Progress. Progress - What fun!

I'm updating my sidebar with the progress on the two projects I'm jumping into. Hopefully, this weekend, I'll be adding some info on the short stories. I've got to get off my duff and start marketing some of those. I have a few I think are good to go, or thereabouts.

I'm particularly pleased with my progress on Lee's. It will probably drag and leap as I'm able to incorporate this and that of the huge wealth of writing I'd already gathered, but this is a completely new beginning for it, so it's starting slow. On the other hand, I read the first chapter and Lee is thoroughly thrilled. Apparently, I have just the voice, just the aspect of the main character he wanted, so, if it's going slowly, it's going well.

I'm just as pleased that my old Regency Romance (in the Georgette Heyer style) was further along than I remembered. It's so completely different from the other, it gives me a great change of pace when I run aground. And, since I have nearly every Georgette Heyer the poor lady ever wrote (including nearly a dozen on my ereader), I can immerse myself in her world whenever I want. And that's pretty cool, too.

Damn, I LOVE writing!

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Multitasking

When I'm not consumed with something, I frequently work on more than one project. It's fun. In this case, I'm revising MY first novel which is also in serious need of some growing up. Two things at once scare you? Not me. I love to keep myself sharp, keep things interesting.

You want to know what really gets me going? What I love more than almost anything is feedback.

I'm about to start reading the beginning rewrite of that novel to someone (not just my husband). I'm going to work on the rewrite as I'm reading - that ought to keep me motivated. I'm psyched.

And this week, I am going to start sending out queries. If work eases up, I might even send out a short story.

Life can be good.

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New Project That's an Old Project

I'm working on something special at the moment.

See, although my husband and I write together, I usually do the grunt work. And, to date, the majority of our finished works have been built on my ideas. There's a reason for that.

Lee's brilliant, of course. And he had ideas he's played with his whole life.

The thing was, when we tried to implement those, build them into a story, we couldn't get anywhere.

Part of it was that they were still somewhat immature. Sort of Tenchi Muyo in the perfect spacecraft, but with even more sarcasm. There was a definite streak of comic book. The hero had implausible details and was too good at everything. His female crew was a little too devoted. And there wasn't a conflict. Everything was too easy for this hotshot, his exemplary crew and his super fabulous spacecraft.

We'd start and then, when we got to where we really needed a story, it would peter out, partly because Lee's idea kept growing up, getting more mature. Evolving.

I wrote (and rewrote) well over a hundred thousand words on this book. But we didn't get very far.

The cool thing is that there was some good work in there. Some spectacular battles, some very very cool speculative science in the ship and the weapons, some wonderful snarky dialog, and some very powerful passages that I would hate to lose forever.

So, Lee wanted to work on this project again. I told him he needed a plan, put it in writing so we'd have a solid (unchanging) base to at least build a draft.

And he did it.

So, we're going to see if we can salvage some of those cool scenes and fabulous speculative science, snarky dialogs and truly interesting (and now more interesting/less perfect) characters as well as a bit more gender diversity.

After all, I have to put in a bit of myself in there, too. I wonder how it will come together.

More on this later.

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