Blissmas 2014

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Yeah, I talk. A lot.

Update time and contest, yay. (Tl:dr Go down to the bottom of the page if you're just here for the contest...)

I'm doing a crapton of stuff (that's an English crapton and not a metric crapton) so I'm going to throw a bunch of stuff on the page and walk away, okay?

First; I have all edits back for Coming Together: Among the Stars, and I've started the final layout and read through process. I hope (yes, I will) to have it done by November 1st for send-off to the publisher. All typos and mistakes remaining after this time are totally my bad, because this is my first time editing something, and I'm mildly less qualified for it than I should be, what with having a degree in lit and all...

Starting Monday the 20th (that's next week) I'll be featuring different authors from my collection here on the blog; all of my authors are wonderful and I can't wait for you to meet them...

I am also talking to the International Still's Disease Foundation and having them tell you a little about what the money we raise for this project will be going for. As always, Coming Together is smut for a good cause.

Speaking of which, I recently got accepted into Coming Together: Pro Bono. This collection will be raising money to benefit Dear Author's legal fund with the kerfluffle that's going on with Ellora's Cave. There's a lot of bad shit going on in my circles, and I only have direct confirmation from one author - who is dealing with too much shit to get involved in this right now - so I won't say more, but if you want, there are plenty of places to read about what's going on there.

For me, the Dear Author vs EC is particularly important because I don't believe a publisher should try to silence a blogger/reviewer when someone is calling them out on their bullshit. There has to be a check and balance situation in place. Writers are - unfortunately - treated as commodities by a lot of publishers who know (note that I am not denying that this is the case) that there will always be more writers willing to be exploited for someone else's profit on the whole "exposure" and "excitement" line.

The story accepted into this anthology is one of my first ones out the door, On the Fly, which was previously published in ReadErotica Vol 3. There will be a print edition, for those of you who like to hold your books and smell them. (People keep telling me books smell. I... guess my nose isn't that good.) I don't want anyone to make a mistake; this is a reprinted story! But there will be a ton of other really fantastic writers in the collection with me, so you should probably buy it anyway....

Other news

A reprint of Go Down with the Ship will be available from JMS Books, LLC in their Hot Flash line, short stories on October 19th. This story is still available in the Whetting the Appetite collection, so if you bought that, you don't need to rebuy Go Down with the Ship. If you want to get a little taste of the collection before you buy Whetting, this is a good opportunity to do so.

That being said, for the next few months, you can get Whetting the Appetite at a 20% discount from JMS Books with the code WHET. Also, this collection will be available in print some time in the next few months; I don't have an exact date yet. So, there's that.

On the same line, Room for Dessert, which is a lesbian / adultery story, will also be available from JMS as a stand alone

Further further of interest: My London Steam series, (Shadow of Kenfig, The Blister Effect and Synchronous Rotations) previously published by Torquere Books and currently out of print, will be re-issued with a new cover and some previously unreleased material (about 5 - 7,000 words, not quite sure yet, I'm still tweaking. I must finish tweaking by Nov 16th. Argh.) as a single volume in mid-December.

Yes, I know I'm doing a ton of reprints recently; I guess that's what happens when you have a backlist that's gone out of copyright. I dunno, I'm just going with it.

Ripped, another story from Whetting the Appetite, is going to be available as an audio from Quiver and Arch productions, more information as I get it....

I have been involved in preliminary discussions to have Roll released as an audio book as well, more information, again, as I get it.

In Other, Other news:

I should be getting Blues back from my editor on October 26th for my first round of content edits, so I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year, no matter what anyone says, and if you find I am trying it anyway, you have my permission to slap me. November this year is Local Edit Your Shit Month.

I'm almost finished writing Classic, I expect to have that knocked out by the end of the month, if not sooner.

I still have to go through Howling Bitch for a second draft, but I'm on Chapter 10 of 23, so hopefully that shouldn't take too long... I think I fixed most of the broken stuff...

I completely finished editing Marked Man, which is good, since I just got my cover info stuff yesterday and that's rapidly moving into production.

I have a short story that I need to finish by Nov 1st (another 1,500 words or thereabouts.)

When I attended Mid-Atlantic Erotica Writer's Retreat (MEWR), we played Cards Against Humanity. Here's the recording of that evening... for your entertainment. Headphones required, and you probably shouldn't drink anything.

CONTEST

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sommer (time Blues)

Make with the clickie, donate some assistance for Sommer Marsden, one of my favorite writers, who is going through a really tough time right now...

If you can help, please do. If not, read around these blogs and check out the hot kisses (snogs - is it just me or does the British slang for making out sound more like a fluffy little monster than a kiss?) and spread the word...

Tweet or Facebook

Snog for Sommer! Enjoy the excerpts, win prizes and donate to help @sommer_marsden and family fight cancer! http://ht.ly/Ao8Lv

So, here's your Snog for today, a preview from Blues, sequel to my best-selling New Adult LGBT novel, Roll, which will be published in March, 2015...


Beau drew his lover into his arms, into a tight embrace. Vin's heart was frantic under Beau's fingertips, even through a jacket and vest and t-shirt, loud and anxious and throbbing. Beau ran his fingers through Vin's hair, product-perfect waves of highlighted medium brown. Vin smelled of fancy shampoo, cologne, smoke, and coffee. A rich, masculine scent that never failed to stir the swirl of wanting in Beau's belly.

"You know that I love you, right?" Vin said, his voice muffled against Beau's throat, breath warm. Beau was somewhat taller than his boyfriend, rested his chin on Vin's head, pulling him closer into the embrace, feeling the cold of the truck's side against his back where his shirt had rucked up.

"I know." And Beau did know that.

Vin tilted his head up and Beau kissed his forehead, the flat planes of each cheek. Vin opened his mouth, inhaled. Beau slid one hand around Vin's lower back, pulled him closer, the other hand going up to cup his chin, hold that teasing, torturous mouth just where he wanted it, thumb caressing the stubled skin of Vin's cheek. He descended on Vin's mouth, tasting the sweet flavor of tobacco. Soft kisses, easy and light, not giving in to Vin's wordless demands to thrust his tongue in. Nuzzling, play kisses, meant to drive his lover wild with wanting, until they were both so spun up in each other that nothing else mattered.

He couldn't hold out as long as he'd wanted; Ann-Marie's grief had upset him and Vin wasn't the only one who wanted some sort of reassurance. He deepened the kiss, his tongue plundering the depths of Vin's mouth, tasting, exploring, and then just plain fucking Vin's mouth with his own. The mingled sound of their harsh breathing, air rushing in and out of their lungs, was erotic and close. He could feel the cool exhale against his ear and throat. Beau slid his hand down, worked the thin t-shirt out of Vin's jeans, put both hands beneath to hold and grip that firm skin, caressing and eager. Vin reached up, grabbed a handful of Beau's hair and yanked, bringing a tingle of pain across Beau's scalp. He slid one thigh between Beau's, his cock hard and hot against Beau's leg.

Vin was eager, hurried. His hands cupped the back of Beau's neck, slid down his chest, found the buttons on his shirt and slid one out of the placket.

Beau shivered as cold air rushed in to fill the void, down along his chest and across his belly. His skin erupted in gooseflesh. "Jesus, it's cold out here," he muttered into Vin's ear.

"So?" Vin's clever, quick fingers found Beau's belt buckle and worked it, rubbing the heel of his hand against Beau's groin. The temptation of that hand was too much. Beau let his head loll back against the truck's window, staring up at the stars. Vin opened up Beau's fly, his fingers pressed inside, seeking, searching, finding. Oh, God.

###

I'm offering a copy of Roll to people who comment, plus - and here's the really nice bit - you will get an ADVANCED COPY of Blues to read before anyone else can! So, comment. Donate. Help out one of the best smut writers EVER...

(You do not have to donate to win... just comment. Those who donate and say so will get an extra entry... As a note, 6.15 pounds is ~$10 US. Paypal will do these calculations for you.)

Eagerly Awaited Sequels

It's official. Roll's sequel, Blues, has been accepted for publication.

I'm not sure of the timeline at present; last year, I submitted Roll at the tail end of August for a February publication date; this year I've submitted Blues at the end of June... we'll see where I fit in on the calendar. I'll let y'all know as soon as I know.

Here's the rough draft 'blurb

College is supposed to be about finding yourself. Sometimes, you lose everything else. Rising sophomore Beau Watkins gave up everything to be with his boyfriend, Vin Reyes. Beau is disowned by his father, tormented by his brother, is rapidly running out of money, and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. On top of that, his boyfriend seems to see him as little more than a live-in maid. 

Troubled by word of his missing father and fighting nightmares of his own, Vin turns to alcohol to drown his pain. What's worse, a handsome transfer student is a little too interested in Beau. When Vin and Beau's happily-ever-after turns into a train wreck of drinking problems, resentment, insecurity, jealousy, and violence, they both try to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives. 

I already have an idea of what I want the cover to look like, so that should be easy enough.

For fans, I'll let you know a few secrets:

- Vin's family plays a much greater role in Blues, letting readers get a glimpse of the past, plus the reasons why his grandparents kept everything hidden from him.
- Beau discovers one of the reasons college sucks; you still have to keep your grades up while dealing with emotional turmoil.
- There are a few scenes where the ever-popular Hector has the spotlight, paving the way toward Hector's own novel, All That Jazz
- Ann-Marie fans will be happy to see that she has as big a role as ever; helping to keep her friends centered and stable. She's an extraordinarily strong woman, not in the Hollywood, shoot-first and never-ask-questions way, but smart, practical, and there for her friends. She also has her own novel coming up, Punked Up.
- I've already started work on the third book in the main trilogy, Classic, which will follow Beau off to a semester abroad...

The Schedule:

The plan is to finish Classic by mid to late September, then go back and edit Howling Bitch (book 2, Demoniac Codex) which will be published by Vamptasy on March 17th. That will bring me through... I should be done with that by the end of October, so then I'll set NaNoWriMo aside for writing Sins of Angels, Demoniac Codex, Book Three.

In the meanwhile, because I am horribly crazy, I've dragged out an old drawer story, Marked Man, and edited it thoroughly. I sent it off to a publisher, divided into two novels (the original draft of Marked Man was over 180,000 words, which is 3 times as long as Roll, just for point of reference.) I cut out some extraneous material and divided the remainder into two 75,000 word novels, A Marked Man and A Wanted Woman, under the series title The Forging of Souls.

Here's the rough blurb for book one, A Marked Man

Bastian Hooke, known to the underworld as Mace, is an assassin and a thief. He was the last person expected to carry out great deeds. But comes the Seeress with her prophecy and a sack of gemstones, and Bastian finds himself thrown headfirst into a quest he cannot possibly understand. Sought by a dark sorcerer, surrounded by secrets and lies on all sides, he is charged with the protection of the last of the dragonslayers... the very last thing he meant to do was fall in love.

Catreen An'dello has been divorced from her soul for ten years. Betrayed by her former lover to the dragon, imprisoned inside a living statue and nearly driven mad, she wishes nothing more than to forget. Desperate to ease her guilt and soothe her pain, Catreen drives a demon's bargain with the man who saved her soul. 

Can an assassin and a dragonslayer find the strength of will to save the kingdom from destruction?

The plan - provided, of course, that my publisher is interested in this book - is to release both books a few months apart, so Part One in, say,  July 2015, and then Part Two in November of that same year. (those are example dates, as the novel hasn't been accepted yet... )

That'll put me at December, and I'll probably take a few weeks off to do holiday stuff. I have a number of short stories slated for fall publication, including Fair Games, my first independent lesbian story. I'm pretty excited about this one, it'll be in the sequel to Duty & Desire, which is entitled For Love of a Soldier.

* fact about Fair Games, the introduction scene is taken almost verbatim from something that happened to me, quite a number of years ago....

So, that's me and my writing schedule up to the end of the year...

Other things; 

I'm doing my first publisher sponsored book-signing in September! Rose Caraway, Kristina Wright, and I will be at The Fountainhead Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia on the 19th, from 12:30 - 2:30 pm. If you're local to Richmond, please stop by, I'd love to meet fans. I'm very excited about this...

After that, I'm going to the Mid-Atlantic Erotica Writer's Retreat for the weekend, which will involve a lot of wine, a lot of erotica writers, and probably NOT a lot of actual writing... (I'm also bringing my Cards Against Humanity Deck... and seriously thinking about bringing a video recorder, because honestly, someone should film that...)

At some point, Rose is doing audiobooks for all of us who are writing for Sexy Librarian, which will include my zombie short story, Dead in the Water. I'll post that link as soon as it's available, because y'all want to hear that. (especially my friend Elliot, who has been nagging me for YEARS to read my work out loud... which you don't want me to do because I suck at reading out loud.)

Oh, and the deadline for submitting a sci-fi erotica story is coming up Real Soon Now, so if you're interested in doing that, please, please get on it!

Blues, a Sneak Peek

I got this review today, which got me thinking...

When I originally started writing Roll as a novel, I had the first half of the book set up for Beau to deal with his issues, and the second half for Vin to deal with his. As I continued writing, it just wasn't working out the way I wanted; Vin's stuff kept getting shoved off to deal with Beau.

(In my opinion, Beau is the main protagonist in this story, where Vin is the protagonist in the 2nd novel)

By the time I got to a point where I felt Beau was stable enough to deal with Vin's issues, I was already at a full-length novel word count. And while 60,000 is a short novel, 120,000 words is a LONG freaking novel... especially for a romance, which even mainstream romances tend to cap out at about 80,000 words. 130k (ish) would be a 400+ page novel...

I'd wanted to include a sneak peek chapter - since Blues was already almost completely written (altho not edited) by the time Roll was published, but inquiries to my editor said that wasn't feasible. I suspect many things; 1) a lot of authors don't always write sequels, they mean to and don't get 'round to it. Or like Robert Asprin who originally promised 1 or 2 Myth books per year and then there were several years between one novel and the next.... 2) Blues could suck, and then my publisher would have to reject it, leaving readers going "where is it?" and 3) I could change my mind about chapter 1 in Blues and then it doesn't mesh up with the published novel. In any case, I agreed that we should not publish the sneak peek chapter with the novel.

But I have written the whole book - it's out to my beta readers, altho I've only gotten one selection of notes back thus far... (One of my beta readers had a death in the family, and another one recently got married, so real life and all that. THIS IS NOT a complaint. I'm not going to be able to work on those edits until after I finish writing Howling Bitch, so there's plenty of time. I promise!!) In fact, I've even written the first couple of chapters of book three, Classic and outlined more than half of it.

But, in case you want it, here it is... (UNEDITED WORK IS UNEDITED!) Keep in mind this chapter has some spoilers, so if you haven't read Roll yet, you might want to not mess with this, okay? okay.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm only wordless because I have nothing else to add to this. Except thank you, you all are wonderful, and... holy crow...

So excited!

Let's just start today out with some blood-pumping music

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way...

My novel is available on Torquere's site... Amazon links will come up later today, and the paperback will (probably) be available for purchase "real soon." 

(Complete aside: I am soooo glad that I've always been pretty lazy with my hair, because I never, ever did the big hair look. Not even for "special occasions" like prom. Admittedly, my hair's rarely looked fabulous, but it's always been in a fairly classic style. French twist, braids, loose curls. I had a spiral perm back in the early 90s that was pretty awful, but only because it was so hard to keep it de-tangled.)

I'm going out to dinner with a dozen of my closest friends at one of my favorite restaurants. (Naysayers and last minute cancellations aside, I think I'll have fun)

I've got a few games planned out for my online release party. I'll post live from my phone for about half of it... (I'll also be taking my first ever trip through the downtown tunnel now that the Elizabeth River Crossing tolls are in place and that's not something to celebrate... grrrr! But at least I got my EZ Pass, so it's not like a major inconvenience or anything. Just stupidly expensive.)

I spent most of yesterday in talks and getting arranged new and exciting things! I'm going to be heading up a science fiction erotica collection for Coming Together. More details as I get them. Because you know, I can't have anything resembling an uncrazy schedule. But if you're an erotica writer, you like sci-fi, and you want to help a good cause, keep your eye on this space.

This is happening!

  

Blog Touring and Prize Packs

locket / keychain

I have some cool prizes and stuff that I want to give out to celebrate my first full length novel. A couple of lockets / keyfobs (I'll set them up whichever way you want, if you're my winner!) and some stickers, and a custom-made candle scent from Raven Hollow - Cognac and Cigar, which is a very masculine smell.

So, if you want to be entered in the drawings, there are a number of ways to go about it; you can go to any (or all!) of the blogs on my tour and leave a comment...

Starting today, go see what Beau has to say for himself in an interview. V.L. Locey was kind enough to let him ramble along on her blog... (there's going to be a follow up interview with Vin on Elizabeth Brook's page on Thursday! They were really fun to write up, you should decidedly check them out!)

I also have some stickers that I'll be sending out with every prize pack, so if you get a prize pack, I'll ask you if you're Team Vin or Team Beau.

Which means you'll really want to go check out the interviews so you can get to know my leading men a little better...

Another way you can be entered for the prize packs (I'll also be giving away two paperback copies of the book, signed and stickered!) is to go join my Facebook release party - you don't even need to be there for the main event. Just sign up that you're "attending" and you'll be entered to win.


That being said, there are also a few prizes that will be rewarded specifically for commenting, liking, or participating during the night of the actual party. I'll have a few silly things to do - and I'll be live-posting from the BierGarden where I'm having a locals' party to celebrate.

And lastly, if you haven't liked my Facebook Page or are not following me on Twitter, I'll give out extra entries for doing that. (Just "like" or "follow" and then say #TeamVin or #TeamBeau) If you are already liking or following, don't worry, I have something for Previous Fans as well, watch this space for more details!

Right time to Roll to me...

I have this calendar, you all know that, where I keep my writing / editing / blogging / real life / count down til submissions stuff...

Anyway, my timing's been all thrown off recently because of a number of different things, most of which involve my having to talk on the phone!

Let me tell you, I'm great with emails and facebook, semi-okay at Twitter, but usually not because Twitter seriously limits my word count, and I'm pretty fantastic in person, if you can get me to shut up once in a while because I sort of talk the way I write, on and on and on and on... you get the idea...

But I HATE being on the phone.

Like, I'd rather have my eyes poked with sporks.

So, in the last two weeks, of course, we have had - home issues that involved my having to talk to a plumber. Problems with the MMO I play that involved my having to talk to tech support not once, but twice, and I might further add that my problem was eventually solved by... someone on the forums giving me the solution. (Way to live up to your "worst company ever!" title, EA Games...)

I've also had to go to the bank and talk to a real person to make some changes to my bank account (no, thank you, I don't want to open a line of credit based on my home equity, isn't that how the housing bubble collapsed in the first place? I mean, it's all great and stuff that we HAVE all this money we could borrow... but no, thank you. Can we just make the changes I asked for??)

I've had to buy a television, buy another television (one of these days I'm seriously just going to tell my husband to FUCK OFF, NO! when he asks me stupid questions like "is it too late to cancel that order?") take back the first television when it arrived, deal with some extremely incompetent and even more extremely hostile returns-staff. (after dealing with the logistics of actually MOVING a 55" television around... because I drive a Toyota...) We eventually had to take said TV to a different location of the same store to get customer support / returns to work with us. Thank you Charlotte and Travis for being wonderful and helpful and NICE.....

My mother may or may not be coming to visit us, and we're not really sure when, but when is a bad time for you, honey, and I will probably fly in and need a ride and... look, really, just tell me when you're going to be here. But I won't believe you until you actually give me a flight number.

And in the middle of all this, I have been invited to participate in an exclusive anthology (meaning that I have been specifically invited to write a story, and the call won't be open to the "general public." More on that when I have contract in hand and official details and whatnot.) I have done edits for a short story. I have written and submitted another short story, and I have half-written a steampunk story that's due in 2 weeks. I still need to finish it if I'm going to submit in time, but at present, I may not be able to do so because I am getting buried under work.

I got finalFINAL edits back for Roll yesterday, noticed 5 typos in my final read through, and felt sort of bad about poking my editor for it, but.... ug. She assures me that I will find at least 2 more on release day.

Which brings me 'round to the topic at hand...

RELEASE DAY!

OMG OMG OMG!

I'm having one of those where the FUCK did February go? Snow days and kids and husbands home and doing taxes and getting the tax return back amazingly quickly, and plumbers and televisions and...

HOLY SHIT! It's the 17th???

So, yeah.

Nine days left.

Wow!

So if you haven't signed up for my Facebook Release Party! please feel free to do so; there will be a prize package given randomly for everyone who signs up to go.

I'll also be having a real life dinner celebration with local friends and family...

look! swag!

And, of course, there's a blog tour and there will be more swag for people who go and comment on their blog posts...

February 24th V.L. Locey
February 25th Malin James
February 26th Lisabet Sarai
February 27th Elizabeth L. Brooks
February 28th Sommer Marsden
March 1st Iyana Jenna
March 3rd Mychael Black
March 4th Torquere Live Journal

So, that's fun, right? (yes, that means I have to start writing guest bloggie post thingies. Immediately!)

Roll

A farm boy from Tennessee, Beau Watkins spent high school living the dream: the cute girl, the popular, jock lifestyle, a loving family. As a freshman at an out-of-state college, he's determined to find out who he really is behind the Fake It 'Til You Make It attitude. He joins Rainbow Connection, the gay student alliance, hoping to find himself. Instead, he finds Vin Reyes. Raised by his grandparents and heir to a prosperous company, Vin has been out of the closet since he figured out what that meant. He has it all: fashionable clothing, fancy cars, huge houses, a real party lifestyle, and even a bodyguard. Most of all, he has a secret.

Uncomfortable with Vin's generosity, Beau fights his growing attraction for the president of Rainbow Connection, chasing instead a series of shallow affairs. Vin's never been denied anything that he wants, though, and now he wants Beau. But it's not until an old rival puts Beau in the hospital that Vin realizes that Beau means more to him than a simple love affair. Can the two of them bridge the gap between their worlds and roll with the all the punches life will throw at them?

Released February 26th!

So, I'm excited. This is my first full length novel to be published. (I don't have lots of time to be excited, tho, since I'm having literary twins, so to speak, and my second full length novel will be out in March!)

The eventual plan for the Rainbow Connection novels is thus:

Blues, almost finished the first draft, plan to submit end of February '14 for publication in '15 (Thanks to my editor for the heads-up about how full my publisher's novel release schedule is...)

Classic, some headwork done, plan to submit by the end of '14 for publication in '16

All That Jazz, novella (side story about Hector)
Rhymes and Reasons, novella (side story about Ann-Marie)

These two stories may be put forth as ~20,000 word novellas, or combined into a 60,000 word novel, depending on how the work goes. I'm still headworking it. Especially since while I know what Ann-Marie is up to and what her story looks like, I have no idea what to do with Hector. He's just a lovely character who refuses to Shut Up.

I've got the Blues...

So there's that!

50,040 words is my "official" count for Blues. I'm about halfway through Chapter 21 and according to my outline, I have about five and a half chapters left to go... that's ish 11,000 - 13,500 more words (most of my chapters have this weird tendency to be right around 2,200 - 2,400 words. I'm not sure why, that just seems to be how it works out. (It's an average. I promise, I don't mold the chapters into that exact format.)

I've been going through my writer's list recently; just because I have finished NaNoWriMo doesn't mean I have... you know, spare time and shit.

I need to:

• spend a few days at my dad's farm for the holidays
• finish writing the end of Mouse Games (I left my poor characters in the middle of a fairly intense bondage scene when NaNo started)
• re-write Down with the Ship
• do my marketing piece for Roll
• buy and decorate a Christmas Tree
• have a Christmas Party
• get my daughter new glasses, shoes, cute outfit
• go shopping for the midwinter spending holiday
• edit all 25 short stories for Promptly (pending delivery of edits)
• start work on my Cover Art Request for Roll
• write a Ghost Story, due Jan 15th
• edit Blood Sight (pending delivery of edits)
• Finish Blues (technically "due" sometime in summer 2014)
• start writing Howling Bitch (due sometime fall 2014)
• prep for Pistols & Guns release date

Yep. Busy writer is busy.

I'm still trying to block out a schedule to actually finish Blues, but at the moment, it looks like I'm going to leave the boys hanging until mid-January... my "plan" (and believe me, I say that with heavy finger quotes and eyerollies) is to claim it as "due" by February 10th. That way I don't let it sit too long... and then after that, I'll spend a few months writing up Howling Bitch. If I work on the schedule that I managed with Roll (April - August) then I should be able to get done with Howling Bitch by about July. Maybe sooner, as I'm really starting to get my feet under me in terms of production.

While I really don't actually enjoy doing NaNoWriMo, I have to say the demanding word counts do... sort of work for me. I can really produce if I feel like I have to. What I might do is set myself a three month schedule (especially keeping in mind that I wrote Roll while also producing one short story every week, which I will NOT be doing this year)

Because - annoyingly enough - The Wormwood Trade has started to get very demanding about why am I not writing it, why why why?

Honestly, I need more time and less life in my life.

Before I Leave

So... I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year.

I was having this conversation quite a while ago with one of my editors, in which I was laying out my to-write list.

This year I've written Roll, revised it, and sent it in. Got it accepted, it's the first of three (maybe five... both Hector and Ann-Marie, who are side characters, are clamoring for their own stories...) novels expected out of the series, with the second being Blues, and the third being Classic.

I've also revised and finished Blood Sight, my NaNo project from 2011... and it's also been accepted. Aaaand it's the first in a series of four novels; Howling Bitch, Demon Halo, and Ghost Magic rounding out THAT series...

(Both of these novels have been accepted and will be available in early 2014, end of February for Roll and sometime mid-march for Blood Sight...)

To which my editor said to me, in all seriousness, "You realize you've committed yourself to writing two novels a year for the next two to three years, right?"

Um.... well.

Yes.

Except while I knew that math, I didn't really add it all up. Just what I'd soft-committed to. (There's some sort of unwritten rule that, as a novelist with a series title, you have to put out one book in the series every year... it's not written in stone, but it may as well be, loud as some people scream - me included! - when they don't get their annual Harry Dresden fix; or Game of Thrones, or WHATEVER... )

On the other hand, I wrote a novel, a longish short story (Synchronous Rotations), edited two novels (Marked Man is still out there floating around... ), 25 short stories for the Promptly collection, and a handful of other short stories (My Girlfriend's Gun, Tanked, Blood Cries Up, Pistols & Guns, aaand I'm sure I'm forgetting something....) this year.

(Wow, that was parenthetical...)

So. I can do this. I really can.

But I do know it's going to be challenging.

It took me from April until mid-July to write the 60,000 words that became Roll. (and while I was doing that, I wrote at least one short story every week) And it took me November 2012, and most of September to write the 60,000 words that became Blood Sight.

We'll see if I complete the NaNoWriMo challenge again this year. But even if I don't, it'll give me a headstart on those two novels I need to write....

I probably won't be here on my blog much in the meanwhile. But I do post regularly to Facebook so if you want to see what I have to say, pop over there and take a peek. Also, I'll probably be posting daily word counts to Twitter for November.

Two Years and Three Months Later

My novel, Roll, was accepted for publication by Torquere Press.

(Working) Blurb

Fake it 'til you make it was Beau Watkin's motto. A college freshman who had it all in high school; the cute girl, the popular, jock lifestyle, a loving family. And a burning secret that must be hidden at all costs; he's gay. Vin Reyes is the president of the college's Gay Student Association, heir to wealth and power. Openly gay and a political activist, Vin hides other, more dangerous, secrets behind his devil-may-care smile. Secrets even he doesn't know - everything - about.

When an enemy from Vin's past unexpectedly puts Beau in harm's way, they have a choice. Will they roll together, or fall apart?

That's a working blurb. I need to tweak it a bit. Right now it sounds like a spy story, or something, when really, it's more of a coming of age/coming out novel.

Roll is the first of three novels expected for the Rainbow Connection series.

(You Might Be Interested to Know: Hector Lange, one of the side characters, makes an appearance in a short-story "After the Party" in Promptly, the collection Elizabeth and I are putting together.)

Oh, and since I'm pretty sure I forgot to mention it here, my short story, Blood Cries Up, is also going to be published with Torquere, for their October short story line up, Lights Out.

The other 90%

I just finished writing a ghost story that I sort of impulse wrote.

And now I'm looking at what my next - still? - projects are.

I have to finish Roll, another 4,500 words should polish that off. And eventually SOME of my beta readers might get back to me with suggestions or comments. Ahem hem!

I have 2 months to finish Blood Sight, a vampire novel that I wrote about a year or so back, probably another 10,000 words to add and polish up.

Plus I have a novel's worth of short stories to sort through, edit, select, read and review for the Promptly Hot collection I'm working on with Liz.

So, I will finish my shit.

I will finish my shit.

I will finish my shit.