As The Year Turns

And what a year it's been.

I'm looking back on all my grand plans, trying to figure out if I should be disappointed in myself for not meeting all my goals, or satisfied with what I DID get done.

Suffice to say, I wanted to be done with Jesse #4 by now.  I'm not.  The last two months has been a total wash, though I will say that I think I've made a brainstorming breakthrough and I'll be starting back up with the writing again probably as soon as I finish this post.  I'm so very close, if I can just get over this little bump.  I know how it ends, I just have to get there.

I fully admit, my writing was a victim of stress in other areas of my life.  I know that I've mentioned my Real Job(tm) before.  Well, for the last....oh, probably two years, if I'm being honest...I've not been happy with the Real Job(tm).  In fact, I've been scrambling to get clear of there.  Sadly, I'm not in a position where writing full time is feasible, financially, so getting clear of one job requires a new job.  And in the industry where I work, that's easier said than done right now.

However, over the last three months, I managed to apply/interview/finally get hired at a new place!  I'm simultaneously thrilled and terrified.  I mean, I worked at my old job for eight and a half years.  It's been a while since I had to get all dressed up and go make new friends.  But it'll be fine.  It has to be.  At the very least, it can't be any worse.

So, last day at the Old Job was yesterday, and my first day at the New Job is Monday.

New Job schedule is slightly different (Old Job started at 7 a.m., New Job starts at 8:30 a.m.), but I think I'm going to parlay that into some early morning writing time.  I recall that when I was working on The Musicbox Girl, my Saturday mornings were very productive.  No one in the house is up, it's quiet, I'm not exhausted...  It sounds worth a try.

Also, I find it very poetic that the winter days were getting darker right up until I quit the Old Job, and now when I start the New Job, the days will be getting lighter.  Happy Solstice, everyone!

So.  Goals for the new year:

January - Finish JJD#4, get it out to betas.  I'm about 30K words from the end of a first draft.  Once the holidays are past, I'm going to buckle down and knock this thing out.

January 21st - Peacemaker release.  Advance reviews are trickling in so far, and people seem to like it!  This makes me happy.  It's a fun little story, not intended to change the world, and I hope people enjoy it.  I should probably come up with some promotion events centered around that, but honestly I'm a bit tapped out of ideas given the absence of actual physical copies.  So if anyone has a thing they want me to do, let me know!

February/March - I will be revising The Musicbox Girl per my Lovely Agent's advice.  Kinda looking forward to getting my hands back into this story.  I will also be hopefully assembling beta reader notes on JJD#4 and once MBG is done, go through the Jesse book again.

April - Find an editor & cover artist for JJD#4.  My actual release date for that book will depend on deadlines for these two things.  Starting to look like a summer release for the book, which is apt, since the first three always came out in summer.

Rest of the Year - I want to start outlining/drafting Arcane West #2 (a sequel to Peacemaker).  I also want to start working on a new project that has been driving me nuts called Valkyrie, Inc.  It'll be a little different than some of my other stuff, but it feels like it's going to be fun and I'm excited about it.

Hoping that I can get MBG into a shape where Lovely Agent will want to start subbing it.  She also has Muse to read, and I'm hoping to find out if she wants to try subbing that too, or if I'll be trying to self-pub that one.  Also hoping to make a decision on whether or not to self-pub Night of Fire and Ash, but if I did that, I'd officially have three series going at once, and that way lies madness.  So that one's going to take a bit of thinking.

And of course, once JJD#4 is done, I need to move on to #5.  There will be six Jesse books in the end, and I'm very devoted to finishing the series.  It's just something I need to do at this point.


As we've seen, my best laid plans often go awry, but I like having a starting point from which to veer off dramatically.

Happy Winter-Holiday-Event-of-Your-Choice, and may the New Year be fabulous for us all!

Naughty Secrets!

I find it hard to put posts up here when I don't have news, and I find it even harder to put posts up here when I have news but I'm not allowed to TELL anyone yet!!!  Argh!!!

Suffice to say, I have news, but I can't tell you.  Neener.  Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I'll get the okay to explain.  Most likely mid-to-late April.

In the meantime, I keep chipping away at The Musicbox Girl.  It's actually going really well!  This week alone, I've written almost 5,000 words, and that's just on my one-hour lunch breaks at the Real Job(tm).   Part of that comes from having a really solid outline.  I got lucky with this one.  (Now I just have to hope that it's actually as awesome on paper as I'm thinking it is.)  I'm almost to the halfway point, both storywise and word-count-wise.  It's always so nice when those two things match up.  Nothing worse than getting to your halfway point in the story, and realizing that you're only like 10K words into the book.  Oops. 

My goal is still to have this done before the RT Convention at the beginning of May.  I wanna go into the con with nothing to do for a few days but hang out with some other writer friends that I've never actually met in real life, and just be writerly and social. 

After RT, my plan, once again, is to go back to JJD4, though I know of a few things that are going to delay me, probably through the last part of June. (further explanation forthcoming once I get permission.  See above.)  I know now that I can't get JJD4 published this year, not if I want it to be the best that it can be, but I am hoping early in 2014. 

It's driving me nuts that I'm going to go all of 2013 without having a book out.  I feel like I'm going to turn invisible and just fade away from people's memories, and then no one will care what book I have out next, or IF there's a book out next.  I know it's not entirely true, but it's making me antsy.

I kinda feel like the end of the Breakfast Club, "Don't you forget about me...!"

Yeah, I'm that old.

((The title is totally a WoW reference, btw, and nothing to do with anything actually naughty.  Though, I'm interested to see what kind of spambots hit me up for this one))

Feeling Accomplished

I got Muse sent off to The Agent today. I'm feeling both relieved, and puke-level anxious all at once.

My goal for the rest of this week is to whip Book 2 into shape, so I can get it out to my betas. Several of them are prowling outside my window at night, rattling at the bars to get to the book. (Or, that could just be this freakin' HUGE raccoon I've seen in the neighborhood)

And now, for a blast from the past... I think I've mentioned before that I once spent an entire summer as a mermaid. Here, I give you photographic proof (and many thanks to Ryan who preserved these pictures all these years). Yes, that is a wig, and yes, this was about a year before I had kiddo, so...keep that in mind.







Not everyone can say they got to be a mermaid. ;)

And the eerie thing is, a year later when kiddo was born, she had the exact same color hair as that wig.

Like a hole in the head

So, daydreaming during my morning bus ride inexplicably resulted in an idea for yet another book. (because I obviously don't have enough to work on as it is) At first, I thought that it was such an obvious idea that SURELY someone else had already written something similar. But a day of practicing my google-fu (and polling the Sci-fi/Fantasy readers over at Absolute Write) has proven that no, this idea has not been touched on yet. At least, not like I want to do it.

So, I dutifully spent my lunch break finishing up the revisions on Project 2 (go me!), but the rest of my "free time" making world-building notes for this other thing. I swear, I'm such an addict. I could sit and world-build all day and never come up with a plot. Speaking of...anyone have a plot? This thing is shaping up to be an alternate-history fantasy/western. With a jackalope. Don't ask.

I'm going to let the Project 2 revisions sit for a few days, then see if I can't look back over it one more time with an eye for flow and blended..ness... (What? It's a word if I say it is!) I'm debating on whether or not I have time to shoot it to a couple of my betas before I send it back to The Agent. I guess it'll depend on whether or not any of them feel they have time to completely read and comment on the book within two to three days of receiving it.

I mean really, who has that much time? Everyone besides me has a life.

Goals

I've decided that I need to write 500 words a day. It doesn't matter what on, just...500 words must go onto paper (screen).

I met today's goal and surpassed it by over 400. Go me!

Still waiting on queries. No more responses yet.

Real Life Trumps All

As I do battle with the city over the river running through my yard...my driveway..my basement... I find I have little urge to write anything except very nasty and vitriolic diatribes about beauracracy.

And I think I used up all my nine point words there.

I did some word spew yesterday (I refuse to call it writing) on project 5. It's not good. It's not even bad. It's horrendous. But I did it with the aim of learning more about what kind of person my main character is, and what kind of world she lives in. A million years down the road, when I get this one going full tilt, I have no idea if the 3300 words I wrote will still be in it. But it's helping me wrap my brain around the idea.

Welcome 2008!

Well, it's official, I am old. Neither I, nor hubby made it to the lovely midnight hour. (though, I did wake up when the neighbors' fireworks went off, to tell hubbby Happy New Years)

I have decided that this year will be full of amazing things for me and mine. (and I extend "mine" to include anyone I've even remotely heard of) I have 30 days +hours to finish the revisions/query letter for project two. I have three new projects waiting in the wings. (yes, three! Just thought up another one yesterday, that might actually fall into a YA category.) Most likely, the most recent idea will be the one that sits on the mental shelf for a while, since it's really only a premise, not an actual plot. (Remember, I'm great with premise, but plot takes more work)

Anyway, big plans for 2008, with hopefully great results.

(And I'll update my wordcount thingy to the left as soon as Zokuto word meter starts working again. For some reason, it's not functional for me. Bleh)

Almost...there...!

The end of the year is in sight, and the last of the official "holidays" is coming up shortly. So far, I have survived, and it looks like my continued survival is inevitable. Yay!

I've written some new scenes for Project 2, and my goal tomorrow is to sit down for three hours of uninterrupted editing. Kat has graciously provided me with this, a constant reminder that my self-imposed deadline is ticking down.

I have also written the first two chapters to Project 3, as well as doing quite a bit of research and brainstorming on plot and such.

And lo and behold...there is also a Project 4! I've been researching and brainstorming that lately too (damn you, protagonist, why won't you tell me your name?!). I'm actually torn on whether to pursue 3 or 4 next, after I'm done editing 2.

And then we have Project 1. Poor Project 1. It languishes there in abandoned novel limbo. I think the story still has merit. I think the characters need tweaking, and I think the writing was horrendous, especially the earlier-written pieces. It needs a rest, it needs a makeover. So if anyone asks, Project 1 has gone away to live on a farm somewhere with a nice family that loves it.

Tis the Season

Argh, I am seriously learning to loathe Christmas. If it wasn't for the kiddo, I'd probably boycott the entire mess.

Don't get me wrong, the holiday itself is a great thing, even if you're not necessarily Christian. It's full of hope, giving, generosity, and goodwill toward man. (I should have left the typo, which was "foodwill" toward man. I don't think it was entirely incorrect) And stuff. But it's the commercial side of things that really get me down. I'm tired of shopping for people, I'm tired of trying to plan the perfect schedule to run between everyone's houses (and my current one involves travelling faster than the speed of light, so it's going to have to be revised)

On the writing front, I am 13 chapters through my latest editing pass. I've written the first of at least four new big sections, and made some nice polishing-type decisions on other sections.

I re-read the chapter I wrote for the new project, today, and I find that I still really like it. I think that bodes well.

Several people that I "know" on the Absolute Write boards have been offered representation by agents and/or book deals in recent weeks. It's so strange, being this happy and this jealous all at once. But I really hope this is a herald of many good things for all the people there, myself included. I mean, if I can't make a book sale, at least someone I know should.

I have survived!

All in all, I had a really great birthday! My friends/beta-readers from all over the place have lavished books upon me! I spent waaaay too much time reading this weekend. (I read four, total, still got three more to go) Two of them were even "work" related, in that they are also research materials for the new project.

I worked on three more chapters of Project 2 today, slowly muddling my way through it. I'm trying to catch as much as I can, but I can already tell I'm going to need a fourth draft after this, just to polish. Theo keeps teasing me about finally getting his notes on it. I think he's having waaaay too much fun, but I'm glad to see him enjoying himself.

Hope Springs Anew

Or something.

So...out of the blue (well, not totally out of the blue, I've been brainstorming and taking notes for a while now) I started writing on project number 3 today. And when I was done spewing things out of my brain, I had an entire chapter 2. Don't ask me what happened to chapter 1. Apparently, I just wasn't in the mood to write that one today.

I don't think I'm comfortable enough to post a word-count bar yet, but it could be on the horizon. And at some point, I will have to face facts and take down the word count bar for project number 1. Sad, but true.