Update!

Sorry for the recent shortage of posts. I hope to finish my first big editing pass on Steal Tomorrow this weekend and then I'll have more time for other matters, like updating my blogs, writing more character sketches, excerpts, and perhaps even some flash.

I really do like having a print copy of my manuscript to do edits from. I can read and make notes anywhere, any time, and of course we all know from experience how different things can look on paper as opposed to the computer screen. And for me there is also the time of day factor. Things that seem brilliant at 2 am are...well, not quite so much after a night's rest.

I'm edging downward on my word count and I think I'll be around 95-96K when this editing pass is done. Funny how on the first draft, the goal is more words while on the edits, the goal is less.

Once my first-pass edit is done I'll be soliciting beta readers, so if anyone is interested, let me know!

Draft Book is Here!

Yay! I came home for lunch and found my printed draft waiting on my front porch. Good thing I like my new job or I'd be trying to weasel my way out of having to do anything else this afternoon!

I'm still working on the front cover and haven't done the back, but you can see here the direction I'm going with it. And if you haven't bookmarked the blog yet, what are you waiting for? Sign up for the email updates while you're at it-- they're pretty nifty!

Update - More Web Content

New post about shopping on the Steal Tomorrow blog.

Also, I have added a subscription feature so people can get updates via email. I would really, really appreciate getting a few guinea pigs for this. Thanks!

Another Update

I've updated the list of Tribes at Steal Tomorrow to include an entry on the Librarians.

Updates on Works in Progress

I've got some new stuff at the Oddments link on my Steal Tomorrow blog. Poetry, excerpts and reading list-- oh, my!

I've also started work on the sequel. It was hard getting those first words written. I hate that moment where you're sitting in front of a blank page, thinking, "Whatever I write, it'll be crap." But at some point you just have to go ahead and write something, anything, and it often turns out just fine. Besides, I'm of the opinion that the first few pages are usually for the author, not the reader. They get your head into the right place to write what the book is really about. If by the end of the book, the first part no longer suits, you delete it.

That's what drafts are for.

But the really good news about the sequel, aside from the fact that I started, is that I finally found out the motivation for my bad guy's behavior. Chicks and power are lame and overdone, so it had to be something bigger. I wanted him to have the kind of motive that a rational person might say, "Sure, it sounds good in theory, but in actual practice it's totally unworkable and unethical."

I think I have that motive! I'm going to get a lot of good (read: dark and weird) stuff out of this one!

But for now, go check out the Oddments! More content will follow over the next few weeks!

Random Things About Me as a Writer

I stole and modified this meme from Thomma!

1. I wrote my first book when I was six. It was a guide to flowers, lovingly illustrated with crayons on manilla paper and professionally bound using my very own “tot” stapler.
   
2. I wrote my second book when I was in sixth grade. It was a rambling, mostly plotless space epic. Hey, space stories were “in” back then!
   
3. The first book I really think of as my “first” is one I wrote while I was in grad school. There’s something about statistics class that makes my brain flee to creativity as a self-defense measure, in rather the same way an animal will gnaw off its own foot to get out of a trap. I outlined my novel in stats class and actually saw it through to completion. It was based on the people I met and experiences I had working in the restaurant/nightclub business. It’s a fun story, but so badly written I can hardly stand to read it now.
   
4. I like writing “long.” Forcing myself to write anything under 5,000 words is a challenge.
   
5. I hate writing poetry, although I sometimes wonder if I should force myself to practice it, since it might make my prose better.
   
6. Characters and dialogue come easy for me. Plot less so.
   
7. I like editing. When I’m having trouble moving forward in a story, going back and editing the last few paragraphs often helps put me on track.
   
8. I like to use a plot outline. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, and I never end up following it exactly, but if I have no outline at all, my plot will wander and go nowhere at all.
   
9. I don’t use character charts or character trait lists, except very occasionally for minor characters. My main characters never need them—they’re too busy telling me about themselves.
   
10. I mostly write late at night. I like the time after Dan has gone to bed and the critters are settled in. The world is quiet. I know no one is going to interrupt me, and I can immerse myself in the story.
    
11. I love those times when my characters start doing things on their own. It feels like I’m watching a movie in my head and just writing down what I see and hear. Only fellow writers seem to understand this.
    
12. I get my best writing ideas in boring situations, like meetings and classes.
    
13. I’ve been writing stories based in a dystopian American Southwest for several years now.
    
14. My character Diana has her own web presence. She will answer questions on “her” blogs, if she knows the answers.
    
15. I have a new blog fiction idea that would be in a contemporary setting and have a lot of “extras,” such as video, artwork, podcasts, etc. But I can’t do it alone and right now my partner on this project (read: husband) is dragging his feet.
    
16. More than anything, I like sharing what I write. Posting things on my blog and illustrating them is oddly satisfying.
    

Fiction, Blog Fiction, and Just Thoughts

I’ve decided to go ahead and post all of "Bella Diana." I don’t think I can sell it because it doesn’t fit a market niche, so why not? I’m enjoying posting and illustrating it, and words and images are, first and foremost, for sharing. Putting it out there is also breaking the hold that this story has had on me ever since I started it. I don’t know why it's been so hard for me to move on from this particular story, but it has been. Even the Diana’s Diary blog, which is a sequel, didn’t help. But as soon as I started posting Bella Diana, the spell was broken and I could start to entertain other writerly thoughts.

Thoughts like what to do with "Tin Soldier." Even though it takes place in the same dystopian world and contains many of the same characters as Bella Diana, I think "Tin Soldier" is marketable. It needs one more good round of cuts and tightening up (got a few more darlings to kill!) and I think I’ll be ready to jump back on the query-go-round with it.

I’m also toying with other ideas for novels, I have a couple of short stories I’d like to tweak and pitch to the e-zines, and I’m thinking of creating a blog fiction clearinghouse site. The ones that are out there aren’t very good. What’s needed is a site that not only has links, but brief descriptions, viewer ratings and info about frequency of posting, last posting date, and status: in progress, lapsed, complete, in hiatus, etc.

So I’ve got lots of ideas milling around in my head right now!

As for Bella Diana, I’m doing daily postings, and will probably continue to do so until it’s all up. I know I said “never again” in my Lessons Learned post after finishing the “first diary” portion of Diana’s Diary, but this is a little different. With Diana’s Diary, I had no idea most nights what I was going to write, and I really burned the midnight (ahem- 3AM) oil on that one! But "Bella Diana" is complete, and I’ve got a lot of posts waiting in the queue.

So just like with Diana’s Diary, I won’t be leaving any readers in the lurch!

New Writing Blog

I’ve created yet another blog!

I’ve decided to post one of my novels as an online serial novel It’s the novel that precedes Diana’s Diary, and I’m illustrating it, just like I did the diary.

So here it is: Bella Diana. Take a look and let me know what you think. I’ll start posting next chapters in another day or two. The novel is complete, so unless I change my mind about putting it out there for free, there will be regular installments every couple of days or so.

Note: This post is cross-posted on my main blog.

Fiction Blogging - Redux?

I’m thinking about starting another fiction blog. I had a lot of fun with my first one, and I’m sort of between books right now. I have two that I’m editing, and two that are in the planning stages. That leaves me with nothing to really write in the evening, although I’m doing a lot of writing-related research.

I have a story from several years ago that never quite worked, and like Diana’s Diary, it’s a road trip story. My biggest problem when I wrote it as a novel was that I never succeeded in getting deep enough into my main characters’ heads to adequately explain their motivations. A blog format certainly solves that problem! I’ve already written a few posts, but I haven’t yet created a blog. I’m waiting to see if this feels like something I can sustain before I go forward with it.

If I do it, though, I’m not committing to daily postings like I did with Diana’s Diary. That just about killed me. Besides, I’ve got a vacation coming up next month!