We have a few cases of coronavirus locally, but nothing major as yet. My day job is working up to being able to have people working from home, but in the meantime I'm stuck taking public transport in every day under dystopian signs about hand washing.
Since last posting I finished up the contest with eight stories. Three are already out on submission although I expect two of them to be hard sells because they're a bit more experimental (first person plural, and second person list stories, anyone?). Three more are on the pile for editing. One's been trunked because it's a just-for-fun piece of fluff written just to get something done, and the last turned out to be back story for a novel.
Said novel is my current main project. It's a old piece of work, and I've basically stripped out an entire plotline and everything except bare bones plot and a couple of main characters from what remains. I have around 10,000 words of opening chapters, notes, and backstory written since January and aim to finish by the end of the year. I'm also keeping a short story or poem deadline on the go each month in case I get stuck. The aim is to keep some forward momentum even if it's not on the same project.
I've also had two reprints published:
"Dark Ghosts and Flamingos" at The New Accelerator
It was mid-week and still too early for paying customers. I was watching the vidscreen at the Stray Cat show programs about Earth, and wishing I’d never left.
and "On the Cusp of Darkness" at Luna Station Quarterly
It was the cusp of dawn when I reached the village, that strange half-light before the sun reaches the horizon. Early enough to show my allegiance, late enough not to offend the villagers’ sensibilities. They were rarely welcoming to those who knocked on their doors in the dark hours.