I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks about what it is I want to write and how I want to write it. I’ve spent a lot of time on Tea & Sorcery, and as much as I think there’s a gem of a story in there, somewhere, I’m not in a place to dig it out.
Or at least, not yet.
So I’m setting it aside. For the time being. Heck, I might get a burst of inspiration tomorrow and decide to dive back in. Or possibly not
I am still writing. After all, I’m gearing up to attend the Iowa Summer Writing Festival next month.
But during the summer, I’m going to walk, breathe, think, and write. And not worry so much about completing something I can sell immediately.
This week, I played around with ideas and structure for The Trouble with Necromancers (which may or may not remain as the title).
I do not want to revise (once again!) only to realize that I’m no closer to the true story.
Therefore, I’m questioning everything.
And I do mean everything. Lots of what if and do I need that and what happens when …
I hope this is it. If it isn’t? Well, then there’s a good chance this book and series weren’t meant to be. Or maybe that I need to let it compost for much, much longer than I have.
But I hope not. Let’s see what this new week brings.
Our original publication date was July. But. Barnes and Noble had a geek book promotion planned, and they wanted to include Geek Girl. Simon and Schuster said yes and subsequently bumped up the release date. (Because back then, when B&N offered you a promo, you always said yes.)
From our launch partyOnce upon a time, Geek Girl was also a cake (courtesy of my co-workers)On the shelf at Barnes and Noble
I fully expected to be celebrating Geek Girl’s tenth with Darcy, and it’s hard reconciling that she isn’t here to celebrate. Darcy knew how to throw a party, in real life and online.
I’m missing her, not just today, but every day. I hit a writing snag this week and wanted nothing more than to talk it through with her. I was this close to shelving the current series. And then this morning, after I opened up this post to finish writing it, inspiration struck.
Almost like I did talk the whole thing through with Darcy.
Once again, I’m going to encourage everyone to read some of her work:
The Steadfast Tin Soldier was always one of those fairytales I wanted to retell … with a happy ending. Steadfast is a contemporary retelling with a gender flip (she’s the soldier, he’s the dancer). Even better, it has an unapologetic happy ending.
You can click on through to the contest page to read it, along with the other two terrific stories that placed first and third. If you’re in the mood, you can keep going and read the top ten.
Yes, we’ve added another four-legged member to our family (this makes three dogs and one cat if anyone is counting).
Milo is an American Bulldog, and he’s the sweetest dog you’d ever want to meet. American Bulldogs are often called a large-breed lapdog. Um. Yeah. He’s totally that. And everyone is (more or less) getting along as well.
In writing news, I not only completed the “book map” for my trip through expanding The Trouble with Doppelgangers into a novel, but I started work on it as well.
I also played around with some cover concepts for the first book and the series.
In audio news, I approved the audio for the first season of Coffee and Ghosts. Now the fine people at Findaway Voices will do all their technical checks and get it into the distribution system.
This week, I played around with ideas and structure for The Trouble with Necromancers (which may or may not remain as the title).
Writing Wrongs 