Works in Progress

So, based on the advice of Kristin Lamb (I'm trusting her because, well, she gives us writers advice and has examples of people benefiting from it.) I am NOT going to write about writing. Well, that's entirely false. I'm not going to write about the process of writing. I'm not going to talk about critiquing... actually I am. I'm not going to talk about plotting... except that I am. Okay! How about instead of telling you what I'm not blogging about, I tell you what I AM going to blog about.

I have several projects in the hopper so I thought I'd tell you about each of them and how they're coming along. That way, if you're not a writer but are just curious about reading what I write, you have an idea what you might see in the future. I thought that would probably interest my followers. If it does't, please leave a comment, tell me what you WOULD like me to blog about and I'll consider it.

Project #1: Cargon
This gets broken into parts A and B. Part A is mentioned in that little blurb on the left. It's my novel that will be published 'soon.' I hate not being able to give you a release date. The fact of the matter is, my publisher is a perfectionist. I'm not. If I were a perfectionist, I would have gone into Engineering instead of Environmental Science. When you're off by a decimal point on the average height of your tree, bridges don't fail. I don't have to be perfect for my job. I'm just damned good. But! This is the first publication for Martin Sisters Publishing so I can understand why they want to make sure it is top-notch. (Just makes me wonder if they are sure they want ME to be their first book... They do? Sweet!) That means endless proofing and revision. I sent back a set of galley pages with a total of 8 comments, one of which was that the last two pages were duplicated. Another was that the commas in the sentence had gotten placed wrong. However, I've been informed that I will have another copy to review. Good thing I like reading my own writing. I will admit though, after the fourth read in three months, Cargon loses a little luster. I recommend only reading it twice in that time. *snort*
Part B is the sequel to Cargon: Honour & Priviledge. This is your warning: It doesn't end happily. Okay? You got that? Don't read it expecting happily ever after, it's not at the end of this book. There will be a sequel and there will be a happy ending (maybe not that epic lollipops and puppies, but happy!). As anyone who has read my fanfiction knows, I stand by reasonably happy endings. Everyone needs to have at least something to look forward to in forever, otherwise I drop-kicked my characters and my readers for nothing. I won't do that to you, promise. Part B is underway. Where the sequel started was obvious from the end of the first book, what wasn't obvious was how it would end. So, with help from the lovely Miranda Gammella, over the last week I have found my ending! Now I can properly plot out how to get there, what else will get tangled along the way, bring back everyone's favourite secondary characters (okay, MY favourite secondary characters) and tie a neat bow in that. If you've been following my blog, you already know I'm NOT an outliner. However, I was really lost on this piece and that skeleton of an outline is going to give me the support I need to push forward. Currently, I have about 30K so whether it will be one more book or two, I'm still not certain. It could easily go either way. Suggestions? Trilogy better than duet? I kind like keeping it short.

Project #2: Thickness of Blood
This started as a picture prompt for a fanfiction contest. I wrote 1000 words on a picture of a girl with scraped knees. In that she was assaulted by an older boy but intrigued by him at the same time. She didn't tell anyone about it and in fact obeyed his 'order' to touch herself in bed that night. Pretty DARK. In fact, I never entered it in the contest. Instead, it brewed in my head until a previous victim revealed herself. That was in September and I made a point of not writing any more about it until November, making it my NaNoWriMo novel. After a round of self edits, my current publisher looked at it, liked it, but suggested adding a third victim. After large rewrites I've given the manuscript to several people, including Miranda Gammella. (Think I use her a lot? Yeah, I do. She's awesome. She reads all my PicPrompts before they post as well.) She is my fourth pre-reader and I intend to do some serious line edits to the piece before sending it back to Martin Sisters.

Project #3: The Girl That Haunts Me (working title, thanks W.E. Linde for reminding me of it.)
I STILL don't have a good title for this piece. The premise is, a boy in high school discovers that his pre-school friend, who died in the same accident as the boy's parents, has been living vicariously through him. When his family moves for the first time, the ghost is dislodged and begins to actively haunt him. While trying to keep the ghost happy, not to draw too much attention to himself, and make new friends, one of whom can see his ghost, he searches for a way to resolve things for her. This one is almost done the first draft - only a few connecting scenes to be written/finished. It's short though, around 40K, although I might find things I need to add in second draft. I haven't started recruiting pre-readers for this one yet, so if you'd like a look at the first draft and give me tips for the second, comment and let me know! I need to thank Haley Whitehall here for her help in moving this one over a hump about a month ago.

Project #4: Dark Fantasy (working title)
This is a new one. I've written a short story for a fantasy contest and had three pre-readers and a beta. The single short is one of three I've written so far, following a human and his escape from the ranch where he is set to breed with females for the Manticores and Basilisks that feed from them. The other two ruling 'monsters' are the Gryphons and the Unicorns. Neither of these approve of the methods used and are prepared to intervene when they discover that the humans are more than a little intelligent and understand what is being done to them. The first escaped human, before intervention gets off the ground, is sent to the meeting where the new head of the 'monster' ruling council takes place and the Powers that Be (Celestial) choose the human. After their release and generations of invention and innovations, the humans are taking their turn hunting the monsters, using weapons and fire to combat magic. In my head the arc is pretty huge. It may or may not coalesce.

And that's what I'm working on. Next blog, something even less about writing. I'll probably share a little more of my day job with you. It's rather unique.