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Posts Tagged ‘rewrites’

2014 Projects

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

THE BARD’S GIFT is out in the world.

TheBardsGiftCoverSmallThere’ll be a blog tour and giveaway in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I’ve started looking ahead to my 2014 projects. Actually, it’s probably wildly optimistic to call all of these 2014 projects. I don’t think there’s any chance that I’ll get to all of them this year. But here’s what’s on my list:

  1. MAGE STORM (middle grade fantasy or adventure fantasy) is in the query process.
  2. MAGIC AND POWER (young adult fantasy romance) is what I’m working on right now. It’s getting a heavy revision/partial rewrite to incorporate some more elements and more conflict. It’ll be much better on the other side. I’m getting close to half-way through.
  3. UNTITLED (young adult fantasy romance) will be a sequel to MAGIC AND POWER, sort of. It will take place in the same world, but the main characters of M&P will only be supporting characters in this one. (It’s possible that MAGIC AND POWER will become the series title and M&P will be renamed DESERT ROSE.)
  4. THE SHAMAN’S CURSE (epic fantasy or sword and sorcery) has just been turned over to beta readers.
  5. THE IGNORED PROPHECY (sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE) is in the queue. Like TSC, I wrote a draft of this a few years ago, but it needs a complete rewrite, just like TSC did.)
  6. DREAMER’S ROSE (young adult fantasy) is probably next up. It’s a partial rewrite of another old story, but the other part will be brand new. I’m going to have some real challenges figuring out how to weave the three character arcs together. It’ll be interesting.
  7. WEIRD OZ is still on the list. It’s just not quite ripe. I need to do a little more development before I restart on this one.

More distantly, I have :

  1. An idea for a retelling of the Little Furball fairytale.
  2. An idea for a retelling of the Welsh story Culhwch an Olwen (a less well-known part of the King Arthur cycle)
  3. My secret history idea, which needs a lot more development.
  4. And a bright, shiny new idea that came to me a few days ago.

Yeah, I think I can keep busy for the foreseeable future.

 

 

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2014 Goals

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 31, 2013| 3 Comments »

Posting a little early because tomorrow I expect to be watching the parade and taking down the Christmas tree.

So, now it’s time to set goals for the year ahead.

  1. Publish THE BARD’S GIFT. I’ve already got the files formatted, uploaded, and checked. All I have to do is press the button. Release date is January 30th.TheBardsGiftCoverSmall
  2. Continue to query MAGE STORM
  3. Complete, polish, and publish THE SHAMAN’S CURSE and THE IGNORED PROPHECY.
  4. Complete the revisions to MAGIC AND POWER (or whatever the final title will be) and start querying that. It’s going to be awesome when I get through with it.
  5. Write something new, hopefully Weird Oz. Maybe, if I’m very good, two new things.
  6. Continue to learn and improve. Specifically, this year, really try to find the right formula for indie book promotion. The blog tour didn’t do a lot of good. Neither have Goodreads giveaways. I’ve got a whole month to figure something out for THE BARD’S GIFT.

Happy New Year Everyone

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Last Year’s Writing Goals

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I don’t make resolutions anymore, but I do set goals. And now it’s the time of year to look back and see how well I did. So here are my writing goals for last year and the results

  1. Prepare to query THE BARD’S GIFT. I did. I got it polished up and ready. I queried widely. And the only positive thing I got out of that was four personalized rejections variously praising my writing and the story. Rejections like that are not supposed to exist. Agents just don’t have time. I got four. If four agents took the time to do that, I can only conclude that they saw something good, but just didn’t think the story was commercial enough. THE BARD’S GIFT is now up next to be e-published, early next year.TheBardsGiftCoverSmall
  2. I also set a goal of getting my rewrite of MAGE STORM ready to query again. I met this goal, too. MAGE STORM is currently a first alternate in Pitch Wars. Wish me luck.
  3. Last year, FIRE AND EARTH was a first alternate (with a different mentor) in Pitch Wars. Ultimately, I decided to e-publish it.Fire And Earth Cover (Provisional)
  4. I set a goal to e-publish BLOOD IS THICKER and met that one.Blood Is Thicker Cover
  5. I intended to enter Writers of the Future at least once, but I didn’t. I just don’t write that much short fiction. The one I attempted this year turned into a novel.
  6. Write two first drafts. I guess I met that one, too. MAGIC AND POWER was a completely new first draft and I did a complete rewrite of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, too.
  7. Learn and improve. Well, that’s an ongoing goal and a little too vague, really. I met it, but for next year it might be nice to specify some target areas.

Next post, I’ll start looking ahead to next year’s goals.

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Getting the Flow Back

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

And it feels good. Ever since my Weird Oz Story petered out on me, my productivity has been less than usual. Oh, I’ve kept on working, but I haven’t accomplished as much as I wanted to.

The decision to concentrate on one thing at a time (think of that) has helped. I’m making real progress on my rewrite of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, adding depth and conflicts and all the things that will ultimately make the story even better. (Also longer, but I’m not going to worry about that.)

I also have some ideas on how to break up the log jam on Weird Oz, but I won’t tackle that until after the first of the year–probably not until after the conclusion of Pitch Wars. I’m going to have to go back and restart the story, but it won’t be the first time that’s happened.

Meantime, ‘ve put up another new chapter of BLOOD IS THICKER on wattpad, where you can read it for free.

Also, there’s only about another month to buy the Chimeria Omnibus,

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image10567743

containing both BLOOD WILL TELL and BLOOD IS THICKER, for the price of either book alone. In mid-January, the price for the Omnibus will go up.

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Things Are Moving — Slowly, but Surely

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on December 11, 2013| 2 Comments »

Well, life is still crazy. Some things are anticipated–and then there are the surprises and unexplained phenomena.

I expect to have some work to do soon on my middle grade fantasy, MAGE STORM because I made it to first alternate in one of the Pitch Wars teams. (I’m on Team Jen Downey.) Yay! So now I can stop being on pins and needles about that. Which is good, because I’m still waiting for a couple of other things, including word on THE BARD’S GIFT. The submission guidelines say twelve weeks. Twelve weeks have passed and still nothing.

Meanwhile, I’ve mostly settled down at this point to finish this pass through of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. I’ll take the other revisions/rewrites one at a time. That way, I might actually make some progress.

Also, a post by the wonderful Susan Kaye Quinn  along with my ongoing reading of L. Frank Baum’s stories have given me an idea of how to unstick myself on my Weird Oz Story.

And one or two things are moving forward in real life, too. The pace is slow, almost glacial, but progress is being made.

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Feeling Scattered

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

And it’s not just because of the season–although that’s part of it.

This post is a day late because life–and my house–got a little crazy on me yesterday. Oddly, most things seem to have returned to normal today. No better explanation so far than poltergeists. And, really, the only ghosts in this house should be friendly ones. Oh well.

I’m also feeling a little scattered–or maybe schizophrenic–because I’m trying to revise three different novels at the same time! I’m just waiting for the time I catch myself typing the name of a character from DREAMER’S ROSE into either THE SHAMAN’S CURSE or MAGIC AND POWER.

I may just have to decide to work on only one thing at a time. Think of that. If so, I’ll probably finish this pass through THE SHAMAN’S CURSE first.

My day was brightened by this very nice review of BLOOD IS THICKER this morning.

Blood Is Thicker Cover

Speaking of BLOOD IS THICKER, there’s a new chapter available on wattpad, too.

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“New” Ideas

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Well, sort of, anyway.

It’s a strange fact of writing–for me–that ideas only really come to me while I’m writing. That’s probably one reason that outlining doesn’t work well for me. And it works a lot better when I’m writing something “new” than when I’m revising. However, rewriting something old seems to be close enough to writing new material, because I’m getting lots of new ideas for this story, DREAMER’S ROSE.

The final product is going to start much like the previous version. Somewhere around chapter ten, however, it’s going to diverge and never look back. Even the antagonist is going to change. It’s a whole new story. (Which is a good thing. Trust me. There’s a reason why the original version has been buried on my hard drive. I love the premise, but the first attempt just wasn’t working.)

I’m thinking now that I’ll need four point-of-view characters (including the antagonist). The three protagonists will be part of–well, not exactly a love triangle, but something similar to one. (It’s not a true triangle because one choice, while perhaps tempting, is patently impossible. The readers will know that, even if the characters don’t–at first.)

This is hopeful for WEIRD OZ, too. DREAMER’S ROSE just needed to marinate a little longer before the real story revealed itself. Maybe that’s all WEIRD OZ needs, too. 

At any rate, I’m having fun with this one right now. There’s so much I love about this new version.

Blood Is Thicker Cover

Also, a new chapter of BLOOD IS THICKER is now available on wattpad.

The blog tour starts in just over a week. Stay tuned.

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Back in the Saddle

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on November 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I’ve got a little light back in this room. Amazing how much that helps. Later, I’ll be going out to trim some more of that bishop’s cap vine back.

What’s helped even more is actually getting back to some writing. I’ve been doing revisions for a while now. Not that I mind revisions, but it’s not the same as the highs–and sometimes lows–of writing a first draft.

I was supposed to be doing the first draft of Weird Oz. (If I’m not careful, that title is going to stick.) But that story just wasn’t working out–yet. So, I looked back in my files and pulled out another oldie, DREAMER’S ROSE, and, wonder of wonder, words started to flow again.

It’s not exactly a first draft, but DREAMER’S ROSE is going to need a complete rewrite. In fact, I now suspect that I will only be rewriting the first part of the story. After that, I think it’s going to go off in an entirely new direction–the re-imagining that this story needed.

In its inspiration, DREAMER’S ROSE is a mash-up of the Hercules legend (turned on its head) and the fairy tale “Toads and Diamonds”. The Rose of the title has sort of the same function as a compass, but for people who are lost in their dreams rather than in reality–a compass rose for dreamers.

English: First compass rose depicted on a map,...

English: First compass rose depicted on a map, detail from the Catalan Atlas (1375), attributed to cartographer Abraham Cresques of Majorca. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 However, this new version of the story is probably going to be much more focused on the dreamer than on Rose.

Ah, it feels good to be writing again.

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Re-imagining a Story

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Time to confront the truth. I’m stuck on my Weird Oz Story. I can–and probably will–finish Chapter 10. After that, I just can’t see my way ahead. I know where the story needs to end, but I don’t see how I get there.

I’ve only been in this place with a story once before. That was SEVEN STARS, the original version of FIRE AND EARTH. The reason then was that I had just gotten the story wrong. (In retrospect, it was a real stinker, too.) I wasn’t able to move ahead and produce a story I liked until I took a step back and reimagined it. A lot of things about that story changed when I did that, but it ended up so much better. That, after all, is the goal–a great story, well-told.

Fire And Earth Cover (Provisional)

So, I’m going to have to take a step back and try to reimagine my Weird Oz Story. Let my subconscious play with it and see what ideas float up out of the depths. I suspect part of the problem was with the initial idea–throwing my Dorothy into Oz alone.  One character by herself can only stay interesting for so long. Chapters 9 and 10 were about getting her some company, but I think it’s just too late. The point was to force her to take charge, but I just don’t thnk it’s working.

Meanwhile, for now, I’ll be doing some revisions to DESERT ROSE (formerly MAGIC AND POWER) and probably working on revisions to the rewrite of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. That’s the great thing about multiple projects: you never have to be idle.

In other news, I’m getting antsy, so I’ll likely move the publication of the combined edition of BLOOD WILL TELL and BLOOD IS THICKER up to next weekend (about ten days earlier than planned.)

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image10567743

Meanwhile, another chapter of BLOOD IS THICKER is available free on wattpad. Or, you could just buy it and get the whole story all at once.

Blood Is Thicker Cover

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Miscellany

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 25, 2013| 6 Comments »

A little of this and a little of that, today.

I have started  looking for potential reviewers for BLOOD IS THICKER. Not nearly enough yet, but sometimes just getting started breaks the log jam. It’s certainly the first step.

Blood Is Thicker Cover

I got my proofs for the paperback version. I might make one change before launch, but I haven’t decided, yet.

Meanwhile, my first review for FIRE AND EARTH went live. Check it out, here. There’ll be a giveaway on that site next week and an author interview in early September.

Fire And Earth Cover (Provisional)

In other news, I’m extremely excited that my middle grade fantasy, MAGE STORM, got second place in the pitch+250 contest on Adventures in YA Publishing. I’ve just started querying this and I find this a very auspicious beginning. Besides, I get a critique from one of the judges. Who knows?

I’m almost finished with the paragraph-by-paragraph rewrite of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. If nothing else, this has been a great learning experience. I’m confident this story will see the light of day one way or another before too long.

As always on Sundays, a new chapter of BLOOD IS THICKER is up on wattpad for free. This one is one of my favorites. What if a couple of dragons in disguise arrived in our world just before Christmas, and had to go shopping for clothes? Well, take a look and find out. Or, of course, you could just buy the book. (Click on the pretty picture of the cover above.)

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