Yes, I know; it’s actually November now. In your timeline, anyway. In my timeline… okay, it’s November here, as well, but given that I didn’t have a status update last month, this one is going to have to suffice!
For those of you playing along at home, you may remember I had big plans for October. A full rewrite of Investigation, Mediation, Vindication… a start on the sequel for See These Bones… new exploits for John Smith, supernatural mediator, a third series about parallel universes and Ragnarok… and much, much more. I obviously didn’t expect to complete all or even most of those projects1, but I was hoping to at least make some progress on one of them.
Narrator: He did not make any progress.
Stay Classy, San Diego!
The month began with a very quick trip back to the city we moved away from this summer, San Diego. There wasn’t nearly enough time to see everyone, but we did squeeze in some fun and a lot of food around my wife’s work-related activities. We also had a great night out celebrating our friend’s birthday at Raised By Wolves2, a ‘hidden’ speakeasy in UTC La Jolla. It was my second visit, and this time, we thought to ask for the whisky menu.3 All in all, it was a great start to the month.
An October Epidemic
Sadly, when our San Diego trip was over, I left with more than just good memories. Somehow, I brought a cold with me back to Vegas. And not just a standard sniffle-cough-move-on-with-your-life sort of cold… this one decided to singlehandedly destroy my sleep schedule and my work ethic… and it stuck around for more than two weeks. As a result, it also scuttled those super-optimistic writing plans I entered the month with. (Writing is difficult enough as it is without having a box of tissues literally sitting on your keyboard!)
So… my rewrite remains stalled (around the 50pp mark), and neither Red Right Hand nor the untitled Ragnarok book have progressed beyond being ideas in my head and a handful of ideas in OneNote.
Waiting for Godot. Or an E-mail. Either would work.
To add to the tale of woe, it’s now been about six weeks since I sent in my revised manuscript for See These Bones, and there’s been no word from the involved agents. As I mentioned previously, this was my first R&R request ever, so I wasn’t sure what the timetable was or should be, but I was hopeful I’d hear a reply by now. Much like when applying for a job, there’s no guarantee that you’ll hear back at all if the recipient is not interested in you. So… silence is not great news, by any means. I’m not giving up on that query just yet4, but it does seem like my timetable continues to slide.
Never Underestimate the Power of Sleep
To summarize, I was on pace for an October that didn’t deserve an update post at all. I did share a snippet from See These Bones on Halloween5, but the prospect for actual new content was looking poor.
However, I woke up one morning with yet another idea for a story floating around in my brain. I was still sick, but found myself heading downstairs to write anyway. The fact that it was a short story probably helped. The fact that it starred a character from See These Bones that I love helped more. Whatever the cause, as I’ve slowly returned to health, I’ve also managed to crank out 11k words. This week, I finished the first draft of The Storm in Her Smile.
My goal is to get feedback from my saintly6 beta readers and then post it on this site soon after. It’s… a bit different. I’m looking forward to hearing what you all think.
Until then, Happy October November!
Footnotes
- Not without a team of ghost writers, anyway.
- Pictured above.
- We went heavy on the peat, as one should in a situation and location like this.
- Now, if I haven’t heard anything by the end of the year… well, yeah. That’ll be a sign.
- And also learned that Halloween themed posts are great, but actually posting them on Halloween is a terrible idea. Everyone is way too busy with trick or treating to read a blog post.
- Seriously… they’re all saints. Except for one. He knows who he is.
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