It’s been months since I worked on a new story. I’d almost forgotten how it feels 😉
I had a solid draft of The Seeds of Power finished by summer last year. Then I spent the rest of 2019 dealing with edits, more edits, proofreading, formatting, and uploading the book. Not to mention setting up author accounts, claiming author pages, writing blurbs, bios, and all kinds of other indie publishing stuff.
It was interesting and oddly enjoyable, rather like my desk job back in the day. I was pleased with the final result, but it’s only now I’ve started working on the next Elan Intrigues story that I realize how much I’ve missed writing.
I’ve started a novella that links The Seeds of Power with the next full Elan Intrigues book. The point of view character is Prince Daire. He was the most important secondary character in The Seeds of Power, but he didn’t have a point of view in that book, so the reader never got an insight into his head.
Even though I had a pretty good understanding of Daire, it’s taken me most of the last month to find his voice. Now, finally, I’m getting there. Here’s the key to Daire: his family motto is The Price of Privilege is Duty, but his personal mantra is Whatever Happens, Smile.
It’s early days, and it’s only a novella, but I can’t overstate the thrill I get from feeling that I finally got inside Daire’s head. He’s a fictional character, but suddenly he’s become real to me. I care what happens to him. I’m excited to tell his story. I want to solve his problems. Don’t tell my husband, but I kind of love him 😉
I know it won’t last, but right now I want to write the next scene, and the one after that. I go to bed thinking about the story and wake up raring to write. It’s wonderful.
I said at the beginning of the year that my watchword for 2020 would be WALTZ, symbolizing my efforts to balance writing, publishing, and marketing. I realized this week that a waltz may comprise three steps, but they don’t have to be equally weighted. You can take one big, swooping creative step and then balance it with two smaller, stabilizing ones. I think that may be my kind of waltz.
It’s been a good week here in London. What gives you that excited, buzzy feeling?
Eight Ladies Writing 
Seeing the end in sight on The Secret Box. Like you, I feel like it’s been forever since I really spent a lot of time writing. I’ve gotten back to that in the last couple of weeks and it’s been joyous.
So happy to see you happily dancing again!
Apropos of dancing, do you recall this dialogue from The Doctor Dances?
The Doctor: I’ve traveled with a lot of people, but you’re setting new records for jeopardy-friendly.
The Doctor: We were talking about dancing.
Captain Jack: It didn’t look like talking.
Rose: Didn’t feel like dancing.
I’m in love with the phrase “jeopardy friendly!”
I loved that dialogue!
Congratulations on your progress with The Secret Box. So glad you’re finding the joy too. Can’t wait to read it 🙂
I finally got into the book that I’d put aside for months while I recovered from surgery. It’s taken me almost a month to remember where I was and care at all about these people again. And now every time I write a scene with my villain, I can’t stop cackling. In my off-hours, I’m trying to push the most recent trilogy out the door. Unlike you, I find everything that isn’t writing no fun at all, too much like my desk job, all the reasons I wanted to stop working. It’s been like pulling teeth to get the crap done. But I do want those books to get out there, so… carrying on. In my off hours. 🙂
Writing is definitely the best bit, but I’ve found editing (or at least the end result of the editing process) to be surprisingly satisfying. Marketing, however, definitely feels like pulling teeth.
Very glad you’re working on that WIP again. I can almost hear you and your villain cackling evilly together. Bwah-hah-hah-hah…
I’m getting ready to start book 2 in my series and I’m so excited! To be able to WRITE again instead of the constant editing I feel I’ve been doing (yes, it’s been rewriting, but not the same thing). I’m excited to delve into a new world with new characters and bring them to light. Yay!
Whoo, Book 2!! Yay, Justine, and best of luck!
Oooh, yay! Discovery is such a fizzy, lovely phase!
I’ve been really creative lately, just not in the fiction department. I made some worksheets and lesson plans that used a lot of skills I learned here on the blog (particularly, trolling through Wikimedia Commons and looking for artwork that would work and add value to the acres of black and white text). I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to use them — they ARE in English, and the intended audience doesn’t speak English like natives. English teachers, yes, but the fear of foreign language text block is real. I know it from the English-looking-into-Japanese-blocks-of-text aspect.
And I’ve been thinking about Vandal the magician lately. Little things, like he’s got a brother named Charlie and his assistant, Josephine, is his sister. No conflict yet, though. No real baddie or instigator. We’ll see.
Turn on the waltz music! Let’s get out there and dance!
Good to know that blogging here helped you create your new worksheets and lesson plans 🙂 I hope the intended audience will find them beneficial–fingers crossed that the artwork will make all that text seem less scary.
And now your lesson plans are finished, a little snippet of Vandal the Magician, and Charlie, and Josephine, would be lovely. No rush. Whenever you’re ready. One-two-three, one-two-three 😀