What's Next...

I've been blogging in spurts lately.

This, I think, is good.

Because blogging is good,

and is also a lot better than ignoring my blog.

So, go me.

:)

For those of you who saw a while back about my Big Announcement, I wrote a book. I told myself I finished it, but even a novice writer like me knew that that was not entirely the case. For the past several weeks I've been having a couple close friends of mine, one of them is Emily, read it. I also put on my brave jacket and took part in Maggie Stiefvater's critique partner love connection, which was fun. Through that I met several people who were interested in my story, hello Olivia!, as I was in their's, and so I now have some more objective perspective*-types looking at it. 

But for me, I'm currently at a really awkward hiatus in which the constant anxiety--seriously, six years--of knowing that I needed to finish my book has suddenly left me, and I feel a little as if a carpet has been swept from under my feet. That mean, old carpet! So I must ask myself...what next?

Well...

It's not really much of a difficult question.

Here's a list of all the things

--ooh, OK, that felt killer cool to write those three words in a consecutive manner: all. the. things.--

that I am currently, or gearing up to, work on.

1.

I have a new major WIP that is a big jump from my last middle-grade-ish/historical fantasy. This one has much older teen characters, set in modern day America. The element of magic comes in, because there's always and element of magic with my writing, in the form of ancient Greek mythology. I've always loved Greek mythology, though not as much as Emily, but I've never thought I'd base a whole book off of it. Well whaddya know, my next WIP is definitely based, though loosely, off of Greek mythology. And let's just say, this one's going to be a lot grittier. Eek! I'm so excited!!!

Here's what I'll be reading in the next few months as I prepare for this one.

 Mythology, Edith Hamilton

 The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Roberto Calasso
(Sorry for the blurry picture, but it's a really good book so far!)

When Love is Not Enough, Nancy L. Thomas
(Character stuff, people. Diversity is key!)

2.

Emily and I are planning a NaNoWriMo collaboration! That's pretty much all I can say about it other than we've decided to base the story off of the original historical story of the Romanov's and the once missing Grand Duchess Anastasia. This will also be pretty gritty. And eek!!! I'm equally excited for this one too!!!

Nicholas & Alexandra, Robert K. Massie

3.

As a more minor project, I've also gotten my dad to start writing a memoir  Even though memoir usually needs a platform to get published, I'm still both excited and serious about this one. My dad has some great stories, as does my grandpa--his dad--who's already written a memoir. I'd like to edit both and see what we end up with as a combination. If I haven't mentioned before, my dad's side of the family is big in aviation, but especially my dad and his dad. My grandpa flew near the WWII era and my dad made aviation a career for many years. So I think the evolution of aviation that will come through in both their stories will be fascinating,  albeit if only for me and my family, to read. And I'm also just really proud of my dad for agreeing to take it on. It's nice to see him get so excited about it!

Here's to more things to do, because I love having more things to do...yeah!

Here's to the stories I have to tell!

Here's to the stories WE ALL have to tell. So please, tell them!!!

*I like taking advantage of any chance I get to use those words: objective perspective. Isn't is fun?