Nor'easter

So the North East is anticipating a nor'easter. I'm battening down the hatches, charging my laptop, digging out pen and paper, candles, flashlights, and well, anything else I can think of that I even might possibly need. Sure, power outages are rare but they always happen when you're least prepared.

And since I plan on doing a lot of writing this weekend...ok more planning than writing. My Birthrite Trilogy seems to have sparked the interest in Ravenous Romance, and I need to do the synopsis for book 4. I know, I know trilogy and book 4? What?

The plan was to have a trilogy but once book 1 was finished, I felt bad for Raven's best friend. She needed her own story, and so, book 4! It's that simple. So the weekend will be spent tweaking the trilogy outline and synopsising book 4.

I hope you stay warm & dry!

Working Hard

Seriously. Not hardly working, I swear. I'm working on editing Birthite down by a few thousand words, and tightening my Djinn story. I took way too much liberty with that last one, but it was fun. At the time. Now, not so much. Plus I had this idea about a trio of Victorian conspiracy hunters...what? I love a good conspiracy. :)

So here I am, nearly 9 on a Sunday night, working hard on Djinn...which now has a title! No Rhyme No Reason. So I'm diligently reworking the beginning chapters and gutted 3/4 of it. Sad but true. So gutting, reworking, fleshing out, etc., etc., etc.

sigh

Off to work I go, hi ho hi ho.

Focus

I didn't mean to, honest! I meant to focus on my contemporary, Sordid Little Games. Something happened. Not sure what, but I do believe I'm firmly entrenched in the Victorian era. It's a log era, but I've come to love and adore it. So much happened then! So many changes and progress.

Birthrite - Raven is polished to a gleam. Seriously, it's cut and primped and pinned and shiny new.
Birthrite - Morganna has been outlined, scratched, re-outlined, scowled at, and once more. I'm pretty happen with it now, but am positive it'll revise sooner or later during the actual writing stage.
Sordid Little Games is outlined until it, too, gleams, those previous versions scratched in favor of this latest edition.
Untitled happened only last night. And then the research began. This takes place much earlier than Birthrite, probably the 1850s. It's only in the research stage, but it had to be done. Stinkin' thing wouldn't leave me alone! It made me write it!

Week 5

Happily enough, I've managed to complete some of my last week's goals. (There was a time problem, as in never enough.)

• Germany story is edited and titled
• Contests are researched
• Birthrite-Raven is somewhat edited, but not the part I really wanted to do.

Which will go on this week's goals:

• Edit Birthrite-Raven the beginning of which I really want to take another look at.
• Enter contests previously researched
• Start writing Birthrite-Morganna (plotted, looked at, ignored, replotted...)

2008 goals

This year I'm going to divide my goals into months. 4 weeks to a month, hmm, maybe weekly goals? No, that never really works. I mean sure I can say I'll write so many words in a week, but then something happens and I start to stress over my lack of word count which leads to stress over goals, fear I'm not devoting enough time to writing...which all leads to me chucking it and thinking I shouldn't stress over this when there's so much else I can (and do) stress over.

Broad outlines of '08 goals:

• Finish Birthrite 2 - Morganna's story. It's all outlined and maybe 1/3 started...maybe 1/4 but it's started and I really do like the beginning.
• Continue to outline Birthrite 3 - Arabella's story. She might go through a name change, since she's already gone through a character change. But I really do like the name.
• Work with the idea I had last night on the overall arc of the story and see if it'll work. Then try to see if it'll fit into Birthrite 4 - Isadore's story.

Samhain Publishing

I'd forgotten I'd even submitted to them, but it's been a crazy few weeks, and when there aren't constant emails, my mind wanders. (I'm easily dazzled by shiny objects, sad but true.) Not that I expected them to email me every day, I mean what's the point? Still, when I saw the email last night, it was to sadly read that they didn't want Birthrite. :(

She was very nice about it, but for her, it didn't work. I'm okay with that, everything is subjective. I have high hopes someone else will.

Tis the season for optimism, right? Or is that delusion? Either way, it's all good.

This & That

Still no word on Birthrite - Raven. I'm not a patient person by nature, and I know it'll take 2-12 months (yes months, your computer screen is clear, your eyes aren't blurry, and your brain isn't playing tricks on you. I thought the same thing when I first read that little disclaimer). But I dutifully check my email every day just in case today's the day they decide to let me know something. Of course with fingers crossed, I'm hoping it'll be that they want the entire thing!

As for other writing news, I've polished that title-less short story about a mythical planet with medieval-like rules and settings. It's hard to explain, but it's got a lot of sex! Not that that helps. If I had to pick a genre, I'd say...paranormal? It's got magick. Futuristic? Sci-fi? Not really, but it's a different planet, so who can say? They don't have lightsabers or phasers, though. Fantasy, probably. I'll be submitting this one within the week. AS SOON AS I THINK OF A TITLE! *sigh*

Who Needs Mistletoe? was on hold this past week, but I fully intend to pick it up tomorrow for all those lovely rewrites I know I need. Just reading what I had made me cringe. It so needs work. And a synopsis.

Chapter 1 completed!

Morganna's story starts off quite a bit differently from Raven's. Both jump right into the plot, but take 2 very different approaches. It's taken me a while to get into this story, I think mostly because I like Raven's story so much and want to spend a little more time basking in the finished-ness of it all.

Still basking...

Chapter 1 is completed, and I'm quite pleased with it. I better be, it's taken me 4 days to make it work. I'll wade back into it this evening, and spend most of tomorrow on it. Hopedully it'll flow a bit better than chapter 1 did.

Another week

It's the start of another week, and another scorcher on the East Coast, and I've decided the best way to beat the heat is to write. The best way to remind myself of my goals is to blog about them until they're done. My plan, such as it is, is slightly revised from last week. Finish Birthrite - Morganna by mid-August, and Sordid Games by the beginning of October. I have faith in my ability to do so.

Heat or not. Beach or not. Vacations included.

I better get started...

Holiday

It's hard having off in the middle of the week. I'm back at work but all thrown now. Though yesterday was very relaxing. I nearly finished Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. I'm still loving this AU world of his, there are just so many things that are funny and fascinating in it.

However, the weekend brings with it the chance to write, write, write. I'll post more of an outline for Morganna's story this weekend, and hope to get a good chunk of it begun.

Series?

I had intended to do a 1-shot with my Birthrite story. It was going to be an AU historical and I was going to be happy that my world-building was going for a good cause. The story itself didn't progress like that. Of course I watch a lot of the History Channel and got a few great ideas from their shows that I just had to incorporate. Never watch history when writing a historical. You'd think the 2 would mix but no.

Back to Birthrite. It became 2 stories. Then I thought, oh, but what about Gareth? And then there were 3. Now I'm thinking, as Book 2 takes shape, but what about poor Isadore? She has no story, and I feel bad for her. Eh, now it's a 4 book series. They each have their own ending, and will probably be able to be read on their own. At least that's what I'm aiming for. It worked in book 1, Raven's story!