Old Characters, and New

It's now been since fall/winter of 2008 that I rewrote the Brenna book, "The Ninth Wave," the last time. In its current form, it's been being marketed for a year now. When I left off to work on shorter fiction last year, I had about a third of the second Brenna book, "Brigid's Forge," written, but in working on all my new projects, including the nonfiction, I left BF alone for a while. This morning I wrote a new scene for it for the first time in quite a while. Once I got going, it wasn't too hard; I still have the sense of Brenna's voice. It's good to be writing her again, as though she were an old friend with whom I'm reconnecting.

I also have this new novella taking form in my head; time to make an outline (yes, outline--gasp!) and see just where this character arc wants to go. I'm thinking the novella could be the opener to a novel series, again Urban Fantasy, but in 1st person POV this time. As with most of what I write, it involves Sidhe characters, but this time the narrator is...well...I can't tell you. Secrecy and hiding until the right moment--that's the ticket. But if I do it right, it ought to be reasonably different from what's out there--to a point. Different and familiar, old and new at the same time; can I write an intriguing enough paradox? We'll see. If I can't, it's no big deal, because at novella length, I'm not risking as much time on this. If I can, then the novella will lead into a new novel project for me with these new characters, and again, we'll see.

Word of Mouth

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; it's all about connections. Every author, no matter how well known, depends on connections and word-of-mouth in order to gain an audience. Publishers depend on this as well. Without people reading books and spreading the news about them, there would be no bestsellers, much less any kind of sales whatsoever. Add to that the tight financial situation with which our economy is still struggling, and it takes more than the most valiant effort for those less well known to make it. But make it we can, through connections. One to one, two to four, four to eight, and onward into infinity. Let's spread some word and build some connections, so not just one of us, but all of us can not only survive, but thrive.

Where Did February Go?

I don't know how we got from the 12th to the 21st so quickly. This month has seemed to fly by. I mentioned that edits for the short story that will be in the anthology are finished. On the first of the month, I also submitted a romantic fairytale novella, a retelling of Rumplestiltskin, to a different anthology. It didn't make that anthology, but I received word that it may be considered further on its own, so that's a perfectly good outcome at this stage of the game.

Now I'm working on a new novella and I'm also continuing work on the second Brenna Callahan novel. Tomorrow is the first day I've had in a while where I didn't have any specific commitments, so I'm hoping to spend the time getting in some good hands-to-keyboard time.

Why Choose

I've spent enough time trying to figure out what to write next that I have decided not to choose. I have some short stories I can finish. I have about a third of the second Brenna Callahan urban fantasy finished and would love to pick up where I left off. I have over 45,000 words written on the nonfiction project, and I add to that whenever the time feels right for addressing the various subjects in it. I have the seed of another novella-length urban fantasy that I think will be a lot of fun. I have no way to know which to work on based purely on what I think might sell, so I'm not going to choose. I'm going to work on all of it, whenever and however I feel like doing, until I finish one of the projects. Then I'll keep doing the same thing with the others. If a new idea strikes me in the meantime, I'll explore that option as well.

The only thing likely to change this plan is if a publisher makes an offer on one of the novels, and then my attention will of course go to that, and to its sequels.

In other news, I've received edits for the soon-to-be-published short story and done the necessary tweaking. It's great to know that careful editing is being done; that's what ensures a quality work.