Time, Time, Decision Time

The new year is fast approaching and I'm thinking about my game plan for 2011. I haven't gotten many bites for Kings & Queens, a few, but nothing substantial, but maybe there's a reason for that.

I'm thinking more and more about what I want for Kings & Queens and I'm not so sure landing representation for that novel is the right thing. Here's why:

In the industry, Kings & Queens would be considered Young Adult. Hands down. But, it's sequel, Sapphire Reign, which opens ten years later with some of the same characters, is clearly Adult, even though one of its five threads is a teen's perspective.

In YA, the whole book needs to be about and for teens. SR is not.

But I believe readers will want to catch up with old friends, even though their story picks up ten years later. The industry cares about shelving. Readers do not. They just want good books. And if your first book is good, they'll jump to the second, at least out of curiosity. And I really want a series. I do. I don't want just one book. I want 2 or 3.

Sapphire Reign is good. I mean, really good.

It's not perfect of course, what book is, but it's way too good to be shelved in my own library or tossed into File 13. I'm surprise I wrote the thing. It's dark, it's gritty, it's twisty, it's romantic, it's hot, it's tense, and it contains tenacious characters that many pre-readers have already fallen in love with and cheered for.

And Sapphire Reign is so different than anything I've ever read. I know there are books with braided story lines that crash together in the end, but mine has 2 adult perspectives, one teen and a child, all pertinent.

You'd think my book being different would be an asset, but with nothing to compare it to, nothing to point to and say my book is this-meets-that, it makes it difficult for the pros to see the marketability in that.

I was offered an opportunity to publish Kings & Queens with a smaller outfit, but I think I want to hold off for now.

So, my plan is to finish Dropping Like Flies and hopefully get repped for that. Once I have a book or two out or a little bit of popularity, I will either self-publish my other books as a series or go with an outfit that will allow me to keep them together.

I've been refining my covers and I'm excited about the way they look. In a publishing house, you have no say about cover design or content. I want to be in control. I want to publish both and for them to be together. And I might want to pen a third. Maybe. But I want the option, should a plot reveal itself.

I have a vision and I'm not so sure the industry would share it.

Does that make sense? Am I stupid?

~Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

I Can't Believe It's December Already

...and a couple days into it??? Insane!

Man. Father Time is seriously ODing on speed. Just as soon as you get used to writing the year on checks, it changes again. Remember the whole Y2K scare? That was almost eleven years ago. Crazy.

Well, I did NOT write 50,000 words for Nano like I'd hoped. (What sicko picked November anyway? It's a super busy month as it is!) I was gunning for that goal but only managed to pen 38,523.

So, what stuffed me like a great red zone defense?

Well, I started a new part-time graphic design job (4 days a week) at the beginning of Nov. and also had to cough up six, yes six, CD covers and faces for my saxophone playing friend, Joe Wilson, who was gearing up for his gig at the mall on Black Friday and the following 2 days. (And I did some Christmas concert posters for him too.) Fun stuff but total time munchers.

And then there was Thanksgiving and all the food, thanks giving and football...and more football...that goes along with it. You didn't really think I'd skip all that did you?

My local CBS channel did NOT air the Iron Bowl. Apparently, it has a digital channel too, available to Comcast users ONLY, (I have DirecTV) and they aired it on that. Um, how 'bout airing it on the main channel, which everyone has, and bumping those cheesy infomercials you ran to the digital channel? I mean, am I out of line here? It was Thanksgiving Weekend! Total Blood Wars!

So, needless to say, I had to watch the Iron Bowl online. Lovely.

I did write the station manager that morning to complain and was surprised to get two responses. First, he wrote to tell me about the digital channel airing it. And then when I responded that I have DirecTV, Dear John, rattled on about his continued decision (A PRETTY DUMB ONE) to not air Friday-after-Thanksgiving football. And it seems he's going to be sticking with that plan. But, he also hopes their digital channel becomes available to all cable subscribers.

Um, again, I have DirecTV, not cable. So what good does that do me??? Are they going to stop airing NFL games too when they feel like it? They said it was based on public demand, but they really expect me to believe more people were interested in watching a Bare Essentials infomercial than a rivalry game on Rivalry Weekend? Yeah. Try again.

So, anyway, I'm about 2/3rds done with Dropping Like Flies, which is good. I'm still going to be plugging away at it.

I'm also going to cease querying until after Father Time does his confetti-tossing-calendar-flippy thing. Now is a busy time for everyone, including agents.

Can I finish my YA novel by the end of the year? Who knows. I will certainly try, but life could throw more curve balls and cranberry sauce my way.

Oh. Has anyone tried Edy's pumpkin ice cream? I got the S'Mores, but I'm wondering if I should've gone with pumpkin. If the pumpkin had had graham cracker crunchies and cinnamon-caramel swirl, it would've won, hands down. But plain pumpkin??? I dunno. I like stuff in my ice cream. If a given ice cream I love doesn't have stuff in it, like coffee, black raspberry or watermelon, I add it. (e.g. dark chocolate flakes, marshmallow sauce, etc.) I'm gonna go search now and see if Ben & Jerry's has a pumpkin one with stuff? They're the kings of stuff.

Oh. Last year, Ben & Jerry's had pumpkin cheesecake with graham cracker swirl as a limited edition flavor. Sounds yummy! Maybe they'll dare to go pumpkin again.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.