Kroo To You

Been a little too busy lately to write much. Got about 5500 words of Klown Kroo written. Looks like I shall be moving back to Fort Smith at the end of May. New job and all that. However, I shall try to find time between now and then to keep pecking away at Klown Kroo. Currently, Vern is trying to beat the tar out of Daniel for sneaking out of the house. Will he succeed? Possibly. Quite possibly.

Non-Klowns

4300 words of Klown Kroo. We have moved into the arena of "non-klowns." Winslow, Arkansas, please enjoy being converted into a post-apocalyptic, ramshackle dump full of drunks, brain-sick lunatics, and violent obese inbreds. Is it far from reality? Is it? That's the question.

So Many Klowns

I have written 3100 words about Klowns and Kroos. I actually had to do a little research to finish the first chapter. Had to learn some gymnastics terminology. At least there is the internet for such things. In the olden days, I would have had to wait until tomorrow and go down to the local library. Silly olden days. I have also done a bit of research on clowns and clown history. There are things that I must know. The Joey and the Auguste, for example. One must understand the nature of the Joey and the Auguste, if one wishes to understand clowns. Cakey is the Joey (and a Whiteface). Daniel, aka Disturby, becomes the Auguste. Telly, being the ringmaster and a character clown, is often the ur-manipulator. See the things you learn here, people?

Kroo?

2000 words of Klown Kroo have been written. Is it NaNoWriMo? I will probably write some more this evening. Already we've got knife juggling, shillelagh wielding, scabby-headed crazy people and near impalings.

Time for Clowns? Yes.

So I've got short stories coming out from now until September. In May, "Planet Feast" will appear in Big Pulp, "Heart Case" will appear in Absent Willow Review, and one or two more might appear, as well ("Panorama of Failure" and "Leaping") depending on their editors' schedules. Also, there are a number of short stories that are still out there, being considered for publication.

All of that is to say, it seems like a good time to start work on a novel. Yes, I already wrote a novel not so long ago, Mindy Lightbearer. I started a total rewrite of that book recently, changed the name to Mindy of the Aether, and I might keep working on it. But it's not where my inspiration currently lies. The novel that is really burning in my brain right now is a Klown Kroo novel. I've got a sense of it already worked out. It will be strange and fun. I need to write it. I will write it.

In fact, I wrote the first 600 words tonight. Some things about it: It will have the same characters and setting (post-apocalyptic) as the short story that I wrote for Sideshow Fables. The story will be seen through Daniel's eyes (but third person) and begins before he joins the Klown Kroo. I have decided to preserve the spelling of "Klown Kroo" which will be attributed to the horrible spelling ability of the sign painter.

Anywho, there you go. Going back and reading Mindy, it's amazing how much better my writing has gotten just in the last few months, and how much more comfortable I am now. Before, I tortured my way through every sentence. It was a slow grind. Now, it all just seems to flow. I guess that's what churning out 19 short stories in four months will do. I did totally rewrite the first chapter of Mindy, and I know I could make that novel so much better. But that's not what I want to write, ladies and gentlemen. I want to write about clowns. And not just any clowns but Klowns. Whole kroos of them. They will love you. They will come to your town and juggle. They will set fires and smash shillelaghs into your rube neck. And they will touch your soul forever.

And I shall.