Back online after a massive shut down.

I got a rejection from my short story, alas, but I will be making some recommended changes and trying again.  :)

In the meantime I am just trying to keep going with the story.

Only 1K today, but I am hoping to get more done this week.

Got a lot to do tomorrow (chores-wise) so I may be a little slack then, but I shall get more done!  I will likely trek up to C's work and hide out there and work some.  It will be good for me to get out of the house anyway.

My editor is supposed to get back to me this Friday!  That would be a good thing.  Fingers are crossed, anyway.  :)

I sent Bone Tooth, my Cailorenne shapeshifter story, to Realms of Fantasy today!

I am so excited and hopeful.  But, that is just the first of many.  For now, back to work on Blade of the Chosen!

I have been so busy doing housework and cleaning and errands that I haven't gotten any work done on it this week.  Bad on me.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to get some work done. 

So...

Yesterday I managed ~3,000 words, and today I repeated that most excellent accomplishment!  I am hoping to do it again tomorrow!  (Provided, of course, I can get to C's work.  I seem to be more productive there.  We shall see.)

I am giddy over getting the 6k, even if I don't get another word written.  I've gotten more work done this week than I usually do in a regular week at home.  Which is shameful, really.  I might not be able to do 3k words a day at home, but I certainly could average over 1500, and I think I'll start aiming for that again.

At any rate, this "writing retreat" has definitely kick-started the writing, and that makes me happy.  I should be to Chapter 17 by tomorrow, and that is a very, very good thing!  :D

Short story edits are done, and so the 2nd round of "first readings" has been requested. 

Thus far, the Cai short story has been sent out to 3 first readers, and hopefully the resultant feedback will be good.  If it is, I will go over it one last time with a fine-toothed comb and then I will (*GULP*) submit it to Realms of Fantasy for publication!

Wish me luck!

Oops.  Sorry about that. 

Let's see, since the last entry I have finished two short stories and sent them off to beta readers for feedback, gotten good feedback on the one and realized that I could turn it into a longer story that would lead into making it a prequel of sorts for the trilogy, chatted some with the editor about the book (still no edits, but that's ok-- he's still working on his novel!), brainstormed with The David about some important worldbuilding points, and worked on Blade, of course.

I've been productive and that is a good thing.  That's the most important thing, right?  I'm so excited about the short stories.  I cannot wait to get feedback on the other story, and get finished with Blade so that I can figure out a good title for and outline the other story and figure out where I'm plumping it up.  It's not going to be as long as the other books in the trilogy (well, I don't think it will be, anyway...) but I think that's a good thing.  This book will be as long as it needs to be.

Anyway, back to work on Blade.

Blood of the Chosen is now over at the editor's place for a complete overhaul! 

I'm proud, and also a lot nervous.  Having never done this before, I don't have a framework from which to operate!  So, I'm just going to wait and see, and do a lot of breathing.  But whatever happens from this point forward, the first book is as done as I am going to be with it for now. 

So, I have to get back to work on the second, and finish that short story-- which I think is the priority.  I'm going to get back to work on it, and see how finished I can get with it before I turn my attention back to Blade.

I can't believe I'm actually doing this!  *glee!*

All of the edits to Blade are finished!  And there were more changes than I'd thought, but they are all good changes, so I'm pleased.

Now, back to Blood for one more read-through, a few final corrections, and then off to the editor it goes.  Then all I will have to do is finish up Cai's story and see how that ends up, and hopefully I will have something to submit somewhere for this month (and hopefully get my first rejection or acceptance-- which ever, I do not care) and then I will be one step closer to my goal of being a "real" author. 

Woot!  I am so happy right now.

One step closer to making the dream a reality...

I'm still working on Blade, and I have less than 70 pages to finish, so hopefully I'll be done with the edits in the next two days or so.

I got the worst part of it done today-- the chapter that needed the most edits is done, and to my surprise, one of the big "twists" that I thought I was going to lose is still happening.  I was startled by that, but hey.  I am glad.  It was something I was going to regret losing, and the fact that it's still happening makes me happy.

More work on the Cai story happened, too, and that made me smile.  It is a sad story, but it's a story of survival, and that's always good.  I lost my clue on where I was going to submit it, but I'll figure that out later.

For now, I must finish it.  And that's all the news that's fit to print, today.

I remembered a thing I wanted to do, re: Blood, that I didn't check for during the first editing pass. 

Unfortunately, I started working on Blade, and I do not want to confuse myself-- thankfully, Blade is much shorter-- so my current evil plan is to do a pass-through on Blade, finish up what I need to finish up with it (sending Evil Character #2 to the Place of Judgement!  HAH!) and then return to Blood for a much quicker pass through the second time 'round, since I am only looking for one particular thing.

This will add more flavor to the book.  And once it is done-- off to the Editor with it!

*nod*  I am happy with this Evil Plan.  ;)