OMG, Its Been How Long?!

          Sorry guys, I am normally a lot more on the ball about stuff like this. I did not realise that it had been this long.

          In my defence, between Nanowrimo and Christmas end of the year preparations, my life has focused down and down. Not down as in depression or anything, just that I required a hell of a lot of focus this year. Normally I just buy all of my family books for the great Christmas Book Flood. This year, I decided to paint a set of nine pictures for a friend of mine. They turned out gorgeously, a geeky Mario 3 type slot machine effect where I made a fire flower, star, and mushroom. My friend loved it, but it took me hours and hours to finish, especially since I actually had to change colours on the flower about half-way through.

          Okay, so I agree, it's a sucky defence. I still had time to at least do an update for you wonderful folks. In fact, I wrote two that simply got saved to drafts instead of posting (which will teach me to believe that I'll just finish it up later that night). So let's get right into the update.

          Nanowrimo was not the bubbling joy it has been in years past. I still enjoyed myself, but I felt more stressed than I did jubilant. I think a large part of that was the fact that I was still in editing mode. I had sent Hunter to my editor and was waiting on pins and needles to get it back. More on that later, though. I did finish Nanowrimo though I was writing right to the 30th of November to do it, and when I did, I pretty much just stopped. I got 50,281 words (I think, it was right around there anyway). The story was going well, but it felt a bit weird. I figured out half-way through that one of my characters didn't really have a story, yet I was still trying to give her a fourth of the "screen time". So, I changed my format again and just started writing which chapter came next. I fully think that by the time I get back to it, I'll have quite a bit to go over and rewrite on it. Still, I wrote some great stuff and managed to figure out my religions much more concretely.

          The big thing was that I got my readers review back from my editor. She found a lot of points where I could tighten the story, make things better and pointed out a few idiosyncracies in my writing that make it so my words don't hit emotionally as hard as they could. I have lots to work on which wasn't a huge surprise. This is the first manuscript that I've sent out and its still drawing from its roots a bit too much. I was hoping to start working on it during December, but beyond looking at her review, I had to put it down and finish gifts and other stuff for the holidays. So I still have a lot of work to do on it, but I'm hoping to have it done in only a month or so. Then I'll send it back to my editor again, and get her outlook on it. Hopefully, I'll be able to give you a concrete date for release at that point.

          I did have a lovely holiday season, I spent a lot of time with family and friends, had my birthday celebration as well as celebrating the holidays. I got some awesome gifts this year, but as always, it was the people in my life that meant the most.

          Wow, this post has stretched. I think I'll end this update here and start again with my bi-weekly posts. That means you can expect at least one more post this year. We'll chat more then!