New Light Casting Shadows

There has been a lot going on in my world lately – mainly surrounding my books.

I, strangely enough, am sticking to my plan. I set out to read my Urban Fantasy drafts this year, and I’m doing it. And there is a boatload to adjust and amend. But there is some good guts there, with some real gems woven within them. Good characters, evil characters, and so-so characters.

Both books definitely need work, but so far – I’m actually quite happy with it. Bear in mind that this is the first time I’ve actually reads them since I wrote them years ago, lol. They have never been edited or even revised. Raw drafts.

So my plan is after I finish reading the second book of this Trilogy, I’m going to look at my original plans for the third book and have some major adjustments inserted. And then I’m going to start my edits on Books I and II.

You see… there is so much happening in this world that I have created. And there is still a heap of things that my characters need to get through before the trilogy can end.

And then there is my friend, and she has suggested that perhaps I might like to keep writing stories set in this world – and you know what? She’s right. I would like to do that. It’s a world that I have built from the ground up. It’s a world that I love. But how many stories can really stem from just one world?

Then I look at all my other books that are all thrillers based in the real world, and I wonder why I couldn’t do this with my Urban Fantasy stuff. After all – it’s real world based.

Over the past couple of days I have been basically bed ridden with a super nasty head cold, but it has also given me a load of time to think about this world. And I have officially changed the title of the series from The Talent Trilogy to The Divitis Trilogy. (Divitis means Talented in Latin – don’t you think everything sounds so much better in Latin that English?) And I have also changed the Book titles.

So. It’s going to take a lot of work to bring these books up to reading scratch, but I think I can do it. No… I know I can. Wish me luck!

Here is a little taste of what could possibly come – sometime in the future…. Maybe.

 

 

 

 

Lucky Number ‘13

And so we see another year out, and welcome another year into our lives. Every New Year starts out with a wealth of positivity and dreams of good fortune. I am no different in the hopes and dreams of my endeavours. And so, I lay before you all – a list of thirteen goals and objectives that I hope to meet or obtain for this 2013^th year. No – these are not resolutions, because I am not one to make resolutions… but these are the things that I would like to accomplish this year.

Whether they happen or not is a different story, and you can be sure that it’s a story that I will one day tell.

Some of these objectives are biggish, and some are a lot smaller. But regardless of size, they are still progress.

So here are the Lucky Thirteen for the 13^th year:

1. Write Venetian Nights. Currently 5k into it, and I can’t wait to get this highly charged thriller out to readers.
   

   Draft working cover

2. Renew my commitment to Parchment Place. Everything lapsed in 2012 due to the arrival of Abigail, but 2013 is the year to re-establish my blogging drive.
3. Read a minimum of 50 books (I managed to get through 52 in 2012 – but I did read a big chunk of those while on maternity leave!)
4. Buy a new car (Somebody smashed into me in 2012, and wrote ours off…. Actually, my husband and I wrote both our cars off within three weeks of each other.)
5. Read, review, and make a few decisions about the Talent Trilogy, and decide what work takes priority.
6. Put together my graphic design portfolio, and do the odd piece of work for people in that field.  
7. Publish, or secure a contract to publish a piece of my longer work.
8. Clean up my email accounts, and unsubscribe me from stuff I never read. All it does is clog up my virtual world.
9. Take Abby overseas – preferably to Bali, but anywhere will do. (I’m feeling the need of a Balinese holiday this year)
10. Make it through my best friend’s wedding with Abby in tow, and me as the best man. (Yup – you did just read that correctly.) And also make it through my Mum’s wedding in April.
11. Teach Abby all that I can possibly teach her, and have fun doing it.
12. Let go of Mediterranean Dreams. Seriously.
13. And lucky number 13 – Win the lottery.  (You always have to chase after something a little unrealistic, but something that could potentially be real… right?)

So there you have it. That’s the 2013 list…

Now let’s see how much of that I can actually achieve. (I can’t believe that it has actually taken me 6 days to get this post up on my blog! – but at least it’s there.)

And to launch the year off – I thought that I would share Abby’s favourite new song with you all. Quite appropriate, I think! 

 

 

Back on the wagon

Yes, you all read that correctly. I am officially back on the writing wagon – that same wagon I have been trying to climb back on for the past two months. However – introducing my new daughter to the world was a much more important job. But now that she is ‘sleeping like a baby’, it means that I can get a little writing work done!

So – this is a little update for you all since the last post I wrote on my writing stuff – Having a little faith…

Last week I rewrote the opening scenes for The Mediterranean Source. I’d had some feedback from one of my critique partners that I needed to bolster up the main character motivations. This was some seriously good feedback as the main character only really became the main character when I re-edited the book last November. So to give her more motivation for doing what she does was something that I really needed to work on. And – I am happy to say that my critique partner had a read of it, and thought that it was a much stronger opening for the book. It was excellent to have that feedback as I’ve been feeling a little rusty on the writing front lately. I need to re-sharpen my writing claws!

Needless to say, after rewriting the opening scene, I dived into editing again. Man, it felt amazing. It felt so damn good to be immersing myself back into my own world and story. I had to drag myself out of it whenever Abby woke, but it was just so damn good to be back.

So – that’s what I am doing right at the moment. Editing. Yippeee! And it’s a lovely way to ease myself back into the game as well.

Tijuana Nights is really sitting at the forefront of my mind, and I really want to get back into writing it once I finish editing The Mediterranean Source. So while I edit, I will be thinking about that story, and what I think it needs. I think that I will redo some of the planning on it, but structurly – the storyline remains the same. There are some characters that need a little work done on them to round them out a bit better, so I will probably start with that before I continue writing the book.

The Second book of the Talent Trilogy needs to be finished. Gack. I know. Honestly, I only have a couple of thousand words to write on it, and it’s finished, but something has been holding me back with it. That book had a number of alternative endings – any of which I could use. However, I’m going to go with the one that seriously ramps up some emotions I think. Once I complete it – I need to throw myself into some serious planning for the third book, and that’s gonna mean re-reading the first and second book for me to do it. (Thank god I have a Kindle!) When I originally planned this trilogy years ago – it was a good plan – it just wasn’t robust enough for the world I was creating. I never expected the Talent world to get so big. Now it needs to be broken down and sorted out before I continue.

In other news, I have been reading books like a fricking machine. My goodness, I can’t quite believe how many I am cranking through! It’s all this downtime while I am feeding Abby that is allowing me to read so much. It’s amazing. Once again – thank god I have a Kindle (or else it would be a real pain in the backside trying to turn the pages.)

Abby is growing like a wee mushroom. Every day is different. Some days are challenging, others are a breeze. She’s sleeping well through the night now, and it’s a hell of a relief for us. Every day we thank our lucky stars that she sleeps for decent periods through the night. This week she is transitioning into her own room. It’s a scary thing for me! When she finally has her first night in her own room, I know that I’m going to feel a bit off-key about it. I guess any new mother would be the same – even if it is only across the hall! Last night I had a chair delivered that is now in Abby’s room so I can sit in there with her to feed and settle her when needed. It’s a relief knowing that I can stay in there when I need to. When she’s older and she has her own bed – I’ll put the chair in my library.

She smiles loads now, and every now and then she even has a giggle. When I sing to her (off key, might I add!) she smiles, coos, and tries to sing along with me. It’s rather gorgeous. These are moments that I never want to miss… and ones that I’m afraid I will once I go back to work at the end of July. However – if I win Lotto, I guess I won’t miss a thing. *fingers crossed* It’s just so lovely seeing her grow and develop.

Life is very busy being a mother, wife, and writer. Every moment is worth it though.

 

Monday Musings

Achieving goals - one step at a time.

Well, today my head is swimming with all sorts of things. But the thing that seems to be taking up the most room in there is the fact that I have finished editing and revising The Mediterranean Source. (This is proof that deadlines work!)

I didn’t manage to get any editing done on Saturday though. For some reason my head just wasn’t in it, even though I wanted to do it. This sort of thing happens to creative people all the time, and it seems to happen without any rhyme or reason. Believe me, when it happens to me, I turn into this angry little hamster, and I am not a nice person to be around. Especially now with the fact that I am an overemotional pregnant wreck half the time, who generally just needs her own space to even try and think clearly!

But yesterday, I closed the door, plugged in, and smashed through the rest of the book. It took hours and hours. But I refused to move until I had it done.

So… some of my darlings are now dead, another darling is a depressed workaholic, and other darlings get to live happily ever after. Not all is rosy in the world… but it in the great scheme of things, life is pretty good for those darlings.

So… what am I musing about this week?

• I managed to edit and revise my way through nearly 60,000 words of The Mediterranean Source in 27 days. Not to mention… there was quite a bit of time where it was down time… and I wasn’t getting through much at all. But once I found my groove, I really rocked my way through it. Now, if I didn’t moonlight in the world of Contract Management, then I probably could have edited and revised my way through that in a much shorter period of time.
• The Mediterranean Source is now out with friends to completely nit-pick the shizzle out of it, and to double check my facts. Now I guess I need to think about who it will be sent to in terms of the publishing world, and I guess I had better write up a synopsis for it etc. (I have done this many times in the past, but never have I ever been happy with them.) 
• The second book of the Talent trilogy is still waiting in the wings for its final scenes to be written. It can stay there till I’m good and ready. I don’t think it will take me too long, but in the meantime, I have to try and think straight for a few moments on real life. Lots of planning and house stuff needs to happen in a very short period of time, and at this stage, nothing is going according to plan. If things continue to slide, then I’m going to end up throwing all my toys, and I will no longer take responsibility for my own actions.
• I’m tired. It’s official. I am starting to slow down (and it’s not just because I have finished this book). I really need a break from the EDJ, but that’s not going to happen for another few weeks. I have no tolerance for anything right now, let alone tolerance for myself when I forget things. But… I am trying to forgive myself, instead of beating myself up about it all the time. This child will come into the world within the next 10-12 weeks… and then it will be a whole new ballgame. At the moment, people are still expecting things from me… but they should really quit while their ahead. I permanently have a wriggling and jiggling child in me, and I can no longer maintain any sense of focus with that constantly happening. I would much rather not have any expectations of me right now, and to just kind of bounce along with whatever. Much less stress that way, thank you very much.

I think that’s it from me for the moment. I must admit, I am overly chuffed with myself for finally sorting this manuscript out. It needed to happen, and it’s needed to happen for a very long time. I guess I’m quite relieved that this part of it is over. (Until I get all the nit-picky feedback!)

Ciao for now. Hope you all have a super duper week.

P.s. Forgot to say. On the weekend, this blog was awarded for inspiration. But I’ll blog about that later on when I have a few moments.

 

Monday Musings

For some of you it will be morning, and for some of you it won’t be. This morning our power went off right before I was about to jump in the shower. Needless to say, this morning has been a bit of an upheaval with me having to get everything together to go and shower at my office. I’m sure everyone really needed to know that. However, this brings me onto the subject of organisation. The only reason why I even managed this morning (in my ‘pregnant-brained’ state) was because I had everything ready last night. If I didn’t, then it really would have turned to chaos in our household.

And because I was so organised for writing on the weekend… I managed to crank through more than 22,000 words of edits on my manuscript. Yep, I know. That’s a hell of a lot. I now have about 12,500 words remaining in this manuscript to get through. However, there is a catch. This is the ending of the book that I am readjusting. I need to blow something significant up, kill a couple of people, throw another character into an awful state of depression, and then… just perhaps… everyone can live happily ever after. And that’s quite a bit to re-write and sort out. So… it may take me this week to get my head around it.

Fingers crossed that I finish it properly by the end of November. That’s still the goal. And if I finish it early, then I’ll try to wrap up the ending of the second book of the Talent trilogy.

Lots on my plate at the moment!! (Without even mentioning the fact that I work long hours, travel a lot, have a whole life I need to live, as well as grow a child.)

So what am I a’musing’ myself with this week?

1. I’m amping myself up to finish the edits on this book, and flick it through to friend in Spain so that she can double-check me on the facts, and through to another friend who is going to nitpick the crap out of it. Then it can go out into the great world. My goodness… the nerves I am experiencing right now is beyond belief. Who knows if anyone will accept it. There will probably be a boatload of rejections come in, and many more edits to go. But at least I’m giving this process a shot now, whereas in the past I have always hidden behind my many piles of draft manuscripts. I’m actually okay with this though. Perhaps it has just taken me this long to actually prepare myself mentally for this challenge that lies ahead. I didn’t want to jump before I was ready. I didn’t want to submit any half-assed manuscripts that I knew could have been better.
2. Our new bed arrived in last week, and far out – it’s amazing. Naturally, it took a night or two to get used to, but my goodness. I wake up, and actually feel as though the sleep I have had is decent – even if I wake up several times during the night for various reasons. I’m very impressed.
3. I can’t wait to finish the second book of Talent. I just simply cannot wait to get it off my plate. The fact that I hadn’t opened the darn thing since July is really saying something. My creative brain just simply was not functioning at full capacity, and I couldn’t work myself out of the rut. It took a huge break away from it, and focussing on other tasks to actually let me work out a solution to the problems I was facing with it.
4. Christmas is just over a month away, and I’m so not ready for this. This year, I have hardly bought any Christmas presents… I haven’t even discussed it with the husband, and my head is so wrapped up in the fact that I have these books to finish, and a child growing, that I can’t even begin to think about Christmas on top of it all. Most people I know are well and truly organised, and they have got most of their presents for their family. But I tell you what…. I am seriously looking forward to paddling around in a paddling pool when it’s too hot. At the end of last week, the heat was at about 20 odd degrees at our place, and I was seriously baking. I cannot wait for the paddling pool to arrive at our place from my sister-in-laws house so I can set it up and potter about in it. It’s either that, or I’m going out in public to throw myself in the sea at every opportune moment. (And I highly doubt the public will appreciate that!)
5. I’m still trying to work out where to put our flatmate, all her stuff, and all of Bumpkin’s stuff until Bumpkin’s room is finished and organised.
   Speaking of Bumpkin’s room… within the next couple of weeks, we are going to tear apart our spare room. Yes, seriously. The walls are coming down, so is the ceiling… new wiring and lighting is going in, insulation installed, and then it will be re-built. Properly. Sigh. Big job, and I am very quickly becoming rather useless with carrying/lifting anything of significant weight. Yes, I am now becoming a stately pregnant woman who goes to anti-natal classes every week, and meets with her midwife almost as often.

After reading through that list… I really do think I’m musing on enough this week. So I think I’ll love you and leave you all for the moment. Till next time…

 

Wanted: Pieces of clarity

Recently, I know that I have been shocking at the whole blogging thing. But actually, it’s not just the blog that is suffering right now, it all my writing endeavours. Except dreaming up new storylines – I still seem to be good at that!

Journey into Imagination - Claude McCoy

There has been much going on in my life recently that is distracting the crap out of me, and I just can’t seem to gather one clear thought together. Everything is scattered about and most of the time I feel as though I am scrambling around trying to find pieces of clarity amongst the mess.

But I know that this will pass. That is one of the reasons why I am taking a forced break from writing. This is so I can let my head clear from whatever fog has formed around it, and to see clearly once again on the other side.

This has happened to me before, but never for such an extended period. And when it does happen, I feel completely unstuck from everything. Some people call this writers block. I’ve always called it ‘middle-book blues’.

However, this time I’m not so much in the middle of a book. I’m in the middle of writing a series, and I am literally pages away from finishing the second book. But for the last five weeks or so, I have been at a loss of what to do with the ending. I just simply cannot decide.

I have been thinking that perhaps I should just start writing a bunch of alternate endings, and putting a poll out for people to vote for their favourite. Only, I know that would take too long and I really need to start writing the third and final installment shortly. I have set myself a deadline to get this trilogy finished, and I plan on sticking to it.

So there you have it. I am a little unstuck from my writing at the moment. I know I have been on ‘radio silent’ on my blog for a while now…  But I will try to be better. (You would not believe how many blog posts I have written over the past five weeks that are partials, unfinished, unclear, and randomly all over the place.)

Ah well, that’s life, and this is where I am at.

 

Urban Fantasy – Pass or Fail.

I am taking the Urban Fantasy Masterclass, and I have just read the first section of the very first email, and it talks about Urban Fantasy conventions and rules that apparently most UF writers live by. The teacher of this class also says that “it would take an exceptional book—and a brave editor—to bypass them”:

• Urban fantasy is told in first person. (Fail. Not even close. Told in 3rd Omnicient.)
• You need a strong willed and feisty female protagonist. (Yeah? No. Fail. She’s more of the antagonist.)
• Urban fantasy must have an urban setting. (Mostly Achieved. Apart from trips to Antarctica and the Amazonian forest)
• You need lots of action. (Well… I hope that I have achieved this. Let’s wait and see….)
• Sex sells. Give your protagonist a love interest multiple love interests. (Um. Fail. Antagonist apparently likes sex though.)
• You need a compelling villain. (*sigh* I have no idea if they are compelling or not. I can no longer see the forest through the trees. But I’ve got my fingers crossed.)

Apparently a few of these conventions can be broken, which is kind of a relief considering I have obviously already done that. Might just make this trilogy a little harder to sell…. apparently?

Oh, and one more rule that every Urban Fantasy novel should have: Magic. Of some form.

So… I guess that in terms of taking this class, I am hoping to seek some sort of guidence with world building, action scenes, and anything else that I can possibly glean from this course. I would like to start the first major edit of Talent -Book I soon, and anything will help considering I have never written Urban fantasy before.

Who knows what will happen to my imagination after this. It may run rampant with future Urban Fantasy stories… or I may just quite while I’m ahead. Writing Urban Fantasy, that is.

Oh, and just for the record – there will still be no stoned fairies in this series. Just saying…

 

Progress and life

I got a new album the other day of one of my favourite Drum and Bass artists – Chase & Status. I have seriously been bouncing along to it since I got it. It is providing me the perfect soundtrack to end this book to. Especially their track End Credits. You can take what you will from the lyrics… but just know that this book is shortly about to completed, and the stored into the literary drawer for safe keeping.  

I had issues with writing since the first weekend in June, because I seriously got stuck on a plot line. Very stuck. I needed my characters to find someone they know, dead. Yep. It was the only thing that could happen, or else the scene would have been completely pointless. It would have been just another stagnant scene that I would be cutting in the edits. Last weekend (the 10k weekend) I actually worked this little kink out – and finally decided who to kill. Tough decisions… Kill your darlings.

This weekend I will finish this book. I’m thrilled, sad, and excited all at the same time.

Book III is somewhere on the horizon. I just don’t know when I’m going to write it yet. It actually makes me really really sad knowing that I am two thirds of the way through this trilogy. I am going to miss the characters so damn much when I finally finish. I think that a part of me wants to drag this out for as long as possible… which means me procrastinating with writing. Not a good idea, people. I just have this massive attachment to all the characters in the Talent series… even all the badasses. I love the badasses. In fact, I think that throughout the editing, I’m gonna ramp them up even more to become even more badass than ever.

And so the end is near.

This really does scare me, because that means that now I will be going onto at least two months of editing. Yeah, holy crap is right. The month of July to edit The Mediterranean Source, and in August, I’m going to do the first edit rounds of Talent – Book I.

Onwards and upwards.

In other news, I was talking to a friend last night, and she was giving me some really good advice towards the publishing side of things. And you know what? I think I’m a little sadistic. Instead of just being scared of the rejection from publishers, I’m looking forward to it. I mean, what is up with that? I want the rejections… I want to hear what publishers have to say when they reject my work… Shocking, I know. I’m sure that I will probably get pretty sick of it after a while, but for the meantime, I want to hear it. up front, and centre.

Anyway. I’ll be finishing this book this weekend, and then starting up the editing, and then one day – I’m going to get rejected from a publisher and revel in it like a wee piglet playing in the muck.

 

The Urban-Fantasy Debate

I must admit, I am starting to get quite confused about what urban-fantasy actually is. Now, this is not an IQ test, and nor should I be questioning whether or not I am writing it at the moment – but I seem to have had a lot of conflicting information.

Someone once told me that urban-fantasy is a fantasy novel set in an urban environment, such as a city that we know – like New York, or even a town. So because of this explanation, I have been called the Talent series that I have been writing, ‘urban-fantasy’.

Then someone told me that no, this is not a true definition of the urban-fantasy genre. Urban-fantasy has other-worldly creatures in it, like warlocks, vampires, werewolves, or stoned fairies hanging out under a Central Park tree in New York.

Do I seriously have to write about stoned fairies in my trilogy for it to be considered urban-fantasy? You have got to be kidding me. That is the major question I have been asking myself since I heard about that definition. Don’t even get me started on when someone told me my trilogy was ‘paranormal’. Nor do I believe that my series falls under the actual ‘fantasy’ banner either, although it could potentially come close.

So many experts but yet they are all ambiguous with their explanations. So after all this confusion, today I have officially turned to Wikipedia, and according to their definition – I am most definitely writing and urban-fantasy series.

Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.

As for my ‘supernatural’ elements, they are a far cry from vampires or werewolves, and all that jazz. I’m sure that there are many opinions out there about what this genre actually is… but I’m sorry folks – there is absolutely no way any fairy is going to end up in this trilogy, even if I do actually like them.

So there you have it. My mystery is solved. I officially know what genre I am writing in. (Well… as official as Wikipedia is, anyway!)

 

In a world of angels and demons

I am completely immersed in the fight between good and evil.

My characters are all behaving against their own sets of moral codes, but that’s okay. They need to stretch out a little bit. To say that ‘they are acting out of character’ would probably be a severe statement for what they are doing. But they are starting to stretch my limitations a little. And very soon, I’m going to have to throw them all into dire straits, and see who comes out smiling at the end of it.

But we all have our own angels and demons, whether we are fictional characters or not. My demons are currently telling me that no, I don’t need to work hard to finish off this trilogy.

My angels are praising me for reaching my 8,000 word goal for the long weekend. It was a bit like flogging a dead horse when I was trying to write the last 1500 words… I eventually got there, but for seven of those hours – I was writing less than 100 words an hour. My husband was far from impressed, but there was no flaming way I was going to leave that library until I had them all down. It was torture.

My demons were telling me that Twitter and Facebook was a far more interesting and important prospect than writing. My angels sat there waiting patiently for me to finish.

In the midst of all this, each of my characters has their own music playlists that I listen to while I’m writing them. I find this incredibly useful for feeling the characters out, and getting into ‘their zone’. But due to the evilness of some of my characters, I have been listening to some incredibly dark music, that if you ever caught your daughters listening to, you would probably have them committed, or at least seeking psychological help. And then I also have the total opposite of music playing as well – classical, baroque, and music that represents all the light, goodness, and love in life.

And to top it all off, I am so immersed in this world that I have created, that I am dreaming about my characters and this world at night… when I’m actually just trying to get some rest from it all. If only I could record my dreams in some way… I think that this is where the tortured artist/writer starts coming in. Dreaming it, living it, and wishing that it would all just be over – but not.

I guess that I just never knew exactly how hard it would be to write a series… now I know… and it’s been a hell of a learning experience. I’ll miss these characters when I finish. In the meantime – I still have to finish this book off, and I have one more to go. Those angels and demons can push and pull me all they like… it’s still going to happen.