On the Writing Front

You have five more days to get your entry in to ABNA (Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest). They haven't announced any of the categories closed yet, so if you have a finished novel and want to try to win a publishing contract and a $50k advance, you better get a move on.

On the writing front, I'm torn. I have two fantasy MSs started, both of which are going to be series I'm hoping. One, a fairy tale retelling, the other dystopian. But there are so many more stories in me to write, most of them contemporary realistic, which I know will probably keep me a mid-lister for the rest of my writing days.

I shouldn't have started a project when I already had one going. sigh. I also have two adult books started, and one chick lit I've been wanting to write forever.  And then of course there is always something that needs editing. I wrote a book about a school shooting a couple years ago I'd like to polish up and send out.

Do you ever have more than one project going at a time? How do you balance the two?

Wednesday Writing: My NaNo

Here is my NaNo work. Rough of course, but I'm exciting about it because 1) I'm writing something new and 2) because I'm planning on making a series of this idea. Tell me what you think.

You’ve been deceived. I know my reputation precedes me, but all that’s been told, and all that you’ve heard is nothing more than a superfluity of fabrications meant to destroy me. They wish to extinguish any remaining embers of the fire that burns within me so that I may give up my quest.  How? Through their words they’ve transformed me from a kind and caring, albeit sometimes mischievous creature, into a monster. But truly, I’m not so much different from you.

The stories you’ve heard about me leading weary travelers astray, switching babies at birth, or eating souls are simply untrue, though I admit I’m always up for a good prank. Harmless tricks are instinctive to my kind, but I don’t slink down alleyways and sewers, eavesdropping on the desperate and dejected to find a suitable victim for my next ruse. Alleyways frighten me and I will not slog through shit for even the funniest of pranks.

My skin is not red; I do not carry a pitchfork, have a tail dangling from my ass, nor possess horns— though my ears are a tad pointy.  I have no talons, claws, or any other animal like features including wings, though I’m able to render some for you if you wish to fly.

Those who’ve tarnished my character have much to gain, but I have everything to lose. And their motivations stem from nothing more than man’s need for possessions and power.  They turned me into a monstrosity to keep kith and kin chasing after me. When they began, they had no idea how long this hunt would last, how many fathers would pass the legend that is me down to their sons. Now centuries later, though the families of Strauss and Dietrich still know my origins, though not in its entirety and not in truth, the rest of the world does not. For the others deceived by the lies of those families, my name is now equated to a folklore tale of terror, a boogey man, a nightmare.

My goal now, is to end, once and for all, the avaricious pursuits of the Houses of Strauss and Dietrich, untether myself from the one thing that keeps me vulnerable to the greed of all man and subsequent captivity, and locate the girl from the prophecies.

But mostly my wish is to clear the name of Stilzchen, and to find my happily ever after.