This summer was great, full of family activities and events and a long vacation.  I wouldn’t change that for anything.  I do have to admit that it’s nice to have the kids back in school so I can get back to writing daily.  Attending Larry Brooks’ writing seminar in Medford was perfect timing to generate renewed writing enthusiasm.

To kick off my newly energized writing focus, here’s an update on where my various projects stand.

First, the long summer drought of publisher responses to my agent’s submission of The Sentinel’s Call appears to be lifting.  We’ve received a couple of outright rejections as expected, and our first reluctant rejection.  A large UK publisher wrote a thoughtful and insightful letter detailing several aspects of the novel that they really enjoyed, as well as a couple of areas where they felt it could be strengthened.  Bottom line:  they liked the book a lot, but it’s bad timing since they already have a new epic fantasy series going to print.

Disappointing, but encouraging at the same time.

I am taking it as a positive sign, celebrating the strengths they confirmed in their reading of the novel, and reviewing their feedback for future improvements.

In the meantime, even though I haven’t written many pages in the past two months, the time has not been a total loss.   I have been working on outlining the sequel to The Sentinel’s Call, which requires a lot of meditation, pondering, and wandering around talking to myself, hopefully where no one else can see.  Working title of the book is:  Flood Tide.  Nearly reached my goal of completing the outline in September.  Currently at about 70%.

I have big plans for the remainder of the year.  They include:

October – switch gears this month and revise my YA fantasy novel, Set In Stone.  Some excellent alpha reader feedback and subsequent brainstorming sessions have produced some wonderful results.  I’ll be fine-tuning the magic system, fleshing out characters, and tightening the plot.  I was very pleased with the initial draft, and am motivated to complete the edits which will lift this story to a higher level.   Updated ms to ship to beta readers by the end of October, with a goal of preparing it for e-release by the holidays.  Lots of work to do.

November and December – write Flood Tide.  With a fully realized outline, and a couple of long weekend writing retreats thrown into the mix, I expect to complete the first draft of the novel (approx. 125,000 words) in two months.

Side projects as time permits:

•  Revise my urban fantasy short story Saving Face, which I wrote in July as part of a writing group challenge.
• Revise an earlier urban fantasy short story Face Lift, based on the same worldbuilding as Saving Face.  This story won Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future contest in 2010.
• Prepare both short stories for e-release from my web site by the end of the year.
• Explore writing a short story for a writing contest sponsored by David Farland.
• Continue to post in the Fictorians group, which I hope you’re reading.

That’s it, and that’s enough to keep me busy even if I didn’t have a day job.

I am eager to have these works polished and ready for release.

Until that time, I’ll celebrate each day I get to write.