Well, it's official...

I'm now a published author with no currently available published books. 

Yep. It's so weird to say that out loud. O_o

Last week I received my return of rights letter for the 10 pubbed and 2 contracted books I had with Samhain Publishing. That's two UF series and one SFR series.

I'm really happy with how quickly Samhain got these letters out. In spite of everything, I will always be super grateful for the opportunity Samhain Publishing gave my books. As well as the editors I worked with, because I learned a lot from each of them.

Like I've mentioned before, and as sad as it makes me, I have no immediate plans to submit or self-publish any of these titles at the moment. I'm not saying never. Just right now. I didn't buy any of the covers, and am not going to rush out to get new ones. I also won't be proofreading or re-editing any of these just yet.

Maybe I'll consider doing this one day. But not right now.

So I have to say Goodbye for now to my beloved Sierra & Co. and my Recast kick-ass guys & girls. *sniffle* Besides, I still have my paperback editions to help me reminisce. But I need to let go. Even though the last book in the Elsewhere series--the one that pretty much ties up the whole of the Sierra series--hasn't been published at all.

Hopefully Willow will get her chance someday...

Funny thing about all of this is that the other day I sorted through all my previously published novellas and novels, and discovered that I've had over 40 stories published. But because of publisher closures and many other problems, none of them are currently available. It's bizarre. But it's okay.

I have to look ahead now, not back. I need to keep writing the many ideas that hound my brain and hold me hostage until the story is written. I also need to start travelling a new path, and never stop the pursuit of my dream. Because at the end of the day, the fact that I get to write all these stories is a dream come true.

I have several projects (in different stages of completion) in another genre for another market that I want to focus on. I need to see how that goes, and if it leads anywhere. I'm also enjoying the short story writing and will continue to send them out to anthology and magazine markets.

I'm a writer. 

Writing is what I do. 

Being published is what I'll continue to strive for.

Happy writing!

Willow's first draft is done!

Yep. That's right.

 

The first draft of Willow's story is done & done. (As Homer Simpson would say, LOL.)

 

I'll probably start writing down bits and pieces that I want to add--because that always happens when I finish writing a story--but for now: the FIRST DRAFT IS DONE.

I'm so excited.

 

This is a story that I've wanted to write for months, so when I sat down and got started it kinda poured out of me. Willow was very chatty and I had a great time delving into her life. It's an urban fantasy book set in a fictional suburb located in Wollongong. That's where Willow ended up going to Uni, and she liked it so much she decided to stay. Oh, and it also takes place 5 years after A STITCH ON TIME.

 

Willow's all grown up and might be away from Sierra's influence, but trouble still has a knack of following her as much as it did her sister.

 

I'm so glad that both Lavie and Willow now have their own stories. Well, only the first draft of their stories are done at this stage. I need to revise both of them, but still.

I'm also really excited about these spin-off novels, because these two characters were screaming for me to write their book even before Sierra's series was written. But they had to wait. ;) Now that they're out of my head (because they wouldn't stop hounding me all year!) I might be able to concentrate on other stories--other worlds and characters.

 

Anyway, here's the word count:

 

I reckon that after the revision process is done, both stories will end up with a word count of 70-75k. There are a bunch of details and lists that I'll need to add/layer when I get stuck into them. And I'm really looking forward to it.

 

Anyway, just thought I'd post an update. I've been working so hard on writing this story as well as meeting my annual NaNoWriMo goal, that I think I might take the rest of the week off. Catch up on some reading, stationery sorting, and maybe even some brainstorming.

 

See ya!

 

BTW, if you're interested in finding out about the SIERRA FOX series, click below:

 

Adding Words turned into a First Draft

See this little guy on the left? He's my writing buddy and last week decided to hang out behind my laptop while I was working away. LOL.

 

Loki is so cute. Though he's a bit confused this week because my daughter has a 2-week break from school. He's always iffy the first week and then gets upset when she eventually goes back.

 

I've been busy working on the first draft of Lavie's story. As you already know it's a spin-off from Sierra's series. I had a great time writing it, but my estimation of how many words the first draft would be was way off. I was thinking 80k, but it turned out to be: 66,631.

 

Strange that a story leaning heavily on demonology should happen to include 666 in the total word count. :P

 

The first draft might be done but the research and the list of things that I want to add/clarify during the second draft continues. But that's not something I'm going to tackle right now. I want to put the story away for a while, let it sit so I can get some distance. Of course that doesn't mean I won't continue to take notes, because I will. And I'll need to update the Series Bible.

 

What I enjoyed the most about writing this story--asides from the interaction between Lavie & Saul--was how the world kinda took a left turn. Spooks were no longer the main focus and I expanded into the demon side of things. I also read The Goetia to help expand my knowledge of the demonic, which I found very helpful. Especially since I'm already using one of the demons mentioned in there.

 

It always feels good to write another story, and I really enjoyed this one. I'm actually looking forward to going back to layer and enhance a lot of what I wrote. That's the thing about first drafts, they rush out of me so fast that I pretty much forget the nitty-gritty of what I wrote afterwards. That's actually a pretty good thing, because when I go back to it I have no problem cutting what needs to go. As well as adding what was missing.

 

Okay. That's enough writing talk for now. I'm just excited about getting the draft finished. Yay.

 

Today happens to be our 15th Wedding Anniversary. Woohoo!

Hubby went to work and I spent the morning writing blog posts for the upcoming release of A STITCH ON TIME. I'm just glad I decided on the topics the other day, otherwise I might have gotten stumped. ;)

 

Well, that's it for now. Just thought I'd drop in and post an update.

 

See ya!