I’ve been MIA for a while now, but I have the best excuse. A sweet little baby girl born mid-November joined the family. She’s lovely and captivating, so much so that I’ve been slacking at keeping you updated on my writing life. So here’s some news: I spent all month of December going through my novel, THE MASTERPIECERS, a third time, changing two major plot elements, which basically meant I had to rewrite a large chunk of the story.
Ah, rewrites! In a recent interview I caught on Literary Rambles (if you don’t know that website, it’s really great), an author mentioned it took her sixty-something rewrites to get her book in publishable shape. 60! I don’t think I’d have her patience.
Anyway, now the manuscript is off with the copyeditor for (fingers crossed) the final round of edits. Since I absolutely despise inaction, I’ve started on a new story. A story about fairies tentatively called THE ROSE PETAL GRAVES. Yes…fairies…you heard me right. And the reason I’m writing about these enchanted creatures is because I’ve signed up to be a part of a paranormal anthology that will be out in April and that features a whole bunch of uber-talented authors such as Katie Hayoz and Melanie Karsak.
At first, I nearly backed out of the anthology. After all, I don’t write fantasy; I write YA fiction. Shouldn’t I be trying to build up my author brand instead of building it out? But in the end, whether building it up or out, I’m still building something. Just like J.K Rowling, just on a teeny-weeny scale. The queen of middle grade fantasy now writes adult mysteries. Granted, she uses the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, but everyone knows it’s her. And although her stories aren’t intended for the same audience, they contain many of the same elements.
“Most of the Harry Potter stories are whodunits at heart.”
– J.K. Rowling aka Robert Galbraith
If you’ve been following my blog since its inception back in August 2014, you must know that the first novels I penned—and never published—were all paranormal. I love paranormal, so writing THE ROSE PETAL GRAVES, in some way, feels like returning to my roots. Perhaps it will be a parenthesis in my writing career, or perhaps it will be the start of an enduring series. Only time will tell. But what I can assure you, is that what moved you in GHOSTBOY, what will move you in THE MASTERPIECERS, will be present in THE ROSE PETAL GRAVES, but just in a magical way.