Now, to work on Book 2…

As usual, quite a lot has happened since my last post. I’ve been going through a real rough time writing-wise over the past few months. Some of you who’ve been reading The Novelty Girls know that I’ve been having serious issues getting back into writing after taking a couple months off due to real life rearing its ugly mug. I’d end up with my Inner Dickwad running my head in circles every time I tried to work on something.

It didn’t help that I had a lot of trouble getting into what I was working on, either. It’s not surprising with A Touch Necromantic, as I need to do some more development work on it before I can make any headway. I’ve got a lot of characters and conflicts I don’t know much about, as it begins in a different part of the world from Passion.

With Stronger … well … *sigh* That’s a bit harder. The original version flowed so well, but this has been like pulling teeth. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve broken it off to work on something else way too many times over the past year, or if it’s because there’s a problem somewhere in the last several chapters I’m not recognizing.

Bottom line is, I’m having trouble with both of my main projects. This is not good when you’re trying to get back into writing after a long absence.

One night, I sat down and talked to Morgan about it. (I love it that my husband is a writer, too. He understands and often has some damn good insight.) He suggested that if I was having trouble, then maybe I should look at writing something for fun. Something that’s for me more than anything else. But I couldn’t come up with anything that I’ve got on the backburner that really fit the bill for that. The Reaper’s Price is close, but I have some amount of difficulty with erotic fiction these days.

And then it hit me. Arielle and Jackson. More than any other character I’ve ever written, Arielle’s voice flows for me. I love writing her and spending time in her little nook of that world. But I’d been planning on expanding the novella into something longer come fall, when it was closer to the date my contract would come due. (Cobblestone’s contracts are one year in length and renewable by mutual agreement of both parties.)

Life specializes in irony.

Within an hour of that discussion, I received an e-mail from Deanna and Sable at Cobblestone Press. Because they knew I was not happy there, they will be releasing me from my contract effective the end of June. Cobblestone is a great publisher that has a lot of potential to be a serious force in the industry, but … well, to put it simply, we weren’t compatible. Happens in all sorts of relationships. That being said, their actions here have shown a lot of consideration, and I deeply appreciate that.

Where does this leave me?

Hard at work on Twilight: The Novel. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep The Twilight Deception as the title for the novel, or if I’m going to find something else. Anyone got any thoughts there? LOL.

I’ve added almost 4k of new material thus far, and that should go up as I start to get into some amount of a writing routine. I’m a bit sketchy on where the novel is going; I’ve got the rough outline, but I need some more specifics. And probably to complicate things, also; otherwise, this is going to be an awfully short book!

Wish me luck!

Now that that’s done, I’m back to working on Stronger than the Night, as well as preparing what equates to a series plan. I need to figure some things out on that end first, though. All in all, I’m a busy kitty.

Times like this I start to wonder why I keep signing up for this thing. After all, November’s traditionally a hellish month for me. Between holidays, financial stress due to said holidays, Seasonal Affective Disorder (which seems to affect my fibromyalgia), and a shitload of “anniversary” stress due to the sheer number of times that November has sucked more balls than a drunk whore at a frat party…….

Yeah. It doesn’t help, either, that I managed to pull muscles from my forearm up through my shoulder to my back, and all around the right shoulder-blade. Compensating for the injury has led to strained muscles in my chest. Fun all around.

On the bright side, I’m happy with what I’ve written so far. That counts for something, yes?

The Reaper’s Price
3202 / 5000 (64.04%)

Progress so far on The Reaper’s Price. As usual when I decide to do a marathon, something cropped up. This time it’s not a flu, but my back has been hurting really badly lately. I’m not sure what’s up with it, but it’s been spasming a lot and much more tense than usual. Put it this way, bad enough to break out the Vicodin I had leftover from a tooth extraction. (Last time I took one for anything was over a year ago, if that gives you an idea.)

Still, I’m making some amount of progress in the WIP, which I’m happy for. The first scene was a little — okay, more than a little — rough because I was trying to get into the character’s voice, but after that, so far, so good. I’m adoring my male lead. He’s an ass and a rogue. But a chivalrous one.

Might not make a 3 Day Novel, but I’m at least getting a good start on this WIP.

I finished the revisions for A Passion Draconic!!!

Currently, I have it out to my CPs and dedicated readers; once I get it back, I’ll go over anything they mention and then ship it out to LSB. *bounce*

Deceived by Twilight
10293 / 30000 (34.31%)
I don’t know why this last scene took me so long to get through. Granted, it’s a fight scene, and I haaaaaaate those, but still … *shakes head*

ArielleWIP
5524 / 30000 (18.41%)

I completed Ch. 2 in the novella this afternoon. Considering everything that’s been going on, I’m glad to be making any progress.

… and I need to come up with a better title for this.

However, the main problem I had with the second one — a follow-up of sorts to Waking the Shadows — just clicked the other night. I wanted to write when Arielle and Jackson first met and continue later, but I wasn’t sure how to do it… but I figured out an external plot that I think will mesh nicely with it.

So, I talked to Faith about it. For some reason, I don’t think outlining is the best way to go with this. I’m going to write the novella — which I think should end up around 30kish — and then submit it.

I think it’ll also be easier to switch between this WIP and Stronger, as they’re both in the same setting. Anyway, I finished the first chapter at 2510. A short snippet:

Reynolds nodded curtly, then his face softened. “You’re the best we’ve got, Ari. We’re stuffed to the gills with psychics and hearthwitches, but you’re the only one with enough power to take down a vampire.”

Yeah. A vampire. One shouldn’t be a problem, even if it’s a sanguine. But if it’s a whole coven, I’m going to be screwed like a sorority girl doped up on Rophynol. With the entire football team. Yeah. So not looking forward to this.