J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

Category: Fiction Writing Page 1 of 7

#3 on Beatport, Work Update, Succeeding Like Water

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On December 14

In Creative Work/Career, Electronic Music, Fiction Writing

Music

The new Momu release “Music Gets Me By” is charting on Beatport, currently #3 in Breakbeat releases and #9 on both the Melodic House and Tech House releases charts, while the various mixes have all broken into the Top 100 track charts for their respective genres. A great “big room” remix from our friend Jonathan Ojeda (artist name alias_j) is leading the charge in terms of sales.

It’s a blast to have any musical project get some traction, and the fact that this one is a collaboration with my good friends makes it that much sweeter. We’re this old, and still making electronic dance music, and some people still like the sounds we’re making? Amazing…I feel nothing but gratitude.

Check out the release, and if you like it, a purchase on Beatport would help us keep moving up the charts. It will also be available on Spotify, Apple Music, and everywhere else next Friday.

Writing

After the recent acceptance of a novella to a magazine that I greatly admire (which I will announce as soon as the release date is set), I feel motivated to write more novellas. I’ve decided to write the sequel to my yet-to-be-published novel “Saint Arcology” (currently out for submission) as a set of three standalone novellas which can be read in any order, including either before or after the first book in the series.

How will this work in terms of eventually negotiating first publication rights? I have no idea, but I’m following my writing energy, and that’s where it’s leading me right now. I will probably need an agent at some point to advise me on such contractual issues, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Which leads into the point below…

Succeed Like Water

With each year of my life I become more aware of the reality that unknown, unexpected factors will always continue to surprise me and have an outsized influence on my life. Some will feel catastrophic (illnesses, market downturns, mental health issues) and others fabulous (new friendships, financial windfalls, lucky breaks). For me the best strategy is always to navigate life according to my core values (kindness, creativity, strong relationships, etc.) and try to achieve the things I want without getting too attached to outcomes which are unpredictable and often out of my control, partially or completely.

But even while taking a step back from the pursuit of goals at any cost, I like the idea of flowing towards my ideal outcomes. Water changes its shape and form to continue in a particular direction. Water rushes or seeps in, flows in tiny rivulets or great channels, changes its form to steam or ice depending on energetic conditions. So how can I emulate water, in terms of progressing towards my goals?

  • Follow my creative energy
  • Say yes to opportunities and collaborations where I feel a spark or connection (flow in the direction of gravity)
  • Show up to events (explore channels)
  • Don’t eliminate options because they don’t fit my preconceived plan

In summary, be willing to follow multiple convoluted paths, as long as they head in the general direction of where I want to be. Which is preferable to being stuck in a traffic jam on a straight road.

Two Small Pieces of Good News

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On November 4

In Creative Work/Career, Electronic Music, Fiction Writing, Personal Updates

The world is burning in a thousand ways, but making and appreciating art is what keeps me sane and sometimes even happy. I have two things to share in that area, one related to music, the other to fiction writing.

First, my new two-track release with Spesh is out today on Beatport, Organic Broccoli Florets and Your Ice. I’m so pleased with the way this release came out. With both tracks, we tried for a smooth, silky, hypnotic feel. Initial feedback from our promo pool has been excellent, and Beatport is featuring the release in its Hype Picks section. Hope you enjoy, if melodic house is your cup of tea.

Secondly, a novella I’ve been working on for months was just accepted for publication. Contract pending, so I’ll hold off on the details, but I’m elated with the home this story has found. So something on the release schedule for 2023.

Personally, life has been quiet, very little drama, which is just how I like it. Had a great time with Kia and a good friend at the Exploratorium After Dark last night, which was the biggest night out in awhile.

I hope that your own life is just how you like it, and that you’re doing what you can to put out one or more of the planet’s many fires.

New Music Release, Writing Update, Blogging Hiatus?

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On October 7

In Creative Work/Career, Fiction Writing

Art Update

Spesh and I have a new deep house/melodic house two-track release out, “MBRC”. You can listen to it on Beatport now, general release (Spotify, Apple, etc.) is next Friday. My favorite composition method at the moment is using Pigments to apply granular effects on vocals samples, then modulating the cutoff to create washy builds over various chord progressions, with tons of support on the low end.

In addition to MBRC, there are two more Jondi & Spesh tracks in the pipeline: “Organic Broccoli Florets” and “Your Ice” that should come out later this month or early November. And our previous release “Starfall” is now in general release, including Spotify. Starfall hit #27 on Beatport’s Melodic House chart, which I was quite happy about.

In terms of writing, I don’t have any huge announcements, but I’ve been quietly working away. My most recent yet-to-be-submitted novels The Savior Virus and Saint Arcology are both getting close to publishable status. Right now I’m in the midst of writing a synopsis for Saint Arcology, a challenge considering the complexity of the plot and large number of characters. I also have some short and medium length fiction out for submission.

Blogging Hiatus?

Regular readers may have noticed a reduced posting frequency. I’ve had less to say recently, and I’ve felt less inclined to share details of my personal life. I’ve had very few bad experiences writing about my life, but at the moment I’m feeling very protective of my own privacy and my family’s privacy. Which is probably how most people feel most of the time, and thus don’t start a personal blog! I don’t feel ready to swear off blogging entirely, but over the course of many years, writing fiction has slowly subsumed my blogging activities. I know some authors manage to do both very effectively (John Scalzi is a good example), but that’s not where my head is at the moment.

I’ll return to regular blogging if and when I have a good reason and a good strategy. I might do few months worth of short daily posts when my next novel is released in order to “aggro the algo” and increase my public visibility, thus giving the new book it’s best chance of getting noticed and read. But until then, the reduced posting frequency will probably continue.

Feel free to check in on Twitter if you want to privately say hi, DMs are always open!

Three Spreadsheets I Use While Writing a Novel

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On July 5

In Fiction Writing, Writing

I unabashedly love spreadsheets. I view spreadsheets as intelligent pieces of paper: totally freeform, but capable of calculations, lookups, list organization, and even database formats. Spreadsheets are a powerful technology that can externalize mental processes, organization, and memory.

I use spreadsheets for tracking my goals, health, personal finance, RPG games, and all sorts of other things. When I’m writing a novel, I primarily rely on spreadsheets to keep track of characters, scenes, and timelines. Here are a few examples:

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Writing Process Update

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On May 11

In Creative Work/Career, Fiction Writing, Writing

Reclaimed Earth series author copies, various editions (and some D&D stuff)

I started this blog over ten years ago. One of my goals in starting to blog was simply to practice writing. At that point in my life I’d dabbled in writing and dreamed about being a writer, but I hadn’t committed seriously to a regular writing practice. Here’s a post I wrote about my writing process and the challenges I was facing at that time.

It took another six years after writing that post before I published my first short story, though by that time I had already established a daily writing habit and completed several novels. As of today I’ve published one novelette, two novels, and eight short stories, with several more pieces sold and in the pipeline (including The Last Crucible, Book 3 of the Reclaimed Earth series).

So what has changed in the eleven-plus years I’ve been writing regularly? And what has remained the same?

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