The Big Update

So, I’m getting all the Thaumatology books proofread and reissued. Back before these things started making money I couldn’t really afford to have a professional work over my stories, but I’m a little bit of a perfectionist (not a really big one, but I hate putting out something which could be better), so now’s the time to get everything checked over.

Before I send them off, however, I’m doing a run through myself to correct the things I know will just need fixing anyway and to tweak a few things I know I need to correct. There’s a few bits of Devotik around that need correcting, and I think a few dates need tweaking. I’ve got as far as working through Legacy. Going back and rereading the old stuff is always fascinating, and it gives me ideas about future projects.

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Vengeful Edits

So, yes, this weekend is going to be final edit weekend for Vegeance and then it goes off to Kate for proofing on Monday. That means it’s about two weeks until release date and I need to come up with a cover.

I have been toying with a number of books to do once the sixth Aneka book comes out. I’d like to do the sequel to Ugly, but I’m not sure of the plot. What I have needs stripping back a bit and replanning. I’ve been playing with a cyberpunk story which looks promising, but needs more development. Right now I’m coming down on the side of Reality Hack seeing print next, but we’ll see what I think when I’ve wrapped the edits to Vengeance.

The Inspiration Bug

Terry Pratchett had this idea that inspiration passed constantly through the universe as a stream of particles which would, occasionally, interact with a mind. Some people, unfortunately for them, have denser brains or something and inspiratons (I just made that up) interact with them more often. That’s how I’m feeling at the moment.

Reality Hack is on hold; I didn’t think I’d take it to a full draft right now, but I’ve called a halt while I work out where I’m going with it. Good start, but it needs some careful though or it’s going to go off on a tangent.

Besides, last weekend while I was putting Ugly out I had this inspiraton smack me in the brain and now I’m writing High Fantasy (or as high as I get anyway). I mean it’s got dragons in it! No idea when that one’s going to see daylight, or if it ever will, but it’s got some cool stuff and I actually do know where I want it to go. Bit epic for me, but we’ll see what happens.

Except that I really have to sit down and write the next Aneka Jansen book soon if I’m going to get it out before Christmas like I promised. I am, however, happy to be doing some random stuff before then. It helps stop me going funny.

Funnier. Sorry, yeah, it helps stop me going funnier.

Ugly Reality

Yeah, so this weekend my next book, Ugly, is coming out. It’s a superhero novel, which is an odd topic for a fantasy blog, but then I guess superheroes are as much fantasy and sci-fi. Anyway, more details coming soon.

In other news, I wrapped the main text on Vengeance and set it aside for a bit to breathe. Last night I started my first read-through; in this case because I new there were tweaks I wanted to make before giving it a proper break prior to the first main edit. It’s still on track for August, I’ve even got a slot booked with Kate for proofreading.

Meanwhile I needed a little break so I put down a marker for the next Thaumatology book (yes, the next one’s in the works already, though it’ll be several months before it sees print), and then I had an idea smack me between the eyes… and Reality Hack was born. I’m going to have some trouble classifying this one: it’s urban fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and the erotic element is a bit more explicit. I think it might make it out into the light of day though. So far the characters are working for me and that’s always a good sign.

That Next Book

I don’t even have a working title, but I’m working on the next Thaumatology novel, and I’ve got a (very preliminary) target date for release.

Expect to see Ceri and Lily strutting through your e-reader sometime around August 16th.

It’s been a while since I wrote them and I’m currently reading through some of the previous books to get my brain back in the zone. That’s never good; far too much “oh I wouldn’t have written that like that now.” Still, it’ll be fun getting back in touch with the girls.

On a Side Note

I’ve finally kicked off the blog for my other little project. Coming to an on-line store when I get the first one finished, the story of Aneka Jansen, 21st Century girl who wakes up in the future.

http://steelbeneaththeskin.wordpress.com/

NoNo/Book 11 Update

It occurs that I neglected to share the exciting news: Book 11 first draft wrapped the weekend just gone. On Friday, I think. I’m currently going over it to tidy it up before sending it off to my Sanity Checker.

One thing that has come out of doing this is that, frankly, NaNoWriMo is a lousy way to write a novel. Normally I’d be rethinking sections and going back over them as I write, rechecking, ensuring everything was right. NaNo kind of forced me to press onward. As a result I’m finding spelling errors I’d normally have seen (yes, with red lines under them from Word), missing words, grammar errors I should have seen. Plus, I know I need to rewrite several blocks based on rethinks later in the book. I’m not sure I’ll bother doing that again.

Coming soon: some peeks into books 9 and 10 which will be coming out soon!

Fifty K

I just beat the fifty thousand word target on NaNoWriMo. Everything else is gravy as far as the challenge goes. Of course, I’m not finished with the book yet. It would be cool if I could wrap the whole thing by the end of the month, which should be possible if I keep going at this rate.

NaNo nano-update

That’s a tiny update concerning NaNoWriMo. I thought was a cute sort of pun. Kind of.

So, last night I beat 35,000 words and the little estimation widget on the NaNo web site says I could have hit the challenge target (50,000) by the end of Sunday. I have to admit, Book 11 is streaming out of me in a way Books 9 and 10 didn’t. I think the rest I took to leave starting this one until November did me good. Or, after the relatively high-stress, complex plot writing of 9 and 10, 11 is a little easier on the brain. Hey, I even gave it a mildly amusing title.

Harper Voyager Open Submissions

So I’ve delayed my current project a little to go over Thaumatology 101 again because Harper Voyager are opening up their submission system for two weeks. I’ve been trying to get an updated version together for a while, so this is a good excuse to try to get that done.
And if they don’t want it, I’ll update the eBook and possibly put out a print version through CreateSpace.
If you’re looking to get yourself a book deal, go search out Harper Voyager.