Who is this man?

During the three years that it took me to write The Death Wizard Chronicles, I prided myself -- sort of, I guess -- on being the type of writer who focused on just one project at a time. When it came to DW, I started on page 1 and finished on page 2,800 or so, and never once wrote anything else of any significance -- not even a short story.

I knew many other writers who were not this way. Some of them had three or more novels going at once, and they would bounce back and forth between them depending on their moods. This always seemed kind of foreign to me. I preferred to focus on one thing at a time.

Fast forward to now ........ and I am currently working on rewrites on DW, on revisions on a horror novel, and on the first draft of a YA fantasy with a woman who lives in Japan. (And yes, she and her family survived the earthquake. :) )

So I guess I've switched camps, huh?

It's kind of fun, I have to admit.

Rewrite of The Pit

I just returned from a week alone in a cabin in the mountains during which I did an entire rewrite of Book 1 of the series, entitled The Pit.

I removed most of the back story and introduced characters into Book 1 that previously had not appeared until Book 2.

Book 1 is now longer and more detailed, and it is very front-story driven. Instead of being about 70-30, it is now about 95-5. I replaced probably 60 pages of back story with about 100 pages of front story.

A new publisher has shown some interest in the rewrite. I'm hoping that this will result in a happy ending. Of course, there are no guarantees.

Being married with three of my five daughters still in the house, you can imagine how peaceful it was being by myself for such a long stretch. Of course I missed my family, and I did have some bouts of cabin fever, but overall it was a rewarding experience. I kept a log while I was there, and recorded that I worked on Book 1 for more than 60 hours in about 5 1/2 days of writing time. No world record, of course, but not bad.

Haunting development

I continue to make progress on my ghost story. I've finished the first draft and am four-fifths of the way through the first revision. It's going to be relatively short -- probably no more than 85,000 words -- but it's very scary and also very sexy ... maybe too sexy. I'm still considering toning down the graphic aspects of the sex. A few scenes feel gratuitous. (But sometimes gratuituous sex is the most fun of all!)

I'm hoping to begin shopping the novel by early January. With The DW Chronicles still without a second publisher, it's going to be fun to have another player in the game.

DW will always be my masterpiece. I'll never write anything better, and hopefully it will one day get the credit it deserves, even if it is post-Jim Melvin. But like any writer who has failed to strike it rich, all I can do is keep writing.

And that's what I've done.

Pour little me

It's raining tonight, really hard. An unexpected rain. I live in an area that's had below-average rainfall for several years now, so whenever it does rain -- no matter how frequently -- it's welcomed. I hope it keeps raining until after I go to bed. Is there anything better than falling asleep to the sound of rain?

I'm 66K into my horror novel. I feel like I've got about 20K to go to wrap it up. It's scary and sexy and wild. It'll be fun when it's finally finished. Maybe this one will hit it big -- and then carry The Death Wizard Chronicles along with it.

I just got back from a wonderful vacation in the mountains. It rained there too.

I so envy the people who can afford to just write.

Horns!

I'm 120 pages into the ghost story. I can't seem to keep the sex out of it. What's wrong with me?

Back in the saddle

I've begun work on a horror novel that I'm going to call The Bathroom Window. It's going to be a full-blown, sexy, supernatural ghost story that will be R-rated and really scary (at least I hope).

Right now, I'm 60 pages in -- and writing at a much slower pace than I did when I wrote The Death Wizard Chronicles. Back then, I was averaging about 45,000 words a month, and it's taken me a month to write 17,000. But heck, it feels good anyway.

I can't seem to get away from working some sex into my stories. DW has it too. I'm not sure how readers feel about this. "Sex sells" doesn't seem to apply as much to books as it does to movies -- unless an author is writing erotica. So I'm not sure if this is a strike against me or not.

I do have an idea for a young adult fantasy standalone, but can I write young adult for 500 pages? That remains to be seen.

Ants in my pants

My house recently was invaded by these annoying little black ants. Under the baseboard they came. Up the side of the kitchen cabinet. All over the granite countertop, dining room table, cat food, etc. My equally black cat was especially annoyed. He'd find a squadron of them marching along my wood floor and swat away.

My wife doesn't like to kill anything. It upsets her to pull a carrot from the ground. She'll catch wasps, roaches and anything else that has found its way into our house in cups and cans and release them outside. Problem is, you can't do that with an army of tiny black ants, each about a fifth the size of a grain of rice.

Enter, me. Husband. A k a Ant Killer!

Okay, so she made me use an organic ant spray, which I squirted along the baseboard. Problem solved.

Nope.

A few feet down the baseboard, here they came again. Sprayed there. Half a day of relief. More ants. Sprayed again. Again. Again. Finally sprayed all along the outside of the house. Finally, no more ants.

How many did I kill/murder/slaughter? How many did I send to a writhing, hideous death? Many hundreds, at least. I am the Ant Killer!

Tonight, I was sitting out on my back deck. And what did I see? Little black ants crawling on the wooden planks. My right index finger -- the spray finger -- began to twitch. But I held off. For now.

Instead, I sat and watched the hummingbirds feed. Luxuriated in the warm breeze on my face. Drank a cold Corona with a lime. Admired my black cat as he bathed himself.

But the ants ... I watched them too. I see them. Do you?

My finger twitches even now.