What's Going On In The Life of PLM

Hello everyone!

You may have noticed that I have been a bit absent here after my writing challenge. The main reason was to recharge, but I have also been really busy with other projects.

Howls from the Dark Ages

I mentioned a while ago that I was invited to be a co-editor for an anthology -- Howls from the Dark Ages -- being produced by the HOWL Society. You may remember that I had a story featured in their first anthology, as well as designed the cover.

The past few weeks were dedicated to reading, selecting, then adding any needed edits to the stories that were submitted. I was kept really busy, to say the least.

This is my first time acting as editor and it has been an amazing experience so far.

I can't speak to how other publications or editors do it, but I tried to read every submission to the end. Part of it was the fact that the submission call was open to HOWL Society members only. I know other publishing houses can get hundreds of submissions while we received just over forty.

A little insight on the internal process: members were encouraged to take part in a three month critique process before submitting. They had a private channel to brainstorm, support, and critique each other that I, or the other editor, were allowed in.

To make everything as fair as possible, Solomon Forse (founder of HOWLS and my co-editor) and I went with a blind submission process. Of course, even if I didn't know who wrote what, I did know that all these were submissions were from other HOWLS members like myself -- this make it rather nerve-wracking. Rejecting a story meant rejecting a fellow HOWLer and someone I knew had worked hard for three months on that story.

We saved sending the emails out until we also had edits done, which meant a lot of frantic work for two weeks before emails were sent out.

Now I'm at the stage where I am waiting for the authors to finish their final drafts. I am also working as one of the illustrators for the anthology. Like the last one, each story will have its own art, which is pretty exciting!

Don't worry, I'll let you know when it's coming up on its release date! The ToC is going to hit hard -- each and every story is unique and amazing, I can't wait for you all to read it!

Call of Cthulhu One-Shot

Another thing I am currently involved in is the Storytelling Collective's workshop for writing one-shot sessions for tabletop RPG games. I was convinced by Solomon, my co-editor, to join the workshop for November (as if we didn't have enough on our plates!) So I am now working on a one-shot adventure for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. Basically a one-shot is an adventure that can played in 2 - 6 hours (though I am going to aim for the 2 or 3 hour mark).

The goal is to have it written, polished, play-tested, and published by Nov 30th! Wish me luck!

You might be wondering if my blog will suffer a bit from all these extra projects. I will try my best to keep on track with posting my regular reviews as much as I can. But I also hope you'll forgive me if I miss a few!

Until next time!

x PLM