By the Seat of My Pants, Calmly

I can't seem to stop working on the nonfiction book, and I've never tried to write a nonfiction book before. I won't even claim that I know what I'm doing, but that actually makes it fun. I'm not sure what the proper length of a typical spiritual nonfiction book is, and I've never tried to write a proposal for one before, but it seems like no matter what I do or do not know about it, this book just keeps growing regardless. So it's fly by the seat of my pants time, I guess. I'm oddly okay with that. For whatever reason, underneath it all is this deep sense of calm. Which book gets published first no longer matters. One of these days, one of them will, and then the others will follow. Fiction or nonfiction, whichever, it'll happen at exactly the right time. I'm so chilled out about life in general lately that I have no inclination to get uptight about any part of this process. It's just...all good. Ahhh.

Have you let go of any stress lately? Did you know that stress and anxiety are completely unnecessary and you don't have to play that game if you don't want to? I recently found out that being stressed out is actually a choice, and I choose to no longer stress out. It's just so much easier to let that all go and just...be.

Incidentally, that metaphorical "cake" I asked for at the beginning of this month...I got it. It wasn't the cake I was looking for, but it was exactly the cake I needed.

Work Goes On

I still haven't heard back from the last magazine I submitted my short story to, but it's coming close to three months since I submitted it. They said no one should expect to hear back before three months, but I'm seriously hoping that the real reason I haven't heard back yet is that the story's been shortlisted. And maybe that's even true. Another couple weeks, and then I can query and maybe we'll see what's up.

I'm also still waiting for the results from a recent submission of my epic fantasy novel, not to mention any possible news on my urban fantasy. The good thing is that I actually have manuscripts on submission. My new urban fantasy faerytale novelization is off to a decent start, which is also a good thing. It's just the stage of the game where you remind yourself to be patient and settle in for the long haul.

Primarily, though, I've found myself working on the nonfiction spiritual book. Gradually, it's coming together, and after another ten or twenty thousand words, I should have an even better idea of the form it's going to take. I'm starting to want to organize it into chapters, so I'll be playing around with that to see how it shapes up.

I'm Liking This

I now have a surprising 10,000 words written on my spiritual nonfiction book. I started one of the other fiction projects I mentioned, and I now have a good sense of my main character for the faerytale novelization. I think this one's going to be fun to do, and as far as I know, this particular faerytale has never been put into novel form. I'm actually liking this business of having multiple projects to choose from to work on, depending on what mood I'm in. That way, when one's a bit stuck, another won't be, and soon enough, I'll have a new finished project. Versatility; that's the way of it. Surely this way, I won't get bored and something's bound to sell, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I just started reading "The Fire In Fiction" by Don Maass. In the very beginning, he describes the difference between a status seeker and a storyteller. I will be completely honest and say that I seem to fall right in between the two. Yes, I want that book--any book--to sell. But I also want to tell a great story and fix anything wrong with it so that it is the very best that it can be. I want to have my cake and eat it, too. I'm currently a peasant with no bread. Please, oh wise universe, provide me with cake.