I finally finished the extensive edits on my novel, Songs for a Machine Age, which will be coming out in late October. I really have to apologize for my absence here, but the editing process has been a long and arduous journey (one I misled myself about the extensive need for, and then had to learn the hard truth) and now the galleys are done, the cover is designed, the maps inked... I wanted to come back here and let everyone know why I've been gone so long.
This new universe of publication is going to have an impact, I think. I'm going to be migrating the Cabinet to my extremely new website, as a sort of archive. I'm not certain yet whether being a Real Author, and all the attendant marketing effort -- keeping up my authorly presence and so on -- will mean I simply can't write for the Cabinet anymore, or if it means I will write only occasionally (which, to my shame, I've been doing for the past year). I love the Cabinet and all the interesting things we've talked about over the years, but I'm already working on a prequel for Songs, and have a dozen short stories that have been on the back burner with all the edits. I've tried to find co-authors for the Cabinet, but without much success, so it's all down to what I have time for!
Being an educator, I am also pondering --at length-- the idea of starting a blog about education, media literacy, and the impact of advertising and other factors on growing minds. Many, many times have I not posted about education here, because this feels like the wrong venue. I don't want to be a dabbler, but I do work in the field, and there are things that clamor to be written, and I don't think I can hold out any longer.
I'll keep you updated about what's happening, and if there are further Cabinet-like posts in me, I promise to put them up here for the near future, as well as archiving them in my website! Eventually, though, I'm going to have to put everything together in the same place, so I can keep track of it all.
It's been great knowing you all, and I wish I could just go on endlessly welling with ideas, but somehow the time has passed when I could pound out ten posts a month. Please keep in touch, and if you hear of anything interesting, let me know. I'll post about them either here or in my author blog over at the website. You can contact me at heather -at- heathermcdougal -dot- com anytime, about anything, and I will do my best to answer.
And come look at the author blog on Mondays -- I'm trying to bring a little of the Cabinet in there by posting a Brain Fodder link every week. Things that make you think, and maybe even inspire new stories!
cheers,
Heather
