Work has been very difficult for me lately. Difficult enough I know I won't be in that profession for the rest of my life like I had envisioned years ago. I need to become professionally self-sufficient, which means publishing has become all the more important. That process takes time. There is no such thing as overnight success, although most people don't understand that. Books don't generally generate millions of dollars in revenue and most authors have to go through multiple publications before they can support themselves with their writing (a supporting spouse withstanding). Epic fantasy is all the harder. It's a tired genre with only a few invigorating authors.

Then there is the cash infuser, media. Getting a TV or movie deal generates dollars, but fantasy isn't really a grabber there. Harry Potter is YA, so you're left with Martin as the only fantasy author I can think of to make a media deal recently.

Why am I saying all this? Because I'm considering breaking my word. I was going to finish Cause and Conviction because it's too easy to start a thousand projects and never finish any of them. Finishing is hard but necessary. But writing is a business and I need to start taking advantage of that business. I have gotten more requests to make "Black Magic and Barbecue Sauce" a novel than any of my Third World novels. It's in a genre that's more popular at the moment (urban fantasy), and has exceedingly more potential to be sold to visual media. All of this boils down to "that's where the money is." That makes me feel kind of dirty, but they're both stories of mine, so why should I?

So, by writing this, I've convinced myself it's the right thing to do. If/when I find a way to adapt the short story to a novel (it only needs 60k more words), expect that I will do so and put the third world on hold.

...:(