is going to be a lot more free, so I’m going to try and tackle these things:

• That one famous editing for the fantasy book I’ve postponed for the last… three monts 😵
• Finish outlining the Kanteletar Library stories (five in total) and maybe write one of them
• One more Meteorina? I have an idea about end-of-century Venice built on top of the current skyline, with bridges and catwalks on top of bridges, to deal with the risen sea levels… But I still need a plot so let’s see!

Esports fan here! Mainly Dota and League, but I watch the occasional CSGO tournament here and there. Which part of Finland are you going to be in with your program?

Solidarity, unemployed sibling! The day will come where our struggle will be rewarded 🙏

Volunteering for some brainstorming if you need to get the ending right! I’ve done it many times for people in our (Italian) writing group 😁

Bit of a topsy-turvy month for me. What I’ve done:

• Wrote (and sent) the short story for the solarpunk contest
• Sent three short stories to the anarchist zine that was mentioned around here
• Joined the Solarpunk Game Jam as a writer; I’ll be tasked with writing characters and dialogues for a videogame prototype

What I will try to do in May:

• Finish the goddamn Words of Tomorrow revision… 🥲
• Revise the lore and structure for Kanteletar, so I can start writing it this summer

…and that’s it, basically. Now onto checking out what you all have done while I was slumping! 😂

I’m going to submit mine this week!

Jon Kalman Stefansson, an Icelandic writer, once said: “Writers are machines that turn grief into words”. I personally don’t get inspired by grief, but getting words down (to a diary, to a page that you will burn, etc) is definitely therapeutic!

VERY late post, but here we go.

What I’ve done this month (not much):

• Ehh… halfway through editing Words of Tomorrow
• Racked up a couple rejections from Italian spefi magazines
• Planned another short story (fifth part of Meteorina) for a solarpunk contest in April
• Read the newly published anthology by Lino Aldani, an Italian scifi writer from the 60s

Plans for April:

• Finish that goddamn editing
• Write the short story
• Maybe send Simulacra Navigans to some Finnish publishers? Unlikely they will print it in English, but who knows…

Being unemployed 😂

But when I still had a job I used to dedicate weekends to writing and weekdays to ponder ideas, so then when I sit in front of the file I can get a lot of words down with as few conceptual speedbumps as possible. I think that method works very well for me.

Heyo everyone! Grrgyle invited me over so I’m diving in right away!

What I’ve done this month:

• Completed the translation (to Italian) of Simulacra Navigans
• Written the fourth short story of Meteorina (7k words, in Italian) for a scifi contest

Goals for next month:

• Pick up Words of Tomorrow to add some scenes here and there before sending it to the editor (hopefully last time I tinker with that story)
• Finish sketching out the five stories and the worldbuilding for Kanteletar (solarpunk novel set in a library across 400y)
• Read the fourth solarpunk anthology by Italian authors (should come out next week)

#2 has a very human-like android and it explores the meaning of passing away from a different point of view.

#5 has a fantastic use of drones, and despite not being American myself I enjoyed the many descriptions that tied back to First Nations’ cultures.

I wrote more extensively about each here (beware of spoilers!)

Update: I added EPUB formats for both Meteorina and all other short stories; I have been postponing that QoL fix for a LONG time but you finally gave me a reason to go and do it 😁

Great tip, I’ll definitely check it out!

That’s so flattering, thank you! 🥹

Your prejudice was half-right actually: tech and systems are what I really want to explore, but I use shorter stories as “experiment” to practice other aspect of storytelling too. After all, characters are the most powerful illusion spell on the reader!

What’s going to be next:

• More Meteorina adventures (surely one on Elba, maybe one on Albanian shores considering the shitshow going on with the Italian govt nowadays? Some good old satire, why not)
• Kanteletar, the stories of a public digital library founded in 2067 across four centuries of climate, geopolitical and cultural upheavals