Writing is chaos, which isn't a ladder

But is actually a line that looks like a toddler attempted to draw a squiggly storm cloud. We have to follow the Muse, and if the Muse whips out an unfinished manuscript in the middle of another unfinished manuscript, well . . .

You gotta do what you gotta do. And in my case, I'm doing what I can to finish Comedy of Rain, but I also have to obey the Muse and get back to other things, like No Signal or the Queen of Seasons quintet, which haven't been touched in a dog's age. Since I don't have much else to report on, I'm going to scale back on my blog posts to one per month until I can get back up to speed with regular semimonthly updates.

See you, space cowboy!

A writer's work is never done

And that's certainly true whenever we're trying to hammer away at an ending that's been eluding us.

I'm sure you all remember my many promises to have Comedy of Rain done long ago, but what with writer's block and my recent illness this past Spring, progress got pushed further and further back. On the plus side, at least I was able to sew up some plot holes and brainstorm how to get some of my original ideas back into the ending.

See, I had to go back and restructure things from about chapter 30 on, which included merging two POV chapters into one and giving Hipólito command of that particular plot point. This pulled the plot forward, and, while I had to cut a scene I really wanted to keep, I think this greatly improves pacing and buildup for the big reveal.

But more importantly: I'm writing again, and that means progress is being made on this draft. If the inspiration holds and the Muse stays, then I look to have this wrapped up before the end of July.

Fingers crossed.

No deadlines

Aside from the ones I make, that is.

One of the best things about being a self-publishing author is that I can pick and choose my release dates, blog dates, etc. based upon my own schedule. Being sick these past two months made me realize that more so now than before.

There's always a catch, though. For me, a fair bit of my platform is automated. In this day and age, technology makes it easy for me to prep my posts in advance, and then I just set them up to post either weekly or monthly (depending on the material) while I work on my writing.

The problem, though, is that being knocked down by allergies, a stomach flu, and general illness for two months straight meant I didn't have the focus to sit down and script new posts so that there wouldn't be any interruptions. I've been grabbing things one at a time, getting them posted last minute (or, in the case of this past week on Facebook, posting it after the fact and just backdating it).

Even this blog post is behind from what I would normally post (noon), but at least I'm getting it out the same day, right?

All things considered, I'm getting back in the grove post-illness, so posts are getting scheduled now, and the manuscripts—gods, the manuscripts—are being worked on again. In fact, I've been on a binge this past week, and I've made it through twelve chapters of Comedy of Rain in my efforts to cut NaNoWriMo word vomit, as well as fill in the gaps for ideas that weren't as fleshed out as they should have been.

Here's hoping that I can keep up this progress through this long weekend.

Catch you all again soon!

Stay tuned for a word from our author . . .

Apologies everyone, but this spring has been killer for allergies and stomach bugs, and I'm behind on so much (blog posts included). No major updates to report, so I'm going to finish mending and getting back into the groove of editing Comedy of Rain. Chat soon!

Road to recovery

April was a bad month for me. I went from a sinus infection to fluid buildup on my ears to a horrible stomach virus. Needless to say, my writing has been suffering because of it.

When I last left off, I was deep into the edits of Comedy of Rain, compiling notes for major changes, altering snippets here and there, cleaning up verbosity, and—most importantly—seeding Kadiza's proper motivation where it was lacking. It's starting to feel more like Kadiza's story, as it should, and I'm so happy for that. Franklin, I think, still undergoes the most change, but that's only because he's finally reaching a place where he's comfortable with both Kadiza and Hipólito. We'll see how that goes, of course, as things move on.

Just as soon as I get through this draft and get the ending wrapped up (yay for Gambit Pileups!), I'll get back to finalizing Tragedy of Ice for eventual publishing. Seriously looking forward to that, since it'll be my debut novel.

Anyway, I'm getting back to the grind, so I will keep you folks updated accordingly.

Ciao!

Five writers sit down to Google Hangouts . . .

Now that Cabover Cabaret has been published, the new year is finally ahead of me. And that means getting back to the beast that is Comedy of Rain!

"Though the road's been rocky it sure feels good to me." ~ Bob Marley

When I last updated you, the little heathen had been evading my every attempt to complete its ending. Having had my mental break from it to handle Cabover Cabaret, I came to realize that part of my problem with Comedy of Rain was that I couldn't focus on its ending while stressing about all the NaNoWriMo word vomit I'd padded the opening chapters with. I'd rehashed the plot of Tragedy of Ice so much that Comedy of Rain wasn't standing on its own.

First order of business when picking it back up was to return to the beginning. Working with the presumption that folks reading Comedy of Rain will have read or reread Tragedy of Ice before starting it, I began stripping out any details for equipment, places, history, etc. that had already been thoroughly covered in the first book. For everything I pulled out, though, I took pains to flesh out concepts and plot points that are new and relevant to Comedy of Rain's plot line. Since I have the majority of book two written, I drew in issues that Kadiza and the others would be facing, and began laying a more solid foundation for them.

"Stop making excuses. [. . .] You’re old enough to make the decision to start over and rewrite your script. Nothing will change for you until you do.” 

~ John Carlton, The Entrepreneur's Guide To Getting Your Shit Together

And then there was the other matter to attend to, the one of greatest importance. With everything I had already written, I knew Franklin and Hipólito's personal goals for Comedy of Rain, but I didn't have anything hardline for Kadiza. Which, to be blunt, was total horseshit considering she's the main character. I sat down with some writer friends, and I made bullet points for events and Kadiza's reaction (or lack thereof) to them, and eventually there was that "EUREKA!" moment where we figured out what her personal goal for Comedy of Rain was supposed to be.

Once that was settled, I began tackling Comedy of Rain in full force, shaping Kadiza's attitude and POV chapters around her personal goal, and I gotta say it's made quite the difference. Then to top it all off, I was doing an art party with two other artist/writer friends, and they gave me an epiphany for my ending.

Needless to say, I'm gung-ho toward the ending and chock-full of renewed enthusiasm for this book. If you've been following me on Twitter, then you know I've already made my way up through chapter 5. I'm striving to hit the full ending by the last week of March, so if you want to follow me, tweet exchange, and chit-chat about writings-in-progress, I'd love to hear from you!

The shade of it all

This has been a long writing holiday. A long one. I'm fairly certain that if I were in education, I'd have been on sabbatical. Regardless, I've been doing my best to keep up with everything, and while I may have been quieter on the social media front, I have been chugging right along with all my writerly obligations.

Like Cabover Cabaret! It's tentatively scheduled for February 2017, much like the last three Appalachian Dream Tales, so I've been working on finalizing the manuscript, as well as getting the cover art ready. While I had hoped to premiere the full artwork for this blog post, I unfortunately still have some extras left to colour and shade, so expect it instead for the next blog post to come in January.

In other news, the manuscript has also been a priority for me, and while I really want to get back to my larger projects, like Tragedy of Ice and Comedy of Rain, I just have to shelve them until after I get Cabover Cabaret set up for release.

Anyway, I must be getting back to the art side of this self-publishing industry right now, so stay tuned for further updates!

An eight letter word for . . .

I often see these great debates explode over what part of self-publishing is more difficult. I don't think it's something to be generalized, but instead is individual to each person. Writing might be more painstaking for one while marketing is laborious for someone else. Much like one person excelling in Math while another does English, there're going to be things about the self-publishing platform that everyone will have trouble with.

For me, marketing slogans are my weak point. Language has to be handpicked for the message it's going to convey, and with only a limited word count to work with, it gets frustrating.

So like everything else, I take it a piece at a time. Sometimes I'll read over what I wrote, cover my screen, then type a second copy from memory. The "from memory" usually results in some phrase changes—rarely for the worst, frequently for the best. Do it enough times, and I get the best possible marketing spiel I can manage.

The problem is: starting.

I can have all my materials in front of me—the story itself, the story summary, the blurb, the Twitter pitch, the cover art, the marketing pictures—and draw a complete and utter blank. The only way I can seem to push past this is to get my "Eureka!" moment, 'cause once I have that first phrase (no matter where it falls in the marketing spiel), I can shape the rest around it.

"But how do you get the Eureka moment?" you wonder.

For me, it's seeing all my materials, then stepping away and doing something else. I switch objectives, do something hands on (any crafters out there? Knitters? Crocheters? Painters? Laundry folders?), and let my mind clear. The right words will compose themselves for me when I hit the border of "No longer at the forefront of my mind".

Now with that being said, I'm off to sort laundry and hunt me down a few Pokémon to clear my head so I can work out this new marketing slogan!

Epilogues and second drafts

Yellow to trim, pink to cut.

Epilogues. Oh, epilogues.

I know some people don't like them, but I do. Their whole purpose is to close out the story, wrapping up loose ends, showing the fates of characters, giving the promise of a Happily Ever After, or at least a Happily For Now.

Originally, Tragedy of Ice wasn't going to have an epilogue. Or a prologue. But first round critics and beta readers wanted the story to start sooner. They wanted all the world building to be all together, not spread out over the course of chapters 1 through 5 like I first had it (which, in my opinion, I thought was a great approach because things came in manageable doses so no one would be overwhelmed).

My readers disagreed. And since so many of them disagreed with me, I needed to listen to that feedback and decide what to do.

I really shouldn't hold my coffee that close to my Surface.

So I wrote a prologue, but now that I had a prologue, things were off balance. The whole of Tragedy of Ice is written from alternating POVs for Kadiza and Franklin (Hipólito doesn't get a POV for stylistic reasons). By writing the prologue, I had to put it in Franklin's POV so it wouldn't throw off the manuscript's structure, but then I was left with Franklin having one more "chapter" than Kadiza, which shouldn't be the case since Kadiza's the star of the story.

Thus my decision to write an epilogue.

And it's a good thing I decided to do so, because my first round readers and critics were able to also tell me what things I had left as loose ends. I had one large thread and a few more little ones that gave me all the fodder I needed to close out the story with an epilogue from Kadiza's POV. The critics, for the most part, all agreed that it was a great addition. The only problem now was that the chapter was tail-heavy, and by that, they meant it was trying to do too much for a final "chapter".

*glares at "The End"* Straggler.

Based upon their feedback, you can see in that first picture up top how I was able to target things to cut and shorten. My goal was to cut 1,000 words (that's the equivalent of 4 standard manuscript pages), and I did rather well for a first pass, I think. I cut roughly 750 words, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with that. I knew it could be tighter. Thus, the second hard copy evaluation of the epilogue (pictured at right), in which I cut just over 50 more words by rewording phrases and finding those last little bits that could still be cut entirely.

It's been a week-long chore, but I think I've got it to a point now where I'm happy to put it back out in front of the critics and betas to see if they like the improvement. I hope so. Cause if they love this version better, it puts me one step closer to putting this story out to you folks to enjoy.

Okay, time for me to get back to my spring cleaning before taking one last run through of the epilogue. I'll see you all again soon! :)

Gratitude and updates

It's been two weeks since Comeuppance was released, and you folks did not disappoint. Thank you so much for your purchased copies, your reviews, and your recommendations. It's heartwarming knowing you all enjoyed it, and it makes me that much more enthusiastic about my future releases.

I've spent the day being productive, worked through the revisions of chapters 28 and 29 of Tragedy of Ice. I'm actually about to do the read through of chapter 29, then I'll be moving on to revising chapter 30. Quite the progress for a Saturday, for sure! After that, I'll have four more chapters and the epilogue to revise. I'm looking to have the whole second draft completed by mid-March, then back to my critics and consultant. I await their verdict.

In other news, I'm looking into something very special to add to the website here, which some of you click-happy folks may have noticed already. *grins* Don't worry, I'll make an official announcement once I have things sorted on it, but I can promise it'll be a nice addition. :)

But I'm off for now, back to revisions, revisions, revisions . . .!

Watching a story evolve

There's nothing more exciting than getting back into the groove of things. Working on the revisions for Tragedy of Ice has made me appreciate the overall story even more. 

Having worked on Comedy of Rain for NaNoWriMo, and seen my characters after a substantial time skip, I really appreciate their personal growth. Franklin is so utterly young in Tragedy of Ice, and has grown up so much by the beginning of Comedy of Rain; Kadiza's gone from being closed off to others, and has built quite the support group for herself by book 2; Hipólito's no longer the aloof outsider, having been given his own POV, so we finally know what's in his head and how he sees the others. 

It's just amazing watching them grow. My characters really are my children, and I put them through so much. And they are the better for it, believe me.

I've yet to hook up my second monitor, so until then, my Surface functions as my work screen.

I also realized that Tragedy of Ice and Comedy of Rain are substantially different, in terms of the type of action, but that's a good thing. Tragedy of Ice is very physical, from the conflicts to the trauma. Comedy of Rain is psychological, with lots of mental abuse to go around. Yeah, there are still some physical altercations, but the cerebral mindscrew of a rabbit hole gets deeper and darker with the changes ISA makes in book 2.

At first, this had me worried, because the two books are so drastically different in terms of content when I compare them side by side. But the more I go back and forth between them, plotting and planning future scenes and arranging connections from the first book to the second, I understand how wonderful this turn is. The books have to stand on their own—that's a given—but they need to approach the same major plot point from different angles, without sacrificing quality.

I think if I had tried to shoehorn the plot of book 2 to match more with book 1, it would have ruined it. Readers would've gotten a rehash of Tragedy of Ice, just with a different cast and setting. I can't have that. The story has to evolve (naturally, organically), and while they say "history repeats itself", that can't happen with two works so closely aligned. They have to be different. The stories have to be different. Or else what's the point?

And as I continue to work on the two, I realize something else: I still need to come up with a sodding series name! lol

As NaNoWriMo 2015 draws to a close

NaNoWriMo 2015 is officially over for me. I validated last night with a whopping 61,514 words. The story is only halfway done. I'm on chapter 17 of 34 (plus a prologue and an epilogue), so I still have quite a ways to go.

On the plus side, I got the intimidating part out of the way: starting the novel. That's always where I'm the most leery. I sit and stare and wonder how on page 1, a blank page of nothing, I can ever start a work of any length. But then once I do, I go at it like a dog with a bone. I worry at the words, pouring what's in my head out onto paper, and just do my best to get it all out.

Installing drivers takes the longest time imaginable . . ..

Now that I've gotten NaNo out of the way, I can ease off the throttle some, take the rest of Comedy of Rain in swings as I work to finish final edits and revisions on "Comeuppance", and get its coverart ready to go.

Speaking of coverart: I lost my reference photos. I have no idea what I did with them. So I had to surf around this past week, finding new ones and forming a collection. On the upside, I found some better reference photos than the ones I originally had, and I'm hoping to pull off the smoke in art nouveau style. *fingers crossed*

But at least I'm getting things sorted with my new laptop. I had to update everything to do with my Intuos4 tablet to get everything to work right, and now that I've gotten it settled, the only thing left to do will be to transfer my colour pallets from my old computer to my new one. Not looking forward to that, since the last time I did such a transfer, I ended up having to go in and rename each colour individually. *sigh*

Anyway, my goal now is to get the coverart for "Comeuppance" completed by January 1st, and that's doable, or at least I think so. I still haven't set an official date for the release in February, but I'll get there eventually. Perhaps I'll have all my revisions done by January 1st, too, and I can announce everything all at once. We'll see.

Until then, I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season. I haven't exactly gotten into the full swing of things (I blame NaNo for that lol), but at least I had a four-day weekend to enjoy. Tomorrow is my return to the "real world", but at least I feel like I accomplished some things this weekend.

Cheers!

Lazy Sunday, or why I decided to opt out of NaNo and worry about what's already in progress

You're probably surprised to see that I'm here updating instead of writing in a frenzy to meet/surpass NaNoWriMo's Day 1 goal. Well, it's because I've written three books this year already, and it'd exceed my abilities to do a fourth.

'Cause really, three's already too much.

So I am doing the responsible thing today. The adult thing today. And that's settle in to use November to leisurely work on editing the novels I've already got on my plate. I'd love to publish Tragedy of Ice next year. I think it's to that point, editing-wise, where there's not much else I can do with it aside from set it free.

It'll be in publishing waters soon....

First I have to do the cover art and promotional posters for it, though. The closer I get to finishing those, the better chance I have of hammering down a solid date for you folks.

In the middle of all that, however, I have the cover art for "Comeuppance" that I need to do, so I can start doing promo work for it, too. I'm looking to keep with February for its release, since that's when I've been publishing the other Appalachian Dream Tales, and it makes sense to keep those on a steady schedule.

Scratch out that "24th". I'll have a date closer to the others, trust me.

But amidst all that, I have some friends I owe edits to, so that's my other major concern this month. I got behind on those, so this is my public apology that I'll be giving them my undivided attention.

Even if real life tries to distract me.

For now, I'll leave you with the reminder that the Bowman's Inn Autumn collection is out, and that the first two anthologies are still on sale to celebrate. :)

Laters, folks!

[Movie review] I have a problem

and the first step is admitting it: I will get hung up on an actor or actress, and watch just about anything with that person in it. And yes, that includes horrible, D-grade horror movies.

Recently, I've gotten caught up on Sage Brocklebank (probably best known for his role as Buzz McNab on Psych), as I picture he would be perfect for playing Aidan from my current short story project, No Signal. You know--if it were ever adapted into a movie.

So I searched Netflix, and while his appearance is hit or miss on Psych for only being a reoccurring role, he was billed for a horror film called "Severed: Forest of the Dead". So I popped it on to watch, and yeah Sage was in it, for all of maybe 40 seconds. So sad. They missed an opportunity to utilize him further, as I don't think he even ended up as one of the zombies.

Anyway, I watched the whole thing hoping to spot Sage as a zombie. I didn't. What I did spot were some things that, as a writer, really bugged the crap out of me.

For starters, when the rag-tag group of survivors try to make their initial escape, they reach a bridge that the main character had just driven across not 2-hours earlier movie-time, and yet the gate was suddenly closed off--Who closed it?--and rather than climb the fence or slip through the gaps in the fence--which, even though was laced with barbwire, had significant room for the characters to take a jacket off and work as a team to pull the barbwire out of the way for them to climb through one at a time. Yes, they used the excuse that the nearest town was "200 miles away on foot", but seriously, would you rather stay in the place laced with zombies, or take your chances on a lone highway and the chance to get picked up by a random car and driven to safety?

How I would've done the scene differently: as I said, have the characters use a jacket to pull the barbwire out of the way, and as the first person starts climbing through, have the zombies show up, attack them, and the majority have to flee, thereby leaving the lone person caught in the fence-line to either make it to the other side to safety, or be the sacrificial lamb.

The second thing that irked me was that the survivors are banded together in a lumber mill, and the zombies are lumberjacks. And yet, only one chainsaw was used one time to kill one zombie. Okay, there was a giant saw that a zombie stumbled into, but still. There've got to be hundreds of zombies out there, which meant there were at least that many chainsaws. I expected more Chainsaw On Zombie action.

The other thing that irked me was the same thing that irked me about Dawn of the Dead: you have a crack-shot among the survivors who seems to have an ample supply of bullets, and rather than headshotting the zombies so they have that many less zombies to deal with, they turn it into a game of chance. Personally, I'd rather someone headshot the zombies so they're down long enough for the others with the chainsaws axes to hack off the head so the zombies are no longer rampaging.

I suppose this is why I hardly ever watch horror movies, as I sit here critiquing them for the characters' inability to form a sound escape plan. Overall, though, compared to the number of horror movies I have watched, I'd give this one a C+, as I was entertained for the most part.

Movie review done, it's time for me to get back to work on my to do list. Currently, I have to finish this short story for publishing next month, then I have to get back to Comeuppance, and ready it for publication for February 2016. I have more revisions to do for Tragedy of Ice, and then I have the novel expansion for No Signal to work on for when I get the publishing rights back for the short story.

Until next time, folks :)

I'm alive, I swear!

Yikes! My last post was the tail-end of June, and here I'd promised more frequent updates. My apologies, folks.

Lessee . . . bringing you up to speed, I'm taking a break from editing Tragedy of Ice at the moment while I work on a romantic short story for an anthology called The Bowman's Inn. I'll be submitting a short for their Autumn collection, which is on schedule to be published in October of this year.

The short story exploded, too. I wrote out the short, then decided before doing revisions to do some free-writing, to get a better handle on the main characters. Well, it became 11,000 words of back story. Then another 18,000 words of back story. Now it's 54,000+ words (including the word count for the short story), and I can still do more with it.

I've decided that once the publishing rights revert back to me for the short story, I'm going to release it as an expanded romance novel. I'm looking forward to it, as I think it'll be a great treat for those who want to read more about the characters' shared history.

Aside from that, I've got to get back to my Appalachian Dream Tales soon. If I want to stay with my publishing schedule for those, then the next one, "Comeuppance", will be out in February 2016. Once I'm through the milestone with my Bowman's Inn short story (which, btw, the name for it is "No Signal"), I'll be back on course, doing the revisions for "Comeuppance" and getting the story cover ready to premiere.

That said, I doubt I'll be able to do much writing this weekend, as it's the holiday and family is in visiting from out of state. Going forward, I think what I'll try to do for the next few months is bring you folks a bi-monthly update. I'll shoot for every 15 days, so look for my next post near September 20th.

See you then!

Plot, and making sure it moves forward

I'm in the second draft revisions of Tragedy of Ice, and I'm taking my time with them since I have plenty of feedback from my critics to consider. And it seems most of them are in agreement about one particular issue: openings.

Something I've always known is that I have a problem starting scenes, but no trouble finishing them. Beginnings are my weakest point, whether it's chapter 1, or the opening scene to chapter 35. I'm like an old car, having to take my time to rev up speed -- though once I get there, I'm fine. But I'm having to teach myself new techniques on the go to make the openings just as active and strong as my middles and endings.

And I think it's a good thing I chose now to finally watch Attack on Titan, an anime that I've only ever heard folks rave about. Well, it does have a great premise, but the execution of the story is so poorly done that the plot stagnates and putters to a halt by the end. What muddies everything is the overuse of flashbacks (especially short-term flashbacks that could've easily been part of the linear plot 2-3 episodes earlier), side stories for characters that aren't integral to the plot (the military police side story in particular towards the end of the series), and history lessons meant to explain things about the Titans that could've easily been covered during the training episodes (again, as part of the linear plot).

So while I don't use flashbacks or side stories that deviate from my two POV characters (Franklin and Kadiza), I do have to make sure I don't stall my plot with exposition that would turn the reader off to the whole novel. It's okay that my characters experience setbacks, just like it's okay for the characters of Attack on Titan to experience setbacks, but it's important that the plot moves forward even if the characters are struggling. If everything comes to a standstill, then there's nothing to hold my interest as a writer, and by extension there's nothing to hold your interest as the reader.

I have to make sure things move forward, and that's doubly important during these second draft revisions, as I have to make sure I'm not over zealously adding new character interactions that will weigh down the plot instead of advancing it. I've got to find that perfect balance, but that's a topic for another day.

For now, I need to get back to editing, as I'm sure you're all more interested in reading the finished work rather than my ramblings about finishing the work. I'll check in again soon (still struggling to get back into a blogging groove, but Tragedy of Ice is keeping my attention laser-focused), but in the meanwhile, here's a link to Hipólito's character sheet.

Until next time! :)

The muse is strong with this one . . .

*blows out air*

I am tired.

It's been a long, long trip from February to now, but I have written and revised the first draft of Tragedy of Ice, and now it's time that I sit on it and let it simmer and mature before going back to tackle the second draft.

The final word count this round came out to 121,919 words. That's a lot. That's a LOT more than Uncertain Heirs, even. But I won't let the word count intimidate me. It's a big manuscript, but it's a quick read.

Which means I will have to slow down for the editing. First revisions meant I was packing in information for clarity. This time I'll have to slow down to address character development, plot holes, consistency (you know, the nitty-gritty of making sure someone's designated broken limb doesn't change between chapters from their left to their right, or something similar), etc. So to be able to do that, I have to distance myself from the writing so it's like brand new material when I sit down to comb through it.

"So what do you do in the meanwhile?" you might ask.

Well, assorted things, really. I've been doing character sheets for my four main characters: Kadiza, Franklin, Hipólito, and Suresh. I've finished Kadiza's and Franklin's, and I'm working my way through Hipólito's. I had hoped to get to Suresh's this weekend, but it doesn't look like that'll happen. After I finish the main four, I'm planning to do character busts for the others mentioned throughout the novel, if only so they can have faces, at least.

And of course: notation. Making running notes of the manuscript is going to be the biggest help. I use OneNote for all my note-taking needs, but I have a copy of Scrivener now, so I'll be playing with it to see if I want to change over. Basically, I make my notes as I read through the manuscript, keeping quick references for characters, settings, motifs, themes, etc.

Something else that I'm trying new this time is to write "behind the scenes" bits (mainly for my benefit) to see what happens in the interim between chapters. Keeping in mind that this story is told from alternating POVs for Kadiza and Franklin, there's a lot of information that doesn't make it into the manuscript, so to make sure I keep the alluded-to knowledge accurate and consistent, I'm writing them out in hardcopy form so they're not running together in my brain.

Because that does happen. I sometimes think of things that overlap after awhile, and I forget the chronology, so it's best to start writing these things down now.

And so I won't keep you, I'm going to get back to the world building. So I'll see you all again soon!

Cheers!

A much needed update . . .

Yes. I know. I haven't been around the last three months. I blame my muse -- she's been holding my feet to the fire.

Tragedy of Ice is going, well, swimmingly. This story, unlike any I've written before, has come to me so clearly, I can't begin to explain how elated I am. I've gone straight from the raw draft to the first round of edits, and the plot is only tightening to a more cohesive unit. Since I can't say much about the ongoing plot of the story right now, I think what I'll do instead is give the big picture overview of what I've been working with:

Earth is on borrowed time – has been for the last 28 years, and so the nations of the world have pooled their resources and settled on the terraformation of Mars as the best chance of survival for the human race. 900 are chosen to undertake the EURTHA mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, a mission that will inevitably bring water and valuable minerals to the MARTHA colony on Mars. 

What should have been an 11-month mission to land moon-side has extended to two years. EURTHA has been plagued with one setback after another, as seismic activity on Europa's surface has scrubbed primary and secondary landing sites. Stuck in Europa's orbit, some fear turning back, others fear proceeding, leading to a rise in disenfranchisement and dissent among the colonists. 

Since launch, a feud has pitted Kadiza and Franklin against one another, but when renegade colonists shoot their mutual friend, Suresh, and steal one of his 3D printers, Kadiza and Franklin independently devise ways to avenge their friend. Each upgrades their NVR mechsuits, and assumes the respective identities of Voyager Crux and Peace Win. 

Not knowing who the other is beneath the suit, Kadiza and Franklin take a stand to defend the colony they've come to call home.

I like to think of this story as a tribute to my Transformers and anime upbringing, but also a nod to the scientific advances we're currently undertaking. It's over 105,000 words, and I'm still in the process of editing the last six chapters, so that number may fluctuate before I reach the end.

Alas, I must return to the grind, but hopefully my updates will become more steady again.

Cheers!

Been a busy litte beaver

I mentioned last blog that I'd gotten the inspiration for a story that I planned to keep for NaNoWriMo this year.

Hah.

I gave into the muse and wrote it. Mostly wrote it. I'm currently on chapter 32 of a planned 34 chapters. Whew. 76,000+ words so far, and so much more to go back and add to this space opera.

I know so much more about this story--Tragedy of Ice--now that I've expanded on what I dreamed up during a nap in February. So much, in fact, that I may be able to go directly into editing after I finish the raw draft. Heck, I may even try to self-publish this story this year just to see if I can do the turnaround. :)

Alrighty, now that I've checked in with you all, I'm going to duck out and try to finish this raw draft this weekend. I'll try to check back in next weekend to get back on a normal schedule for updates.

Cheers!

New story on the horizon

Hello everyone,

It's been a busy start to the new year -- aside from battling the flu, I've been working diligently to get all of the Queen of Seasons quintet written out. I've begun book 3, so I'm slowly chugging along.

The other story I've been working on is my short story "Evening Hallow", which is hopefully in its last stages of revisions. I have it tentatively planned for publishing through Amazon Kindle for February. In the middle of writing this month, I'll be making the cover up for "Evening Hallow" and debuting it here in advance of the story's publication.

As for Uncertain Heirs, I know I haven't mentioned it lately, but it's still out for agent queries. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have something better to report on it in the immediate future.

Take care for now, folks, I've gotta get back to work. ;)