I don't think of this blog as being exclusively about my writing, because I myself am not exclusively about my writing. But I do like to occasionally make it clear that I am still writing.
So here's where we're at.
The book code-named "Aardvark" is finished in its second draft. I, frankly, adore it. It was uncooperative at times, but that's because it resonates with me in a way nothing else has so far. In it, a woman's car slides off a deserted icy road leaving her trapped and bleeding, and between escape attempts she comes to realize she's focused her life on everything except what really matters. I love the character and the realizations she finds, and so far the people who've read it (my sister, my friend TS and Mr. W) seem to agree.
I will be beginning the final revisions on Aardvark next week. I am both excited and nervous: I have some fears that I'll mess this up because I really care about it, but I think that my care for it will also make sure I don't go too far afield.
I have also been looking for the next book, Blueberry. (In case you want to keep track, the next one will be codenamed Cookie, and the next Dragonfly. Mr. W gets to choose the codenames... he was gunning for Dodecahedron for the D name but I refused on the grounds that I have to think too hard when I type it.)
I had a great story coming together for Blueberry, deep and interesting and moral and all that. Unfortunately, it's not MY story. Dean Koontz or Stephen King could do it justice (and if they want it they're welcome to email me :) but it just isn't the kind of thing I want to tell. And I have recognized that and set it aside, which was nervewracking because I'd spent well over a month on it and what if I didn't find another one?
Well, I did. The new Blueberry involves Kegan from my free book "Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo" (go download it if you haven't already :), but it's not really a follow-up to "Polar Bear". It's just singing for me now and I love it. So I'll be editing Aardvark and working on Blueberry's outline and I'll be busier than the proverbial one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest (which saying always makes me wonder a) why'd he want to enter the contest and b) why would ANYONE enter the contest??) and I think I will be loving the whole thing.
I'm lucky enough to have a job I love. I even love the parts that make me twitchy and insane. (More insane.) Very lucky.
And now, off to bed to let my mind wander through Blueberry and see what happens. (I only track "writing time" when I'm actually at the desk, but all the good stuff arrives when I'm half asleep. Yet another of the mysteries of this job!)
