Tag: ideas

Empire’s Agent, baker’s dozen

I’ve uploaded the final re-edit for T4L.  The preliminary re-edit of Echoes of Family Lost is due in next week.  After I give my poor copy-editor a week off she’ll be back into “The Saga of Nichole5: Part 1 – ‘Friend & Ally.'”  That will have me essentially re-publishing and publishing three novels in three months.

To quote the smartest person on my planet, Dorina, “That’s SOOOO cool!”

On the first hand, I am not thrilled where this has ended.  On the second hand, this is just a temporary pause!  At 11k words, it would be a real pleasure to turn this into a canonical MC novel where, as a romance, no one dies.

[sit down, Will!]

On the gripping hand, I’ve much work to be done with the re-edit of EoFL and SN5-1 right on its heels.  As I’ve pointed out, I can no longer not write, so I wonder… what’s next? Continue reading “Empire’s Agent, baker’s dozen” →

Empire’s Agent, pt.11

Second, awful, miserable Dayjob(TM) weekend prep.  Nine to four with no breaks, no lunch.  At four (1600), I curled up around some boxes of liter normal saline and fell asleep for maybe fifteen minutes.  Saw this and what I’ll write and post tomorrow.  Worked for another 90 minutes.

I tend to forget about the weather; I shouldn’t:  it can be a fantastic tool for advancing a story.  Especially a story where two people might just be falling for one another.

Since, for the vast majority of time we’ve been genetically ‘human,’ getting sick = dying, I think that caring for the sick is a special form of love we show one another.  I’d call it a subset of agape, but I drink more than I Greek.

My other task is to make two, minor, editorial changes to the 2nd edition of The Fourth Law.  After Createspace does their third and final review, it’ll be commercially available.  It will likely not be until the following weekend that I’ve everything fixed and uploaded onto Smashwords.  Following that, the 2nd edition of Echoes of Family Lost.  In May, “The Saga of Nichole5 – Part 1:  ‘Friend & Ally'”

It’s as if I’m an author…

Continue reading “Empire’s Agent, pt.11” →

Empire’s Agent, pt.8

Nasty outbreak of DayJob, today:  my boss’s dotted-line boss was in for the annual audit.  I did my best to stay invisible.  In that time, I was able to see far beyond what I’ve written here.  But, it was a 10-hour day, so:  rest.

I have to tell this from Arpad’s POV because I didn’t understand just how – even with Ai’s family – how alone Lily is as she approaches thirty years old.  I’m not cutting her parts out, but limiting them for poignancy.

Continue reading “Empire’s Agent, pt.8” →

Empire’s Agent, pt.(7)

Back on track.  I re-re-read what I’d re-read yesterday.  I’m just a middle-aged hack, but FFS, that was awful!  Was I really drunk enough to write that?

I didn’t even bother editing it:  deleted.  Let’s try again.  Sure:  dashing Arpad is something of a player; nothing at all wrong with that.  Has he a history?  Well, lookie here…!

[Personal aside:  thought about this all morning.  Left phone upstairs in pharmacy while I went to eat lunch in ground floor cafeteria.  Rather than troll news sites, I spent the next forty-ish minutes thinking about this story.  Bits.  Pieces.  Glimpses.  Pic…

What?  Oh:  “picnic.”  My imagination opened like a carpet.  Arpad owes Lily a lunch at her hospital, but after that… they’re going to go on a little date… how, why, where… don’t bother me:  I’m writing!]

Continue reading “Empire’s Agent, pt.(7)” →

Casting Call

Not writing anything on Sunday freaked me out so I thought about things Monday – so much my brain shorted out and I had to leave DayJob at 1500 – and came home to write a little.  I’d thought I’d try following on Empire’s Agent, about Arpad and Lily.  I dropped about 400 words and went to bed.  Going back to look at them, just now, I must have been worse off than I thought:  just awful!

The problem, of course, is me.  After starring in my first two novels, Lily Barrett is something of an iconic figure of my future history.  One doesn’t just randomly use icons in short story writing exercises.  I’m going to spend the rest of this evening thinking and making a few notes.  I am really interested where this might lead but I don’t want to bugger it up.

Content tomorrow.  Something.  Promise.

Bridge; suspended

Saw much while at work today:  project manager Chinon’s surprise when Dorina tells him she’ll be running things at Chise’s brief restart; Shandor’s possible betrayal (and thus Thaad’s possible reaxion); Pius XIII on his knees in his office in the Vatican, praying; a certain door to a certain chamber opening… as the thin rug of reality that gets torn out from under Leslie…

So I saw that.  But I’m very tired and do not want to screw it all up for everyone.  Please, grant me a night for them to let me dream their details.  Confused?  You won’t be after tomorrow’s episode of The Second Bridge.

PS  You really, really think there are such things as coincidences?  This showed up, today, of all days!

The Second Bridge, pt.5

Just before Mass tonight I let out a little laugh.  Never knowing what I’m up to my wife looked me a question.

“Just saw part of a story,” I said.  I’d been making correxions to the newly re-edited version of “The Fourth Law” all day, so it was a surprise to suddenly have this story break in.  Nonetheless, it was a pleasure to see what I did.  The ironic part is that what I saw doesn’t happen until pt.6!

Continue reading “The Second Bridge, pt.5” →