Mo' Special

Well, I didn't get to write quite as much as I wanted during the Christmas holiday time. Spent a few days in Bartlesville with the old people and such, but I still managed to sneak away now and again to the computer room to peck out a few words. Deep Water now stands at 109,023 words.

It's interesting comparing the story that is now unfolding with the original version of Deep Water that I wrote back in 2001. They are very different stories in many ways, and it reveals some interesting things about how I have changed since then both as a writer and as a person. Many things about it are much darker and more violent this time, but the emotional arc of the characters is more believable. It's a much longer story as well. I tend to linger on things longer than I did back then. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but that's how it is. I also feel much more confident crafting prose than I used to. Back then, I tortured my way through paragraphs, struggling to make sentences sound good and flow well. I write with greater confidence now (and, as a result, write much faster) and save all the grief about the prose for the rewriting process. We'll see how it all turns out.

So there you go. Live the dream.

A Banner Day

Well, it happened, and I thought I should mention it right here on this blog. I reached 100,000 words. Technically, I reached 100,135 words. The old man, Nethil, just did a super creepy thing, and it will continue to be even more creepy in the upcoming pages, so that should be fun to write. That'll teach people to eat dried fruit touched by crusty old fingers!

Moon Meat

98,140 words, that's how far along we are in the Deepest of all Waters. Star Wars: The Old Republic has not prevented me from meeting the daily writing goal. I've hit over 1000 words a day every day. I am currently at chapter nineteen. Let's see. We've had river adventures, creaky frameworks, bloated gray crows and the creepiest old man in the world. Fun times. Even another brief appearance of skinless dogs. Next, we'll see the creepiest old man in the world fulfill his creepiest of all destinies. That's for chapter twenty. Live the dream!

Disgusting Situations

Deep Water is now at 89,600 words. That's more words than you can shake a stick at. It's also probably not quite halfway, so we're creating a thick 'n pretty of a book here. In the paperback, I estimate I'd be around page 300 at this point, so if that's a little less than halfway, we're talking about a book somewhere between 600 and 700 words. They call that moderately epic, I suppose. Currently, the characters are floating down a river and seeing terrible things along the way. Soon, more really bad things will happen leading to near deaths and slightly disgusting situations.

What Are These Things?

Calethis? A river.
Naresen? A lowlander city
Ementus? A mountain village
Tesarium? A codex
Get it? Good. I just needed to clear that up. Deep Water is now 83,880 words long, and dagnab if it isn't getting longer day by day! Tonight I got to write a touching scene where one character helps another character take a piss. Seriously, folks. Seriously. People taking long walks across treacherous fantasy landscapes to defeat evil kings do sometimes have to peepee in the underbrush. It's better than skinless dogs.

The Gloaming

Gloaming is another word for twilight. I like the word gloaming. It has only a tangential relation to this blog entry in that the passage I just wrote took place in the gloaming on the day after a battle. So there you go. Deep Water stands at 77,500 words. The current chapter is a sad and reflective time for various and sundry characters, but it prefaces the beginning of our story's ultimate momentum. I think I'm right on track to hit 200,000 words with this novel by the time I'm done.

Crispy Critters

72,600 words is where the story stands. Two chapters of really terrible things just passed, and now we come to the pivotal moment in the story. Pivotal moments are the best. It's too bad some readers (for instance, my wife, when she reads the first draft) will hate what came immediately before the pivotal moment. But, folks, it had to happen, elsewise the pivotal moment ne'er would've come. Can't you see that? Rivers, waterfalls, more skinless dogs, wretched people, various showdowns and King Helathius are all waiting in the wings.

Deeper and Deeper Goeth the Water

Deep Water now stands at 68,430 words. Things just happened. Things. Current chapter titles:

1 - Metal Men
2 - Water Dream
3 - Wrath of the Patriarchs
4 - Among Merchants
5 - Lord-General
6 - Dark Passage
7 - White Fire and Gray Teeth
8 - Ashes of the World
9 - Agony and Bloodstone
10 - Naresen
11 - The Shattered Shield
12 - On the Wall
13 - Fire in the Sky
14 - The Breaking of All Things

Now, doesn't that chapter fourteen title sound ominous? It should. Because it says what it means, and it means what it says...thematically speaking, that is.

Everything is Terrible Forever

Deep Water stands at right around 64,000 words. We are at the point in the story where everything turns bad forever. That's always what people are waiting for in a novel, right? Everything turning bad forever. Seriously, though, there is the possibility that what must soon happen in the story will make readers angry, but the rewards will be great if they hang in there past the everything turning bad forever part.

Merciful Nerasen

Well, I dashed off about 1,900 words on this fine Thanksgiving night, with a bloated gut-sack of turkey and stuffing and smashed taters and crescent rolls rolling over the edge of the desk before me. Deep Water stands at just about 59,000 words as of this moment. Since the story is all set in my mind, and the characters are well known to me, I find I don't have to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what is to come. It is all unfolding as beautifully as a fruit roll-up.

Live the dream!

Another Milestone in the Road of Skinless Dogs

Just passed the 50,000 word mark with Deep Water. No recent appearances of skinless dogs, however. Lots of walking and character development, as well as a smelly medieval-style city of sewage streets and whitewashed buildings. So that's something, right? But events are unfolding toward the big turning point of the story, which should happen in another couple of chapters. See, the interesting thing about this novel is that people will believe the big turning point has already happened round about Chapter Six, but it's not true, people. That's just the set-up. The real turning point is actually round about Chapter Thirteen, and it's a doozy. From there on out, it's a Helt-fest of nightmares right up to the end. Can't wait to write it.

Sacred

I just reached the most sacred word count of all. 40,000. Yes, 40,000 words, and I managed to write 1,300 of those words tonight, even though I bought Skyrim and it stole hours of my life. Loremaster Krantis is answering and failing to answer tough questions about the Enu. That is where things currently stand. I know, I know, people are just waiting for more skinless dogs. Patience. Another skinless dog will appear very soon, but first we must slog through some exposition and character development.

Ashes and Dust

37,157 words is the current count, O King of York. Let's see, that puts us at about page 123 in the paperback novel. So many more words to go, people. I'm guessing this will come in somewhere around 200,000 words. I might be underestimating, though. We'll see how it plays out. The plot and characters are pretty clear in my head, but I've got to leave room for unplanned weirdness to happen. Although, we wouldn't want Jordan-style digressions and needless subplots, would we? Also, thus far, nobody has tugged on a braid or smoothed out a skirt. But there is a king named Helathius. See what I did there? See it?

Finally!

Skinless dogs! Skinless dogs finally appeared! At just around 34,000 words, the creature burst through the canopy of leaves and landed at the water's edge. None other than a skinless dog! This might be the pivotal moment of my writing career. Everything I've ever written has only been leading up to the moment when skinless dogs appears! Hurray!

Breaking the Sacred Barrier

Finished chapter six. Deep Water stands at 31,027 words. That's about 103 pages in a paperback novel, to give you a sense of it. Long way to go, but Jeren and Aleas are on their way. The chapter titles, as they currently stand, are:

Chapter One: Metal Men
Chapter Two: Water Dream
Chapter Three: Wrath of the Patriarchs
Chapter Four: Among Merchants
Chapter Five: Lord-General
Chapter Six: Dark Passage
Chapter Seven: White Fire and Gray Teeth

And, yes, chapter seven is the first appearance of skinless dogs. Sorry it took so many chapters to get there, folks. You will be amply rewarded.

Word 2 Tha Biskit

28,088 words is where we be. Lots of cavern adventures is what's going on at the moment. Also, strange fire and underwater pools and such. I have absolutely nothing else to add to this blog entry, so I'll post seven random words to close it out. Audacious. Lucid. Vivacious. Exposed. Trochaic. Uvula. Valise.

We're All Just Waiting for the Skinless Dogs

Continuation is the name of the game. Hitting the 1000 word a day goal, even when I get back late from things, such as the interminable Halloween activities last night. Deep Water now stands at 25,490 words. Everything is currently being destroyed, which means we're so very close to skinless dogs. So very close. First, some clambering through the dark, then some despair and walking and angst. And then, yes, then the skinless dogs. They don't even have any skin, people! Why don't they have skin? I don't know. Probably chapter thirty one will tell you, but, sadly, we're only on chapter six.

Deepy

Got back from a long day at Cub Scout camp with the son, but I still managed to sit down and write 1,133 words. I have surpassed my goal of 1,000 words a day every single day since I started on Deep Water, I believe. That be a good thing, laddy. Aye.

I have now written 22,001 words of the new novel. Lord-General Tallek just showed up in the valley of Ementus. Crap is 'bout to get real. Loremaster stories have been told, merchant's daughter has sneered and been rude, terrible sleepless night has transpired. All that remains now is for catastrophe to unfold in ever-increasing ways. Skinless dogs are only two chapters away, people, and isn't that what we're really waiting for?

Basket of Biskits

Writing like a freak. Do you hear me, Elbert? Writing like a freak. Already at 17,500 words. Loremaster Krantis is about to tell stories about the Enu who live in the sky. Also, it might be time to discuss water dreams and such. I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to discuss water dreams? Loremasters love that sort of thing.

Waters Be Gettin' Deep

Working on the next novel like a fiend. Deep Water now stands at 14,300 words. So far, it's come fast and easy. Fortunately, it's a story that I've thought about and gone over in my head many times since I wrote the previous version of this novel back in 2001. Writhing lowlanders, metal men, water dreams, angry patriarchs, scary girls, that's what we've got so far. And soon there will be loremaster stories, massacres, escapes, skinless dogs and more. Thrilling stuff, folks.

How's About Another Book?

Finished some final work on The Klown Kroo. Nothing major. Corrected a few typos, rewrote some awkward sentences, added a few paragraphs here and there, eliminated redundancies. Most importantly, I added a thematically necessary paragraph to the epilogue. All in all, I think the manuscript is about as good as it's going to get and ready to be perused by an editor. I've queried quite a few publishers, so now it's just a waiting game to see who will respond.

In the meantime, I have continued writing Deep Water. I finished the first chapter and worked a little bit on the second. Already had the pleasure of writing a really disturbing dream sequence. The book stands at 5,369 words.

Queries and Queries. I mean Queries.

Queried more publishers. Heard back from one, but not sure if I want to send them the full manuscript or wait to hear from others. Publishing etiquette demands that while simultaneous queries are okay, simultaneous submission of manuscripts is not. I might wait to hear from one of the big boys. Here are the latest publishers to be queried:

TOR
Ace/Roc Science Fiction & Fantasy
Edge Publishing

Queries

The publishers I've queried about The Klown Kroo:

Silverthought
Knightwatch
All Things That Matter Press
Dark Quest Books
ChiZine Publishing

They are all smaller presses, but next I step it up a notch. I will be sending a query packet to Tor on Monday. Then Baen. Then we's go on from there.

Another Novel, Peeps

I sent out a few queries for The Klown Kroo. That means a cover letter, synopsis and three sample chapters. We'll see if anyone bites. In the meantime, I have begun another, yes another, novel. In 2001, while living in Colonial Arms Inn, newly married and in close proximity to a Fendley, I wrote a novel called Deep Water. It was almost, and I mean almost, bought by a Canadian publishing house, but they ultimately sent it back. I no longer have a copy of the completed manuscript, but I remember the story well, and it could be much, much better.

I am going to write that much, much better version of Deep Water. Tonight, I wrote the first 1000 words. It's a fantasy novel with a jacked-up premise that unfolds with ever increasing bleakness. All will love it.

The Clown Who Falls Down

Completed another revision of The Klown Kroo. Lots of trims here and there to make chunky prose read more smoothly. But I also added a couple of scenes, which pushed the overall length of the novel to 123,760 words. Specifically, Karl aka Touches got a new poignant scene, and Vern got a new disturbing scene. I want to go back and reread the first few pages, though. I still think the opening paragraphs need work. The rest of it is pretty good, though.

Another Novel, Completed!

Finished the first draft of Mary of Shadows. Think of it, that means I've written two full novels this year. That's a record. Two novels in one year. And, yes, a whole heck of a lot of rewriting is now in store for me.

Anyway, Mary of Shadows came in at 99,500 words, nineteen chapters and an epilogue. It will probably grow in the rewrite. That is my prediction. First I will go through the manuscript looking for typos and major gaffes and then print a copy for Lisa to enjoy. She always gets to enjoy the mess and glory of the first drafts.

Dagnab!

Dagnab, I had to post this. After my last post, I went back (for no particular reason) and read the very first post I ever made on The Special Blog of Reginald McNard. Actually, I came across the second post, where I tell this convoluted story about how I wrote and published a short story called "Stick Boys" once upon a time.

Well, suffice it to say, in the course of telling that long-winded story, I mention that I was starting to work on a Stick Boys novel. Reading that made me curious, so I went digging through my hard drive to find that uncompleted novel. I did not find it, although I'm sure it's there somewhere, buried in a folder within a folder within a folder. Instead, I came across a novel I wrote in 2006 called Dreaming of Shadows. It is a completed novel, though it needs a heck of a lot of rewriting and word-love to make it acceptable.

However, what astonished me was how mind-numbingly long the novel is. 196,284 words, to be exact. Let's assume in paperback form I get 300 words per page. That would put the novel at 654 pages. That's a pretty big book for little ol' me. It might've even gotten published if I hadn't given up on the rewrite from absolute burn-out.

Interesting. I shall have to spend some time on this novel when I get done with Mary of Shadows. I already have some ideas on how I might fix the ever-loving stipple out of it.

Shall We Update?

I guess a bit of an update is in order. Still haven't heard back from the publisher about The Klown Kroo. When I get done with my current project, I will probably go back to the klowns and do some more rewriting and polishing. As for Mary of the Aether, the publication date is quite a ways off, so I haven't had any editorial work to do yet. I did join the private forum for Whiskey Creek authors. Not much else to report on that end.

I have been working a bit here and there on the sequel to Mary of the Aether. I'm thinking about changing the title of the sequel to Mary of Shadows. I am 86,000 words into it, approaching the climax. Chapters fifteen, sixteen and seventeen are basically one long chase scene through the town of Chesset. It was arduous to write. I hope it works. I just got to chapter eighteen, where sudden, surprising things happen, and then we'll build toward the final showdown and the end. I expect the book to come in at about the same length at the first book, possibly a little longer.

Latest chapter titles, for no particular reason:

Chapter Sixteen - Closing In
Chapter Seventeen - All Roads Lead to Chesset
Chapter Eighteen - Complications

I think my idea in this prolonged chase scene is for the town itself to become a kind of character in the story. We'll see if I pulled it off when I get around to the first read-through.

Anywho, that's all for now.

Th'Latest

Okay, so Mary of the Aether is in the editorial process. The publication date is July 2012, so I've got a while to go. I was told not to expect to hear from the editor for 30 to 90 days, as she works on the manuscript. In the meantime, I have been working on the sequel, Mary of the Darkness. I'm about 64,000 words into it. It just took a turn for the epic. I mean, a game-changing turn that transforms this book series from a relatively small story about a small rural town and the mysterious goings-on therein to an epic tale of mighty deeds. But I'll leave it at that.

The chapters thus far:

One - Uninvited Guest
Two - Lucky's
Three - The Worst Person in the World
Four - Soon
Five - Ruining Everything
Six - Ambition
Seven - Darkness Descending
Eight - Lost
Nine - The Shepherd's Tale
Ten - Facing the Music
Eleven - The Offering
Twelve - Friend or Foe
Thirteen - Terrible Things
Fourteen - The Setting Sun
Fifteen - Between Heaven and Hell

I expect there to be somewhere between six and eight more chapters, depending on how the upcoming battle plays out, and how many characters I want to be involved in that. Anyway, I can see a whole series unfolding here into ever-increasing glory! Not sure if I'll sell more than half a dozen copies, but I'm having fun writing it.

Update City, USA

I suppose I should post an update on all the various and sundry developments in the writerly life of Reginald McNard, aka secretly me. I will bullet point them, for this makes it more special.

-I sold my novel, Mary of the Aether, to Whiskey Creek Press. The contract is already signed. I have been assigned an editor, and she is supposed to contact me in another month or so. It will be an e-book and trade paperback. I already received a hefty Author's Handbook full of various things I have to know and do once the editor contacts me. Deadlines will be upon me like phantasms of the night.

-I completed The Klown Kroo, worked on it a bit and queried some publishers. The manuscript is currently being considered by one particular publisher. We'll see how that goes. Response time is slow, so it will be a few months until I hear back, I imagine.

-I am working on the sequel to Mary of the Aether. I am approximately 50,000 words into it. It's called Mary of the Darkness. I envision this as a four book series. But I'll get there when I get there, as the cuellos rojos say. Now that I have a contract for the first book, there is incentive to write the others.

-I also have a sequel idea for The Klown Kroo. It would take place primarily in the post-apocalyptic North American nation of Lakota and would involve a mime-like cult. We'll see if I ever get to that point. Got to sell the first book beforehand.

There you go. Every glorious bullet point you ever wanted to know about. The end.

First Draft Stats

120,882 was the final word count. That puts it at 288 printed pages, but I estimate that in paperback form that would be somewhere around 400 pages. I printed it out at the office this morning, and I'm on my way to give it to the proofreader.

First Drafty

Did a cursory read through of the manuscript, fixing spelling errors and glaringly poor sentence structure. That means the first draft us now complete. I will format it and print it tomorrow at the office. Then Lisa gets to read it and give me feedback. Overall, I think it turned out pretty good.

Finito!

It's done! The first draft of Klown Kroo is done! I spent most of the week at a conference in Dallas, but I still managed to attain my goal of at least 2,000 words a day. Finally got home late this evening, finished the last chapter and epilogue. Long live Klowns!

Now, the long, arduous process of rewriting and polishing can begin....eep!

Anywho, the final chapter list turned out to be:

1-Audition
2-Gooty
3-Unpleasant Introductions
4-Debris on the Highway
5-Scabs in All Directions
6-Whiteface, Auguste, Contra-Auguste and Ringmaster
7-Blood on the Stage
8-Refund
9-Everything Must Burn
10-There's Stories and Then There's Stories
11-A Friendly Sort of Place
12-The Show Must Go On
13-The Clown Who Falls Down
14-Gun-Rubes
15-The Fire Inside
16-Ever-Night
17-All Kinds of Doomed
18-Every Rube in the World
19-A Deeper Level of Bad
20-A Long Ride
21-Tockland
22-Wormwood
23-Destiny
24-Angel of Death
25-Out of the Wreckage, A Vision
Epilogue-A Brand New Show

Moon Merde

Quick comment. Wrote 2,300 words tonight, despite a long day and being horribly tired. I am literally one page away from writing the climactic duel. It will involve knives, stabbing, guns, attacking, various things, clowns, etc.

Death

I am in Dallas for the rest of the week for a conference. I knew it would be tricky finding time to write, but I still managed to hit my goal. Wrote 2,050 words tonight in the hotel room. I am done with chapter 23 and onto chapter 24 (called "Angel of Death"). Two more chapters to the end. Man, chapter 23 was bloody and dark, but it had to happen. Next chapter will be pure, unfiltered catastrophe.

Blonf

108,790 is the word count tonight. Cakey and Disturby are living the dream. I'm writing myself into a tricky situation, where they have to fight their way through an impossibly dangerous building to get to a well-guarded room. Time to bend the laws of physics and mortality. Tomorrow, I leave town for a few days, but I shall bring the laptop and attempt to keep up the writing pace. So close to the glorious end. So close. Three chapters remain.

Breef

I'll keep it brief tonight because it's late. Wrote 2,635 words tonight. 106, 471 words total. A big secret was revealed and now destiny is on the verge of being fully embraced. That's all I can say about the story, at this point, but I look forward to the absolute mayhem and carnage and Cakey-ness that will occur in the very next section (which I will write tomorrow). G'night, moon friends.

Pewdy

Broke a new record this evening by writing almost 3,600 words. The Klown Kroo now stands at 103,836. The secretest thing of all was revealed in the story today, which we daren't speak of at this time. Almost done with the Wormwood chapter, and then I will be onto chapter twenty three, which will be called "Destiny." Here is the relevant quote by Cakey: "I feel destiny welling up inside of me, folks." This will be accompanied by knives, guns, flipping and flopping and leaping and kicking and biting. I am mentally prepared to write it even now as we speak.

Marbles

It's onto chapter twenty the second, which is titled, "Wormwood." I wrote nigh on 2,300 words today, some in the afternoon, some right now here at the lateness of night. In all, Klown Kroo now stands at 100,244 words. Only a few more chapters left. All that remains is for the big secret to be revealed, and then a terrible, violent destiny to be fulfilled. And then our Klown Kroo's adventures will be at a glorious end.

Blood on Silver Tile

A fight to the death occurred. Also, a cruel murder and the threat of another. Blood, knives, black capes, silver stars and mechanisms, those are the things I wrote about tonight. The Klown Kroo now stands at 97,890 words. Yes, I wrote just a hair under 3,000 words tonight. Man, this current chapter is exhaustingly ruthless. If and when they make the movie, this will be the scene where people squirm and feel emotional diarrhea. But, never fear, powerful redeeming things are potentially inevitable. We'll see.

Woids

A fight to the death is one paragraph away from happening. General Joseph Mattock has walked onto the stage. 95,011 words have now been written about Klowns and their Kroo. How many words remain? I know not. Five chapters, perhaps. Possibly six. Cakey can feel destiny welling up inside of him. Disturby is set to bust loose and go crazy-go-nuts. Also, deaths.

Mustard

Just keeping track for accountability's sake. Just finished chapter twenty, starting on chapter twenty one. Book stands at 92,527 words. Chapter Twenty is called "A Long Ride." Chapter Twenty One is called "Tockland." At last, the loveliest of all terrible persons will appear.

Tockland

90,096 words is where we stand, even now as we speak. Things are moving into the endgame. Clowns are on their way to Tockland, where every terrible and wonderful thing will finally come to pass. Chapter Twenty, "Greener Pastures," is what I done wrote this evening.

Moon Beans

Just wrote 2,700 words this evening. Maybe the new daily goal should be 3,000 words. Probably not. Don't want to move too fast, or I might not think through the plot carefully enough. Nevertheless, The Klown Kroo currently stands at a total of 86,000 words.

Word

83,050 is the word count tonight. Finished chapter eighteen. Wrote just a tiny bit of chapter nineteen, which is called "A Deeper Level of Bad." The section I wrote tonight was one extended street fight, clowns vs. rubes, with lots of stabbing and blood and terrible things happening. So that should be interesting. How will a man of my profession ever get away with publishing this book? I know not. But I'm willing to find out.

Steam

A gathering of steam occurred throughout the e'en. Writing started off slow. Churned my way through a few paragraphs in the afternoon. Then sat down in the evening, after the kids went to bed, to work on it some more. It came slowly at first, then it got going and, before you know it, I had exceeded the goal handily. The novel now stands at 80,530 words.

Smidges

A smidge over 78,000 words, as of this very moment in time. I am halfway through chapter eighteen, which is called "Every Rube in the World." Wrote 2,300 words tonight (and roughly the same amount last night), so the goal continues to be met (nay, exceeded). It is rather fun and/or somewhat easy to write pure madness, and that is what these latest chapters are.

Random. Title. Here.

Well, I've managed to keep to my goal of 2,000 words a day. The Klown Kroo stands at 73,410 words at this very moment. Armies of infected people, gun-rubes, the ever-night, it's all going down now, and it's only going to get worse. Tockland is one chapter away from showing up. Oh, if only those poor clowns knew what was in store for them. They would weep cotton candy scented tears.

As I mentioned before, chapter titles have changed. This evening, I wrote most of chapter seventeen, which is now called "All Kinds of Doomed," after a quote by Cakey.

Loving Klowns Forever

My new goal for Klown Kroo is 2000 words a day. So far, I have succeeded (meaning, for the last two days). Forget all those chapter titles I posted before. I am adjusting the plans going forward. Specifically, a major plot development that was going to happen at the end of chapter 15 is no longer going to happen. And by "plot development" I mean the reappearance of a certain character. Instead of that trouble-making lardo showing up, we now go right into the new Chapter Sixteen, called "The Ever-Night," where the crap hits the fan. This change is the result of realizing that we needed to move into the madness, the blood, the rampages and the death sooner than originally planned.

Over 65,000 words. Within mere months, people will be loving the Klowns forever.

Back to Clowns

Working on Klown Kroo this evening. Doing some rewriting, pressing on toward finishing it. Over 61k words, it deserves to be finished. I got as far as Chapter Fifteen. Here is a tentative chapter list of what is mapped out thus far:

Chapter One: Audition
Chapter Two: Gooty
Chapter Three: Unpleasant Introductions
Chapter Four: Debris on the Highway
Chapter Five: Scabs in All Directions
Chapter Six: Whiteface, Auguste, Contra-Auguste and Ringmaster
Chapter Seven: Blood on the Stage
Chapter Eight: Refund
Chapter Nine: Everything Must Burn
Chapter Ten: There's Stories and Then There's Stories
Chapter Eleven: A Friendly Sort of Place
Chapter Twelve: The Show Must Go On
Chapter Thirteen: The Clown Who Falls Down
Chapter Fourteen: Gun-Rubes
Chapter Fifteen: The Fire Inside
Chapter Sixteen: The Unhappiest Reunion
Chapter Seventeen: Rubes at the Gate
Chapter Eighteen: Welcome to the Ever-Night
Chapter Nineteen: A Kindly Sort of Tyrant
Chapter Twenty: A Different Kind of Show
Chapter Twenty One: Wormwood

And that's as far as I've gotten in mapping out where the story needs to go. Bear in mind, chapter titles are always subject to change, especially after chapter fifteen, owing largely to the fact that characters sometimes highjack the story and take it in unplanned directions. Some plot points, however, are inevitable. Tockland is inevitable. Wormwood is inevitable. Ever-Night is inevitable. *cue ominous music* I also don't know how many chapters it will take to get to the end. Twenty five, possibly? Maybe more? We'll see.

Letter of Acceptance

Interesting. Just got an offer on my book from a small publishing house with an unusual name: XoXo Publishing, a Division of the Ninni Group. They are based out of Toronto and publish e-books and paperbacks. They sent me a letter of acceptance and business statement, with a contract to follow in a few days.

So I did a little research and found some negative stuff floating around the internet about them. Some people were saying avoid them, though I couldn't find any concrete information as to why. Then I stumbled upon Mr. Piers Anthony. He has a web page with information about various publishers, and his entry on XoXo cleared things up. I guess they had some drama last year with an acquisitions manager who did some screwy things and angered some authors. They have since gotten a new acquisitions manager, and Piers seems to think they're okay. You can follow the link and scroll down to their entry to peruse the whole drama as it unfolded before his very eyes.

Anyway, we'll see what unfolds when I get the contract and take a look. Do I want to publish an e-book, if that is what they offer me? Am I prepared to do tons of self promotion, because as a first time author I'm sure that will be expected of me?

It's all very interesting, and we'll see how it goes.

Thusly

38,671 - that is the current word count of Mary of the Darkness. Just a'thunk I'd keep on mentioning it, for the sake of my own accountability. If I can keep up a pace of at least 1000 words a day, maybe I'll finish this thing before the last leaf of Lairelosse falls. I should add that I am now on Chapter Nine, which be called "Facing the Music." In the previous chapter, Mary learned truly profound things that she knew not of and that now give her a sudden compelling choice to make.

A Writing Fiend

I was a writing fiend tonight. I hammered out over 2000 words. Now it is almost 2:30am and far too late considering the fact that I have staff meeting tomorrow morning. Oh well. It was worth it. Mary of the Darkness is now at 36,244 words. Profound conversations are currently taking place and world-shattering decisions will soon be made by our protagonist.

Le Chapeau

34,149 words. That's where things stand with Mary of the Darkness. Living the dream is the modus operandi. Just finished Chapter 8 (titled "Lost") and beginning Chapter 9 (titled "A Tale of Shepherds"). One step closer to even more terrible things happening. I hope Mary Lanham is mentally prepared.

Butter for the Mind

Currently at 31,000 words for Mary of the Darkness. I just wrote 1,407 words this evening, and shortly I shall go to bed. I got an e-mail from the publisher the other day. Before I read it, I saw that it was only a couple of sentences, so I assumed it was a terse rejection. However, it turned out to be an apology for taking so long. They wanted me to know that my manuscript had indeed been received and was in the queue. So there you go.

Getting More Luscious

I hadn't worked on Mary of the Darkness much the last few weeks, but I've just gotten back into the swing of things. Approaching 28k words. So far, this book is much more intense and darker than the first one, which makes sense when one takes into account the title. The chapter I am currently writing is the game changer essentially, where something very jacked-up happens that changes the situation in a dramatic way forever. And then even more jacked-up things will happen, then terrible things, then epic things, then scary things, then the novel will end, and a third novel will be on the horizon (which will be exponentially more epic than the second one).

The chapters thus far:

One - Uninvited Guests
Two - Lucky's
Three - The Worst Person in the World
Four - Soon
Five - Ruining Everything
Six - Ambition
Seven - Darkness Descending

And there you go. Seven chapters down. Perhaps twenty left to write. Oh well. I would say I'm about a third of the way done.

Interesting

This article changed my thinking on self publishing. We'll see how this all works out with the publishing houses, but there might be an alternative if they turn me down.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-post-by-aaron-patterson.html

Interesting Rejection E-mail

So a little over a year ago, I sent my manuscript to Baen Books. It was an older version of my book, back when it was called Mindy Lightbearer. When I look back at that older version of the book, the prose was rough, the characterizations needed work, there was a lot of rough stuff to work out. Nevertheless, I sent the full manuscript to Baen, and it went into their slush pile.

Well, here we are over a year later, and some editor finally picked it out of the slush pile and read it. They rejected it, of course, but they didn't send me a form letter. They actually sent me personal feedback. Here's what the editor said:

Dear Author,

Thank you for your patience as we considered your manuscript. As you can imagine, we receive a great many submissions, but only a small percentage of them are worthy of significant editorial attention. Yours is one of this select group.

Alas, since even a small percentage of the total manuscripts submitted is a very large number, constraints on our time and resources make it impossible for us to respond even to such high-quality submissions as yours with the close and individualized attention they deserve. So please do not take the brief comments below amiss; they are an indication of our highest esteem. On the other hand, please do not take these comments as a request for revisions; they are not. While we think your story has some merit, we really don’t think it would work for us.

Comments:

- Good writing

- Nice job capturing the point of view of a 13-year-old girl

- Story was slower to develop than our readers prefer

We of course wish you the best of luck submitting it to other markets.

Best wishes,

Gray Rinehart

Contributing Editor

Interesting. The one negative, that the story is slow to develop, is something that I addressed in the rewrite. The novel starts off with a bang now, instead of easing into things. I'm surprised at the comment "good writing" because I thought the prose needed a lot of work, and the newest manuscript is a lot better. Anyway, it was fairly positive for a rejection letter, which gives me some hope considering how much better the manuscript is now compared to what they read. I should hear back from Belle Books soon (they said response time is roughly 3 months, and it's been 2 so far).

Yes, the Sequel

I've written 20,000 words of a sequel to a book that has yet to be published. It doesn't make any sense, people, but it's happening anyway. Turgid emotions are taking place. In a few more chapters, the game changer will occur that changes everything, blows the setting of the story wide open and rocks every world.

But since I'm still waiting to hear back from Belle Bridge Books about the first novel, it is silly that I continue working on the sequel. Neverthemore, I shall continue so to do. I mean, really, why not?