Yeah it's been a while since I've posted here. This has been a busy writing year all around for me, but the second half has been especially lively, with both writing and editing to do. So I thought I'd take some time today to get caught up with things like recent new releases and projects I can talk about.
It's certainly been a productive year, with several projects having been completed and turned in. As mentioned earlier Airship 27 now has both a full length Sinbad the Sailor novel (SINBAD AND THE MINOTAUR) that I worked off and on at over the last couple of years, and they also have the 8th Jezebel Johnston novel, subtitled REVELATION. I wouldn't expect to see those before sometime next year, and that is perfectly fine. A lot depends on artwork getting done because not only does Airship 27 give me great covers, but interior sketch art throughout the books as well. Believe me, that is well worth waiting for. I get a lot of compliments on the interiors especially, since so few books these days have that extra touch. The folks at Airship 27 do have a second Silver Pentacle book of mine somewhere in the queue as well and I've been hard at work on #3, which is close to breaking 25,000 words at this point.
Also with Airhship 27, co-author Lee Houston Jr. and I were thrilled to turn in the novel that I've been referring to all year as 'the special project'. This is a completion of our late and sadly-missed writer pal Mark Halegua's Blue Light novel project, something Mark was working on over the last couple of years as his health was going downhill. We were fortunate enough to be such trusted friends that this novel start was shared with us, because Mark left us suddenly and with no notice. Mark had asked me first if I could help guide him along, but at the time I was working on the western novel for Wolfpack Press (Fire Of The Black Rose is my book in this novel collection) and it had a hard deadline. I knew I could not give Mark's book the attention it needed, and because it involved a pulp superhero set in the 1930s (Golden Age style for you comics fans) I thought of Lee immediately. Lee is a longtime comics fan who has made the transition in his writing to a pulp prose style, and since Mark was perfectly agreeable with that, he sent it to Lee. Good thing too, because that became the only copy of the unfinished manuscript we had! Lee and I had saved notes from online conversations with Mark, and when we finally got notice that he had passed on, we agreed that we wanted to finish it for him. Airship 27 was all for that, and so after Lee made another formatting pass and some corrections and additions, he sent it to me, and I started going over it about once a week while working on a couple other books. Once my other books got finished, I devoted most of my time to the Blue Light project. Lee and I had numerous behind-the-scenes kibitzing sessions about how to best use what was already there, how to keep Mark's voice in it, and where it had to go to create a satisfying conclusion. I'm not known for superhero fiction, but I'll try to write anything, and with Lee to advise me, we got the story concluded. In fact, I was so enthusiastic along the way, I suggested we leave some wiggle room in there for potential sequels. I think Mark would be thrilled with what happened with his unfinished story, I know Air Chief Ron Fortier was. He thanked us personally and also wrote about it on his Flight Log blog. It's all very much worth reading—partner Rob Davis' models are very cool!—but scroll down to the bottom for Ron's input on this project. The picture of a happy and smiling Mark Halegua tears me up every time I see it. Mark teased me often about my dark chocolate habit, and he kept suggesting that we had to meet somewhere, but traveling has become tough for me so we never did. We stayed in touch on Twitter for quite a few months before his untimely demise, and I still cherish those evening messages back and forth. I feel good that we were able to give him one more bit of legacy to outlive him.
As announced earlier, the 4th Companion Dragons Tales book, LAZLO AT HOME was released back in April. Two more of my books from Pro Se have been released since then. The first of them was another CDT book, the 5th one in the series, titled MYSTICAL, MAGICAL WAXY. This one, released September 1st, is a collection of three short stories featuring rainbow striped Waxy Dragon and her bumbling human sidekick Roger 'Rusty' Rustman (AKA Bubblehead). Lots of fun and puns amid adventures in this one, suitable for all ages.
Also released on September 5th, THE KEENER EYE is a novel size collection of three short stories featuring contemporary private detective Katherine Mary 'Kate' Keener and her friends and business associates. These stories take place in a mythical town of Rockport in southern Connecticut. Two of them had appeared in various issues of Pro Se Presents Magazine but the third and last one is brand new. This is a real departure for me from my usual fantasy adventure writing, but I got teased into doing it by Pro Se head honcho Tommy Hancock, and I found I had an affinity for the genre. It may take me some time, but I'm far from done telling the stories of Kate, Gwen, Dex, and Andy. I expect to put together another one of these somewhere down the line.
I've done my share of editing this year too. That is something that I do for select friends, who can and will return the favor when I want something gone over. You need to have a special rapport with someone you trust with your brainchild, especially for any in-depth edits. What I do is a combination of line and content editing, looking for the usual errors in typos, grammar, spelling, tense, and redundancies (repetitive words/phrases) along with how the story flows, is there anything in there that loses my attention, do I feel confused, does it have a satisfactory conclusion, etc. So much stuff to wrap your brain around. You'd think I'd be better at finding those problems in my own work, but noooo... 😖 We all get tunnel vision about the words we put on a page and we don't see the problems and inconsistencies. Having a beta reader you can trust is a big help. So is belonging to a supportive author's group where stories can be read aloud and shared, with critiques that are honest and helpful rather than just scathing or a rubber stamp validation. I'm lucky, I've got the best of both worlds, and I'm grateful for those writing pals who go the extra mile on my behalf. So when I'm asked for help, I give whatever I can. I've got like 25 books in print now and at least 15 short stories, and I still don't get everything right! All part of being human, and it keeps you humble.
So what's next? Oh, all sorts of stuff! I always have several projects going. Like I mentioned above, I'm currently working on the third Silver Pentacle book. I'm not sure yet if this one will feature more than one tale like the first two, or if it will be a complete novel unto itself. It feels 'novelish' at this point. We have most of the team collected with just one member outstanding, who gets introduced in this story. It's a matter of bringing everyone together before the end and giving them something important to accomplish in order to build a sense of joint purpose. I am not someone who plots every step out, I start with raw ideas and a general direction and then take it from there. If you write long enough, you learn to trust your instincts and insight.
I also have an unfinished Vagabond Bards tale that has become longer than the small publishers usually want that I'm not sure what to do with. It's not something that can end in a cliffhanger to be continued in another book, I'd like it to stay as one story. When I get back to it, I'll finish it first and then decide what has to be done to get it published. I believe it can stand alone, I just might have to find a new market. We'll see.
Then there is the Tucker T. Bear story I started for my grandkids. That kind of got shoved to the wayside, but I want to get back to that. I need a children's book series that is adventurous but not too scary with easy words for younger readers. I Just wish I could afford an illustrator to work with!
On my 'want to write it' list is a third Chandra Smoake paranormal investigator story and another western. I've got the itch for both right now. Whether those itches get the attention they deserve depends on a lot of things. Right now we're coming up on the holiday season, and that tends to be somewhat distracting. As always, the family comes first, and there are at times things happening behind the scenes that I can't talk about.
You know, outside of my family, writing has been the best thing I've ever done with my life. It might not have been the most lucrative career for me, but it certainly has been the most satisfying work I've ever tried to get paid for. That is not to cast aspersions on my publishers, who I assure you are doing the best they can for me and other authors under the circumstances. But until you have labored for weeks or months on a story or book, honed it to what you hope is perfection, sent it off on a wing and a prayer, and then saw it appear in print—you have no clue what a wonder that is. It's a colossal ego boost to have your name on the cover of something you created by sitting down regularly to put words on a page. It never gets old for me. I love the entire process of writing, even on the most difficult days. This is something I learned from the ground up, but I've no doubt that I was born to do it. It's also something I can work at no matter what my circumstances might be. I may never become what you'd call wealthy through my writing, or lauded as any sort of celebrity, but who cares? My life is richer for having eschewed the rat race of keeping up with the latest 'must-have' and 'should-do' trends and focusing on the sort of life I want for myself. This is the career I built and am still building, one story at a time.
Writing Onward,
~NANCY
