Putting pen to paper.
Maybe fingers to keys?
I am going to try to update here weekly with information about my current projects. Not too much information – just enough to whet your appetite.
Currently, I am attempting to write the first draft of a short story called We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse, which is a farce about the musicians’ mob. The idea was born at a band rehearsal back in November 2009, and the title came from a fellow Municipal Liaison (ML) over on the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) web site after I shared the idea with them. All I can really tell you right now is that it involves a valuable set of timpani, and I may have to listen to an opera before I finish writing the story.
I am also working on the “first” edit of my YA novel The Power, which is about a girl who can see angels and demons. This book may never be finished, but I refuse to give up on it. I wrote two of the chapters as short stories when I was in high school. Then, in university, I fleshed out the characters, added a whole lot of story, and wrote a 98-page novella. (I forget how many words it was then.) It’s been edited before, but this time I’m really having at it, cutting scenes and laughing at the tragic parts as I read them and tighten the prose. When this draft is done, I’ll have to find some poor soul to read it and tell me where I’m missing information and where the writing and/or plot is weak. Right now, though, I’m enjoying getting to know my characters again.
I just finished my second edit of a picture book called Lullabye. It’s very short, just a sweet melody to use to sing a toddler to sleep at night. There’s a tune, and I’ve written that, as well. Once I’m sure the text is in final draft, I’ll try to find an illustrator (I do already have someone in mind, of course) and a publisher. Or maybe an agent first. We’ll see. I need to research how to break into children’s books.
The next second edit will be Ryan’s Song, another musical picture book. I wrote the first version of this one way back when I first started working with autistic children. I’ve fleshed it out and written out the melody. I need to have another pass at the words, then it’ll be at the same stage as Lullabye.
And, finally, I have two short stories that are ready for submission. Yes, that’s right, people, I have writing that might get published! I just have to do my market research and gather my courage and send things off.
Forever Yours is a 3,000 word story about the decision of the Catholic church to allow priests to marry. The main characters are a young Catholic priest and the woman he would have married had he not been destined for seminary. It explores their emotions and reactions to the news.
Fortresses Crash to the Sea is an original allegorical fairy tale about a princess who shuts herself away from the world in order to avoid being hurt.
I am hopeful that I will finish the first draft of We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse this week, and when I write next week’s post I will be able to tell you all about the next project I want to finish. My goal this year is to finish the first drafts I’ve got sitting on my hard drive, so that next year I can start working on the other ideas I have waiting in the wings.
I also want to keep working on my editing; I want to get as much as I can done so that I have more finished pieces to submit.
And, of course, I am going to force myself to submit my final drafts. If it’s done, it needs to go out into the world. I am really hoping that 2010 will see me adding at least one fiction publication credit to my resume.
