Hi you!

Here’s my 5-pronged update:

Writing

Current Book

I actually don’t have much to say about the first book right now. My potential copy editor is running late and I want to get her feedback before submitting anything to my huge list of agents.

I followed up with her today, so hopefully I should know something soon.

New Book

I’m working on the second draft right now. In fact, I interrupted editing to do this blog post. That’s how much y’all mean to me 🙂

So send me some cookies, SHEESH!! (Again, not oatmeal raisin… yuck.)

This draft is moving along OK. I’m currently about halfway done and expect to be finished just after Thanksgiving. I have 3 readers nailed down right now and am looking for a couple more. I actually know who else I want to read it, I just have to ask, LOL.

Also, I want to give a huge “THANKS!!!” to the people who volunteered to read. It really means a lot that you’re invested in helping.

Video

Well, we were supposed to film tonight, but I think it fell through as I haven’t heard from one of the essential ‘talents’. Boo.

I may just have to ‘fire’ that person and try to do the part myself. Or see if I can convince Chris to do it (if you’re reading this, Chris, ignore that last part).

Singing

Singing actually went well last week, for once.

I found some new songs and ended up throwing one in last minute. The organ was a little out of control on it, so I tried singing way louder to cover. I had to… I didn’t want father to gripe at me.

The priest here has this look, the one strict parents give their kids. He was a school superintendent for years, so he said he’s had lots of practice. And he’s right. That look makes me pee my pants. During church. While I’m singing.

OK that was a little off-topic. Anyway, I sang louder to mute out some of the organ.

About halfway through the Mass, though, I started to hear feedback. It was really weird, like my voice echoed back to me a second or two after I sang.

I started to get worried about it, but had no idea what was going on. Nothing had changed with the speaker system and, even weirder, the echo kind of came and went.

I thought about doing an accent (British!) to see if my echo would keep it, but nixed that idea. Maybe next time.

After Mass, I asked Windy about it. When I said, “Could you hear my voice echoing back after a second?”, she groaned and said, “No, but I could hear a new member singing really loud and reaaaaaallllyyyy slow.”

“Well, that’ certainly explains it,” I said.

Enjoying the Area

I didn’t do anything exciting this past week. But I did write a new short story that you get to read. So that makes up for it, right? Right?

Random Insights or Stories

I want to say something about the short story I’m posting, but don’t want to give anything away. Therefore, I’ll save it for next week (or the week after). Then I can spoil it all day long. So you’d better read it quick. There, how’s that for a ticking clock 🙂

I feel better this week than last. I took a really long drive after that blog post and it really helped. Afterwards, I ended up putting a list of “ESSENTIALS” right here on my desk. My wrists are actually resting on it right now.

On it are the immediate things I need to do to build a reader-base and grow as a writer. I’m keeping it here as a constant reminder.

One of the items on the list is to participate on writing blogs. I’ve already started, by contributing a couple tiny stories and commenting on other peoples posts. I’m hoping that, in time, I’ll become a ‘respected’ contributor. If anything, it might lead to some guest posts or just potential readers. I’d settle for anything at this point. Either way, I have to keep it up, retaining faith that, if I’m active, something will happen.

I’ve also been thinking more seriously about mentors and critique partners. I’d love to build a small circle of burgeoning writers that can lean on each other. At this point, the current Writers’ Group probably isn’t that circle. The people there are enjoying our meetings, but most aren’t super serious about writing.

Short Stories

OK, I finished the short story I was working on last week and am posting it here… so you get to read it first! DUN DUN DUNNN!

Actually, the story is actually pretty long, so I don’t want to just paste it below.

Instead, I’ve created a separate page on the blog dedicated to the story. Enjoy:

The Gray Man