Updates On a Few Things
Yeah, I know, I know, been awhile since I posted anything. I’ve been involved with a work project that has tied up a lot of my time, just one of the joys of writing with a day job. I wanted to update on a few things, and since people tend to go to Story Arcs as well, it’s up there too. First, the writing is lagging hard and that’s my fault. FayTown Calling is a good month behind. I was hoping to send out a final call for beta readers the end of February and have it edited and out by May. That’s not looking on track though, I won’t send out to beta readers (which you can still be a part of, just comment or email me!) and don’t think I will until mid April. I have many things to change, tweak, and add, and a final polish to…
Chock Full of Monsters
I’m trying not to dedicate a lot of my time to TV, but I like to keep a stock of television shows ready to be watched when getting ready for work or while eating. My TV habits are much more eclectic than my book tastes (which are fantasy, pure and simple) but what came as a surprise was American Horror Story: Coven. Coven tells the story of a sort of Homicidal Hogwarts for Witches down in New Orleans. That was such a fun sentence to type. The story revolves around a conflict between this Coven and Marie Laveau, a voodoo queen who has long been in conflict with the largely white (skin, not magic) group of witches. There are a lot of race issues behind their conflict but also seems to be based on beliefs about magic and tradition as well. That all works really well, but what has been so damn…
Goal for the Weekend
I realized that my Goal for the Weekend posts probably don’t make as much sense without the back story for that. Between a wife in nursing school and a two year old devil-boy, my free time is usually Friday and Saturday night, starting around ten and going as long as I can keep my eyes open. I try to get a good game plan together every Friday afternoon for what I want to accomplish before Monday morning. So, the goals: Edit. Edit a lot. I wanted to edit last night, then we had a thunderstorm which knocked out our AC. I spent all night trying to figure out what to do about that and failing. Luckily, after a restless night in an eighty degree bedroom, the AC is back up. The goal is a bare minimum of 44 pages, but I would love to do double that (actually about 100…
Writing Status 6/27
Wow, it is almost July. Seems like just the other day we were celebrating the new year. Time flies, I guess. So far, I am behind. My writing goal is pretty much shot to hell. Anniversaries, work stuff, etc. have limited that, as well as a big ol whallop of procrastination. As far as editing goes (and as bad a habit as this is, it’s my focus right now) I am on page 69 of 308. I actually should be on page 108, but didn’t do anything the weekend of my anniversary. Plan on catching up this weekend, and spending a lot of time writing. Dean Wesley Smith says make a goal, try your best to stick to it, and if you get behind just keep with the plan. That’s what I am going to try and do. But hell or high water, I am hitting this August 12th date….
The First Chapter
Anne R. Allen put a post a few a week or so back (I am so glad to be caught up on Feedly now…) that discusses what all should be involved in a first chapter. The moment I saw it, I groaned. Here we go, something else to tear everything I think I know to ribbons. But I read it, because this was a new blog I added to my reader, and I nee to get a feel for it, and much as I didn’t want to admit it, these types of posts are important. Nothing is concrete, but the thing about being a new writer, one who hasn’t written for anyone I wasn’t related or married to, is not having the ability to gauge what is concrete and what is quicksand. I think I know my stuff, but who knows what that will mean to readers? And the first sentence, paragragh,…