Category: The Blog

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Everything at Drollerie Press is 10% off through the 4th of July and new books just released by Michael Boatman, Imogen Howson, and Sarah Avery. I’ll be giving away at least one DP gift certificate this month, too, so stay tuned!

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

I’ve always tried to be pretty honest on this blog as far as the writing process is concerned, and so I won’t let good sense shut me up now.

I’m in a very rare (for me) stage of the writing process that I’ll call wallowing. As in, I’m wallowing in my own story and letting my brain rave about how brilliant Road is.

See, I told you good sense should have shut me up. But seriously, when I look back at this journey–not just the journey for this particular book but the long and winding road since 2003–there are so few peaks. There are so few moments where I ever just stood on the Mountain and beamed at the world and knew I’d accomplished something I should be damned well proud of. We’re taught not to brag or be conceited, that pride equals arrogance, and somehow that translates to never showing pride or admitting a sincere feeling of awe in our own abilities.

Celebrating is a part of life, as well as part of the journey. Right now, I’m sitting at a heartwood table in a North Forest tavern, throwing back shots with the warriors and Shannari who dragged me on this journey. We’re telling tall tales about the horrible monsters we encountered, and laughing at all the jokes Sal cracked. (The piebald nag one still makes me laugh until I want to cry.) And underneath all that laughter rings the sorrow for those who fell.

Dead they may be, but never, ever gone.

And I flip back through the story, laughing and crying again, page after page. Just one more time, Gregar whispers, using his rahke to turn the next page for me. Look at this thread that just magically plopped into place. It’s perfectly positioned, perfectly colored, and seems so innocuous; meanwhile, I know exactly what repercussions that thread will have on book 3 and even beyond. Think you this story ends in Shanhasson? Or with Shannari? Oh, no, not at all. Not at all.

Silliness, giddiness, obsession, whatever, the emotion is still high. I’m paralyzed in this joy, wanting to linger and hear the jokes one last time. But I’ve neglected other duties to be here. I have a different book releasing this month; an interview to write; books to read, both published and not; website updates; and of course, the next story…

Yet Gregar gives me a lecherous, wicked wink and taunts with a little flip of his memsha, and Sal tosses his hair back over his shoulder into Dharman’s face, and the two lads start to wrestle and joke until even Varne cracks a smile. And here I still am, laughing through the tears.

Wallowing.

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Whoa, can you believe it’s June already?

After a hard push in May, this month I plan to take it a little easier. I’m thinking about some giveaways this month for Beautiful Death’s release, tentatively slated for 6/15. I plan to read a LOT, both published and beta reads for Jess and Krista (finish that book, woman!).

Writing wise, I still have several things to do. My FIRST priority is polishing Road. Right now, it’s sitting at 110.7K. I’m making one more read through, and then I’ll send it to those who indicated they wanted to beta read. I’ll make at least two more passes of edits in a couple of weeks, with plenty of time to polish before submitting early July.

Otherwise, the month is open. I don’t plan on doing anything too strenuous after slamming through May. I may take that alien goth story and see if I can polish it up and either give it away as is or make notes on how to expand it to novella length. I may pull out either RHP or NSR for some worldbuilding, plotting notes and decide on which project to tackle for later in the year. And of course, I could always decide to work on Letters. I just don’t know right now. I have all month to make a decision.

In the back of my mind, I’ll also be percolating a new Keldari idea for development this fall into a 20-30K novella to bundle with the other two. I have an idea; it just needs time to expand.

So that’s the plan for June. The year is almost half over. Are you happy with where you are in your goals?

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

To celebrate recent releases, we’re having a chat today in the Drollerie Press chat room at 4:00 p.m. EST with several book giveaways. Look for the link here in the left side bar. I hope you can make it!

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

edited 1:15 a.m.: word count: 3616

I finished the main scene between Theo and Stephan, although it took longer than I thought. That’s okay –it’s very, very crucial to the rest of the story. Then I got one more section in Theo’s POV done. I think I have one left, and then revisions to the one I worked on last night. I guessed at a new goal word count, but I’m very close to finishing the villain’s POV.

101,726 / 105,000 (96.9%)

Despite finishing the main story line last night, I cannot yet say this first draft is finished, not until I write Theo’s POV scenes. After a very late start this morning (the monsters are out of school, and I still need to get Littlest Monster registered for summer school and kindergarten today), the first thing I needed to do:

Worldbuilding.

Yes, that might sound strange this late in the game, but I never knew much about Pella, Stephan’s home country. Some very interesting developments came out of this draft. To say the least, I adore it when magic happens and things suddenly make sense that I swear I made up on a whim years ago. Now, it’s crucial. It’s meaningful. There’s a reason I haven’t done a character interview for Stephan yet. I plan to do one, definitely, but there was so much I didn’t know about his home, his land, his way of life. Until I knew about these things, I could only guess at the whys of the man. Let me just say that this guy is one deep, intelligent, delicious villain, and he knows it.

What’s so ironic is that I actually reused some of my research for NSR, the Mayan fantasy. I drew a map this morning. I learned a lot about coffee plantatations, or should I say caffe plantations. A little more prep work, and then I believe I’ll be ready to write the main scene between Theo and Stephan from which all other villainous threads of this story flow. It gives me chills thinking about how it all played out before I even really knew what the hell was going to happen.

Word count to come later.

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Second Climax is done. All that remains is the final tying up of threads and the Resolution, then 3-4 scenes in the main villain’s POV. Likely another 5-7K. That’s IT. It will be a sweet birthday present indeed if I can finish this draft today, and I might be able to (including Theo’s POV) since I have the afternoon off.

Word Count (so far): 1460 3718 4854

I’ve already had a NaNoWriMAY with 54,301 56,559 57,695 words (including character interviews).

Favorite line (hard to find one with no spoilers): No, no, I will not stand here helplessly and watch him die!

98,110 / 100,000 (98.0%)

Edited (11:45 p.m.): I’ve reached “the end” of the main story line. Whoo-hoo!! Now I’ll be going back through and writing several scenes in the villain’s POV. At least 2 scenes are already sketched from a very old clunky first draft from 2003 that will need to be entirely rewritten, but at least I know what happens. At least one scene will be entirely new, so I might save it for the morrow, although I’m not calling it quits yet tonight.

Edited (12:30 a.m.): I got the last section of Theo’s POV reworked. I need to get that (new) scene with Stephan figured out before I can rework the middle, else I risk significant revisions through all sections. There are several little clues I need to drop, for both villains, and I’m not fresh enough to be clever. So Theo and Stephan will be in cahoots together tomorrow.

New best line and I know only Wanda and Molly will understand the significance, but it’s truly priceless. Or maybe I’m just punchy. That happens after the 10th cup of coffee.

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Climax One in progress, and no, it’s not the fun kind. (There’s been rather more than one of those, by the way.) I’m playing Run by Snow Patrol on a continuous loop: Light up, light up, as if you have a choice, even if you cannot hear my voice, I’ll be right beside you dear.

Word count (so far): 2560 3687

Favorite Lines:

Letting her heart shine on her face for Rhaekhar, she stepped onto the Great Seal. Our Blessed Lady

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

This one’s my Beloved Sis’s fault. (I had this idea while visiting with her and Granny on Saturday.)

Welcome back to the show