What’s Up Jotham?
Have You Missed Me? I took an unexpected three month break, but I’m back now.
So, What’s going on Jotham?
First, thanks for signing-up. If you signed up because of reading my novel, novella, or short stories. Maybe, we met at a con or book signing, or because of a newsletter giveaway, or you enjoy learning about new creators (Music, Books, Comics, etc). Maybe you signed-up because you enjoy going down the Rabbit Hole of Research and learning about the science in fiction. Or you’re a friend or family member. However you got here, I am grateful that you have taken time to read my newsletter, and thanks for hanging in there with me over these last couple years as my writing career takes off. And if you are not signed up, or want to tell someone else to sign up here is a handy subscribe button (so go tell all your friends):
Second, I enjoy doing this newsletter. I promised to do at least one of three things in each newsletter, 1) Educate; 2) Inform; or 3) Entertain. Hopefully, I‘ve lived up to that promise, and will continue to.
Okay, enough of the mushy stuff. Let me catch you up quickly with what happened the last three months.
What the heck happened?
Stuff Happened. Work stuff, writing stuff, family stuff, friend stuff. Just stuff (I saw The Stuff movie is on Tubi!).
Just a little detour, The Stuff is one of those B-sci-fi/horror movies I saw as a teenager and always stuck with me. I’ll have to do a rabbit Hole of Research on it. Also, I have become a big fan of Tubi!
So, as I was saying, I was expecting everything that happened, but not bunched together in a few months. It felt like I was going hyper speed and things were zipping by in blurs of colorful light.
A week or so after I sent my last newsletter to y’all, my edits came back from my agent for ‘The Cost of Us,’ my current WIP that fingers crossed will be ready to go out on submission this summer/fall.
I didn’t have an official deadline for this, but I had a self imposed deadline to get this turned around by sometime in June (I got the edits done and turned back in June 15th). Yay! But to make this happen I had to find time—especially since I write in the margins around my job as a research professor and director of the Advanced Electron Microscopy Facility at UChicago.
And in my research life there were a couple grant proposals that went in and I had to give a presentation to the Board of Directors and Donors—which was an awesome experience—but I had to spend more time preparing with the development office to have everything pitch-perfect. It went very well! Oh, I also was promoted to Research Associate Professor!
And as you can guess working on the newsletter and Rabbit Hole of Research got put on the back burner.
To add more moving parts, my oldest son finished his first year at Purdue, so had to plan to pick him and all his stuff up for the summer break. I was a vendor at the Mai Fest in Blue Island and the LCPL Creative Art Summit. I had a birthday in all of this swirl of activity. And to cap it all off had a two week trip back to Philadelphia spending time with my mom and my dad’s family (I apologize to family and friends that I didn’t get to see on this trip, but hopefully I’ll be back sooner than 5 years.)
And things are still marching forward. The next issues of my Creative Life Series is ready to go. Have a new Rabbit Hole of Research issue to drop (all new art work from Georgia/Atomicnumber 14). I am editing a new novel (part 2 of Will You Still Love Me If I Become Someone Else?). Outlining new novels. And, after all the talk and speaking it into the universe: next week (fingers crossed) I will start recording podcast episodes with a friend of mine.
Okay, I think I’m back on track. Busy but it’s my normal level of busy and not ludicrous speed.
Thanks for being patient. Thanks for the folks who follow me and checked in to make sure I was still alive. Cheers, Jotham
You can always email (I do answer back), click the comment link below, or follow me online for real time tracking. And keep reading to see what I read or listened to when I had time.
What’s Jotham Reading?
Books:
I’m not sure how I did it, but I read 8 books since the last time I checked in. As you know I didn’t write a couple newsletters, so that’s where the extra time went. LOL. I read in a few genres: from Horror (cordyceps fungus zombies and supernatural revenge), literary fiction, and a healthy dose of Seth Godin (marketing, leadership and living a creative life). These were some great reads to take my mind off the tasks at hand.
M. R. Carey: The Girl With All The Gifts (zombies)
M. R. Carey: The Boy On The Bridge (zombies)
Elizabeth Wetmore: Valentine (literary fiction: CWA 2020 Book Of The Year)
Seth Godin: Purple Cow- Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable (marketing)
Seth Godin: The Practice: Shipping Creative Work (creative life)
Seth Godin: The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly (leadership)
Seth Godin: Linchpin: Are You Indispensable (leadership)
Stephen Graham Jones: The Only Good Indians (supernatural horror)
Comics/Graphic Novels:
Not only did I spend the past three months away from y’all reading novels, I also read 6 graphic novels. Everything from Manga horror, coming of age and a banned book. I also went to CAKE (Chicago’s Alternative Comics Expo with Georgia last month (I’ll be sharing finds from that next newsletter).
Charles Forsman: I’m Not Okay With This (Coming of age; Netflix series)
Maia Kobabe Gender Queer: A Memoir (autobiographical gender identity: Most challenged/ banned book)
Junji Ito: Tomie
Junji Ito: No Longer Human
Junji Ito: Shiver
Junji Ito: Deserter
You can follow me on Goodreads to see what I’m reading next:
What’s Jotham Listening to:
Music:
I was still digging my monthly subscription to Vinyl Moon. It’s like a mix-tape on vinyl, except they create an experience combining the curated eclectic mix of songs with story telling and artwork. It’s pretty cool and I’m excited to get more editions. '
I did do some record digging at a record shop recently, and I’ll share those gems next month.
Podcasts:
Here are the four top podcasts I’ve been finding time for:
Creative Peptalk by Andy J Pizza (A companion for your creative journey)
Akimbo: Seth Godin (a podcast about culture and our place in it)
Story Nerd: Melanie Hill and Valerie Francis (Story theory and how to use)
The Shit No One Tells You About Writing: Bianca Marais, CeCe Lyra and Carly Waters (Behind the scenes look at publishing industry)
Okay, that’s where I’m at. I’ll try to update y’all every month on books, comics, and music (podcasts) that I’ve been digging! Maybe I need to add shows and movies??? What have y’all been digging?
Find your next favorite book or author with these newsletter giveaways or virtual book-fairs:
Okay, That’s it for this update! The next two issues will be a new post for the Creative Life Series and a new Rabbit Hole of Research.
As always, I am very grateful for your support, and a big Thank You for spending your time with me. I know you have a lot of entertainment options, so thanks. Okay, that’s it for now, but you can always email (I do answer back), click the comment link below, or follow me online for real time tracking and to see what craft beers I’m drinking (find me on Untappd @jomega22). Thanks for reading. Cheers!
Congrats on all the forward momentum! Glad to hear from you and hope your summer's going well.
Holy crap! That is a lot going on. Isn't it funny when you actually write it out, you are like wait, is my life insanely busy? Why do I even have a newsletter/column? But there is a freedom to riff outside of the novels or in your case, a very important University job!