September Update -
The month started off with a bang - positive e-mail from the agent about Firestar. He had critiques about the pacing, and in truth it drags a bit and there's plenty of repetition. So it's time to fix that. I printed out the first three chapters, and in short order I did some consolidating, trimming, and rematching. I found a couple of other places to trim, and one whole scene to delete. That took care of 13 pages that, in retrospect, I didn't need.
The focus here is to focus down on what Corey feels she needs to do. In this case, it is to beat the Idenux. She feels it's the only way to get the Families' kin back (little does she know what this involves). Now I just have to make that clear (in the first chapter), but without beating anyone over the head with it. This may lead to restructuring Chapter 1 into two chapters.
Of course I'll have to rewrite the other chapters.
That has occupied my time, but what about before that wonderful e-mail arrived. I wrote another short story about a hamadryad. The difference (at least in my fantasy world) is that the hamadryads are bonded to one tree, dryads to all trees. And hamadryads are the breeders, which explains their intense interest in men. Chloe is an ex-streetwalker, and her eyes enrapture men. She has to fight that. In this story she is a PI, and she and her partner have a case that blows up in their face, leaving two dead bodies behind. The name for the story sort of came from the poem Jabberwocky; I call it Eyes That Catch.
I also worked on Chapter 9 of Different World. Gina and her temporary partner Sam uncover information about their suspects in the case. Some of it is even relevant. I didn't get a chance to run it past Laura, Sarah and Darlene; that'll be next month (I did the hamadryad story instead). I'm already into Chapter 10 when Gina goes back to New Essex to get caught up there.
Other things - I rewrote a couple of chapters of Lexeon; I'd told about honoring the memory of Liz Elia. Now I showed the ceremony (and ran it past a couple of Marines to make sure I had the feel of it right). I finished Chapter 69 of Devlin's Story. It's all downhill from here on, sort of. I have a big climactic scene to write, and then the ending. And then the epilogue. It'll be a relief (sort of) to be done with it.
So, back to Firestar, and then...cross your fingers.
