4/25/20

I have reached the halfway point in The Oracle's Current!  The main love interest has been introduced, and the conflict is about to really get going.  I recently came to a realization about this story: I can't have it meander throughout the world; it has to be focused completely on the Monastery.  As the final book in the series, I need to tie together all the last loose ends, and I can't do that if they're not in the location where those loose ends need to be tied.  I therefore had to scrap my idea of more pirates and heading to Altnoia, but I think the new plan with the Monastery at the center is ten times better.  I'm super excited to see how it goes, and to see if I can get it completed in time to submit to NSP with the rest of the series. 

As part of my work from home social distancing, I've been auditing some college courses to help my subject matter expertise grow.  One course I'm taking is about magic in the middle ages.  I promise, it does technically apply to the work I do for my day job, but they had a whole section on Jewish magic too.  I took a lot of notes, and some ideas are definitely swirling for Codified.  If you remember, Codified has been stalled because I haven't had the time to do the research the story needs.  This course has helped with some of that, and has also given me some new avenues to start digging through as well.  I don't actually know when I'll be able to return to writing Codified, but I'm happy with the progress I've made. 

That's it for writing at the moment, but between what I've added to Current and finishing my Fairy Tales, I think this has been a very productive last few weeks. 

3/29/20

Social distancing is very interesting.  For an introvert like me who prefers my own company, being home by myself has been wonderful.  I have been teleworking, which means I primarily get to work from home (interspersed with office visits to keep the place running), and I've found I'm a lot less stressed and tired by the end of the day.  That means I have the energy to write on weeknights, energy that has been lacking since I started my current job.  I've therefore been working on trying to finish some of the stories you all have waited years for:

I have three (maybe four, if I write an epilogue) scenes left to write in the last fairy tale story for the anthology I've been promising since the day Cleanly Wrong went out of print.  I'm hoping to have it done this week, which means as soon as NSP tells me it's okay to submit more books to them, the fairy tales will be sent in first. 

Next on my to-do list is to try to finally complete the last book in my Oracle series, The Oracle's Current.  It's a series that deserves to have its ending, but I've been stuck on how to get the two main characters to meet.  I've finally had the time to figure that out, so now I need to write it. As soon as my fairy tales are done, I am looking forward to turning my focus onto this story. 

If the horrible virus continues to spread and social distancing and teleworking continue, my goal is also to make a lot of progress on Codified, the third and final book in my Magnified series.  Codified is a slow process because of all the research that goes into it, and also because it's triple the length of the usual stories I write.  I haven't had the time or energy to work on it, so I'm looking forward to it. 

That said, all my plans hinge on my not getting sick.  I am staying at home as much as I possibly can, am washing my hands obsessively, and am keeping 6ft away from other humans.  Please, please, please do your part to keep everyone safe by doing the same.  I hope everyone stays healthy during these difficult times. 

12/5/19

I just had a moment of realization.  It's December!  I knew the month had arrived, given Thanksgiving just passed, but somehow it just didn't quite compute.  For some reason, I'm mentally still thinking it's early November, but somehow nearly two months have passed since I last posted something!  I'm so sorry for vanishing like that.  I will try to do better from now on. 

That said, I don't have much to share.  I'm still in the waiting game for everything.  Edits for Ge-Mi: Nevada and Dragon Consultant should arrive any day now.  I'm hoping they'll be fairly straightforward, given they're reprints.  I am expecting more substantial edits for Ge-Me: Taylor, which should be the third set of edits I receive.  Hopefully that process will begin to move forward very soon. 

I am eight weeks into the 16 week timeline for when I could hear back from NineStar regarding my submission of my Wizard Wars series.  Given how many of my books they have already, I'm glad for the wait, but at the same time I want to know!  Fingers crossed I'll hear good news soon! 

I have been writing, of course.  For some reason, I got a really good idea for how to finally get Yani and Aaron out of the basement and therefore complete the prologue for Codified, the third and final book in my Magnified series.  I went ahead and cleaned up Magnified and Justified, so I can submit them to NSP whenever, but I'm hoping to make some real progress with Codified before I submit this series.  So far, I'm 1/6th of the way through writing Codified.  I still have some planning to do, but now that they're out of the basement I can hopefully start moving forward to the long-awaited final battle with Cain. 

Other writing has all been focused on trying to get my fairy tales complete.  There's just the last two to finish, both of which are completely planned out.  Mina needs a final push to get to the ball in A Heart's Dream, and then I can get that story moving again.  The Beast is flowing smoothly, but I had to stop to write down my amazing idea for Codified.  Once I have to pause Codified for some time on the planning board, I'm sure I'll return to my fairy tales. 

4/28/19

Those of you that follow me on Twitter already know that I successfully submitted Ge-Mi: Part Two to LT3.  For everyone else, Ge-Mi: Part Two was officially submitted to LT3!  I got confirmation that they received it, so now it's just a waiting game.  LT3's website says it's a 6 to 8 week waiting period while they evaluate the manuscript.  If they accept it, I should be signing the contract sometime in June and the book should be released anywhere from 9 to 12 months after that. 

So what's next?  Editing, of course.  I'm still working on the edits for the reprint of My Truest Love.  After that I'm expecting the edits for the reprint of Wings of the Stars.  The Coup and the Prince might have a copy edit or galley coming my way in the next few weeks, and then the second round of edits for Ground of Resurrection will arrive.  Editing continues to take the bulk of my writing time, but once that list is done, I'm expecting to have a few months without any edits. 

Which means, I finally get to write again!  Di-Na: Part One is, of course, high on my to-do list, but that list is incredibly long right now.  I think I need to focus on the stories that have languished the longest.  I really, really want to finish off my Oracle series and The Oracle's Current, so that's on the top of my list, and I also want to finish my fairy tale project.  There's also Codified and Dragon Spy, which are both patiently waiting for a bit of my attention.  There's so much still to do and I'm looking forward to finally having the time to actually do it!