Going Home, Again
I've enabled some new sharing options for Going Home, Again. I've also created an author profile on Amazon, and will (soon) be doing the same on Goodreads. And I got my first ever royalty check!
Handsome Prince Stephen
This is looking like it's going to become a series of books in the upper middle/YA range. It is based on stories I made up for my children when they were wee. Think Lemony Snicket, only with princes and gypsies and talking dolphins. It's been a few months since I did any writing on this one, but it's moving closer to the front burner all the time.
I've been doing a little research and it looks like I'll be aiming for a word length goal with these. Considering what I've written so far and what is still in my head, it's looking like it will work out to be three books. I'm looking for a proofreader - hoping my daughter will do it. She's bright and capable and has heard most of the stories before.
Wild Blue
My second go at an historical romance, Wild Blue starts just before World War II in Dover Delaware. Its main character, Joy, my favorite female character so far (thanks for the apt name, Amy!), wrote herself to be awesome and strong and just plain amazing. I love her like a sister!
Wild Blue was this year's NaNoWriMo novel. It's currently in what I consider "phase one." It's written, it's about 65,000 words long, and I am pleased with the beginning and the end. I need another 10-20,000 words to get it to where it should be for a novel of this type. The first re-write should be starting any day now. I was going to dedicate this week, while I am on vacation, to this but Mount Hope cried like a baby...
Mount Hope
My current love. This is the story of a woman in her 40's who meets and falls in love with a transporter at her cancer treatment center. I love this story. It's in the first re-write now. I've spent the last two days on it. The first thing I did was trash the horrible ending and then I replaced it with about 15,000 words (pretty good for two days). My word count is far shy of where I want it to be, but I think that will have to wait for the second re-write.
In other writing news...
I've decided to go for professional copy-editing for Wild Blue or Mount Hope. Once I get both of them to the point where I am ready to share them, I'll give them to a couple people (probably my mom and my bff Amy) to read, and then get them to tell me which they love more. That one will get sent to a copy-editing service, and after revision I am actually going to send it to an agent of two.
I know
Also, I have an idea for what's to come after I get the current ones written and/or edited. I do like at least two going at a time, so the next one will be sharing brain space with the rest of Handsome Prince Stephen. Here's where my brain is:
- Through the Trees: An idea I had that is loosely based on a dream. If I can flesh out the idea a bit more, I think it would be another YA-type novel.
- Romance novels: I've been thinking a lot about the old-school romance novel, the sweetly innocent ones where the girl (from the typing pool, or the paid companion, or the brand new nurse) somehow runs into the rich guy and he pulls her up out of the gutter. I won't tell you what I am thinking, because it's a fan-tabulous idea, but yeah - I'm stoked.
I am hoping to get a whole lot of good writing and editing done over the Christmas break. In my dream world, I'll have at least one book ready to send to one or two of my target proofreaders just after the first of the year.
And even though it is only December, I need to start thinking about next year's NaNoWriMo. I have already decided that it's going to be another historical romance, since the last two were. One idea is to set something in Princess Anne, Maryland in the 50's. Another is to tell the story of one of the minor, supporting characters in Going Home, Again. I think the decision will come down to how much prep time I have. The research for the Going Home, Again time period has already been done, after all.
