Category: writing

So now that I’ve managed to somehow survive faire weekend (for those of you who don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, that would be the Grand Valley State University Renaissance Festival, of which I’ve been a member as either a student or alumni or both for 20 years now), I have finally come to the shocking realization that it is, in fact, October.

Not only is it October, it’s basically a week into October and I’m still trying to come to grips with that.

My post-faire world tends to be a lot of re-centering and resetting of my life and activities and planning for the last few months of the year–for midterms, for final exams, for NaNoWriMo, traveling, the holidays, and all those sorts of fun things.

The biggest question looming for me right now beyond general academic questions is what I’m going to end up working on for NaNoWriMo this year, which is usually the October question I’m facing.  I’m now a week behind on prep for it, which isn’t the end of the world.  I have a feeling I know what I’m going to end up at least trying to work on, but we’ll have to see if anything else creeps into my brain before November 1 hits.  As of right now, it’s feeling like I might start a draft of Come What May, one of the UNSETIC Files that focuses on someone in the next generation after characters like Tim and Brigid and Kate and AJ and  Jim and all the rest–while still making space for their elders to at least pop in and out of the narrative.  But we’ll see on that, because depending on whether I actually manage to finish Lost and Found this month, I might end up trying to muddle my way through a rewrite of Pawns, since that will require a total rewrite based on the events of…well.  Other projects.  Time, of course, will tell–as it always does.

Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.

Wow.  So it took me a lot longer than I intended to actually get this post up, therefore it’s going to end up being August and September goals because holy cannoli, it’s already almost September.

I have no idea where August went.  At all.

Starting next week, I’m back to the classwork grind, but that’s not going to stop me from having some very ambitious goals for the rest of August and through September.  Cross your fingers, comment, share, and wish me luck.

Breaking everything down by project for now.

UNSETIC Files: Lost and Found

• Write acknowledgements and dedication by 8/31 (acknowledgements will include my $20+ patrons!)
• Write the book blurb by 9/1
• Draft a cover by 9/15 (or bite the bullet and hire an artist to make one)
• Get the monster done by 9/22
• Start revisions by 9/30

Lost Angel Chronicles: When All’s Said and Done

• Write two more chapters by 9/15
• Write three more chapters by 9/30
• Do more revisions on previous sections as needed

Epsilon: Shattered

• Write a total of 10,000 words by 8/30
• Write another 10,000 words by 9/7
• Write another 10,000 words by 9/15
• Write another 10,000 words by 9/30

Epsilon: Redeemer

• Write 7 chapters by 9/19

Like I said.  Ambitious goaling.  But we’ll see what happens, right?

Hope everyone enjoys the last couple weeks of August.  As for me, I’m ready for autumn leaves and cooler weather.

Let me tell you what: July was rough for writing.  I didn’t get nearly as much accomplished as I’d have liked, but that was probably due in part to being completely overly ambitious in my goals.

Which is okay.

All of it is okay.

What I’m going to do is concentrate on what I was able to figure out:

– I have a lot of ideas that are starting to percolate for the whole UNSETIC Files/Lost Angels universe, not just the major focus projects, but big throughline, whole universe plots and subplots.

– Lost and Found is going to be longer than I originally thought (which is awesome)

– Lost and Found is going to end up setting up a lot of other things in the universe

– There are many connections between the things that are slowly being revealed in Lost and Found and in another recent project, Universe, having to do with the Grey family and stuff that’s happened with them in the past and things that will happen with them in the future (White Rabbit is still in the cards)

– I need to do some more groundwork for Epsilon: Shattered

– It’s okay to skip around in drafts (though I already knew that)

August will hopefully be a bit better for writing, but we’ll see.  There’s a lot to do around my place before classes start up again in a few weeks and on top of that, I’m training for a new position at my day job while training two people to do my old job.  Sounds like fun, right?

Stay tuned for a goals realignment post in the next few days.

June is almost in the books, so now it’s time to look forward to July!  It’s going to be a busy month full of fun and work (with changes) and, of course, writing.  Once again I’ll be at least attempting CampNaNoWriMo, this time with the intent of putting together a (very rough( draft of Epsilon: Shattered, a book from Ren’s point of view that’s intended to bridge the gap between the end of Broken Stars and the beginning of Redeemer.

In addition to working on Shattered, there’s a few more things on tap for me:

• Four to five more chapters of Lost and Found
• Five chapters of Redeemer
• Get back to the draft of When All’s Said and Done and hopefully write a few chapters

As of right now, those are the major things I’d like to accomplish next month — we’ll see how it all goes.

Wish me luck!

Ducked out today in the 85+ degree heat to pick up some bulletin boards—time for some more long-term series plotting!

Updates to come…

Help me pick a something (or a few somethings) to focus my posts on for July!

I’ll be working on things for the Epsilon universe as well as items in the UNSETIC Files/Lost Angels universe, and–as always–Awakenings.