Monday, January 04, 2010

Back to work

So how've you been?

Happy new year!

I gave myself most of the Christmas period off, not having any deadlines that seemed particularly pressing. That said, I don't have my 2010 calendar yet, so there may be plenty I just haven't written down.

The year has already got off to a cracking start with the edits for Mad, Bad & Dangerous arriving in my inbox today. This book is 102,000 words. How the hell did I manage that? I even cut a whole load before I submitted it. I'll say one thing: it's living up to its title. It's been trying to kill me since day one.

It's kind of a relief to have something to do. I was actually getting pretty bored with sitting around eating. Because let's face it, the week between Christmas and New Year is a write-off, isn't it? Especially given that at least half of it is weekend (yes, clever clogs, I know only two days of it actually are, but here in the UK we get Christmas and Boxing Day off too, which basically means four days of Sundays as far as I'm concerned, only without the colour sups in the paper). There's far too much to eat (all this food! For one day! And then days of eating leftovers, hoards of snack foods, and piles of chocolate cake! That is, the chocolate cake the Demon Puppy didn't steal *shakes fist*).

I've got at least three stories bouncing around in my head, yelling to be let out. I think each of them has got to the stage where I sort of know where the story is going, which means it's about time to unleash it onto the page. Actually, one of them I've started several times already, but always seem to get sidetracked. That's my fantasy epic about a warlord and a slave with superpowers. Has no title, but I've had bundles of fun world-building.

The second story is a sort-of sequel to MB&D. An amnesiac hero (who I posted about a few weeks ago: he needed a name) with bad guys after him for a crime he, of course, can't remember committing; and a former courtesan with a great big socking shameful secret. It says something about the worlds I create, of course, that her being a courtesan isn't shameful at all.

The third story is a rom-com I've been thinking about for a while. A lot of what I've been thinking about is that the heroine is an author, but she's not me. This is something I expect probably 99% of people will never believe. However, I'm considering writing that fact into the story as part of the conflict. I've been researching holiday villages, historical recreations, car breakdown services, and convictions for breaking-and-entering. Should be fun.

Also on my to-do list this year is to submit some more damn books to some more damn publishers. The Untied Kingdom, I'm looking at you.

1 comment:

  1. Happy New Year, K8!

    Hope you survive the edits.

    ReplyDelete