what i'm working on for the next few months...

Just a quick update about a few things.

I’m getting close to the end of The Wizard’s Heart. As of writing this, I have a total of 78,310 words. I am roughly two or three chapters away from the climax chapter(s), which will be followed by a resolution chapter. So that’s anywhere from four to six chapters to go, depending on how the story unfolds. Using my average chapter length, that’s about 14-21,000 words to go, bringing the total word count of the first draft anywhere between 92-99,000 words. That’s about what I expected. Now, depending on how many words it takes, that will require at least another week and a bit, or two weeks. As long as the words keep coming, this first draft will be done no later than October 19^th (I hope) for a grand total of (minus a week-long vacation in September and a week-long break in August) three months of actual working time. I’m happy with those numbers. Very happy indeed.

If you like my author page on Facebook or have me in your circles on Google+, you know that I finally started thinking about the next Chroniker City novel—not the novella, which is still my next project—The Guild Conspiracy. Once the novella is written, edited, and published—hopefully, by the end of December; aiming for before Christmas—I plan on doing my first edits on The Wizard’s Heart and then sending it to beta readers for feedback. While that is out being read for the first time, I am going to start The Guild Conspiracy again, the second book in the Chroniker City trilogy. I was lying awake the other night, and ideas just flooded my head. I realized—like honest-to-goodness realized—that those 40,000 words that I wrote this spring were not totally wasted. There are a lot of good ideas in those 40,000 words. I have mech-battles, Chroniker University politics, new friends and enemies for Petra, long-distance romance, airships, and of course, more conspiracy. CONSPIRACY! You know… the title of the book. And thinking about all that, I want so badly to return to Petra’s story. I miss her. She’s got spunk and wit, and she doesn’t back down from a challenge. She needs the rest of her story told.

However, before I can get back into Petra’s head, I have to finish some things. I have a deadline schedule that I may or may not be able to stick to, but I will do my best:

• October 20^th: finish the first draft of The Wizard’s Heart
• October 26^th: plot the Chroniker City novella (still no title)
• November 30^th: finish first draft of Chroniker City novella (possible I’ll play NaNoWriMo with this even though it’ll be shorter than 50,000 words)
• December 7^th: create cover, blurb, title etc. for Chroniker City novella
• December 15^th: finish editing Chroniker City novella
• December 18^th: format and publish Chroniker City novella
• Holiday
• January 19^th: finish first edits on The Wizard’s Heart and send to beta readers
• February 2^nd: plot The Guild Conspiracy

That’s as far as I can schedule with minimal error. I firmly believe that I can finish the novella rather quickly since it is going to be 30-40,000 words when it’s done. I may have to work some nights and weekends to get everything done with the novella before Christmas, but I’m okay with that. I have a busy few months ahead of me—that’s for sure. And on that note, if you’re interested in beta-reading the novella once it’s finished, email me. I have some people in mind, but I need all the help I can get. As you can see, I have a short deadline between finishing the first draft and final edits.

So, now, back to writing. Hopefully, I can finish The Wizard’s Heart sooner than October 20^th, but we’ll just have to see, won’t we?

Hope you all have a good weekend!

[A note about next week: instead of blogging Monday, I’ll be guest-hosting on Tuesday as part of the blog tour for Angela Brown and Gwen Gardner’s release of their debut novels, Neverlove and Givin’ Up the Ghost, respectively. Both books release Monday October 8^th]