As Tuesday unfolds in a bank of fog here in northern Florida let us return to literary matters alone. Finally, right? Updates on all my current projects straight ahead, folks!
The first book in my “Lion & Steed” series for Ravenous Romance is moving right along. Yesterday, I’ve reached the point (41,500 words) where it’s time to start going over it from beginning to end and filling in all the empty spots. In this case, I’m expecting to be adding at least 8k in this process. The backdrop to my guys’ love story is reliant on a lot of historical stuff, so I’ve got to make sure all of those details make sense for the reader. I love this part of writing a novel!
My short story for Carina Press is surprisingly right on schedule. I had set today as the date to have the general outline worked up, with a basic idea of how the scenes will go together. And guess what? Done! I’ll try to have it prettied up for you all tonight.
This short story, which I’m going to just call “Sicily” for now, is a lot less complicated than what I did in “Ravenscar” for Dreamspinner Press. I was going for “epic” in “Ravenscar;” in “Sicily,” years aren’t travelled in the story, only a couple of weeks. I don’t know if this is good or bad, but it is different. I should point out, however, my novels are almost always written more along the lines of “Sicily” (where the audience experiences first-hand everything with the men as they build their romance). We’ll see how it goes with this writing style with a smaller word count.
As for “Ravenscar” and my OCD which has latched onto it like a lemur, I check my work email constantly while I’m online working (anywhere from 20 to 50 times an hour). Thankfully, if I am working offline it’s ok, no problem. I’m more than happy to let hours pass between check-ins. Actually, I don’t even think about it when I’m offline (which is a huge, honking-big deal when you’re talking about me and my OCD tendencies). So, I’ll take that as a small but bright victory.
Now, viewer counts for this blog I’m going a little crazy over. Not that I actually check it a lot, but I worry about it constantly. Any dip in the visitors and I’m convinced this whole blog-twice-a-day experiment is another of my colossal failures… Yeah. Well. I’m sick, folks, let’s all remember that, shall we? Lol
Before I close this morning’s blog, I’d like to take just a moment to applaud Michael Sam (former University of Missouri football player who is now entering the NFL draft) for his colossal bravery in coming out to the world… BEFORE he was drafted and signed for that large paycheck. Now, that took guts and a self-confidence of which I dearly wish I had a single sliver. Bravo, Mr. Sam. The world could use another couple million of you.
Until tonight…
Chloe
The Words & Madness of Chloe Stowe 