My Goals and a Facebook Joke

A friend of mine did an in depth analysis of her past, present, and future goals, including percentages and such. Anyone who knows me knows that me and numbers do not get along that well. So, I will simply do a one shot of each in reference to writing.

The Past: 2008 kicked the whole dream off with Nanowrimo. I actually won it (it was my first time participating) and decided right then and there to continue with this loooong standing dream of getting published. I then spent the rest of 2008 worrying and reading.

The Present: 2009 was a huge step forward, writing wise. I got to the point where I was willing to share the novel with my first Reading Team. I went to my first writer's conference (in Hawaii) and got amazing feedback from people in the publishing industry. I also finished my second Nanowrimo novel. Unlike 2008, after Nanowrimo, I went straight back to editing both books.

The Future: 2010 is going to be the do-or-die year for me. I spent the last two years working on these two books, my babies, and now it is time to look for a foster home for them (an agent and a publishing house). I'm not going to say that my goal is to get an agent or to get a book deal, because those are honestly out of my control. My goal is to get query letters out; that is all my control. I will start with just one in January and increase as I go. Baby steps are best for me right now.

This will be my last entry until 2010, so I wish all of my readers and safe and happy New Year's! I'll see you guys in the next decade :)

Oh, and here's the Facebook joke...If my characters had Facebook:

WilliamLutin is wishing everyone a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year!

ThomasTheMaceLutin wants to wish everyone the same and plans to give William a lump of coal for messing up my wrist.

WilliamLutin smacks Thomas.

GeorgTheWolf wonders how the hell he is going to get through the holidays having to babysit the twins.

WilliamLutin Hey, we are not THAT bad!

TheOnlyGustav Yes, yes you are.

ThomasTheMaceLutin hits Gustav in the head.

ElderVladimir is rubbing his temples and sighing.

Back To The Editing Board

I finally wrapped up my first draft of Tainted Blood today, which means it is officially time to let it cool for awhile and set my sights back on the prequel, Forbidden Children. I think I am on draft four or five with FC now. I am still seeing improvement between each draft, though, which means it is not finished yet. Once the drafts start looking identical, I'll know my editing has tapped out and another set of (professional) eyes will need to take a look at it.

Another observation that gives me hope: Tainted Blood, even in its rough first draft, appears to be a better story than Forbidden Children. It is more complete, more solid, and more gripping than the first one was at this point. I take this to mean that I am actually learning as I go; at least, I hope I am. This also tells me that I can make FC even better, and that the final book will have a lot to live up to. I'll cross that bridge in November 2010, though.

I think I am actually going to enjoy going over FC a fifth time.

The Ever Expanding Immortal World

I've been missing in action the past few weeks mostly because Nanowrimo left me with about half of my brain. However, there was also a LOT of brainstorming going on. It wasn't dealing with my main characters, William and Thomas. Quite frankly, I love them to death, but I needed a break from them after seeing them nonstop for nearly 30 days. In the meanwhile, some extra threads were woven into the main story line, and these extra threads yielded interesting results.

They gave me new characters.

Like most of my characters, they usually spring from a situation in a story, are given a face and personality by way of people I see or meet in real life, and flesh out the story itself by their very creation. Every now and then, the characters begin to raise questions in me about their own origins, and I start to explore them.

This does not mean that I am going to jet away from my main story; on the contrary, I am excited because I now see that this series, and this world I have created, has more stories in it than I first thought. These newly discovered stories will take me, and the readers, to the four corners of the globe, far beyond the Euro-centered realm of Forbidden Children and its two follow ups. I was nervous about this world suddenly ending once I was done telling the twins' story, but instead I have several more stories to tell. Of course, this means a lot more research for me (happy sigh).

I will give a hint to the nature of two of the possible main characters. These are their current names: HalfHeart and Kwan.