Wednesday's Writing Update

Yes, it's Wednesday again. It seems like it came quicker this week than last week. Right now, I'm biding my time until the holidays. I'll have my first full week off from work since Thanksgiving week last year, and I'm looking forward to it. Perhaps I'll get some more writing done and research/planning for Virtuoso. Either that, or I'll be playing Age of Mythology or Harry Potter computer games.

So far this month, the word count is way down from last month, but I'm doing well. I've written every day in December except over the weekend when I was editing my first manuscript in my new freelance proofreader job, which went fairly well, I think, but I'll have to wait and hear back from the chief editor on how well I did.

Last week, I finished writing December's flash fiction for Flash Fiction Fridays. Each one will revolve around items in the Twelve Days of Christmas song. The first one, "A Partridge in a Pear Tree," is up on the blog. You can read it here. I got the idea for this flash fiction when I was researching partridges and discovered a myth involving Daedalus and his nephew Perdix. For those that might not be too familiar with Greek myths, Daedauls created the labyrinth, which contained the minotaur in Crete. He also was the first human to fly, yet his son Icarus didn't have such a great experience with it, since he flew too close to the sun and plummeted to the earth. Perdix was even more brilliant than Daedalus, and he created the saw and compass before his own tragic ending.

Last week, I found out that Daily Bites of Flesh 2011 is now out. I promoted it on Promo Mondays. Check it out here.

I now have the release date for Oil and Water...and Other Things That Don't Mix. It's December 15th, and you can read more about the anthology here and pre-order it. All the proceeds go to charity to help in the oil spill relief.

As for general writing news, I finished the first part of my three-part story on Raven and the Writing Desk. Look for it the week of December 20th. I'm currently working on my short story for Raven and the Writing Desk, as well. Our theme is Christmas elves, and my story is "The Elf King." I'm about half-way finished with it, and I hope to have it finished by tonight.

Starting in January, I'm going to try to cut down on the number of short stories I write and focus on my novels. I have three novels in first draft form, and it's time to bring them out, "dust" them off, and begin working on them again. Although I haven't started yet, I still plan to get my research and all that other business stuff done for Virtuoso by the end of December, so I can start completely rewriting it. And, yes, for the most part, it'll be written new from scratch except a scene here and there. I'm lowering the main characters ages and they'll be attending Riverwood High instead of Wyderly College. It means a lot of different stuff, but I'm excited about it.

Oh, I'm not going to completely give up short stories, though. In fact, I already know of three anthologies I want to submit stories to, and I'll be writing my pirate story, "Silver Hand Sam," starting tomorrow, I hope. And, I have all those much loved by me short stories I've written that don't have homes. In January, I hope to pull one out and read it again, edit, and find homes for them one by one. At least, that's the goal, and they'll be a nice little break while I rewrite Virtuoso too.

Well, I guess I should go and get writing...or rather finish up my other work, so I can write after lunch. Yes, good idea. *grins*

And, by the way, we're up to 40 followers! Yay! Okay, I know some of you people have gazillions of followers, but I'm excited about 40. Would anyone care to make it 50? *bats eyelashes* Welcome new followers and old!!