And working again…

I’ve had a totally unproductive week, last week.  Between being sick and having a bad case of brain fog, I got nothing done.

I am, however, feeling a lot better than I was.  The brain fog seems to have resolved itself, and I’m getting over my nasty head/chest cold.

Therefore, I’m going to finish that children’s book I’ve been working on.  I’ve got about two more chapters before I go back through and add some details.  After that, I’m going to finish the revision of Pendragon Resurgent.

I’m in the planning stages for Fire and Forge (Modern Gods 3), and am trying to narrow down what I’ll start working on after I finish a draft of that.  There are so many options, now that the Legends (The Last Pendragon, Pendragon Resurgent) books are done that I don’t know which to work on.

I do have a quick question, for anyone who reads this and cares to answer–should I put together a Guide to the Gods for $0.99, for Kindle, as well as publishing it here, and if I do, should I also add it as an appendix for Fire and Forge?

Ciao, for now.  I’m gonna get to writing.

Updates

So, I’ve finished the first draft of Pendragon Resurgent, as of last Thursday.  I’ll be starting the edit/revision process tonight.  I’m hoping to have a second draft done by Friday, and in the hands of my beta readers.

I’ve also got a good start on that children’s story I’m writing about a stuffed horse becoming real to the little girl that buys it.  I’m hoping to have that finished by the end of March, and in the hands of beta readers.  I’ve been encouraged to publish it, so I’ll see what it’ll cost for y’all to buy.

After that, Fire and Forge.  Before I start the actual story, I’m going to put together an appendix of characters, and it will be posted here as well as published in the book.

I have a few possible projects for next winter–Lost Girls, Cold Fey Fire, and CPA are the ones with names.  I have a couple without names, too.

Lost Girls is a story about a vampire with a human roommate that she saved from rape.  The human woman is a P.I., and stumbles onto the vampire’s sire’s trail (since he’s a serial rapist/murderer).

Cold Fey Fire is about a teenager aging out of the foster care system, one who has a rather different background–she’s half elf.  And there are two courts of high elves, and they’re both after her.  Set in modern times.

CPA is not about accountants.  The idea was spawned by a button pin I got in college that read Certified Public Assassin.  The main character is one.  This is very, very much alternate universe/political speculative fiction.  I’ve just about finished getting the world worked out, and it is somewhat of what a libertarian’s dream would really be like.

The couple of stories without names don’t even have more than vague outlines yet.  I have some written on one (and one of my beta readers has seen advance copies of the chapters I have done), but only a vague idea for the other, which will be a rewrite/fleshing out of one of the short story in the tabs above, marked “True Believer.”

Several options, and I don’t know which one will come easiest; however, each will get written in time.

Work time!

So, I picked up papers from my students last Tuesday, which meant that office hours were the only time I could really get any writing done.  I did some; however, the nature of where I’ve been holding my office hours kinda precluded getting settled in to write.

That translates to getting about 3,000 words added to the word count, to bring it up to just about 57,000.

However, I’m done grading–finished it last night–and I’ll be turning in midterm grades today, either while the kids are napping, or after they go to bed.

That means time to write.  And lots of it: next week, I’ll have all week after the kids go to bed, and all day Thursday, since it will be free write day.*  I’m hoping to finish the first draft next week, then revise over Spring Break (the following week) and get a draft into the hands of my beta readers by the first week of April.

Whew!

I’m almost done with Pendragon Resurgent.  I’d gotten blocked on a transitional bit of non-action, and it finally came unstuck last week during my office hours.  I’ve since written about 5,000 words (yeah, I know–not that great a pace, compared to the 3,000 words/day I was getting done through November, but it’s certainly better than none at all).  All in all, I’ve got 54,000 words (about 117 pages, single spaced) done on the draft.  Before the block came unstuck, I was at 49,000 words.

I’ve got about four chapters left, I think, before the first draft is done.*

And after that, I’ve got that silly horse story for this very sweet little girl, which I will probably ask a friend to illustrate in charcoal.  Probably at either the beginnings or ends of chapters.

Then…I’m debating.  I do plan to go ahead with the next Modern Gods book, because that’s my favorite series (even if it’s not selling well), but after that, with the Legends series done, I’ll have to see which of my next three projects I have partially started come easiest.  Or if I’ll have to start one of the other three ideas that I have roughly plotted out but not started yet.

Stay tuned–I’ll be posting bits from the book probably starting next month.

 

 

*Just out of curiosity…would it be helpful to add in a bit of Sara’s magic theory from the Legends world?  And if so, should it go in as an appendix in Pendragon Resurgent, or be added as another page to this blog?