Adventures in Bat Country

I recieved a request for the complete copy of Dreams in the Dragon's House. I had almost forgotten that novel was out in the ether. It reminded me how much hope I had for that novel.

I also recieved two thank you letters for Dylan and the Dream Pirates. One of them asked serious questions that took me a couple of minutes to answer properly.

Inside of my office in the Evil Empire, I felt like I had made it today.

In other news, the revisions from the "Sky God's Daughter" has been completed and returned.

Now, I just need to tackle that damnable story that is very hard to complete somehow titled "The Fisherman's Wife" and I only have two months to complete it.

I read some submission information emailed to me today.

I really like the guidelines for a dragon's story anthology. It sparked an idea to tell a backstory adventure about Mrs. Aithne from Dreams in the Dragon's House. I like the idea of a dragon love story set during World War II. I need to shore up the ideas first and then draft an synopsis.

I also have a solid idea on a victorian steampunk story. It should be quite interesting.

I also have a really creepy idea for a mythos / afghanistan war story.

It has been several weeks since I’ve updated.

I was laid off at the end of November. It hit me fairly hard since I loved that job and working there. And sadly, the contract I had during the summer screwed up my Unemployment. It is supposed to work out, but until then, I’ve been dirt poor. Thankfully, my lovely wife has been supporting me. It really made me uncomfortable. Yeah, I know I have issues.

I start my new job on Monday. It doesn’t pay quite as much, but it is work. I feel like a load has been lifted.

I had to set down and make priorities for myself. I closed my small press company Simian Publishing. The economy is killing the already very small market for small press books and the money I spend on that side business could be used to pay off debt and savings, It was a hard choice to make, but I think it was the right one.

I think being home alone every day drove me a little crazy. I obsess on details and little failures.

I’ve been so stressed that I haven’t been able to properly think straight. Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly, as soon as I had the confirmation date for my new job I was able to start writing again.

I started writing book #3 this morning. The title is Ravenswood Academy: School for Villainy and Skullduggery. I’ve been having a blast making up super hero and villain names. I like this universe. I’ve always loved superheroes.

I have Dylan and the Dream Pirates with a test reader. I will edit when I get the feedback.

I have some more edits for Dreams in the Dragon’s House that I need to tackle. I’m getting better and better reviews for it, so I think I am making progress.

I've enjoyed my little vacation, but back to work.

I recieved some nice feedback on Dreams in the Dragon's House. I plan to consider it and the feedback from the prospective agent at the same time.

Next week, I start editing Dylan and the Dream Pirates. I've manged to throw so much story into it that it is tiring. I did miss the giant monkies.

This week, I played around with Fear and Loathing in Innsmouth

8,000 / 80,000 (10.0%)

So far two things have surprised me: the ghost of Lenny Bruce and the mountain folk occultists with a hankering for the other white meat named Glamberson and Clayton. Yes, that's right I like hoping on bandwagons.

Speaking of which, anyone want to be disco hipsters that are brutally murdered and have other unkind things happen to them? Or at least give out their names?

I did some copyediting for Dragonclaw Apocalypse. I have two possible covers. I need to think on that.

I sent out contracts for Twilight Temptations.

I'm on pins and needles about an agent reviewing Dreams in the Dragon's House. I keep checking her site every hour or so.

I still need a little bit of time before I start editing Dylan and the Dream Pirates. I plan to start that in September.

And so I also started Fear and Loathing in Innsmouth: Richard Nixon's Revenge. Speaking of which, I finally recieved my shipment of Triquorum 2. I know I promised a couple of local people copies of it.

I'm proceeding on track with the Simian projects.

I recieved a nice ego bump yesterday. I don't know if anything will come of it, but it encouraged me to keep sending out Dreams in the Dragon's House

It is enough that it had encouraged me to shorten my brief break from writing.

50,500 / 75,000 (67.3%)

I've managed to recreate what I've lost for Dylan and the Dream Pirates. I'm trying to make Talbot very self aware. I expect the next five chapters to speed by.

I am concerned that three of the test-readers for the last version of Dreams in the Dragon's House filtered off. That might be a sign that the book isn't as good as I think it is. Either way, it was a good learning experience.

I'm eager to get this one finished and use the lessons learned in my next one.

I added two thousand words or so to Dylan and the Dream Pirates

29,000 / 75,000 (38.7%)

I expect that the word count will go up quickly as the tilting point hits.

I recieved some encouraging words about Dreams in the Dragon's House from some of the first readers. At the moment, this book is in the slush pile for an agent who I really like. I have my fingers crossed.

I've created a private lexicon wiki for my Crossroads Universe. It has made organizing information for my characters, histories, and just general information.

The information is locked behind a password and membership. In order to become a member, I have to add you to the list. Thus, it is protected from general view, but I can access the information.

At the moment, I’ve only entered information about Dylan and the Dream Pirates, but it has already been extremely helpful for keeping characters, locations, and histories consistent.

I highly recommend it for writers working on a fictional universe. And when ::knock on wood:: Dreams in the Dragon’s House and Dylan and the Dream Pirates are finally published, I can fold it into a public wiki, which can be a powerful marketing tool.

I finally recieved feedback on my DREAMS IN A DRAGON'S HOUSE query.

I'm told at 73,000 words, it is a bit long for standard YA. By adding 7,000 words, DREAMS IN A DRAGON'S HOUSE could be marketed as urban fantasy. That is something to seriously consider. I think I know of two scenes that could be extended to make it to that point, but I was worried about going over the word count for YA.

I obviously have a little more work to do on this.