I was the guest poster on Women and Words yesterday. I talked about what books said about lesbians in the 1960s. We’ve come incredibly far in the past fifty years, but as one comment said, we still have a ways to go. You can read the post here:

When Others Spoke for Us

In other news, I’m busy reading the Kindle version of Fate or Folly (Daros Chronicles Volume Two). I expect to release the book by the end of August. Print versions of Volumes One and Two should be available by the end of September.

After that, I’ll turn my attention to the standalone sci-fi novel that I’ll release early next year.

Just a quick update for this holiday Monday in Ontario.

The Daros Chronicles is on its way! I’m just finishing my review of the ebook version of Pawns and Puzzles (Daros Chronicles Volume One). If it doesn’t show up in bookstores this coming week, it will be there the week after.

Fate or Folly (Daros Chronicles Volume Two) is with my editor. Barring any unforeseen problems, it should be available in August (September at the latest).

Those dates are for the ebook versions. The print versions always follow a few weeks (or a couple of months) later.

Fate or Folly concludes the story.

The individual installments are still available, but I’ll take them down at the end of July. If you started the Daros Chronicles and put it aside, intending to come back and finish it later, make sure you pick up the remaining installments before then.

My last post was about release dates. Daros Volumes One and Two are on track. But I shouldn’t tweak my nose at the Universe by announcing release dates too soon. Pretty much within a week after posting, an opportunity came my way related to my other life, that of a software developer. I was asked whether I’d be interested in teaching a programming course at an online school. I said yes.

First, it’s income. Second, I enjoy programming. I’ve picked up several new skills since leaving my last job, because I’m constantly tinkering with programming languages and frameworks. Lastly, I’ve taken courses at this online school. Out of the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of programming courses they offer, I’ve only ever come across two taught by female instructors.

When I was doing my Computer Science degree in the 1980s, men vastly outnumbered women. There were a handful of women in the first-year classes. By the final year, I was the only woman in some classes. Most of the other women had dropped out or changed their field of study.

Unfortunately, things haven’t changed much in the almost 30 (eek!) years since I graduated with my degree. In fact, a few years ago, I read that the enrollment of women in computer programs had gone down!

This is a shame, because it’s a great area to work in. It pays well, it’s in demand and will continue to be in demand, and there’s very little sexism. I can count on one hand the number of times I felt I was being spoken to or treated differently because I was a woman. Yes, it happened, but not more than 3-4 times.

If a woman came to me and said, “I don’t know what to do with my life. I’m open to anything,” I’d tell her to try computer programming. I’d say that whether she was 20 or 60 years old. These days, you can get a decent job without getting a degree, because there’s a shortage of programmers.

So part of the reason I agreed to do the course was because the school needs more female instructors. The people there are quite excited that I’ll be teaching a course. They know they need more women teaching tech.

The first course I’ll teach (I may do more) has a release date in August, because we want to time its release with the release of Android O. Because of that, I’m on a really tight timeline to create the course material. I’ve had to put everything else aside except editing and publishing the Daros Chronicles.

I’ve changed the editing date I’d arranged with my editor for the standalone sci-fi novel. Instead of September, it will go to my editor at the end of November, meaning it will only be released in January/February 2018. I’ve also had to put the Deiform Fellowship Five aside. I was hoping to finish the first draft by the end of the year, but that’s not going to happen.

If I do teach more courses, I won’t be on as tight a schedule, so I’ll be able to get back to writing/editing sometime in August. I figured putting everything except the Daros Chronicles aside for 2-3 months wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it does delay the release dates for everything but the Daros Chronicles.

Later.