The Plot Bunny Farm

I thought I'd sit down and take stock of my current projects. To make life easier on myself, I'm not including short stories -- not the ones that are out on submission, not the ones I want to edit, not the ones I've started writing, not the ones that are just ideas, and not the very long list of ones that are currently just first lines. The last time I did something like this, I did include some categories for short stories. Also note that this is only for works that can be considered active, in some form of the word.

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Novella out on submission:

* Farwalker -- Submitted last year to Science-Fiction at the UPC, where it was short-listed (I blogged about it last fall). Sent it off to Analog, but I was told that works of 20,000 to 40,000 words don't work for them. Now it's off at a market that wants that exact length (and where the publisher has been annoyed by people submitting works that are too short).

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Novella in planning stage:

* Tantalus -- Wrote and submitted this originally as a short story (very short -- submitted it to Nature's Futures). Feedback I got specifically compared it to Conrad's Heart of Darkness and said it felt like there ought to be much more there. Having looked at it, I agree. In fact, I trunked it as a short story. I'm planning to expand this to submit to UPC this year.

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Novels out on submission:

* Christmas Tree Farm (NaNo 2004) -- My cozy murder mystery.

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Novels in the revision pile:

* Sabra (NaNo 2006) -- Redlined a hard copy. Need to enter the edits into the file, then see what jumps out at me that didn't when I did the edits . . . oh, so long ago. Soft SF -- to the point I asked why I thought it was SF. (It is, really, but it's definitely not hard SF.)

* Witchy Woman (NaNo 2007) -- First draft is short. Need to add in a subthread, at least one red herring, a lot more specific description of people and places. Have this planned out (I didn't when I last mentioned the edit), and I'm thinking I'll write the new stuff first, then mush it together with the old and redline at the same time. Urban fantasy, set in Boston.

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Novels in the writing pile:

* M -- A first for me, I'm doing this a page a day (two pages a day this week!) without an outline and watching it develop. Hard SF.

* Jim Bob (NaNo 2009) -- I'm going to be dropping this, at least for the present. Even the 100 words a day isn't working for me. I managed that for three days. It wouldn't be the first book I've set aside for a long time before finishing (see below for further examples), and the wonderful thing is, since I'm not on contract, it's not as though I have a deadline to meet.

* Sundered Sword -- I've blogged a bit of backstory for this, as well as some thoughts on the planning process. I've got a fairly solid outline for the first third, plus about half of the rest, including a fleshed-out ending. Enough to run with and expand along the way as I realize my characters aren't robots and need to be doing other things in the story that I hadn't thought out. I do still need to think about the magic (mentioned briefly in the post about Shadowed Sight). Might start this for Book-in-a-Week for May. (End of March and beginning of April, we're full up on family visitors -- 31st to the 12th. April's BIAW doesn't start until the 12th, so I might manage then, but I'm more likely to use that to get some of the new stuff on Witchy Woman.)

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Novels in progress that may migrate to the top of my writing pile later this year or next year:

* Ivory & Bone -- Urban fantasy set in Berkeley. He gets visions; she gets memories of past lives. Both bonniers and marfisk want me to finish this one up.

* Rob & Jeanie -- Almost a superhero book, but more like "the gods walk among us." Well, no, there are heroes, too. Heroes and god-touched and god-kin. In our world. Last summer, before heading on vacation, I typed up all my hand-written scenes and started adding to them. Vacation, for some reason, left me sidetracked. Another one I'm writing without an outline, but also non-linearly.

* Phoenix Anderson -- Middle grade SF because my kids need something to read, too.

* Shadowed Sight (my 2YN from 2004-2005) -- Woman from a noble family masquerades as common mercenary. Asked for alpha readers recently, and I'm waiting to weigh all their opinions. (Got enough volunteers, thanks!) Fantasy.

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Novels possibly on tap for NaNo this year:

* Four Lakes (NaNo 2005) -- Crackle and company. I may get more inspiration on my pet kraken when we head up to Madison at the end of the month. I think a large part of the problem here is that I had someone else as the main character, so I need to rethink and start over from scratch. Original first couple of chapters: A Boy Named Fran and Marbled Brownie. Humorous fantasy.

* sequel to Christmas Tree Farm Murders

* sequel to Phoenix (if I get that finished)

* book in new cozy mystery series that I got idea for today -- series tied together with quilts as a theme. Yes, there are several such cozy series already; that proves there's an audience.

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Novels on list to possibly outline this year:

* jekylls -- near-future SF thriller

* torties (turtle aliens) -- SF

* Varly Keeper -- low-magic fantasy

* world-destroyer -- SF

Okay, I'm a bit behind on the "six month" update. I listed my goals for the year on December 31, and I'm doing pretty good so far.

I have:

• edited one novel and sent it off for crits
• submitted one novella (today)
• finished writing and editing one novelette and sent it off for crit
• reoutlined my 2007 NaNo (which will probably be my second novel edited for the year)

Still on the agenda:

• second novel edited
• one novel out to agents
• novelette submitted
• new novel for NaNo 2009

I'm hoping to send out the novelette soon, and then there's family vacation. A good reward for good progress!

I did something startling today . . . I updated my Random Walks in Publishing blog. First time in more than three years. I said it was startling, didn't I? More startling is that I plan to do so regularly. I'm including the text of that post below. It's quite possible that posts will appear both here and there, but generally speaking, this will be the more inclusive blog.

I know that I haven't posted here for just over three years, but I'm going to try again, mostly to test whether or not I can reliably update more than one blog at a time. I'd like to believe I am getting closer to a publishable novel, perhaps under a pseudonym, and when I reach that point, I'd like to know that I can devote time to an author blog to interact with readers without having to share with them such things as how my cat is doing or the like.

Thus, this post is my notice of intent.

The current plan is to post twice a week, most likely on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and look at that -- today's a Thursday!) on writing-related topics. I'll include such things as reviews of podcasts, process posts, and where I currently am on projects. I may still post such items on my other blog, but it casts a wider net, so they will be merely one type of post found there.

Starting this up right before the holiday season may be the best test as to whether I can do this on a regular basis; if I can do this now, with everything else I have going on, I should be able to do it under any circumstances.

Here's to renewed ventures!

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on Sabra and SF. Current word count on the file is just barely over 90k, so for length I don't really need to make major additions. Some scenes are being deleted, some added. Overall, it's going to stay about the same length. I'm going to finish the current edit pass, maybe making notes on things (such as setting reactions) that could use additional work. Then do a complete read-through and see if I think it's ready to go out to critters or if it needs more in-depth labor.

As to when . . . well, I'd hoped to have it done before now. A year ago, I finished writing the draft. I should've managed a single edit pass in that time! But it's been so long since I did anything on it that I have to work to get over that inertial barrier again.

So very much I want to be working on right now. I want Sabra's edit finished (which isn't the same as wanting to work on it, I realize). I want to run through Witchy Woman and re-outline and rewrite it. It's only 53k now, and that's much too short. And scenes need to be rearranged, in addition to the subplots being beefed up. Then there's this middle-grade SF novel I've started. Only a few thousand words into it, and I think it has a lot of promise. I need to get back into the discipline of "The Writing Comes First," so I can make real progress. Then I have this new urban fantasy (or possibly paranormal romance?) idea with a male MC.

But right now, all of that's taking a back seat to short story work. Yeah, I know, I said I was giving up on those for 2008. But I think "Ophid Dei" would be good to submit to Eclipse Two. (Just realized today that my story is a sort of response to Butler's "Bloodchild." Fascinating. I'm taking part in the dialogue of the genre.) So that has to be edited and out in the next week--by the 29th, in fact. And I want to submit "Winter White" to Cat's Curious Press, which has a deadline of March 31, but I need to wrap up the story *and* edit it in that time. Then I need to get my edits done on my submission for PARSEC's short story contest and get that sent off by April 15. I've had that written forever, so I've no excuse to not get it done.

All of this, plus keeping up with an adorable two-month old. Well, no, she's not running around yet, but she needs a lot of cuddling and feeding and changing. And it's awfully hard to do those things and type at the same time. I'm going to manage, though.

Some other time, I'll mention the *other* things I want to write, intermediate-length works for various contests. Right now, though, I've got to deal with dinner.

Haven't posted as much this month as last, and the trend will continue. Next week, my family and I disappear on a month-long vacation. See you all when we get back.

slobbit asked me what I'm working on these days. I told her, but figured I'd post here, too, for anyone else who's curious.

I'm trying to get my NaNo novel completed by the end of the month. I'm preparing a grant application for A Room of Her Own Foundation's Gift of Freedom award ($50,000 over 2 years). I'm writing a steampunk short story to submit to Pitch-Black's Magic & Mechanica anthology. I'm editing a pirate story to submit to the VanderMeers for the Fast Ships, Black Sails anthology--and figuring out what's wrong with this has finally helped me to see how to rewrite my Spiders short, so I'll be picking that back up in a couple of weeks. This next week, I'll probably be taking another crack at Blood Brother, including tackling the new beginning--the grant application requires a 10-page fiction sample, and I think that's my strongest, deepest work to date. I also have a few shorts out for crit that I'll be revising as I get comments back. Oh, and I have some poems I should see about editing, too.

Have some paying work going on, too--proofreading a book on Austria right now, then one on Scotland, then back to Austria for Vienna & the Danube Valley.

I discovered a new feature of LJ this weekend. Not because I was browsing around, trying to find out what all it can do, mind you. No, through the good graces ofhookedoncoffee, I discovered that LJ incorporates a feature that allows you to nag your friends if you don't think they're posting often enough. Okay, they call it a nudge. And, yeah, it has been a couple weeks since my last post. Would you believe I've been busy?

I have a couple minor pages that are still trickling in from that copyediting project. I have two proofreading jobs this week. I've been trying to exercise. Oh, and then there's the writing and editing my own stuff. ;-)

This morning, I have two submissions out in the mail -- one going to Polyphony 6, the other to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (more commonly abbreviated F&SF). I have another story in its second round of crits (Matchmaker), and I think it's getting close to being ready to send. I've been working on a story for submission to Fantasist for their Blood and Devotion anthology. I sent a couple flash stories out to new markets last week, and I have a couple other stories out, as well. Then there's the flash that Val and I are putting together, and I have another story or two ready to start editing, but they've been on the back burner.

I will post again, soon. I've had thoughts about five-year questions, and grief and acceptance, and stories that we can tell ourselves, and growing up to be who I've always been. But not right now. Right now, I have to get back to the paying work.

We're flying out of here Wednesday afternoon, and it just hit me today that this means tomorrow is devoted to laundry and packing, not writing, editing, or updates. We'll be back the 4th, but I probably won't be checking blogs until the following week.

I am taking my current pile of shorts in progress (both writing and editing), with the hope that I'll have at least a couple ready to submit bright and early in the new year. While I'm gone, I may also try to type up my WFC notes so I can finally get them all posted. But don't look for any more updates until next year.

And I'd like to also point out over on J. A. Konrath's blog, two lovely sets of resolutions, one for novices and one for professional writers. Also, the site from which I pulled it, P. J. Parrish's blog, which has a nice Christmas wish list for writers.


2006 goals:
Write 2 to 2-1/2 short stories per month on average. Submissions will probably lag a bit, but 15 for the year is the goal.

Complete and revise one novel. It would be nice to get it all the way through crit stage and out to agents, but we'll see how it works out. (Note that this is finishing one that's already started.)

Complete a second novel. (Should have multiple opportunities for this, especially with March Madness, Labor of Love, and NaNo.)

Participate in challenges on FM:
* March Madness
* April Haiku Challenge
* May Story-A-Day
* Labor of Love/Unfinished Business
* NaNo (okay, so that's not *really* an FM thing per se), including my second year of being an ML
* dares and monthly marathons as time permits
* ultra marathon (I think I came "close enough" to the marathon on FM this year that I want to push my goal upwards.)

Happy celebration of your faith, choice, or whatever! I'm hoping for a reasonably merry Christmas and a New Year surrounded by friends and family.

Obviously, I didn't post in the middle of the month. Taxes (ugh) and then work. Sadly, LJ's not at tho top of my to-do list. Maybe I'll be better this month.

My novel's just over 45,000 words now. I'm making progress, though I'd like to do so faster.

I've taken a bit of time off the last couple weeks to write short stories. It's been a fun break.

Now, let's see if I can remember to post again in two weeks.

Has it really been almost two months since I started this journal? And I haven't posted one new thing in all that time. This month isn't going to be much better, though I think I'll get a couple posts in. Is it too early to make a new year's resolution for next year?

November and NaNo went well. I squeaked out just over 50k; the last 13k were written between the 27th and the 30th. I still have another 20k or so to go on that first draft. Then I'll set it aside for aging. When I come back to it, I fully expect it to pick up another 20k or so. My first draft is really dialogue-heavy, with little in the way of description or exposition. Better to get something down and have something to work with.

The project that I mentioned being stalled on is moving forward slowly, but mostly by moving in reverse. First, I threw out the 16k I'd already written. (OK, I saved it on my hard drive because I may discover that those words belong elsewhere.) I started to outline again. I wrote a few hundred words. I stalled. Yesterday, I saw the end of the book with sudden clarity. I think I can complete the outline now and start writing in earnest.

The next few weeks are going to be primarily given over to family matters, but with a PDA, a flash drive, and a laptop, I can work on my writing whenever there's a spare moment. It's good to feel that my writing's going somewhere.