Good News and Bad News

Well, as they say, there's good news and there's bad news.

The good news is that I have written 20,001 words of my fantasy novel Demons of the Neverwoods. Not quite my 1k per day goal, but I am satisfied for now. Also, I've written at least a chapter for each of the main characters. It was like starting the book four times in a way. The goal is to create a fantasy thriller which introduces some seemingly untrelated characters and brings them together in a storm of conflict and danger.

And the bad news. Pich-Black Books has folded. They were to publish my first pro sale, the super hero story Cold Snap, in their anthology Lords of Justice. But alas, it is not to be. Now to figure out what to do with a kick ass super hero story that's 17k words long.... They wanted novelettes for the anthology. No one else really does.

Thems the breaks. =(

Peace.

The Red Pen

I have completed redlining of On the Black Wings of Night, my Nanowrimo novel. This is the stage where I take a printed version and read it from start to finish with a red pen in hand. Anything that looks funny or doesn't make sense gets a big red line through it and usually sarcastic notes in the margins.

The next step is going back to the novel and fixing the problems.

Cold Snap... Sold!

W00T!

Last night I got an email from Dan Blackston at Pitch-Black Books. My story "Cold Snap" was accepted for the Lords of Justice anthology. Only four stories made the cut. I really felt strongly about this one. Writing it changed me for the better and I learned alot while I worked on it. I am very proud of this story whether it made it to publication or not. Obviously, this is a thrill, though. Now I have a credit i can put in my cover letters.

Now I can't wait to download my own copy and start hyping the hell out of this book.

Victory!

So, on November 29 I finished my 50,000 word NaNoWriMo novel.

What the heck is NaNoWriMo you ask? Well it is National Novel Writing Month. Every year thousands of people from all over the world spend the month of November writing their own 50,000 word novel for the heck of it. It is a month of pure literary abandon where we throw our internal editors out for a month and just push the word count.

I am pursuing writing as a career, but I am still testing the waters, so to speak. This month I learned alot about how much free time I actually have and how much I can get done in one month. The biggest thing was that it really was fun and I know this is something I can do on my own and have success.

To find out more about National Novel Writing Month and how we help build libraries for poor children in southeast Asia, click the link on the right or just go to www.nanowrimo.org.

Cheers,
Bryan