Turbulence and Time

Oh, the ready underminers of any plan... This week has been a HECK of a week, good, bad, amazing, horrible. It's ALL been there, but there has just been TOO MUCH of it.

The Good

On Monday I finished CONSPIRACY. I had to restart the ending three times and I'm still not quite happy with it, but I am happy enough to think as a TRILOGY, I can go back and rewrite the FIRST and all the details will be right... I mean there won't be a point in polishing the second and third if nobody wants the FIRST, but I wanted the entire story written in first draft before polishing the first because I DIDN'T want to be written into a corner (and I'm glad I did—some important things HAVE changed.

The Bad

DEADLINES, DEADLINES, DEADLINES at work (plus a coworker who is acting off—I am not sure if she is mad at me about something or having personal problems, but it is sort of passive aggressive and reminding me of my mother at the moment). I have reasonable tolerance of grouchiness, but feel people have an obligation to either say WHY or swallow it. Snarkiness needs justification.



The AMAZING

The editor wants to see revisions, but ALSO said she thought she could work with me on the cozy... It is a deadline, but it is also an INTERACTION with real life publishing professionals... it is a REAL chance.


The Horrible

Mr. Tart has had his panties in a bunch about pretty much EVERYTHING, all week. He is periodically impossible. His temperament tends to the morose, which on some level (the dark bad boy one) is appealing, but when he gets like this, he blames ME for his misery, and no many how many times I try to calmly tell him he needs a time out, a spanking, a chill pill, or a therapist, he STILL is no fun. I think we've reached the end of it, but when he is like that, he frequently disrupts me and makes it hard to do my editing or writing.

It ALSO is my daughter's birthday tomorrow, so there has been a mad quest to learn about cameras (we've finally come round to giving her money, which she will save until Christmas when we will pay for the REST of the camera, as she wants a photography camera with all the lenses and such, but digital—we just can't do over $400. Over two occasions though, when she is thinking photojournalism as a career, I can be more comfortable, even if $200 per occasion is more than we can really do. (Besides, if it is for Christmas, I can shoot for a black Friday sale and maybe get a really good deal).



Fitness Blog, Say What?

Yes, Saturday is my fitness day, and HONESTLY, this is ALL related. Time crunches and stress are HUGE obstacles to doing what I am supposed to. The exercise still fell into line, but I had several eating SNAFUs. When I am feeling sorry for myself I crave crunchy, greasy or alcoholic. I managed to lose half a pound, but I was over points several times. Measurements aren't down at all (in fact upper body is all up half an inch) from two weeks ago, in spite of weighing 2.5 pounds less, but it is all MUCH less than when I started, and I know half an inch can be as easily explained as pizza last night (only 2 pieces, and my day's eating was on points—but it is a bloaty sort of food, yes?)


I need to spend a little time thinking about the safety net for when life gets manic like this... I need to do a little shopping so I have some easy, satisfying snacks that trick me when I am feeling pouty. Diet Coke seems to be one of the things that helps—feels splurgy. I try not to have one every day, but this week I definitely did (never mind that half the time I added rum to it).

The next two weeks are unlikely to improve matters, and then May 6 I go on a business trip where for three days it is virtually impossible to eat right or fit my exercise in. I will try though, and vow to spend a little time planning for damage minimization...

Projectus Interruptus

[Y'all know sometimes on Thursday I go a little insane, yes? You've been warned.]

My first book took quite a while to write. There were several reasons—I was still writing a lot of fan fiction at the time (which gave me feedback at a lot heavier rate) but mostly it's because I think I just didn't really know how to go about it. There were several STUCK periods where I made nearly no progress, then suddenly I would get going again.

My second, third and fourth books though, went MUCH faster, taking six weeks, ten weeks and thirty days, respectively (although that NaNo book had a week of hole fill after that and probably another month of the same will be needed when I get to editing). I guess I thought I'd come to know how to write a darned book.

Conspiracy though, has been plagued by interruptions, some self-inflicted... okay, all self-inflicted... I started it in December and then though “Doh! Have to give CONFLUENCE a polish for Amazon!” After that was done, I went on to fill the NaNo holes, query CONFLUENCE, do a little Beta reading...

When I got back to it, I had lost my train of thought (blast it, anyway!) so while I wrote some more (maybe five more chapters), I never hit my groove, exactly. I decided to give LEGACY its first polish.

Then I glanced at CONSPIRACY for about thirty seconds and ended up with this cozy opportunity...

*sigh *

Lucky Number 5

My whole life 5 has been my favorite number. I like 23 too (my birth date), but of course 2 and 3 add to five, something I had an innate sense of before I knew anything about numerology. CONSPIRACY, is supposed to be my fifth book. Maybe I am pinning too much on it, but it's got that GORGEOUS cover and it is the final, climactic book in my trilogy, so it seems FAIR to put a lot of pressure on it, doesn't it? And isn't it going to be cool to be able to say I wrote a trilogy?

Progress

I finished chapter 17 last night. Took me four nights, which is longer than normal, but I know getting back into the swing is that way. Eighteen is from a different PoV and may similarly take some time to get into the character's head, so I am thinking about giving 18 amiss and jumping right on into 19—the story strands won't connect for about four more chapters, so that seems reasonable, to keep the momentum going.


The PLAN

I always have to make a plan. That isn't to say I stick to my plans—that is more hit and miss, but if I don't HAVE a plan, then I NEVER stick to it... if you see what I mean... So my PLAN, is to write the next chapter (thinking it is 19) before I get my cozy feedback from MY AGENT. That will require editing, but hopefully not real rewriting (meaning I hope it is 'maybe try this', and editing feedback rather than, 'holy crap, what were you thinking? Dump this character!) If I have to rethink much, it will throw me off again. If it is a job I can do at my computer, the momentum on CONSPIRACY shouldn't be interrupted too badly.

Once that is turned around, then presumably I will have a little while for the EDITOR to say what works and doesn't, then HOPEFULLY I will get to sign the contract for the cozy series and THAT will become first priority. In my dream world, I will have reached the final climactic sequence (maybe around chapter 25—figuring 3-4 chapters for the action and one or two for the wind down)--because THAT seems an easier place to jump back in after writing...

BUT WAIT! That makes this COZY my 5th book! NOOOOOOOO!~ That's not the plan! Okay, I just need to dig in there and finish this...


The REVISED Plan

*cough* Okay, I am going to treat finishing CONSPIRACY like a NaNo project and just go Balls Out while I wait for feedback, then turn around the cozy edits, then go Balls Out AGAIN, while I wait for that OTHER feedback. I have thirteen chapters to write, and I sure as heck ought to be able to do that in... oh, give it 3 weeks:

My tricksey math to reach that is half a chapter per weekday, full chapter per weekend day.

Say it with me: To HELL with laundry! Bathrooms don't need cleaning! Children can get their own darned lunch!

*Tart aims self at Writing Vortex*



[Book cover designed by Joris Ammerlaan]

It's Thursday, don't forget to get naked!

Donde Está My Groove Thing?

You know how when there are about 4 inches of new snow, driving is a total mess, but if you get in the grooves of other tires, you are okay? (I’ve lost you southerners and tropical types, haven’t I? You’ll have to take my word for it.) And if by some total fluke, the big truck whose grooves you are driving in goes all the way to where YOU’RE going, then you’re in luck and get there without any trouble. But usually there are some obstacles…


The Plowed Roads

These seem a nice easy way to go… the truck has been through (for the sake of metaphor here, this would be EDITING) and the main muck has been cleared off. There is a slick spot now and again, especially if it’s still snowing (sections still to write) or if the conditions keep fluctuating. (“It’s raining, no it’s snowing, no it’s raining, no it’s snowing!—this would be why you don’t chase trends---those Vampires that are being rewritten as angels will have to be turned into alien beings before you are done) *starts humming ‘Inter-Planet Janet’*

But for the most part, these conditions aren’t too bad. You need to go slow and careful, but other than that, once you hit the plowed roads, you can be pretty sure you’ll reach your destination.

Mall Parking Lots

You know sometimes it’s a good idea to just go do a couple spins in a safe environment where you can’t do too much damage. I have five of those places. 1) The Burrow, where we can experiment, show off and display, all 100 words at a time, 2) HPANA, where I can drive a lot of DIFFERENT cars, most of them equipped with joke horns or plastic wildlife, and 5) My blogs, where I am free to say just about anything I like, but nobody is obliged to read it when I run boring, offensive, or plain old insane.


Genre Literature

Writing a book from scratch in a genre that has a formula is STILL writing a book from scratch, but the roads have been driven on enough times that the writer can SEE where it is super slick and she is likely to just end up in a ditch (or Merlin forbit, the neighbors Coy pond). Now where the grooves are too deep, it can be really hard to do anything original, but hopefully there has been traffic doing a wide enough variety of things that changing grooves now and again to keep things interesting isn’t too onerous.


My Journey at the Mo…

In November, before the weather got bad, I turned down a sort of muddy road called NaNoWriMo. It made a spattered mess of my car, but I managed to get back to the main road at the end of the month. I drove a while, finished illusions, and then stared at the shiny, tempting AMAZON thoroughfare and decided COFLUENCE needed the shortening/polish to be ready for the race with the big boys (okay, they aren’t big boys, it is a MASSIVE race with a lot of LITTLE boys, but when you are in a crowd of 10,000 you feel small, even if nobody is bigger than you on a case by case comparison…)

Driving on that Autobahn of writing roads wasn’t too bad—it was after all, already prepared for mass consumption, just needed a little tweak here and there, shiny new pitch, all that…

But trying to get back to CONSPIRACY—Oi! I have found myself again and again spinning my wheels in mall parking lots, trying to get back to the hang of it… I was even asked to judge an exhibition at the HPANA mall (one of my stories won a Best Golden Oldie).

But every time I try to get back on that road with only a couple of meandering tracks, to try to make my own way out that route to my destination, I keep sliding toward the abyss. I have lost my nerve to just DRIVE…

So I got this satellite system to examine how I accomplished the LAST two drives—the ones that qualified me for this one… trouble is, it is a slow, analytical process and is leaving me in a funk… I suppose though, that is ALWAYS what winter is like for me. I miss the carefree drives of summer, when books were falling out of my pen in a mere six weeks (okay, so that only happened once, and to be fair, it was September, mostly).

I have faith… I will get back to it. I think if I tried to set a 1000 word a day minimum right now though, I would be an insane person in a matter of days… it just isn’t working that way…

Plot Masters

I don't have nearly as much time to read as I used to, largely because part of the time I used to read, I now devote to writing, so the reading comes on my commutes and in five minutes bursts here and there when for some reason I have a span of just a few minutes to kill, but I find I am reading much differently these days than I used to. Maybe it is that I now have four books under my... erm... lack of belt [a belt is only an accessory, so theoretically I COULD wear one, but they are really better left to strapping my muse's hands together so I can tickle a plot out of him... bondage is all they are good for, after all].

I'm watching movies differently too. I find I am appreciating truly masterful storytelling in a more... technical way.

So what is this metamorphosis we go through as we finally get our writing legs? And does this process happen to all writers? Or have some of y'all always BEEN plot masters?


Character Fetish

See, I've historically been all about character. I wanted character growth, and character experiences, and experience BY CHARACTERS of irony... but it was always about the people meandering through my stories. I really don't want to lose that, because I still love books that do that well. But perhaps I can do more than one thing well... I can hope.


Iain Pears

Under recommendation of two fellow Burrowers, when I asked for books about art thief stuff, I heard about a series by Iain Pears... Now NOTHING is more plot intensive than mystery. And Pears' books are shortish... I like his characters fine, but they aren't terribly complicated or developed, but I still find myself enjoying the books (and the Rafael Affair taught me about Icon forgery, which will be VERY useful in my rewrite of Illusions (book 2 of the trilogy)). I like the way sometimes a bad day leads to an unexpected coup. I like the way vices provide alibis. I like a bumbler or two.



My Reading to Replot

I am rereading LEGACY and finding my characters a little too competent... they're kids... I really ought to give them a little rougher time in solving things... (though frankly, I think writing it without and then adding those in is probably the more expedient route—so I didn't lose track of the story and all).

I have also spotted a dozen details I'd intended to be important or come up later, and CONSPIRACY, as I wrote the first 10 chapters completely missed that... it was my detour, methinks... writing DENIABILITY... though ANY long story is bound to have those. CONFLUENCE did, and it was a single book... The only books that don't have them, I think, are those written in a mad frenzy where the plot all sits in your head... that has happened to me ONCE, and I know it only happened because the book (LEGACY) was a PREquel to a book I'd been plotting for months.

I find I like this process though... reading to write the plot of the later books... only trouble is, I'm catching up with what has been typed. Making corrections and changes to the hand-written is probably going to be more difficult... need to find my red pen... the green might do...

To Loop Back Around...

So I am curious about the process by which the rest of you have developed... Did anyone else go through this plot epiphany, or was plot originally your strength and it is the other stuff that comes later? I'd love to hear how abnormal I am *snort*.

Back to it...

I'm herding my ducks and in theory, they are in the process of scurrying back into line...  though some seem to be laying down on the job from time to time... but still laying is better than some other things they might be doing...

Let's just hope one lays the golden egg, though I won't hold my breath as... they're ducks... not a goose among 'em.


I suppose I could wax poetic about how badly I hate January, and how GLAD I am to be seeing its backside, though you all KNOW how I am about back sides, and that hating something isn't necessary for me to be pleased to see it...

So all I've got at the mo is a little news:

MY LAPTOP IS HOME!!!!  I had a NASTY virus/worm/parasite thing that each time I'd finally succeed in getting rid of would morph into some other form, so I took it to the vet... erm... computer version of the vet anyway... you know... for computerized ducks... and they reloaded my hard drive... Then it took me ages to remember how to reconnect the wireless to the DSL...

My Husband is Home

Note that was NOT all caps like the computer... you see, a fixed computer has no downside (even gave me an opportunity to reorganize my files).  A fixed husband who is trying to quit smoking is improved, but not without its drawbacks...  I REALLY want him to succeed and be healthy.  I REALLY want him to live a good long time (spent some time this week consoling a daughter who worried he wouldn't see her graduate from college or get married)--those are real fears if he doesn't succeed.  He may be 47, instead of old, but he had been VERY hard on himself for a LONG time.

My Deadlines are Met

In addition to the sick husband which meant I had to take a total of 2 sick days (one and two halves, but I know how to add fractions) I also have a deadline Monday that my boss will prefer to see the product on before I submit, so today was the day.  I made it (barely) but it meant that I've been absent from the internet until NOW.

It doesn't mean next week I can get back to playing at my desk for some portion of the day by any means--I've let other stuff fall to the side to get this done, but at least it helps.


The Wonky Duck

The writing is going to take a while to get back in line.  The book was going slow and I realized it was because I'd forgotten so many details, so before I finish, I am reading the first and second and making a brief outline (about two sentences per chapter) plus making notes on things I know I intended, but have forgotten to include until now.  It will all be better for it.

Oddly, there was a blog today on the agent view of this... just write the first and don't bother with the later ones unless someone wants them.  ARE YOU INSANE?  It is completely infeasible in my mind that three books could flow as a trilogy unless they were ALL done before the rewrite starts.  The point is taken--that if one of these doesn't cut it, you don't want to lose all three, but I refuse to believe a GOOD trilogy can possibly be written in isolation of it's counterparts. 

I recognize I am revealing reading and writing snobbery here (on probably a grandiose scale), but any trilogy written so disconnected from its brothers can't be written WELL (it might be entertaining).  I suppose those super-outliner types might succeed--or a VERY experienced writer--someone super-organized.  But I think most efforts undertaken this way are just books, not literature. 

There... my foot's in it now.  But I suppose if it weren't, you might not believe it was me...

Getting Loopy

[She’s already loopy] I heard that.

The kind of books I write, because they are the kind of book I like to read, inevitably loop back on themselves… What do I mean? I mean I like all the subplots to head back into the main thing eventually, I like foreshadowing from early on to be relevant to the final action sequence.

But I have reached the point in this trilogy where I’m looping, and MAN is it a lot of work to keep everything straight! In the first book I had some events that need to be gone through from a different perspective (and place, usually) but carefully keeping them in line so it’s not inconsistent. In the second book I introduced characters that I now need to give a ‘how they came into play’. It is a mad mess of things to keep track of.


My Primary Failing

I’m not the world’s most organized person. In fact as I type that, I can hear my husband across town laughing. I’m pretty darned bad at it. When I was younger I didn’t really NEED organization because I had a FABULOUS memory, but two pregnancies and 20 years later, that memory is no longer what it used to be. (I usually blame Sam—my pregnancy with my son caused a noticeable drop and it has never rebounded—since he is SMART, I generally just say he got a major portion of my brain, including the part with the memory storage)

I know in my HEAD that I should keep notes (in fact when I wrote DENIABILITY—my NaNo novel, and the only one I’ve written at the computer) I at LEAST kept a character file—it’s easy in Excel. When I am hand writing though, taking the time to take down notes really throws me off. The only time I do it is to note FUTURE things I want to come out of something… ideas for later.


CONFLUENCE Handling

When I wrote CONFLUENCE I handled all this stuff in my rewrite—I didn’t worry about it as I wrote. It made some sections of the rewriting a little tedious, but it seemed okay, possibly because I had a really clear vision of where things were happening and that didn’t change over the book.

CONSPIRACY’s Trouble

The problem now is I am dealing in a realm I am less familiar. I’ve mentioned the art theft (think I’ve worked out my organizational structure with names and everything, so that will help), but the mystery here is more convoluted. In LEGACY the characters were kids and teens, so I was okay with not entirely understanding everything—it was truer to voice that way. ILLUSIONS I had a teen and an adult who is trying to help find some answers (so somewhat clueless). CONSPIRACY though, is from the perspective of two people who’ve known for the most part, what is going on… so now I have to figure out what is going on… Oi!

In LEGACY Athena found ‘clues’… now I have to go through the thought process behind LEAVING those clues… The whole thing just feels a lot bigger than it did in either of the other two books.

It’s possible I shouldn’t have written any of it until I knew, but that isn’t really how I work. I write with a general ending in mind (which is still in mind) but not the detailed path by which it is reached. So now, a third of the way into the last book, when I am to the point in ‘backstory’ where it all becomes clear, it is time to really pound it all out and make it work.

Keep in mind this isn’t entirely unexpected… I’ve said from the beginning that LEGACY would not get edited until all three were written because I knew I may have to adapt to things in the later books (heck, even names have changed!).

But it doesn’t change the fact that I think the next half dozen chapters are going to be hell to pound out… then the end will fly—since I sort of know how THAT is supposed to work…

Anybody have fool proof methods for keeping complexity straight? I’d love to hear them, especially if they don’t require me to get organized…

Calling All Art Thieves!

Though my own art skills ceased to develop after about kindergarten, I actually know a fair few artists, but I don't know a single person who steals the stuff! And honestly, what I REALLY need, is someone in the administration branch of a RING of thieves.


Writing What you DON'T Know (and can't really figure out how to find out)

This is the second book in a row where I am finding myself leaving blank spots because there is a large gap in my knowledge base and I just can't wing it because too much depends on getting it right.


DENIABILITY

[hmmmm... am I the only one for whom that keyhole looks suspiciously penis-like? Too much time at Accidental Dong, perhaps...]

Anyway... The two central characters in DENIABILITY are a Psychiatrist and a 'Spy' (sort of). The Psychiatrist I can do a fair job with. It's a job I considered having until my freshman chemistry lab taught me that people in pre-med are a nasty lot (by and large—I know a few docs who are fabulous, and must note the exceptions) and under no circumstance did I want to spend twelve years with them (as a collective). I've watched shows, read books—probably most importantly, PAID ATTENTION.

Spies though... while spies interest me from an entertainment perspective, all the movies and books show spies... SPYING! I need to see a spy being TRAINED to spy. In fact REALLY what I need is to see a Bounty Hunter, or maybe a (non-religious) terrorist of sorts be trained. Those are the pieces this book is missing and could really benefit from me getting just right.


CONSPIRACY

With CONSPIRACY, it is the art thieves. I know HOW they are stealing art—that isn't too difficult... well, stealing the art would be difficult, but these guys have a system—my imagination supplied that one alright, so they're set on that. But this organization requires a relatively large group of intertwined people. To top it off, about 75% of them need to have realistically Romanian names, so from the bathtub I am having trouble conjuring what to call my various people...


The Problem Clarified

So what does one do when encountering something important to a plot that you've worked out that is unlikely to have a few nice, clean hits on the internet? My instinct is I need to find a couple books to read (love an excuse to read!) and maybe a few movies to watch, but I need to be careful they get at the angle I WANT and not just the more commonly seen 'theft itself'. Thieves are so often made out to be buffoons, and I am not interested in that, at least not at a collective... these guys are smart enough to have pulled one (several) over on some smart characters, so they need to be written well, organized well, and believable. Same for the Spies or Bounty Hunters.


So I am throwing out two topics I would LOVE feedback on.


Do any of you know of any great books that show 1) art thief rings from the inside, or 2) the TRAINING of spies or Bounty Hunters?

And

How do you writers approach topics you know nothing about that elude traditional research?

Back to the Grindstone

It's so hard after almost two weeks of sleeping in to go back to the 'day job'. I thought though, it would do me good to reflect a little on what got accomplished and what there still is to do, day job notwithstanding.


CONSPIRACY

I failed miserably at accessing my friend with Romanian expertise... I just wasn't far enough on my 3rd book of my trilogy to know what I needed to know, if you know what I mean. I am making progress on it though. As it stands I am in the middle of Chapter 7 and writing backstory. LEGACY was about a group of kids who are living with the repercussions of their parents' lives. Book two is a progression of that (kids trying to SOLVE those problems), and book 3 finally comes back to the parents, so it seems logical to give the 'how we got in this mess in the first place' story. Mid-book it will meet the action at the end of 2 and then wind to the conclusion. I think it works because of the PoV change—the two characters whose PoV I am using have been important, but largely absent thus far.

Being on chapter 7 puts me a chapter ahead of my December plan, so that is okay with me... it's just the fact checking I'd intended to do, as my expert is an educator who had a break—next one will be a couple months.  That is editing timeframe though, so it should work out.

Typing has completely not happened. I've focused on editing CONFLUENCE instead.


CONFLUENCE

I have done all but the very last two chapters of a cleaning. I have confirmed it will come in under 140K words, which is FABULOUS, and I've sent my new first three chapters to my writer's group—feedback from one person so far (Thank you, Natasha!)—she misses the detail because she's fond of it, but this reads cleaner and is probably closer to what they will want. Hopefully I will be DONE tomorrow night.

Querying on the other hand... NOTHING yet. I will supplement my list today and hopefully they will start trickling out tomorrow.

DENIABILITY

(looky!  Joris made me some more covers!)
This is the working title of my NaNoWriMo novel and the one I have mysteriously taken up as the 'let's get this puppy out of my pile' project. I've written about 20 new pages this week, filling in most of the holes as I come to them. I've got (I think) only one more gap, but it is fairly substantial. I've got about 40 pages (of 200) to get through and I suspect maybe 20 more pages to add in that space, but I REALLY believe that will be off my desk this week (erm... or moved to the editing pile) and I will be done with my 4th book and can get back to the trilogy. (see, part of this plan is that 5 is my lucky number and I really want CONSPIRACY to be my  5th book *cough*) 

*looks for superstitious nut*

I should probably make sure I get the querying done before getting to CONSPIRACY, as querying kills the 'from scratch' mojo (as opposed to the 'write something along this line' that I am doing for DENIABILITY. Besides that, I have more invested in the trilogy. I've always known the NaNo project would need heavy editing eventually, where this trilogy is 1) 3 books so I have more invested--in fact it is really one 900 page story, it just broke nicely in 3, and 2) somewhat inspired, or so it feels to me.


So there.

As I head back to the 'office' and trying to wrestle a stupid stats program onto my computer so I can get to the project that kept evading me before break, my writing house isn't all that disorderly. I am soon to be down two projects, which will make me VERY happy.

Should also get back to reading other blogs better… That is the kind of thing I do five minutes at a time, so easy from work. The home computer editing process doesn’t have those same time gaps… (funny, that…)

On a Sillier Note: If you haven't noticed, I started a Blog Opera over break. It has two installments and might take a couple more before it is really in full swing, but it is fun. The original inspiration was the thought of Dangerous Liaisons, transplanted into a tiny town where everybody knows everybody else's business. It sort of blossomed from there and I'd love it if you want to give it a peek. Here is the first episode.

Six Writing Tasks

On the sixth day of Christmas her Tartness gave to us...

Six Writing Tasks

Five Sii---illy Songs

Four Cross-Dressed

Three Christmas Lists

Two Tartlet Minis

And a Boy Toy on a Hay Bale

These are the things I REALLY hope to accomplish in the next six weeks, ideally, at least three of them this year... (the ones I've colored red)

Polish job on CONFLUENCE finished

I am on chapter 17 and there are 31... it is slow, but so far I am ACTUALLY under 150K now instead of just close enough to 150 to CALL it that. And I think my recent rounds of 'first reading' for friends have helped me be more objective about, though a couple times I've deleted things and a couple paragraphs later thought “damn! I needed that!” and had to do a bunch of 'undoing'...4

Redo BEGINNING of CONFLUENCE

I've solidly decided now, 23 queries in, that my problem is that I don't dive in fast enough for this finicky market—Agents want sure things and that means not scaring off short-attention-spanned readers. I feel like the book is solid, great reading, but a person isn't truly in until about chapter 3... needs some work. This is slated for one on my days vacation after Christmas (the University gives us 4 'season days' between Christmas and New Year, so I will be off from the 24th until the 4th *and there was much rejoicing *)

Once this is done, I plan to ALSO send out maybe a dozen queries in early January. If there is no response, I MAY (or may not) enter the Amazon contest.

Finish Typing LEGACY

Legacy is the first in my Trilogy. It was written long-hand (naked, in the bathtub—duh!) and so typing it is the first editing round for me. I am currently on Chapter 19 of 30 (ideally I'd get done by Christmas so I can send the rest to Mari, who read the first 6 chapters when she was HERE).

Research and RePlot some of Trilogy so I can easily FINISH CONSPIRACY

I say this because I have a number of places noted that I know I need MORE. Much of the book happens in Romania, where I haven't ever BEEN, but I have a friend who HAS (in fact lived there in the era I am writing from) so I need to formulate a list of intelligent questions and get them fired off while said friend is on break—a teacher, so I believe NOW is when I need to do that). I ALSO need to do some research on ART as there is an art theft ring central to the trilogy—Romania being rather possessive of its cultural heritage, therefore increasing the black market value of things that get OUT—I've GOT that part. What I NEED is to know a little more about the world of how art is actually displayed and traded.

Finish Writing CONSPIRACY, the Third Book

I am two chapters into my third book here, so the PLOTTING is a December task, but the writing should probably take all of January to finish.

Fill in Holes for my NaNoWriMo Novel

I've printed it up to READ it, but there is some writing missing (the kind of writing that needs to be done naked). See, because I didn't want to drop the Trilogy in November, I kept working on IT in the tub, and gave away all computer time to actually writing the first thing I've ever directly typed (well... that got done anyway, and aside from some short stories). What that means is it is a little flat on emotion, and most of the THERAPY (I've mentioned conspiracy thriller meets Prince of Tides, yes?) needs much more emotional pull. I have a ton of spots that have what KIND of thing should go there, but not the details because I just couldn't get them out AND finish the book in November. Getting naked should help though. It always does.


Special note of thanks to Joris Amerlaan for all my book covers. He is a FABULOUS friend who has helped me out many times (including yesterday's princess Lucius), but these are all impressive and I love them, so thank you!