The King’s Diamond, my Birthstone Single Shot, will be released April 16, 2008.

Yay!

March: Cartography for Beginners rough draft. STATUS: Well . . . I got about 10,000 words into the rough draft and then it all petered out.

April-May: the movie rough draft. STATUS: Still planning on this. I’ve decided to participate in Script Frenzy for inspiration. I have a file box full of primary and secondary sources and more that I need to print out. I have an outline broken down sequences and scenes. I even have some freeware screenwriting software that’s actually quite nifty and helpful.

. . . I’m utterly terrified. BUT. We carry on.

June-July: Arcana rough and editing. STATUS: Will probably start this in May . . .

August-Sept-October: Editing Cartography for Beginners STATUS: if I’m not attempting to keep writing this instead.

Either way, the Arcana is due in August, so writing of it will take place before then.

November: Nanowrimo (next SF ‘verse story) STATUS: Well, I know which story I want to to do . . .

December: REST!!! maybe write some fic. STATUS: YES.

If I can just leave the theme alone for a while . . .

Speaking of spring, I have a Birthstone Single Shot coming out next month. We’re editing. (Yay!) Here’s an excerpt, because I’m in a remarkably good mood today and feel expansive.

This one’s experimental. (Experimental like whoa. )

(more…)

Torquere Press is not a vanity press. I (ETA: or any other author on their roster that I’ve heard from or talked to) have not given them a cent to publish my work.

They have been nothing but helpful and supportive for the year I’ve been with them, and I’m immensely happy with all we’ve accomplished and all that’s to come.

I’ve been organizing some files today (I got a new computer a few weeks ago and I’m still transferring and consolidating things) and came across the first scribble of what would eventually become Chiaroscuro. This was written in January 2005.

Jamie & Ben: a love story

For years Ben has said they met at a party. “That’s not quite right,” Jamie says. “You met me at a party—I met you in the elevator.”

“Explain,” Ben says.

“About a week after I moved in, I was on the elevator and you got on with your bicycle. It was crowded so you were holding the bike upright on one wheel, and you were humming ‘Come On Eileen.’” He also remembers how Ben smelled—like grass stains and sweat, like he’d been playing football in the park—and how he smiled at everyone in the elevator.

“But we didn’t learn each other’s names until the party,” Ben points out.

“Didn’t matter. You were mine as soon as I heard you humming.”

(more…)

I see from my web stats that somebody’s been searching for more news about upcoming releases, so here’s what’s coming up.

• Something Beautiful will be out later this year. This is the next of the San Francisco stories and will focus on Micah and Dune. I’ll be doing some stuff to celebrate when it comes out, so watch for a contest or two over the summer.
• The Birthstone story, currently called Diamond, will be out in late April. This is the historical fantasy I posted a snippet of a few months ago.
• I’m currently working on the third of the San Francisco stories, verrrrrry slooooooooowly. I could start posting stats as an incentive to myself . . . It’s called Cartography for Beginners and focuses on Leo.
• Next year I’ll be publishing a novella in Torquere Press’s Arcana line, but that’s all a bit vague at the moment. (I have a card and a due date. Beyond that, patience, grasshopper.)

I’m sorry to be so vague. I’ll have more details when I get them.

The EPPIES were last night.

I didn’t win, but it’s an honor just to be nominated, right? And there’s always next year.

Angela Benedetti’s post on plot is prompting me to write a little bit about it myself. (Tremble with fear when I get on my soapbox. Though, disclaimer: I don’t know everything, and I know I don’t know everything.)

There are a lot of theories about how many different kinds of plots there are and how they break down (I have a book called Twenty Master Plots, for example, which I think is as much as you can refine them), but I think they’re all basically elaborations on these two plots: man vs. internal and man vs. external. And the best written stories combine the two, so there’s an A plot and a B plot.
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Smart Bitches Read Trashy Books and Dear Author are doing some book awards this year, and have recruited Speak Its Name to find nominees in the GLBT category. You can leave nominations at Speak Its Name or at This Thing We Do at Livejournal.