Updates & To Dos

Friends, hi!

I’m writing a series! I’m code naming it Cerberus because it will have three parts. Three howling, screaming, ill-dispositioned, delightfully hellish sci-fi/horror hybrids! I did not know Cerberus was a huge, three-headed monster when I started writing; this caused a bit of nervous consternation when I realized that I needed to build a complete story out of what I thought was the rising-action of the initially conceived book. When the panic, er, consternation set in, I took a piece of green-tinted spiral notebook paper and a teal pen and just started scribbling a few premises about what I would need to tell a complete story. The entire exercise went better than expected. It not only calmed my frenzied consternation, but also gave me a very broad road map to follow during the final stages of writing. I’m not sticking to it exactly, which is partly why this lil’ growler is growing past the original goal of 80K. I’ve written to the end of the story, and am in the process of back-filling chapters, ideas, and characters. I cannot tell you how jazzed I am to be thiiiis close to finishing the first draft! Or, I could tell you, but it would have to be over dinner and with some really nice Sancerre wine. Let me know when; we’ll make a date.

Without further ado, here’s where I am with Fluffy (Book I):

81000 / 90000 words. 90% done!

It’s possible I’ll blow past 90K, too, but we’ll see. When I get the first draft done, I’m going to roll right into some limited writing for Fido (Book II), but will focus most of my time on revising Fluffy. My goal is to publish Fluffy by the end of 2012, Fido early 2013, and Chainsaw (Book III) mid-2013. This is an aggressive time-frame. How can it not be, given this is a pack of Hell dogs?

Oh, and I’m also going to get a psychological horror story ready for inclusion in anthology! There are some writers in this bunch that I adore! I’m very excited, and this item is both an update and part of my to-do list, as I have yet to edit the story.

See, wasn’t that a lovely transition between updates and to-dos?

When I’m not writing, tweeting, working, sleeping, walking my dogs, hanging out with Mr. Aniko, or dreaming of drinking Sancerre, I’m figuring out marketing for Stolen Climates. I have solicited for reviews, and have had two acceptances; when they are posted, I will link to them on my blog. I am also about to send out another batch of review requests, this time to a different target audience. In the first week of April, the World Literary Cafe will be running a new release campaign. I plan to host a tweet chat to coincide with the WLC event, and will post details of how you can participate. A glaring item on my to-do list is to get involved with the GoodReads Author Program. I was approved earlier this week as an official author (yay!), but I haven’t yet been over to take advantage of the awesome opportunity that presents. I keep reminding myself that I’m in this for the long-run, but sometimes I feel I can’t do enough to get word out fast enough. On my to-do list is to actually post three short reviews I wrote of books I’ve recently read. The reviews are written, just not shared with the world, which doesn’t do a lot of good for either the authors or those readers looking for their next hit of quality fiction. Literary fiends are the worst, too.

What else? I’m still hanging out with The Emissaries of Strange (#TESSpecFic) and enjoying their company. I started a new job. I sent Team Aniko packets to those who have expressed interest in pimpin’ a Stolen Climates poster. I survived the mega-huge thunderstorm that swept Central Texas last night; seriously, guys, I’ve sat through hurricanes that were less intense than that hours-long thunder’n’lightning fest. I’m writing every day. I’m reading less than I’d like, but sticking with my unspoken resolution to write a capsule review (at least) for everything I do read. The days are getting longer, it’s getting warmer and greener outside, and in general, I’m a happy girl.

Writer friends, I’m sending you strength and positive thoughts to make it past your own bouts of consternation.

XOXO,

aniko

PS The alternate spelling of Cerberus is Kerberos, which totally makes me think that particular authentication algorithm is way cooler than I gave it any credit for in the past.

PPS The name ‘Chainsaw’  is deliberate homage to a real-life name of a real-life Pomeranian! Or I think it’s a Pomeranian. She’s small and fluffy… and named Chainsaw!

 

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