Breathing...

Sorry for no post last week. As my Twitter followers know, I was on the extended-family summer-trip-thing (aka visiting the Carolinas). It is now July 31, and I am happy to report that I made the submission deadline... with a couple hours to spare. *dies* I really need a more sanity-inducing summer schedule one of these years.

In forty-five minutes (from the point of me writing this), it will be August, which means it is the month of editing madness. Multiple projects need to be edited, which is awesome in that it means I have multiple projects going but bad in that it means I am not writing... sort of.

You see, I can't do another adult story right now because too many "similar" characters will cause my brain to implode, setting off a chain reaction that will result in a giant black hole taking the place of earth (and by default killing everyone).

I can, however, do something totally different. That means the wacky middle grade idea The Boy and I have been toying with is started. It's slow-going since he wants to take part in every stage of the writing, but it is being written. For those of you who don't know, I've written YA and really enjoy it. Middle Grade... is a foreign thing for me. It's a voice I'm not really confident with, but thankfully I have a middle-grader to help me on my way. It may never get finished. It may never be sent anywhere, but Operation: Wishes is the only thing I plan on writing in August. Just for giggles, I may keep you posted on how it's going.

Coming August 28!!!

In addition to editing-madness and Middle-Grade-madness, I also have OMG-NEW-RELEASE-(Kiss of Death, in case you didn't know)-madness this month. ("We're all a little mad around here.") I'm in the process of firming up dates for a blog tour--my first--and hopefully will have a calendar up next week. If you're a book blogger and you want to be included, let me know (selestedelaney[at]gmail[dot]com)!

For now though, I'm still just trying to keep my head above water. The kids have camp next week (YAY!) so hopefully that means copious amounts of work-time for me.

Drowning in Deadlines

Thus far, this summer has been one of writing madness. New contracts. New projects. Edits on other projects. Did I mention I have a release next month? (I do. The first Blood Kissed novel, Kiss of Death, is out August 28. Feel free to add it to your Goodreads shelf because, you know, that would make me smile.)

What that means is I've had to be really diligent about deadlines. Which is really good for teaching me discipline, but really bad for my sanity. I'm finding that I'm hitting book-burnout really quickly this summer. Whether it's because I'm juggling so many very different stories or because I'm constantly in go-mode, I'm not sure.

But, it's one of the key reasons I've been a bit scarce on-line. I would have continued to assume no one had noticed, but since I've had a few people seek me out asking if I was alive and everything was okay... I'm stating for the record that I'm good. I'm not dead or dying or even dealing with sickness-of-doom. Asthma and allergies have been a little twitchy. Depression is hovering, waiting for a sign of weakness to grab hold of, as it always does. But really, I'm just tired. I love having my kids home, but it totally alters my ability to get shit done.

And vacations do that too. Every time I leave the house for more than a few hours, I get twitchy because I know all-the-things-will-cease-progressing. But so far, I've managed to bounce back from those periods of panicky quiet. It just means I'm more busy, less chatty when I get home.
So, right now I have a July 31 deadline I'm striving to finish & polish something for. And I have edits coming. And more edits. Then I get August for edits, more edits and the Kiss of Death release (I'm working on a blog tour now).

So, I'm not dead, just buried so I can work in relative peace. (At least if you discount the screaming... mine and the kids'.) I promise that once things even out in the fall, I'll be back, but as I keep reminding myself--busy is good. So, I'm good. And it looks like 2013 won't be nearly as dry for releases from me as 2012 was. (I am also working on planning better LOL).

Break On Through...

I've been struggling with a new project (tentative title is Slaying for Keeps). The heroine is very different from anyone I've ever written before (think River Tam different--only not--just that degree of different). Anyway, I've been plugging away at it and struggling to figure her out. I mean, I know the neurological reasons she is the way she is, but this one thing kept plaguing me. I didn't know emotionally why she acted the way she does.

It's a strange disconnect for me because that's the part I normally know right off, but this particular character (like River) on the face of things rather emotionless. Needless to say, that got in the way of things. I kept trying to poke at her scenes to understand her, but she wasn't giving me anything. With her so closed off emotionally, I was starting to think I'd never be able to flesh her out enough to make her real.

That was leading to... a degree of frustration we won't even really get into.

Then Sunday night, while I was exhausted from a day of sun and pool and booze and time in the car, I wrote a scene from the hero's point-of-view. Like me, he's been trying to figure this chick out and not having a lot of luck (of course, that's where things were supposed to be for him). In the scene she had, what for her was, a very emotional response. Basically something happened and she clutched at his arm. Heroines do that sort of thing all the time, but in this case, the hero realized how important what happened was for her and set to figuring out why. Suddenly, along with him, I learned what makes the chick tick.

It was an "Oh my God" moment of rather epic proportions for me. On the plus side, I think the writing will be easier from here on out. Down side? I have several chapters to go back and re-work using this new knowledge. It's okay though, because I'm pretty sure this will make things MUCH better in the long run.

*happy dances through the day*

No Post Today

I'm in Canada on vacation with one of my besties, and we just got back from seeing Channing Tatum strip.

Your argument about why I should be blogging is invalid.