Wednesday's Writing Update

It's time again for Wednesday's Writing Update.

On Thursday, I finished reading Dracula The Undead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. Although the beginning to the novel was fantastic, I felt it fell apart. It's the first bad review I've given a book. *frowns* If you want, you can read the review here and see why it received a bad review from me.

Also on Thursday, I received a new review of Once Upon a December Nightmare. You can read that review here.

Thursday was a busy day. At our Valley Writers meeting, Kathleen Grissom, author of The Kitchen House, spoke with us. She was amazing to hear, and I can't wait to read her book. Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until I read all the other books I need to read (for book reviews). Yes, my queue gets longer and longer, and no, I'm not really complaining. It just means I have to push other books back in the queue to read.

Since this month is NaNoWriMo, every Flash Fiction Fridays will revolve around the characters in my novel. If you haven't read it yet, don't forget to read "I'm Not Crazy" here.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I believe I'm doing well with it. I'm at 20,212 words, and I hope to get another 2000-3000 written today. I went through a down period where I hated the book and characters on Sunday and Monday, but I read through what I've written and thought that there was something here worth saving. It actually helped to take that moment to put it in perspective. Sarah's Nightmare takes place between February to June 2010 with some scenes/articles sprinkled throughout the novel from previous times, particularly the years of 1944-1945, 1965, and 1985. Today, I'll begin writing chapter seventeen and the events in the month of May. I'm right in the middle of my novel, and I hope it'll be long enough to be at least 60,000 words as a first draft. I originally hoped between 70,000-80,000, but from what I've written so far, it'll be much less. That's okay. I'm not taking much time to write descriptions of things. I'm getting the story and emotions out first. Things can be added in later drafts. *smiles*

On Raven and the Writing Desk last week and this week, I've posted two excerpts, which contain the entire chapter one. To read the first part of the chapter, click here. To read the second part, click here.

And, finally, I'm already thinking about what I might write in NaNoWriMo 2011. Is it too early to be thinking about it? Maybe, but sometimes ideas come at you and won't let go. Grim is one of those ideas. Granted, the idea is still in progress, but here is my working blurb for it:

It's not easy being twelve and entering sixth grade. It's even more difficult if your name is Grim Reeper.

Besides having a name synonymous with Death, Grim's mother works as the county pathologist, and his dad is always away on business. When his dad comes home for an extended stay, Grim thinks now is the time to have some dad-son bonding.

But, then, he learns the family secret. His dad's Death. And, no, Grim spelled it correctly. His dad hears just fine. He's actually Death, CEO of the Underworld in the Southeast region of the United States. Come Grim's thirteenth birthday, he'll have to follow in dad's footsteps.

Grim doesn't want to be Death, though. He's happy being a sixth grade boy, despite the bullies and evil teachers. Then, his dad is kidnapped, and the rules of Death no longer apply. The undead arise, and it's up to Grim and his friends to find his dad and save the world before they become one of them.

Grim would be MG/YA Urban Fantasy, I think. As I said, it's in the infantacy of an idea. He's quite talkative, though, so we'll see if this novel makes it to NaNoWriMo 2011 or if I break down and write it before then.

In other writing news, I have nothing to report. No submissions, rejections, acceptances, or releases. Hopefully, I'll have some other news soon.