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*cracks knuckles*
All right, let’s get the basics out of the way first:
No, I’m not dead. Yes, it’s been almost two years since I last posted anything on the blog. Hard couple years there. Will I be talking about the absence? Probably not.
So why bring the blog back after kind of abandoning it? (I’ve been updating the Bibliography page in the background off and on.) Because publishing and freelancing is a gig economy, and a few things have happened in the last few months that have led me to need to widen my avenues for letting people know I need work. And hence returning here even though I have mixed feelings about maintaining the blog. Some of you know why.
But what work am I talking about needing?
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Freelance Writing and Editing
Those of you who already know me know the drill: I run my freelancing out of the Matheson Freelancing website. The rates have gone up slightly since I last posted about it a couple years ago. But then so has the cost of living.
End of the day, freelancing has for a long time been how I make the majority of my money. For those who don’t know much about me as a freelancer (maybe you’re here looking up something from the author side?), I do copywriting, ghostwriting, fiction/tie-in writing, and sometimes writing for TTRPGs and board games; as an editor I do substantive/developmental, copy, and line editing, alongside proofreading and critical assessments. A little bit of everything, really.
Need writing or editing work done, or know someone who does? Feel free to use the link above or share it, all the rates for the most common types of work I do are covered there. Anything you don’t see, feel free to ask about.
But what else have I been up to, you ask? Well.
But what else have I been up to, you ask? Well.-
A New Patreon Account, and a New Story from me (on Patreon)
It’s been a long time since I was last on Patreon, and a good deal’s changed there. Though I’m approaching it a little bit like my first go round with them.
I’m on Patreon under Goth Green Witch, posting short stories and craft essays. There’s just the one tier available right now — I’d planned two but it wouldn’t let me set up a second initially, so that’ll be for whenever the system allows it.
I’m posting the aforementioned stories and essays once a month for each, so you get something new to read every couple weeks. And while I’m writing all the essays newly for the Patreon, the stories are all right now things that never quite found homes — the ones that ran out of markets that were right for them, or just never clicked with editors. Stories I care about, but couldn’t share.
Including more of the Titan and Serpent stories, which I used to get a lot of questions about. Primarily when more were coming. And while there’s a whole mosaic novel of them pulled together from many of the existing stories in that world, it needs a lot of rewriting, and the ones I’ll be posting on Patreon are the standalone versions that also never found homes.
Starting with the September story which I’ve posted up a little bit early, “The Roar of the Earth,” and for which you can read a preview here. The full story is available to Patrons only.
So, technically, I’ve got a new story out in the world as of this morning, it’s just me releasing it rather than pointing you to another publisher.
Still, it’s been five years since the last of the Titan and Serpent stories that got published, “And at its Heart, Such Depths,” was out with Augur. It feels good to be sharing something from that world again.
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And that covers a lot of what’s up with me right now. Still freelancing, need more work pretty much asap, and trying to get more of my fiction out into the world.
Will there be other life updates?
Yes. Off and on. I’m undecided about how much I’ll be back to posting on this website in any kind of regular fashion. Partly because with the new back end editor for WordPress writing on here is a huge pain in the ass. And also partly because putting together a blog takes me quite a while, and most of my time right now is bound up in job hunting, applying for grants, trying to get back to writing fiction more generally, and also the craft essays for the Patreon.
To that last point: come join me on the Patreon. It’ll be fun. Good stories and essays coming up. With more stuff planned for it if things pick up over there.
Until next time, friends.
Michael Matheson | A Dark and Terrible Beauty 