April Update

Things I've done in the past year and a half.

1. Moved twice

2. Changed jobs twice

3. Wrote two novels (granted, one is still rather incomplete)

4. Updated this blog


Look out for two new publications later this year!

And maybe some real blog posts =P

January Update

Someday I might actually learn how to update on a fairly regular basis…

In terms of upcoming projects, I've had my hands full. Since I've completed my manuscript for Tranquil, I need to redirect my efforts back to numerous side projects. Including another ancient Roman gay novella (or short story, we will see) like Amemus, possibly more Christmas short stories (since I didn't submit any for last year), and working on a dating game that I am created with a couple of friends.

It's going to be a great game, all the characters are bisexual and have names that are food puns, like Terri Aki and Brock Ali. It's fantastic. It also requires that I write in code, which is less fantastic. I can barely write the basics, but it's enough that my code-savvy friend can make up the difference. Hopefully, I'll have more to post about it come May, when we are slated to release a demo.

I am also making a prince-lolita outfit that is just so adorable.

September Update

I spent about ten minutes trying to think of a fun and clever post title about how I haven't updated since March...and then I just gave up.

So, first with the news. My ebook, Amemus, is up and rearing at Less Than Three Press. So if you have an interest in ancient Roman gay gladiators (which, seriously, who doesn't?) go and have at that!

Also, I now judge my books on Goodreads on whether or not the rating is higher than Star Trek: The Motion Picture novelization by Gene Roddenberry (3.6 or so). Which either shows that I'm one of those people whose standards are really quite mediocre, or my standards are actually quite awesome (in that totally nerdy you-have-no-idea-I-have-a-Star-Trek-shrine way).

I've also been in Tokyo, Japan for the past seven weeks, mostly visiting my sister and teaching English. For people who have never been, it's a country in which getting drunk in public is pretty standard Friday and Saturday nights (and then, by extension, sleeping in the bushes outside the train station at 3 am) and there are these ball machines that give you anime key/phone charms for about 2$ each and are seriously the most addictive thing in this world. Like, deadly addictive. I also could eat my weight in raw tuna.

They also put potato and mayo on their pizza.

Ahhh, good to be home!

I have some projects to complete in the next month or so and hopefully I'll be more on top of my updating. Hooray!

Diana

March update

So…my goal for March was to make it to 70k in Drowning Sky. And (more importantly) to finish it.

AND I DID BOTH.

Actually, made it to 76K. And it is complete, though I must say that the ending is a little shady. I have no doubt that when I go back to edit it will inflate at least 10k or more. Despite February being such a delicious month to reach my word goals, March was surprisingly easy. Even not seriously writing until about mid month I was able to push through the final goal. Of course, I know from experience that writing a climax always goes by really fast.

I really don’t have much more to say about it. I’m glad I got it done, I look forward to editing it come May. And I really look forward to starting something else. It’s how I always feel with noveling. You write a first draft and its hard and annoying and fantastic and then you get it done and all you want to do is start another.

So April is my month of rest and I will be changing tactics and writing some fanfiction. I made a promise to my fans to start posting the sequel in spring 2014, so I got to get going on that.

So here’s one last (extremely rough) excerpt and I’ll be back next month!

February Update

So I have a schedule for the year. If I stick to this schedule then I will have three novel drafts by the end of the year (of at least 70k each). I made this schedule challenging, but reasonable. While I have the goal of writing 1000 words a day, that would be going above and beyond the schedule.

Okay, so it’s the end of February and I already feel the strain. I should be at 50k by tomorrow, instead I’m hovering around 41k. But I have good reason! It’s been a fantastic month! Last year I joined a writing group in my area, The Journey http://writingjourney.org/. It’s a fun, casual sort of group and I’m really enjoying it! So, at the beginning of the month, we had a bit of a workshop on my Drowning Sky novel (Book 1) and I got some seriously good feedback. So good that a huge chunk of what I already wrote needed revision. That’s right, two months into my novel and I’m already revision major plot points.

But it has also seriously crippled my schedule. To put some perspective on it, I was at around 32k by the beginning of February. The revision started at around the 7k mark and I’ve gotten to 41k. About 10k was deleted in the process. How many words does that put me at? 16k new? Which seems so pitifully small for the amount of work I feel I am putting in. But at least I’m back on track for moving the story forward into March. And the goal for March is to be at 70k, but really it is to finish the first draft, however long it might be.

In other news, I’ve been editing a novella ebook this month as well. Oh, the world never stops spinning!

Another excerpt!

More Reviews!

Here are some more lovely reviews for my short story “From this Window”, featured in the Christmas anthology Heartwarming.

Pants Off Reviews by SinChan

Top 2 Bottom Reviews by Susan

MM Good Book Reviews by LeeAnn

The Book Vixen by J9

The Novel Approach by Lisa

The Blog of Sid Love by Carissa

Random story. My mother was talking to my Aunt who said my cousin recently read one of the Christmas anthologies I was published in (and she liked my story the best, of course!). But the problem is, I have two Christmas anthologies that I was published in this year: Heartwarming and Bells Will Be Ringing. And my mother didn’t ask which one. So I ask, ‘Well, did she say if it was straight or gay?’ (which I will never get over how amusing I find that) and apparently my mother was too embarrassed to ask my Aunt that.

And so I’ve decided that I should find a way this year to be published in two Christmas anthologies that are also opposite genres. I’m thinking a BDSM and a Christian one would be awesome.

End of January

It has been almost one month since I’ve begun my rewrite of Drowning Sky and my goal of completing it in three books by the end of the year. I’ve reached my word goal for the month of 20k (though I have been lax on my 1000 words a day goal) And it has been a trip getting to know these characters again.

Now, the characters of Drowning Sky have been with me for over a decade, but I haven’t actually written about them in a few years. Because the rewrite is changing so much of the original plot, I haven’t felt the strong need to re-read my old drafts or notes, since a lot of the information is irrelevant. But I did think it would be best to re-read my self-published version of Drowning Sky. And that has been the real experience.

I feel like my writing style shouldn’t have changed so much in just a few years, but it really has. I’m more aware of redundancies and inappropriate colloquialisms. But what is really shocking is, for all the changes in plot and direction, how much my characters have stayed the same. I started writing and planning my rewrite long before rereading this book and yet so much has remained constant that I wasn’t even aware of. The way the characters act and react; their relationship dynamics initially and how they change. I’ve taken a pencil to my book and have been making notes of the things I like or just find interesting (which is a lot more comforting that if I were take a red pen to everything I want to delete forever…which is most of it).

At the beginning of this month, I really felt that I was meeting really good friends that I haven’t seen in years. People that I remember fondly, but forgotten how to talk to over time. Now, after twenty days, it feels like I’ve been writing this story forever. That I never set them aside for any length of time. It feels amazing.

I won’t promise it will always feel this way throughout this year, but I do think there is a reason I’ve never given up on this idea over these past twelve years or so.

And to give a little insight to these ramblings, here is my favorite excerpt so far: