Time for an Update

So where am I with things?

First, I'm now involved in editing a second author's work. Winemaker, whom I met through Nick Scipio's forum, is in desperate need of an editor. He suffers from too many words. I've been coaching him on what to do with the manuscript when it is done, now I'm seeing his prose.

Second, I've reread The Shattered Sword, which is a look at the Japanese side of the Battle of Midway from primary Japanese sources. Fascinating. If you're reading this, and you haven't bought and read this book, do so. I also read Clash of Carriers about the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. It isn't as good as The Shattered Sword, but it has a good contrast between the air action over the Japanese carrier Ryujo and what happened over the USS Enterprise.

Third, I've been reading the Dresden Files, the Harry Dresden stories. He lives in Chicago, and he's a wizard.

Fourth, my writing has sputtered a bit. Let's run through the stories.

Firestar: I got off the stick and rewrote the ending (from Chapter 16 on), mostly utilizing an earlier ending. The focus is on Corey, and her doctrines, but also on her maturation as a commander. I then submitted a modified first chapter to the PNWA Literary Contest, and the first 3 chapters to the agent.

Setosha: I did this one in 2-3 weeks. Milt and I had a "discussion" about punctuation. Bottom line, I don't punctuate like a journalist. He decided to ignore my punctuation and concentrate on good English. But I'm a lot happier with Setosha than I was, and I did strip a lot of irrelevant things out of it.

Lexeon: I was stuck. It was 38 long chapters. I removed the parts pertaining to Boabdil, and tossed out some ideas of how I wanted to trim it to Milt and Colin. Milt suggested I look at doing what I needed to make Boabdil even more of a full book, and make it the third book of the series. Excellent idea! I have been working my way through Lexeon to see where I can pull Boabdil material out of it. I still might trim out some of the intelligence service material. We'll see.

Boabdil: see above.

Devlin's Story: I just posted chapter 60. Devlin didn't go to the US Virgin Islands. She discovered she can't 'cold turkey' her sex life, either. Sue had her baby (a boy), and Devlin's relationship with Danny is tapering off. One of the readers offered a number of comments, enough that I wonder if they've seen my notes (LOL). What will happen is that Devlin will gradually taper off her escapades, she will spend Spring Break in Arizona with Evan, and go to Emma's for "relief" when she gets back. Over the summer things will gradually slow down for her. Evan gets called up! I think I can do this in 3 chapters.

Three Valleys - Sammi: I'm stuck on Sammi getting ready for the ball. Chapter 25. I'll work through it somehow.

Different World: Last week I read DW Chapter 4 at Writer's Group. A bunch of changes. Let's see, Chapter 3 saw Elissa moving in, and discovering that all but the sitting room looked very 21st Century (thank you Eddie Bauer). At the end the police in New Essex discover a dead body from Seattle in the 21st Century. In Chapter 4 we learn more about the deceased, and in Chapter 5 (still in rewrite) the deceased is taken back to the PNW to be discovered. I'll have to reread some police procedures on what happens during an investigation.

Other Writing: I rewrote parts of Crosstime Cop to bring in more of Sir Oswald Mosley and making Great Britain more of a Fascist state. Then I rewrote the ending slightly, and did some tweaking. Jeff said it dragged a bit in the middle, and this is to sharpen it up.

I have also been working on a short story I want to take to B&N this coming Monday. It involves a Dryad who works for Weyerhaeuser.

Oh, plus I went to Conquest in early February to put on a game of King's War. Otherwise, not much gaming. Mostly writing or pretending at writing, or doing some editing for someone who asked me to edit.

But the good news? Baseball Spring Training is underway. Not that long to Opening Day!