So 27 queries sent. Request for one partial which has subsequently been passed on. 16 outright rejections.

This query thing is hard. Hands down worst part of the process so far.

So more queries will go out. Many, many more, because I believe in what I have written. It's different from most of the genre. I know, I know, EVERYBODY says that. My books are far more violent than almost everything in the UF genre I read. Seriously, my book is like a Mack Bolan book with characterization and complex motives.

Oh, and monsters.

Anyways, I will keep plugging away at this query thing, I just wanted to give y'all an update.

The current WIP is going well. Writing right along. I am doing my first draft work right through thing. Spilling the story out so I can get a feel for the whole thing. I like it so far though and have a TON of ideas for where it is going.

So far it's a Paranormal Romance cum (pun intended) Urban Fantasy directed by John Landis and seasoned with some Vivid Entertainment.

Cassiel, the Angel of Solitude and Tears is charged with keeping Tristan Farrow out of clutches of Baphomet, Third Lord of the armies of Hell. Baphomet wants her for a special purpose in making more soldiers. Cassiel will defend her against the Fallen, Nephilim, Demoniacs, Hellhounds, Furies, and devil worshipers, but can he defend himself from falling in love with her?
Tristan has been hurt before, but she isn't anyone's victim. She's the princess that can save herself, but she finds she is outmatched by Baphomet's minions and has to rely on the dark and mysterious stranger who appears out of nowhere and rescues her. Can she save her heartache from him or will he rescue her from that as well?



The way I write, this one may be a hard sell too. I have been reading some paranormal romance lately and the way I write is completely different. In the first chapter we have had four bad guys killed on screen. Violently. This book will be every bit as violent as the last one I wrote, the difference will be that the romance will occur in this first book instead of just being set up. Hopefully that will make it more accessible. And, knowing the way I write, the sex scenes will make me run the risk of being dumped in Erotica, which would be fine, but would limit the amount of promotion and shelf space available.

Oh well, those are not my worries. I am just to write and then try to sell.

Enough rambling. I have an Angel and a human to play matchmaker with.....while I make their lives a living hell.

Muwah ha ha......

I have one word for you.

One frakkin' word.

That word is ZOMBIELAND!

Good Lord in Heaven I have not seen a more awesome movie in the last ten years.

Listen to me very carefully...

EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT A ZOMBIE FAN YOU NEED TO GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

Seriously, it is completely spot on. The characters, the dialog, the action scenes...it all blends together into an amazing movie viewing time. I laughed so hard my sides hurt.

Now there are no plot surprises, the two twists are telegraphed a mile away, BUT the movie itself is a surprise. I mean really, who would have thought Woody Harrelson (sp?) could play a completely awesome, yet still lovable, dumbass, zombie killing machine? Give that man an Oscar!

Rule Number 2: Double tap.

Don't be stingy with your bullets.

"I mean it." The scaly Nephilim said. "I will kill her." to prove his point the black claws dug just a little deeper in the woman's skin. A whimper escaped her lips.

Cassiel stood straighter, giving them his full attention.

"I don't care." he said. His voice was flat and even.

"You're here to protect her! You can only save her if you back off." Spit flew from the Nephilim's mouth as he screamed at Cassiel in anger. The dark man shook his head slowly.

"You are wrong hellspawn. I am not here to save her. I am here to stop you from taking her to your master. I am not to allow her to be used by him." Dark eyes flashed in the night. "If you kill her, my goal is still accomplished."



Taaa-dahhh!

First draft. If this one goes like the last, it will be HEAVILY revised, so don't be too harsh on it. It's still a baby snippet.


and the no frills word meter:

I have written 2,641 of 80,000 words. I am now 3.3% done! no frills wordmeter

So I haven't written much on the new book, until today that is. I worked for about an hour.

So far almost 2000 words down. I am not quite done with the opening chapter. I did come up with a awesome little bit of dialog between the hero and the bad guy in this scene (he will NOT be surviving to return later. lol. The bad guy is a henchman, and thus, disposable)

It will show how OTHER the hero is since he is an Angel.

I also came up with a new twist on a biblical demon. Legion- Hell's hitman.

This book is like a bright and shiny toy. oooooooooooo preeeettttyyy.

Speaking of bright and shiny toys the countergirl at the tattoo shop I own (who has been a good friend of mine for a few years now) GAVE me a new-to-me laptop.

It's a small emachines, but it is lightweight and perfect for what I want it for, which is a portable computer that I can dedicate to only writing. Awwww yeah.

So to make it official, here is the cheesy word counter.

I have written 1,948 of 80,000 words. I am now 2.43% done! no frills wordmeter

So I went to the two big e-publishers websites. Like I said previously, I am working on book two of the Deacon Chalk series while querying book one but I wanted to write a few short stories after the first draft of book two. I was thinking of just e-publishing these because they would be genres I am not really interested in writing full books for, but still want to explore.

Romance, erotica, and straight horror.

So I am on one of the two e-publishers website when I see they are taking submissions for an anthology. So the synapses start firing like a V8 motor and the Muse starts whispering in my ear and the next thing I know I am swirling with the plot, world, and characters for a whole new book.

Dammit.

So now I am researching Angels, legendary swords, mythological creatures, and scribbling notes. It will be a paranormal romance, bordering on urban fantasy, edging over into erotica. I have whole scenes in my head. Dialogue, a killer bad guy, a new spin on the rescued human trope. and all kinds of craziness.

Nephilim, Angels, Horsemen, hellhounds, demoniacs, and all kinds of other hell.

I did not want a new book when I started looking.

I did not want a new book when I started looking.

I did not want a new book when I started looking.

But I went and found one.

I AM excited by it. In fact, my head is on fire with ideas for it. And it is GOOD STUFF. In my head anyways.

(No woman in the history of the world is having better sex than the sex you are having with Ian... in my head.) sorry I went to High Fidelity on you.

So here we go. New book, tenatively titled BLACK WINGS a paranormal romance.

Progress so far:

I have written 446 of 80,000 words. I am now 0.55% done! no frills wordmeter

This does not include the three pages of notes on the story and characters, plus the hours of research last night.

Off we go folks.

Not much happening on the query front. Twenty-two queries sent via email. Six total rejections. One partial still out.

So not bad so far.

Still working on book two of the Deacon Chalk series. I will finish it up and then start a new project. I have a few floating around in my head.

I am also going to go check out some e-publishers and submit some short stories. Those will be more straight horror, erotica, and romance. Things I am not really interested in writing in full, but the ideas still drift through my cerebral membrane.

Winter is upon us here in the tattoo industry, so I will be writing more. I am also thinking of dragging the laptop to the house so I can work while the Missus watches Stargate:Atlantis, or one of her medical mysteries shows that I hate.

I am thinking of setting up one of those word count meter things. If anyone knows of some cool ones, let me know.

So here is the query I am sending out. I have of course edited out the contact info, simply because anyone who needs to contact me already can, all others use LJ. This is just for your amusement. If you want to critique it feel free.

Dear Agent,

Since killing the monster who took the lives of his wife and children Deacon Chalk has had one rule and one rule only.

He does not work for the monsters. He kills them.

So why would a vampire try to hire him to kill someone? After enforcing his one rule Deacon goes to meet the target, a vampire hunter named Nyteblade. After all, he would want someone to tell him if there was a bounty on his head.

In the alley where he was supposed to kill Nyteblade he finds the vampire hunter waiting.

Waiting to stake him.

A horde of vampires descend to finish the job once Deacon discovers that Nyteblade is a bumbling, fumbling, wanna-be instead of a badass vampire hunter.

Someone has set Deacon up. Someone wants him dead.

Someone should have sent more vampires.

Bound and determined, he will find out who tried to kill him no matter how many vampires, were-spiders, cursed immortals, undead strippers, or insanely powerful hell-bitches he has to wade through.



At just over 77,000 words NYTEBLADE: DEACON CHALK OCCULT BOUNTY-HUNTER BOOK ONE is a concisely written, action-packed, dark urban fantasy tale. It is set in a rich and varied supernatural world and contains a new origin for vampires I have never seen before.

It will appeal to fans of Laurell K. Hamilton, Jim Butcher, as well as those who watch the television show Supernatural.

This is the first book of a series and the full manuscript, plot synopsis, and sample chapters are available immediately upon request. BROTHERS OF MARROW AND BONE: DEACON CHALK OCCULT BOUNTY-HUNTER BOOK TWO is being written at this time with books three and four outlined and plotted.

As per the instructions provided I am including the first five pages of NYTEBLADE for your consideration.

Thank you so very much for your time,

James R. Tuck

So I finished my book! Yay for the James. Really I feel good. Written and revised it comes to just over 77,000 words.

So NYTEBLADE: DEACON CHALK OCCULT BOUNTY-HUNTER BOOK 1 is in the can. Wrote what I think is an intriguing query and began sending it out.

At this point I am only doing email queries. I dropped 20 on the last night of Dragoncon (monday) and have already received three rejections! No really, that is fine. It is part of the process, you query widely and receive rejections. The ones I got rejected on were the ones who wanted ONLY a query and no additional material. No sample chapter, no first five pages, no synopsis (which I do have to get busy writing.)

There is an agent out there for me. I feel it. And I believe in my material. It is good. It may be a bit of a hard sell since it isn't a romance and is more of an Action/Horror. (but gentle fans, there are the seeds for the romance that blooms in the next book)

So three rejections do not make me feel bad at all. Then again, I wander this planet suffering under the illusion that things just fall into place and as long as I am putting forth honest effort, then it all happens when and how it is supposed to.

So far, I am have been 100% correct.

So now I am 5000+ words into the first draft of BROTHERS OF MARROW AND BONE:DEACON CHALK OCCULT BOUNTY-HUNTER BOOK 2 and furiously doing research and head-plotting a NEW AND EXCITING project. I won't tell you what it is other than it is a form of urban fantasy and I am researching occult societies, dirigibles, and gaslights.

I will post my query letter soon for your enjoyment.

Take care,

James

I just got done revising this section and thought I would share the snippet.

You aren't getting a backstory though. Muwa ha ha. I will say that no one in this snippet is a vampire. There are vampires in the book, but not in this snippet, no matter how it reads.

Hope you enjoy it, feel free to comment.


His head lashed side to side. Eyes wild and teeth clenched, he said. “I do not drink from the vein anymore. My sins are great enough without that. I will wait for blood until I can get it somewhere else.” Sweat ran down his face and arms. “I will not die.”

“You are needed tonight to fight Appollonia. You must have your strength.” She pulled her hair to the side, sweeping it off of her neck. Holding up her hand, one thin finger extended and morphed into a razor sharp, needle of talon. Delicately she pushed the edge of the talon into the vein on her neck.

The blood was bright and crimson on her pale flesh as it welled up. The rich iron smell of it filled the inside of the car, mixing with the cigarette smoke. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she crawled into his lap. He didn’t fight as she placed her open vein beside his face. Teeth sank into his lower lip and his head shied away from her, pressing deeply into the leather of the seat behind him. Nostrils flaring, he began to tremble.

“Drink from me.” Her finger was normal again as she wiped blood from her neck. “You talk of sin. I was made to sin against you, let me atone for that now. Lycanthrope blood is powerful to vampires.” Even in the dim light of the Comet’s interior, her fingers smeared scarlet across his lips. “Let my blood heal you.”

His tongue darted out, drawing some of the blood from his lips into his mouth. Eyes closed he savored it for a moment. Tears streamed from down his cheeks as his mouth opened wide. Slowly his canines slid out into fangs. Charlotte's face was calm as she waited for him to drink. Sweetly, his arms wrapped around her and drawing her against him.

Father Mulchahey turned back to face the windshield, pulling another cigarette from the pack.

I turned up the music to cover the wet sounds from the backseat and drove on into the night.










There you go. Again, feel free to comment.

James

So I have been revising my WIP. I am at almost to the big climactic showdown with the Big Bad.

Revisions are going well on this half of the book.

Why?

A) My writing improved dramatically once I knew what the hell I was doing.

and B) My writing improved dramatically once I knew what the hell I was doing.

I am thinking maybe next book I will try a bit more outline. lol.

This pantsing did make a little more work especially in the middle of the story. It is all good now though. The story wound up on a different track than I originally planned, but that was bound to happen since I really had no plan, just a really cool concept.

AND, I found someone who appreciates the genre and is a kick ass writer in her own right who is willing to give the revised manuscript a read thru for critique. (THANK YOU ALISHIA)

So, all is working well. Now if any of you other writerly friends are interested in crtiquing an Urban Fantasy WIP let me know. It has guns, vampires with a new twist on their origins, lycanthropes that are NOT wolves or cats (not that there is anything wrong with that), cursed immortals, lots of guns, strippers, hotrods, blues music, and, oh yeah, LOTS OF GUNS!

I would gladly return the favor also.

James, over and out good buddy.

Ok, so I was reading one of my friends posts on here about creating Twitter accounts for fictional characters as a means of

a) promotion for your book. (which I don't currently need, since the book is still on my computer, but the plan is to one day.)

and b) to supplement the fleshing out of your character in ways you can't put in the books.


This appeals to me.

In my head, writing a tweet as my character will be like a dvd extra, and I do love me some extras on a dvd.

So if you want to add my main character to your twitter then please do.

http://twitter.com/DeaconChalk


And remember, it's not me, it's Deacon. lol.

Ok, so it has been a WHILE since I posted on here. I never forgot about you livejournal, I just had to do some life stuff.

I had to go and open a tattoo shop.

(Yes, my very own. Thank you, thank you.)

The work that went into that did take away my time and energy for THE BOOK. I am sorry, I have a limited amount of creative energy and the shop took it all for a while.

But now, the shop is settled and it takes work but it is together enough for me to turn back to the book. And boy, have I turned back to it.

I am still working on revisions. Revisions still suck. But now that I am at the halfway mark, they are not as difficult. About where I dropped into SERIOUS WRITING mode on the first draft. It seems like the writing is much better and thus doesn't need as much editing.

Now I still have characters who are getting up from standing, and walking when they are still lying down, and silly details like that I am smoothing out, but it really is much easier right now.

Of course, that scene where I got them out of that damn room is coming up, I am sure there is a rewrite waiting for me there. (grrrrrrrr.)

But I am back, back with a vengeance.

So I finished the first draft. Yeah me!

Took a little time off to get perspective on the story because I KNEW it was rough.

Then I started into the rewrites. The first chapter, no problem. It was pretty much just smoothing out some stuff, polishing. I can do that.

Then came chapter two.

Damn.

I took an 8-ish page chapter, the first real action scene in the book and cut it completely.

Tore it out by the roots.

I didn't want to. I tried to do what I did with first chapter, just go in and smooth the edges, add a fresh coat of paint and call it good. The Muse, bitch that she is, had OTHER plans.

It started with changing one small bit of dialog. Then that small change rippled thru the after effect and how things would have occurred. With the change in the after of course the set up for the dialog was all wrong. Then I had a flash of inspiration. Damn inspiration. So all of that led to me deleting the ENTIRE chapter. (eep!) It HURT to cut out those 8-ish pages. It was like I was carving those 8-ish pages from my own flesh.

In their place?

52 PAGES OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, WORLD BUILDING, KICK ASS ACTION, AND DRAMATIC DIALOG! (I even managed a tiny sliver of humor in the mix also.)

So thank you Muse. You are still a bitch, and I pray to G-d that this is NOT indicative of how this is going to work, but I thank you from the bottom of my pea-pickin' little heart. (it's a southern thing. Move on.)

Now this 52 page rewrite took me forever. I started about two weeks before christmas, and just now finished. Now most of this is because of time suckage, and the fact that I do not have deadline looming over my head like the Sword of Damocles. I caught up on a LOT of reading. Started and put down a lot of books. But I did read some GREAT ones.

At Graves End -Jeneaine Frost. Go buy this! If you have not read this series, go buy it. Go now. Don't wait and borrow it, just go buy it, it's that good.

Hunter's Prayer (Jill Kismet series)-Lilith Saintcrow. Lilith is one of my favorite writers. I LOVE her stuff. She can drop her book into a dark place that few can follow. This book blew me away. Damn. Go buy it. Go buy all her books.

Devil Inside- Jenna Black. I know, I know, you all read this AGES ago when it came out. Look I get it, I'm slow, I suck, I just now read this. But still, let me tell you, it's a GOOD book. I highly recommend it and I WANT to read more about Morgan.

The Conqueror Worms - Brian Keene. Yes another old book. I enjoyed it. Not as much as some of his books, but it is light and I breezed thru it in a day. I love Brian Keene. He's one of my favorite straight out horror writers.

On The Prowl- anthology. This book made me want to go and buy everything Patricia Briggs has ever written. I can't understand why I am not reading her stuff. And Sunny's story was amazing. I will be picking up both authors series.

And finally

Another Life (Burke series)-Andrew Vachss. Andrew Vachss is my hero. I love what he stands against. I enjoy his writing. I buy all of his books the moment they come out. This is the last in the Burke series. I will say, this was not the perfect ending to a series. It was not the best book in the series, but it was good. And now reading it as a writer I analyzed some of the things I liked about it. One of the main things is that I will be trimming my dialog. I will be paring down all the things I use to say that someone said something. Dialog can stand on it's own and using quotation marks is sufficient to indicate who is speaking.


It also doesn't help that Diana Peterfreund sent me an ARC of her newest RAMPANT. You have heard of this book. It's the one about the killer unicorns.

OH MY G-D!!!!!!!

I am COMPLETELY hooked. This book is going to be HUGE! I am 105 pages in and I can't put it down. I predict huge sales for this book and a movie deal in 12 month after release. This book could be the next Twilight. It is THAT good.

I am reading this book and continually switching from amazement at how well written it is to blind jealousy that she thought of this and I didn't. Killer unicorns.

Damn.

Just, damn.


So, there ya go. It's been a minute since I posted one of these, so that is what I have been up to.

James

Seriously. Mark Henry has a revamped website and to celebrate he is giving away stuff.

Cool stuff.

A signed copy of Happy Hour of the Damned and a shiny new ARC of Road Trip of the Living Dead with its very own cover flat!


Mark's a good guy and writes original stories. This is a contest not to miss. So go here

http://www.markhenry.us/contests/

And see what it is all about.

Tell him your good buddy jtucktattoo sent ya.

So I tried to be all fancy with the revision draft of the WIP.

I had a plan and I swear it sounded like a damn fine plan to me.

First spend HOURS printing rough draft at the day job. I printed it at 14 pt, triple spaced, with pair of HUGE margins top and bottom. This made for a printed manuscript that was exactly 468 pieces of paper.

Then I picked up a snazzy folding pocket thing to put it in and a pair of nice ass red pens.

So the plan was that I would then sit with printed manuscript, read it, and make notes as to what needed to be changed.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
yeah right.



I tried.

I swear I did, but that method did NOT work for me. My notes were way too sparse and simple. I think I will instead just go back in and rewrite in Word.

But in my time away from the WIP (I took a week off.) I did manage to do some reading.

I finished the first Jeaniene Frost book, Halfway To the Grave. It was good. Then I read her second one, One Foot In The Grave, and it was really fucking good. She made a huge leap in writing ability. It was nice to see. I hope I have such dramatic improvement in the next Deacon book. I am excited to get her third book which comes out in Jan I believe. (At Grave's End)

I am almost done with Magic To The Bone by Devon Monk. I agree with the hype. It is a great concept. But the book does have some first book flaws in the pacing and plot departments. Good read, but the hype around the book puts the expectations higher than they should be for me.

I also caught up on the Buffy season 8 and Angel after the Fall comics. What the hell are they thinking? I will go on record now and say that if they do anything in a visual medium with the Buffy franchise (tv or movie) then this series will NOT be canon. Changes abound, many of which had me going WTF? I am disapointed.

Anyways, back to me and Deacon. Next week, I begin revisions on the the book. First draft is almost 54,000 words. I know I have some scenes to add in and more to change so I expect to hit 85,000 when it is all said and done. It's good stuff. I am pleased.

Nyteblade: A Deacon Chalk adventure, hopefully I will have the revisions done in about two weeks. That's my goal, but since I am doing this for me there is no pressure. One of the joys of being an unpub.

ell-oh-ell.

Last night I finished the first draft on my WIP.

It felt really good.

I know it's rough. I know I will have a TON of polishing to do. But it is DONE!

I was sick as a dog on Thursday which meant that I slept pretty non-stop from Wednesday night at 11 til 4pm on Thursday. That's 18 hours of sleep. I normally get about 6. With all that sleep though, I felt much better, so when the Missus trotted off to bed I was still up. I quit procrastinating and began to write.

I was just getting ready for the finale, the big battle at the end of the book with the Big Bad. I wrote for over two hours, until I couldn't see straight. When I was done for the night I had a realization come over me that I could finish this damn book. I really and truly could complete it.

I got up and went to work yesterday, Friday, and began to write as soon as I had nothing better to do. The words were flowing across the page like nobodies business. I KNEW exactly what was going to happen and yet it was all new to me as I typed like a demon.

Lots of things got put to paper (computer screen) in my furious dash to finish this draft. I was able to hurt my characters in a realistic (?) way for the first time. I wrote a shootout in what felt like an exciting read, and I was able to keep the terror of the Big Bad all the way thru the ending. That was the hardest thing to do.

It would have been easy for the Main Character to be the big damn hero and once the chips were down he rallied and kicked the ass of the Big Bad. We've all seen it in tv shows. The Big Bad is kicking everybody's ass and the HERO decides he or she has had ENOUGH. They then rally and dispatch the Big Bad in a matter of moments that look triumphant and easy. Then you think: "well, if it was that easy, why didn't you just get mad earlier?"

Not in my story. Blood was shed and flesh sacrificed every step of the way. The Big Bad stayed the Big Bad thru the entire finale. Every moment she was on screen she was terrifying.

But, back tot he point, I AM DONE!

So from this point I will give the book a rest for a few days. During this time I will not open the file or look at it. I will instead finish reading One Foot In The Grave by Jeaniene Frost (excellent book BTW) and read at least one more book uninterrupted. Once I have a few days of distance I will go thru the book and spell check it. (Nope, in my first draft I was spewing the book out so fast I did not even spell check.) Then I will print it out triple spaced, and grab my red pen. Then I will read my book and make notes of things I need to revise. I expect red to be on every page.

Once that is done, then I will sit and go thru my book and revise like a bastard. Currently the book is almost 55,000 words, the things that need to be added and removed should push it to over 80,000.

After the revision is done, then and only then will I allow my betas to read what I have crafted.

All that though is work for next week. Today I am just feeling satisfied in the glory of a finished first draft. And I think a GOOD first draft.

All Hail to the King, baby. Now gimme some sugar.

So, if you have been reading this blog then you know I had a lightining-esque revelation a little while back that what I thought was the ending to my WIP was not and that I had about 20-30,000 more words to go.

That was great.

This flash of insight cleared up the ending, made it stronger, gave the Burgeoning Love Interest a much more involved part, set up the Spin Off Character in a fuller way, and introduced into the world more of the lycanthropes that will be featured in book 2.(yes this is a series.)

BUT.........

My character was stuck in a room, held hostage by the Big Bad along with the Spin Off Character. Being in the room was fine. It was a natural progression of the Kinda-Sorta Nookie scene and it's fallout in the previous chapter. It also gave a small moment of non action to introduce the Main Character to the Spin Off Character (who is intregal to the actual plot. Never fear, I would not just parachute him in for the sake of spinning him off.)

I tried to get them out of that damned room for a week and no matter how much I prodded they wouldn't move.

I tried to tell them "But I know exactly where you are going." but they would have none of it.

FINALLY I GOT THEM OFF THEIR ASSES!

Ahhhhh, the breakthrough was glorious. I whipped out 2000 words and viola, they were out of the room and the plot was back afoot.

Awesome.

I mean really awesome.

I mean ten pounds of awesome in a five pound bag.

I mean Dean singing Eye Of The Tiger awesome.

So now you know how awesome it is to be unstuck.

If you missed the episode of Supernatural tonight then you really missed out.





I want to be Dean Winchester when I grow up!

Yep, straight as I am, I think I may have a man-crush on him.

ell-oh-ell

So I haven't worked on the Deacon Chalk book for this is now the third day. I hit a wall. Nothing big, I just hit a point where I knew what I had in mind to happen, but the words would not go.

No sweat, especially since right now ther is NO pressure at all.

Then this morning, on the way to the day job, I had a revelation.

I am nowhere near the end of the story.

Really.I thought I was two chapters from wrapping up the rough draft that I would then go back into and revise and edit. Then in the car, lightning struck, and I have another 20-30,000 words to wrap it up.

And this isn't just fluff. This is stuff that should happen to make the ending I have in mind work. Plus it frames out and explains the Burgeoning Love Interest (BLI) and the offshoot character for the second series I have in mind set int he same universe.

Eeeeexxxxxxxx-ci-lant.

So that is where I am at. It may really be December before I get this done. But we shall see, since I have a free monday to do nothing but work on the book.

I will keep you informed.

So I was reading random blogs earlier and I ran across one about what a writer owes a reader.

Some folks think a writer owes a reader absolutely nothing and that they should write the book exactly as they want, reader be damned.

Some feel that if you build a reader a world you owe them a resolution to that world in keeping with their expectations. (ie: happy endings and puppies for everyone.)

Here's my opinion (cause you all know I have one.)

A writer owes their reader on thing and one thing only.

They owe it to the reader to be true to themselves in their storytelling.

If they do and they watchguard against ego and laziness then their readers will be satisfied, even if their expectations are destroyed.

That's all.

And that is my pledge. I'm not writing for anyone but myself and I sincerely hope that readers come along for the ride.