*sigh*

It’s been a very hectic month and a half. Every time I turn around, something else has gone wrong. We keep having car trouble (Stitches the Shitmobile can’t decide whether or not it wants to be dead or alive), one of our kittens has a bad infection and is being treated with antibiotics for it, and sundry other things have managed to sneak up and clock me one over the head.

Needless to say, I haven’t been getting much in the way of writing done. My World of Warcraft characters, however, have been gaining levels at a fairly decent clip.

I’m trying to get back into the swing of things, though. I’ve been making some good progress on Stronger than the Night the past week or so, mostly thanks to getting back with my group of writing buddies. I’d had a nasty falling-out with one person due to several miscommunications compounded by external stress, which left the whole group splintered. Thankfully, said person and I talked recently and seem to have worked things out. *crosses fingers*

I really ought be working on the sequel to A Passion Draconic, but seeing as how Stronger is already in progress and most of the way completed… it makes more sense to give it priority. (I think.)

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.

What Miss Snark said about mine: “This is unfocused and a recitation of events. Use the XYZ to get the important factors on the page, then start over.”

I appreciate the time and effort Miss Snark has taken to run the Crap-o-meter and comment on everything, but I’m not sure how useful this has been for me. I haven’t read all of the hooks, but there have been others she’s said were unfocused and unsuitable that bear a striking similarity in structure to “winning” queries posted by other authors and agents–ones specialising in romance, fantasy, or other genre fiction.

The “hooks” that she’s liked (that I’ve seen) … I was not at all impressed by, and probably would not have given a second look. But, then, I don’t like the vast majority of literary mainstream fiction. I find it boring.

I’m not sure what to take away from this. I’ve had the query critted by several different people, who have liked it. It seems to be in line with what I’ve seen on SF/F blogs and such. I think I’m going to chalk this one up more to taste… and that’s not a bad thing.

But I think it’s something important to keep in mind. One person’s trash is another’s treasure and all that.

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?

Thing is, I’m feeling very … weird about it. I’m not blocked or depressed or anything, but — this is something I’ve never done before. Yeah. Really.

Looking back, I used to participate in writing challenges at a community where chapters only counted if they were 1000 words. For some reason, I’d gotten into the habit of writing one scene per chapter, and I didn’t break that. Ever. Part of it is I’m obsessive compulsive — I want symmetry, dammit. I don’t notice lack of it in other work, but in mine, I want the same number of scenes per chapter, all the way through.

I don’t think it was ever a conscious decision, though. Just something I started doing and resisted heavily every time someone suggested a different tactic.

But … I’m really liking how this chapter is coming along. Cassandra, my heroine, is going out to be social at a goth club, and Alex is trailing her to try to lure her away and kill her. Except it goes a bit differently than both of them plan.

It’s also coming out a bit longer than most of my scenes because of that, I think. 1500 words and I know I have at least another 500 to go.

So now I’m wondering if I don’t need to go back and fiddle with the POV on the rest of the earlier chapters … I dunno. I’ll save that for when I go over it again. Last thing I need is to get perfectionistic again.

I guess an ol’ bitch like me really can learn, after all.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

*sigh*

I guess that settles that. I’d hoped to submit Stronger there when the revision is completed, but even though I don’t believe the hero’s bisexuality would be an issue, Stronger is the beginning of a stand-alone series. The heroine of the second book is a lesbian. (Or realises she is over the course of the story.)

I feel like I’m the only person who has this “problem.” Yes, the romantic plot is paramount enough to count as romance, but I need to consider the series arc, not just the first book. Which is, to be truthful, annoying — but I suppose it’s a good thing, because it definitely shows I’m not just a one-book author.

In regards to the series arc … well, I suppose it could fly as dark urban fantasy, even though the romantic plots are very integral to the external. Maybe I’m worrying too much.

I have to say, though, I’m somewhat disappointed to hear this about Tor Paranormals. Not just for myself, but because I was looking forward to being able to find non-traditional romances outside of ebooks or trade size print books put out by epublishers. (Which, honestly, I can’t buy on impulse due to the cost.) While I understand and respect their reasons for choosing not to pursue this — as they’re certainly valid — speaking as a reader, I’m disappointed.

Also edited a chapter in Resurrection.

And I think I’m in the running for the Nitwit of the Week award here. I’d been bouncing emails back and forth with Faith at FB about a couple of possible novellas. I’m serious about the ideas, but wanted to gauge whether or not she would be before doing the development to turn the ideas into full-fledged premises/synopses. She asks me for a rough outline … and I’m still not “getting” that she’s interested. So I get an email saying that she needs something more solid to base a contract on — which floored me, cause I wasn’t even thinking contract. *sigh*

… I wish I could blame it on cramps and PMS, but I can’t say I wouldn’t have made the same mistake ordinarily.

So in addition to rewriting Stronger and revising Resurrection, I’ll be developing two novellas. I’m going to be a buuuusy kitty. (In a good way.) One of them should be reasonably easy, as I basically need to chart what I’ve already got from the story and develop it further. The other one, a follow-up to the Bites with Arielle and Jackson, will be a bit more complex as I’d like to potentially take that to short novel-length.

And here I am, thinking I’ll be heading to bed fairly shortly, and my Muse is going: “Nuh-uh! You don’t need sleep! You’ve got more work to do!”

My muse is a slave-driving workaholic hell-bitch. (And I love her that way, but don’t tell anyone, mmkay? )

Yesterday (Saturday), I wrote a lecture for the class I’m teaching at Evo, which was a few hundred words. I also wrote two chapters in Stronger. One mostly just needed editing, but the other needed rewriting. So 1151 there. I also wrote 262 words in the next chapter.

Today, I wrote a book review (515 words), revised two chapters of Resurrection (about 5.5k), finished the Stronger chapter (adding 1244 words, totalling at 1506), and rewrote a friend’s synopsis (about 770 words).

My. Fucking. Gods.

I feel so dead.

Some while ago, I heard — and for the life of me, I can’t remember who said it, but I’m pretty sure it was an industry professional or an author — that publishers were wanting shorter and shorter books, even in SF/F. I believe the stated “recommended” wordcount was between 80k – 100k, though the writer mentioned that shorter wasn’t out of bounds.

This concerned me, because I’m going to be adding a fair amount of material to Stronger than the Night, and I could easily see it hitting 120k.

So when I hit this comment from Jennifer Jackson, I was quite pleased. Consider she’s one of the major SFF agents out there … yeah. Not going to worry too much about the whole wordcount thing.

*major sigh of relief*

I think I’m fighting off a cold or something, because I’m sleeping a bit more and waking up feeling crappy. So far, though, it doesn’t seem to have hit me badly. *crosses fingers and hopes it stays that way*

Finished Chapter 12 at 1281 tonight. I could do more, but I think I’m settled with that. My fibro was acting up bad enough today for me to take a pain pill, so I’m a bit fuzzy. Not too badly, but I think I’ll kick back and play World of Warcraft for awhile.

How’s your day been?