April 1 - April Fool's Day - Check.

Noted a conspicuous absence of alien invasion themed foolery. I have filed my objections with NASA. They have blocked me on Twitter. (Not really. @NASA ignored me.)

April 1 - Camp NaNoWriMo Start Day - Check.

There has been writing and more writing with the occasional side of editing. It should be observed that editing during NaNoWriMo events is simply not the done thing. Quite frowned upon really. Apparently, I'm something of a rebel. Sorry. (Not sorry. Not changing.)

April 4 - Internet Explodes - What?

The 2015 Hugo nominees were announced. The list was, ah, not as expected.

I didn't vote this year. Only people who buy a WorldCon supporting (or higher level) membership can vote, and I saved my pennies. I've gotten a 2016 WorldCon members and plan to attend my very first WorldCon there in Kansas City. Membership are still for sale, so anyone who wants to vote in the final round still can. I intend to remain a nonvoter. I'd rather afford my flight to get to a WorldCon. But you should please vote or not vote however makes your heart happy.

I definitely did not see this one coming. Congratulations to all the nominees.

April 5 - Easter - Check.

Glorious churching was had by me. The pronouncement of the victory over death always chokes me up.

Also, there was food. Lots of food.

April 6 - Half-price Chocolate Bunny Day - Fail.

I didn't go grocery shopping. I know, I know! I even told other people about it on social media, but I didn't leave the house. There was this story I was writing. Baen sent me the contract for Worlds of Honor 7, and I've be working on a Grayson short story for it. I got distracted.

Besides, I didn't actually need any groceries, which is totally the fault of Soylent. So yeah, don't start Soylent. You'll get out of the habit of grocery shopping and miss Half-price Chocolate Day.

Please continue to enjoy your regularly scheduled April.

Tomorrow is April 1st. On this glorious day in world history, countless groups of people prove that making fools out of other groups of people is really, really funny. I look forward to enjoying many hoaxes and staring suspiciously at the published on date for all news and articles sent my way for at least the week or two after.

April 1st is also the beginning of Camp NaNoWriMo. (This is not a hoax.) A bunch of unfortunates have agreed to be writing buddies with me for thirty days. We've got a private virtual cabin at campnanowrimo.org in the great campgrounds of the inter webs. You can play too if you sign up before midnight. You probably won't be in my cabin, but you can still get a story draft down on paper. (And you might be in my cabin. The rest of the cabin slots are randomly assigned by Camp NaNoWriMo.)  

I'm going to be working on my Worlds of Honor 7 story during April. My goal is to complete a full first draft and revise it at least once by the end of the month. If all goes especially well I'll revise it a few times and be ready for my Honorverse beta readers to take a look at it by May 1st.

April 5th is Easter. May the day bring you joy and peace. (Most Easter celebrants will eat an exceptionally good brunch, but my favorite bit is the triumph over death.)

April 6th is Half Off Chocolate Bunny Day. There is no religious significance to this Monday of discount chocolate sales, but I consider it a very important food observance. I highly recommend people of all faiths partake.

April 15th is the U.S. government IRS tax filing deadline. Sadly this is not a hoax or a religious observance to be opted out of. The government is very insistent about taxes and does nasty things to people who don't pay up.  

While time in prison might give you more reading time, I strongly advise against it. You just can't count on being imprisoned for tax evasion anymore. The IRS is much more likely to freeze bank accounts and garnish paychecks. The result tends to be a harsh lifestyle reduction where you have to choose between buying books and paying rent. And that'd be an easy call except that if there's the least bit of rain it leaks through your cardboard box and gets on that new release hardcover you're trying to read.

So please pay your taxes. The future of storytelling depends on book buyers like you. //guilt trip//

Onward to the rest of April...

I'll be working on my Worlds of Honor 7 story all month, remember? But you could be frolicking about reading amazing things and enjoying great stories. Here's a few things I'm eagerly looking forward to.

C.J. Cherryh's Tracker (a new book in the Foreigner series) will be out on April 7th. (Tracker is going to wait in my Kindle unread until I at least finish my Worlds of Honor 7 first draft. Feel free to taunt me on social media about this. It'll make me write faster. I'll also cry. But I'll write while I cry, so it's all good.)

The Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out the end of this month. (I really want to see it opening weekend. If I'm slow about getting my work done, I'll see it during the following week.)

Charlaine Harris's Day Shift (number two in the Midnight Texas series) comes out on May 5th. If I blow all my self-imposed deadlines, this book's release date is my backup line in the sand. I must finish my work in time to be able to read Day Shift the moment the pre-ordered download hits my Kindle.

So that's my April. What are you planning for your month? Going to Age of Ultron? Reading anything new? Doing Camp NaNoWriMo maybe?