I have a confession to make, and Valentine’s Day weekend seems a good time for spilling secrets, if not actual tea. So here goes:
I almost quit writing this year, just chucked in the towel and pursued other interests.
Why?
Well, you must know that with the advent of genAI, the publishing landscape is a hot mess. I mean, it was before with the Big 5 ignoring small authors to focus on celeb passion projects and KU and the fact that most books don’t make any money, but add in techBros who want to be authors—but don’t want to put in the actual work—flooding the market with their AI crap…it was all too much.
AND THEN my publisher, while not shuttering per se, limited publishing to so few of its cadre that I and many of my friends were shut out.
I won’t even talk about the state of the world.
But the ideas don’t stop, even if I don’t bring them to life. They knock around my brain and beg to be heard. I have orts and scraps and beginnings littering journals and random files. I did publish “Matsuri,” (Thanks Delilah Devlin!) but nothing else.
One of those ideas filed away in the old gray matter is very old—thirty years to be exact. A friend and I wanted to create a graphic novel roughly based on Scheherazade, but I never could figure out how. Then one day, it was just there in my brain. All this time later, I had an entry point into the tale. So I contacted him about it…and things just morphed into what is now called SockPigPress, which went live yesterday.
What SPP is keeps changing and growing each time we throw out a new idea. The best description I can think of is it’ll be den of the cool friend you had in high school or that funky, eclectic shop downtown you like to visit just to see what is new. We’ve got lots of fun comics and stories and useful blog posts lined up.
And for that to happen, I’ve had to write. The format is different–comic scripts–but it’s been thrilling seeing my words take on a different, visual life.
As for novels, I’ve gotten my rights back and I’ll be revising and re-releasing them. A few will get added chapters. All will have new covers that match my vision of the story.
And I just may have another novel or two in me yet. We’ll see.
D.S.Dehel 