It’s been nearly a month since my last true status update on my writing. But don’t worry, I have plenty of excuses for not giving you the news I know you want to know.

1) I’ve been working on a super secret project that has consumed all of my allotted writing time. Blogging fell to the bottom of the list. The project is done now, but I still can’t talk about it. Hopefully someday soon, but don’t hold your breath.

2) I took a trip to Canada to see my folks. It wasn’t a long trip in duration, just 6 days, but it was a long trip in terms of travel hours. I did use the time in the air wisely though. See #1.

3) I’ve been re-reading the entire Harry Potter Series. In fact, I finished The Deathly Hallows last night, and will be watching Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows Part 1 this weekend on DVD. Then next weekend, I’ll be already to see Part 2 at the theatres. I haven’t been reviewing the books since I’ve already read them (and so has the rest of the world it seems), so I just read them for enjoyment. What a pleasure to read! I’m glad I have them all in hardcover, because I have no doubt I will read them all again in a few years, and can’t wait for my kids to try them.

4) Work. As in my day job. Yes, sometimes the things that pay the bills get in the way of blogging. Horrific, I know. But it happens.

5) I was kidnaped by aliens and… no, not really. Just checking to see if you were paying attention.

So there are my excuses. I trust they’ll suffice.

As for what’s coming up for my writing? I honestly don’t know what I will work on next. I have five novels and one novella that are in some sort of draft complete state, and four of those are in need of major edits or complete rewrites before I can pass them off to my agent. I’m not sure which one I may tackle next, but I’m probably going to take most of the summer off. Since I like lists, here’s why I’m setting my goals low for the summer:

1) The PNWA Conference is August 4-7 and I’m doing a lot of volunteer work there. I’m also expecting to learn a few things there as well, and that usually results in much better writing after the conference. If you are going to the Conference, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@joebeernink) or follow the hashtag #PNWA. Or track me down (ask for me at the conference desk if you don’t recognize me, and let me know you read my blog.

2) I’m having some more surgery done in August on my right foot. Last spring, when I had the left foot done, I expected that I would have all kinds of time to write while recovering. That did not hold true, as recovering was, well, tiring, and I still had to work my full day job schedule. I’m going to set no writing goals during this period, and hopefully that will take some stress off my body and allow for a faster recovery.

3) I’ve got a lot of reading to do. In fact, here is a picture of the shelf that had all the books I have bought over the last few months/years that I have not read.

This does not include the books I want to re-read this year, like Dan Simmon’s Hyperion series, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars Trilogy. I’ve also got a couple of books to read for work, and a bunch of books on my wife’s Kindle that I have yet to read.

4) I’m a little burnt out on writing. Not burnt out in the sense that I never want to write again. I want to be able to write every day and I miss it when I am not writing. But in the last 35 months, I’ve written four novels and that novella. None of these experiences was exactly easy, and each one took a number of very intense edits just to get them where they are now. I need a little distance from those stories. That distance refreshes my mind. I don’t want to start a new story now. I want to refine those other ones and get them out the door.

If I write anything in the next two months, it will probably be short stories that I will post here. It’s been a long time since I’ve written short fiction, and I’m looking forward to seeing if I can control my brain and put a story out there that doesn’t take 80,000 words to tell.

I expect to be blogging more frequently in the next few months as well. With the conference and the book reviews I do, I hope to ramp up my blog output to a couple per week, if not more. Check back often (or follow me on twitter) to see what’s going on.

And if you have any questions for me, feel free to send me a note. I’ll do my best to answer them.