Oh hey, this blog is a thing I have.

So yeah, I’ve been pretty mum throughout the months since Bloodlands‘ release. I’m not sure if there’s a pretty, poetic term in another language for post-creative production malaise, but if there’s not, there should be.

But! I have been working. Quietly. In the shadows with my tablet. To recap:

1. Void Eater: In November, I entered National Novel Writing Month with a new fantasy novel. I’ve been carrying the idea of it around and fleshing it out at a glacial pace for years: a mercenary has a void-like power that manifests in her body and… well, it eats people. Sometimes whole. Sometimes in messy chunks. And this is actually pretty fortunate for her, as it makes her one of few people capable of contending with the apocalypse of angry elder gods that’s about to hit her world. While I really love the primary premise, I’ve been carrying it so long that it’s become a catch-all. Many of the characters, settings, and sub-plots were cast-offs from another project, and many of those things got stripped back out again for Bloodlands (there’s a very long story in all that which I promise to blog about someday). The pieces I was left with were less substantial than I initially thought, especially the characters. They refused to talk to me. Or each other, for that matter. And as a character-driven writer, the fastest way for my interest in something to wither is for the characters to fall silent. As soon as I hit my 50,000 words, I shoved this project aside in exasperation, which leads me to…
2. As-of-Yet-Untitled-Thing…2!?: When my Void Eater characters fell silent, other characters spoke up to tell me they still had more to say. I finished out November with this new story (and old characters), but then decided in December to hit the brakes and try outlining BEFORE I write my first draft to see if I can save myself some revision work in the future. I normally draft first and outline before revising (then promptly ignore my outline, because what does it know?), which is backwards and probably creating a lot of rework for me. I’ve got a solid outline for Part I (which I’m already deviating from) and started drafting again in January. I’m currently one prologue and two chapters in, so this is my official WIP.
3. Love Songs for Evil Bastards: My very first NaNoWriMo project was a comedic first-person narrative following the adventures of Lenore, a disgruntled and downtrodden retail employ who plunges into the world of super-villainy with the help of a corporate sponsor and ends up getting tangled in a huge, city-wide conspiracy.  It’s both an homage to and a parody of the realm of comic book superheros. The first draft is mostly finished, but it’s been sitting around on my hard drive waiting to be completed since Bloodlands bullied its way into taking all my attention. Once I manage to draft As-of-Yet-Untitled-Thing…2!?, I’d like to pick this project up for revision and editing and perhaps release it as my next published title.

TL;DR: Void Eater is on the back-burner, I’m working on a first draft for a follow-up, and hope to begin revision work on an in-progress novel this year. Meanwhile, I also have some finished short stories to polish up and some unfinished short stories to complete that I’d like to share with you all (whoever is actually reading this) to fill the time between novels.