Agonies of a Young Author

Today is one of those days where caffeine and chocolate might be the only things that get me through. I woke up and had an all crushing WAVE of writing duties sweep into my consciousness. I realized that I have slacked off entirely this last week, and although I'm going to try and catch up, I have a feeling that some things are going to snake around and bite me right in the behind. It's just one of those feelings you recognize only after there is nothing you can do about it.

But that's okay. I'll just have to deal with it like any adult would. So, on with the scheduled programing.

1) I'm moving on from my urban fantasy genre phase. I can recognize it's passing. Mystery occupied my 8 to 12-year-old stage, classical fantasy my 12-16 stage, and urban fantasy my 16-20 phase. Now I recognize the apathy and restlessness, and suspect I will shortly be moving on into the literary genre for the next phase. Not to say that I'll abandon my favorites of the genre, or abandon the stories I've got going. They'll stick around. It's just time for me to move on. (I always did like the idea of blurred genre anyways,)

2) I posted my entry into ROD #5 today. As always, the entry is limited to 250 words, and is based an illustration you can see here at Deadline Dames. My entry has a classical sci-fi twist to my normal urban fantasy, and I hope you enjoy reading it. I had fun ignoring convention. Any comments are welcome.

***

This really had not been one of her brighter ideas.

Instead of blending with the other passengers, she felt ridiculous, highlighted in her cloak and dress against the clouds visible through the spaceship's observation deck. The ship began to dock, and the planet reflected its cool displeasure in the gray and stormy weather. Empira always was inhospitable, but not because of the environment.
No, no. It was because of the vampires.
Vampires exclusively colonized Empira since the mid 2500s, and Kinsey, more fool her, decided to flaunt, or at least test, the decree against unregistered human visitors. The ruling government had to be extremely careful about the well-being of all humans on the planet, for propaganda reasons, and the application process took years. For law-abiders.
Kinsey shifted restlessly, trying to discretely itch at where her corset dug into the ... ahem, more fleshy parts of her anatomy. If she wasn't killed by the vampires, she was definitely killing whoever suggested this stereotype of a costume. Then again, only if the vampires didn't kill her. She had planned on the likelihood of getting arrested, and then petitioning from jail to find Grampa Al, but who really knew how vampires would react? Maybe they would simply deport her. Maybe they would throw her into jail but then would refuse her request to search for him.
Argh! So many things could go wrong. Next time, she would simply refuse to search out any long lost relatives. Screw the treasure. It wasn't worth it.

***

3) Blurbs suck. Did you know that? The purpose of a blurb is to grab your attention and your interest, but most times if I read the back cover I gag. And refuse to buy the book. If I skip the blurb and read the first chapter, I usually buy the book. Isn't that interesting?

4) I'm bored. Which means that changes are coming. If I'm bored, then I scheme to make myself un-bored. And my schemes are... well, my schemes might be slightly legendary around the house. The Maternal Figure at least knows to be scared. So, fair warning. (*evil grin*) But this is all a subject for another post.

5) I've updated my Tumblr site. Oh, didn't know I had one? Well, I do, but I haven't been promoting it well. Or keeping up. But again, that's all changing (see bullet number 4.)

6) I have a new Sekrit Shiny Project that I'm working on. I'm growing more and more excited about this one, and I really hope that everything works out. Not a story, but just general literary kickA**- ness. And dang, I wants it.

7) I am now on GoodReads. I'll be poking around and figuring it out in the next couple of days. I would love for you to contact me there.

8) I am now on CritPartner Match. I will be updating my profile after this post, but I am currently looking for another crit partner or two who deals with creative non-fiction. Again, I would love to see you there. Or, if you happen to be interested in CP-ing creative non-fiction, or know of someone else, please leave a comment.

9) I'm bored. And I'm not getting feedback from YOU readers. Are you there? Do you exist? Are you really reading, or do you just say that you are? Soooo I was thinking: question and answer time! At the moment I include music and the "what I want most" in the Right Now section. Would you be interested in a status (not one of those horrible mood trackers, but an elegant version?) or in a location ("at a table in Starbucks" or "the library" for example)? You can decide what I do! Vote now in the comments section!!

10) I want to build more than a blog but also a resource for writers. Well, resource might be the wrong word, but a community. I truly enjoy Debbie Ridpath Ohi's comics, and I would love to do something similar. A resource for the writing life, I guess I mean. I was happy with my post about ABC's writing show Castle, and I want to continue. Do you have any suggestions? Again, head down to the comments section! And for now, I give you a new band that I found on You Tube, whose song "Dusty Typewriter" tickled my writer's fancy.

Over and out.

Right Now:
What I'm listening to: Novelle Vague's Dusty Typewriter.
What I want most: an impressive blog