I can't believe that, myself, a Science Fiction writer, only found out yesterday that January 2nd is National Science Fiction Day for the United States! Maybe that's just because it's unofficial. But I'm delighted that the new year can be opened with such a holiday! I'm also delighted to write this first post of the year which will serve both as my contribution to today’s Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) blog hop and as a late version of my weekly blog post which I moved to today due to the New Year’s weekend. In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions.

Normally I've been answering the optional IWSG question of the month which this month’s is: Do you follow back your readers on BookBub or do you only follow back other authors? But I’m going to pass on this one since I don't use BookBub and so know very little about it. Instead, I'll go over my progress on my upcoming book of short fiction, "Bad Apps” and a little about National Science Fiction Day. 

National Science Fiction Day (US)

It shouldn't be too surprising that National Science Fiction Day in the US was made to occur on Isaac Asimov's birthday of January 2nd. Asimov was one of the most influential, most intelligent science fiction authors in the world whose stories and other writings talk about the possible impact that future science and technology can have on society. According to a Wikipedia article, this holiday that opens the new year is unofficial since it's not recognised by the US government.  

However, National Science Fiction Day is acknowledged by reputable institutions and organisations. One of these is MIT via their publishing house, MIT Press. This year MIT Press has come out with a book list that honours the day and consists of lists books that seem really interesting and with diverse voices, including one of Bengali science fiction stories. The more the genre has a visible impact on society, in which some of the most visible impact to date has been in AI, the more it will be recognised and maybe even made into an official holiday on some level. 

Writing-In-Progress

As far as my writing projects go, I’ve gotten some work done, including some revisions on a current story for my upcoming book of short fiction, "Bad Apps". I'm almost done with a round of revisions that includes the character development of the protagonist. I’ve been taking notes of the needed revisions; I just have to work the changes into the story itself. I even got some of this work done during my time that I spent with family in Fresno for the Christmas holiday. That’s a rarity for many of us writers when out of our normal writing environment and schedule! 

New Appearance for the Blog Coming

A new look goes with a new year and so that’s what I'm planning for the blog. I'm going to try to add a pictorial scene to the background since I haven't had one here at the Far Out Fantastic Site for several years. I hope to give the blog its new appearance by the end of the month.

Do you use BookBub? For those of you who live in the US, do you celebrate National Science Fiction Day? Do you have any plans or goals for your writing for this beginning of 2024? 

Today’s IWSG is brought to you by these super co-hosts:  Joylene Nowell Butler, Olga Godim, Diedre Knight, and Natalie Aguirre ! IWSG was founded by awesome author Alex Cavanaugh, writer of the Cassa Series of novels! 

Until next time . . .