Writing Again!

It feels so good to be writing again.

In the months after my mother passed - it was nearly impossible to read 'Swallow the Moon' let alone edit the paperback version. I didn't touch "Tempest in a Teapot" - closed my office and slunk back home.

That's not what she wanted me to do. She thought the fact that I'd published my stories, and hers, was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The last couple of weeks I made myself sit down at the keyboard in my home office for at least an hour a day and write. No surfing, (not much) no email, close the door if I had to - just get started up again.


"Tempest" was at 20k - a jumble of fragments and just 5 chapters. I started by editing what I had - which is always a good way to get familiar with a work again.

A friend from Goodreads offered to take a look at it - and he gave me some good feedback. Really, the story was just in the beginning stages - I think I had 7 chapters to send him.

Then I had a 1k day, after that it was a 1.5k day. Then I found some really good fragments in Scrivener and pulled those into the manuscript. I was now at 25k and building up some steam.



 Today I had a very good day. I cut some junk, and ended up with about 2k fresh words.

"Tempest" is now at 31,690 words. This might be the half-way point because my stories tend to move fast and I hate padding them out. I wrote the end on Index cards - something I had only vaguely worked out previously. I've cut some plot threads - re-worked others - and decided what to do about Leo's dislike of the Doctor running the Warrior's Transition Unit. He really hates her - but I couldn't see myself working the angle out into a major sub-plot. The focus had to stay on Wendy and her problems. I wasn't going to allow her to be upstaged or look stupid.

There are a few issues that need to be included for the full effect - I want readers to feel for my guys. Which means the plot threads I kept have to stay and they have to mean something. So far, so good.

"Tempest" has been a difficult project from the very start - the plot is ambitious - the twist has to stay a secret. The characters have to stay sympathetic and the romance has to develop at the right pace.

I think I'm going to be quite happy to go back to writing Dark Harbor stories.

If you are so inclined - here is a link to the draft of Tempest posted to Authonomy.

You are welcome to read it and comment here or there.