I’ve installed a guest book for people who’d like to say hello but don’t want to comment on a specific blog post.

I’ve also changed the name of the wedding story preview in the Upcoming section: “My secret music boyfriend” was always intended to be a working title, and I think I’ve found a title that’s a bit more evocative of the story as it’s currently shaping up: “Apples and Gin”, as in a song lyric by one of the characters.

(Insert Yours Humbly giggling with glee here.)

I’ve also updated the excerpt, as a lot’s happened with that story since I first posted about it.

Two more titles have also been added to the Upcoming section, though they do not have excerpts yet as I don’t have anything to post. A Taste of Honey is the next in the San Francisco series, and will focus on Ben and Jamie again; and The Queen of Wands is another in the Arcana imprint for Torquere Press. I’ll activate those links as soon as I have something to show.

I do a lot more of these in my personal blog, but it’s appropriate here, this time around. These are the first lines of everything I’m working on right now (minus the script). There’s some fanfic in there too: I’m in thrall to a new obsession, and it manifests itself in fic.

Untitled Dean/Castiel sequel:
Sam slept soundly in the other bed, but Dean was awake when Castiel joined him.

the going to the chapel story:
It was a small party, only thirty or so people.

Untitled Supernatural post-series thing:
His name is Daniel.

A Taste of Honey, attempt #9576777:
The cake was a traditional three-tier wedding cake, chocolate, with white fondant and intricately-piped white decorations like Victorian wallpaper.

Cartography for Beginners:
The moment Leo Bellamy finished introducing the band, the crowd leaped to life and the music began.

Current Mood:  calm

• July: movie rough draft: seven pages. It’s been seven pages since last week. But at least that’s seven more than I had in June.
• August: the Four of Cups finished and sent! Which means August will be more movie and working on the Leo-Stuart story.
• September: More of the same. Polish the movie to a fine sheen.
• October: possibly a Christmas-themed novella for Torquere, and I want to start a few things for a Livejournal-based project in February called 14 Valentines, and starting the story for the wedding anthology.
• November: NANOWRIMO.
• December: finish the wedding anthology story, and more 14 Valentines.
• January: finish stories for 14 Valentines, start the next Arcana. I get the Queen of Wands, I think.

I know, not particularly exciting and I haven’t had any Really Deep Thoughts lately . . . but sometimes there just isn’t energy for Really Deep Thoughts, you know?

I realized yesterday morning that I have nothing else scheduled to come out this year. Alas, alas.

• July: movie rough draft, which I know I’ve been saying for months but this time I mean it. My partner wants to take it to a production company in October. I need to stop flailing about it and just write.
• August: the Four of Cups is due to the editor. It’ll be ready. It’s at about 11,000 words right now and just needs one more once-over by the First Reader Brigade for clarity and cohesion. And then movie-polishing.
• September: the Leo-Stuart story. FOR REALS, YO. Finish movie-polishing.
• October: possibly a Christmas-themed novella for Torquere, and I want to start a few things for a Livejournal-based project in February called 14 Valentines, and starting the story for the wedding anthology.
• November: NANOWRIMO.
• December: finish the wedding anthology story, and more 14 Valentines.

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.

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.

I’m having the kind of day where you just want to curl up with a blanket and some cocoa and let the world get on without you for a while. Of course, I can’t, so . . . have a piece of what I wish I were doing right now.

This is for the Birthstone line. It’s an experiment for me, in genre, style and subject matter. I hope it works. (Snippet is SFW.)

(more…)

I can’t help it. They make me bounce around with happiness.

Elisa Rolle’s rather poetic review on Livejournal and reader reviews on Torquere Books.

Below is a screen capture of the current MS. Isn’t revision fun?

(more…)

This is so frustrating.

I had ideas while I was at work, so I scribbled them down in my notebook for when I came home.

And now I’m home, and I’m tired and my eyes hurt (I have eyestrain far too often) and my brain feels like sludge. I need to retrain my brain to have these creative sparks after work, when I can write, rather than during, where I’m expected to do other things.

Also, it amuses me that with all the editing I’ve done this last week, the word count has basically been the same. Of course, I’m only 50 pages in so far . . .

I have two journals. (More, actually, but only two that count.) One is for writing, the other is for life. But when writing=life, which should I use?

Tis a puzzlement.

Anyway. Have done about 800 words of revising today, though it’s probably more in the area of 2000 if you count everything I typed and then deleted. (Who is it that said “I never write ten words but I erase eleven”? Something like that.) The first chapter finally resembles something like how I wanted it, though it feels a bit character-heavy and info-dumpy. But the first version also felt info-dumpy, and this at least also has the advantage of sketching out all the conflicts that will come into play in the course of the novel.

But I’ve got to stop messing with it and move on. Tinkering with a first chapter is just another method of procrastination.

There was also some errand-running and laundry, and some enjoyment of how winter has abruptly descended on us. There’s snow on Mt. Timpanogus that wasn’t there Friday.

Nanowrimo starts in about six weeks, which is very exciting. I’ve done this three times now (Chiaroscuro began as a Nanowrimo project, and then grew) and always enjoyed it. As I’m something of an adrenaline junkie (though very safe adrenaline, like roller coasters and tattoos) I find the group energy very stimulating.

Last year’s project was about another couple from the same universe as Chiaroscuro (I find these boys very inspirational—must be all the pretty) and I was planning for this year’s to be about a third couple from the same ‘verse. But now I’m reconsidering . . . see, I’ve had this title looking for a story in mind for years and years, and I think I’m finally ready with a plot. I was planning to write it as a Single Shot for Torquere, but now I’m thinking, You know, this is a pretty complex plot, it could be fifty thousand words . . .

I’m torn. I mean, I have 45 days to decide, but deciding is the hardest part. And this one will involve some research and stuff. Fortunately I’ve got a lot of sources on this particular subject. The part that worries me most, though, is that it’s a genre I’ve never explored much: it’ll have some supernatural elements, some adventure elements, and of course the romance element. And I always feel a little silly writing about the fantastic. (Well, perhaps not always: in jr. high I wrote a report on lycanthropy for a science class. Got an A on it, too. But that’s vastly different from writing fiction about something supernatural, and trying to keep to its rules and still keep it fresh.)

Expect waffling on this until November 1st.

Also, I want to revise last year’s Nanovel before Nanowrimo begins. Of course, I’ve been wanting to do this all year and have so far been unsuccessful in settling into it. My discipline is shot. Woe.