I’ve really been making progress in this next novel. You could say, I think I’ve found my groove but I also know how easy it is to get knocked off that track. I had to take a two day break to have the last surgery on my nose, after the melanoma diagnosis a year ago. That is a chapter in my life I am happy to be done with. This morning I took a moment to reflect upon it, including some deep feels because it was one of the most terrifying things I’d been through. Also enlightening. I think I’ve always appreciated the beauty in life, but now my gratitude well runs so deep sometimes it brings tears to my eyes. So now, I go forward having walked through fire to slay a beast, a survivor.
Some of this new sight may leak it’s way into the story I’m currently working on. There’s a part in a chapter about a sickness the Under witches were prone too, caused by too much sunlight on their skin. It’s not too hard to recognize that is a stand in for melanoma.
There’s a lot of that in this book. The antagonist, Leon Stone, is a sort of stand in for a certain billionaire who shall not be named but if you scramble the word Leon… just sayin’ But it’s not too hard to figure it out either, I mean, these guys IRL give people like us so much material to work with! I can’t make them shut up and go away IRL, but that’s what I love about writing fiction. Writers can kill or punish the bad guys, and readers love it. I’ve also discovered, it can be fun and therapeutic. It’s also a legitimate form of resistance if done right. I hope I’m doing it right.
So far this summer, I’ve laid down 56K words on this next story in my Magic & Mayhem series. It’s about 80% done. With summer coming to an end, I feel like there is a deadline looming to get this draft finished. Believe it or not, I like the idea of deadlines, they help keep the pressure on and often aid productivity. But I’ve got a lot of work cut out for me. I took my first book off of Amazon, which was the only place I’d put it last year. I want to do a revision on that and republish it when I publish this second book, maybe offer a 2 book set, or something. I dunno, still working that out. I’ll be self publishing, probably through Draft2Digital, and the books will be available in all markets, not just Amazon. But I’m also thinking of opening an “Imaginary Bookshop” website where I can sell my books, and possibly others books, directly.
I am also trying to put together a couple of short story anthologies with some writer friends. Idea stage only right now. And I still haven’t gotten to my father’s poetry, which I want to organize and publish for my family. So many projects, so little time. That doesn’t even count all the things that must be done on the property before winter comes in. Whew. I better get to work.