Sara King

Logan finally convinced me to get off my ass and start the mailing list novel.  So it’s coming, y’all.  I put the first 3300 words on it last night—not much when you consider what I’ve done in the past, but it was good stuff and I got paralyzed by the sun (which I had forgotten existed thanks to my screwy sleep schedule) and Vitamin D is a necessary part of life, so I don’t feel too guilty.

I also got distracted chatting on MSN with 5 different people yesterday for an average of about an hour each, but we just won’t mention that. 

So…  No more MSN for me until I’ve got a megaton of words or I need brainstorming help.  (Though I’ll make an exception for Tomas because he’s in a different time zone.)

Did I mention it was good stuff?  Me likey very much.  I should have the first ’episode’ sent out by the end of this week.  What we’re going to try to do (and I might be shooting myself in the foot here because it’s SO HARD to do it properly) is write an episode per chapter, almost like a TV series.  Firefly, anyone?  (And for those of you poor fools who have never watched Firefly or Serenity, correct yourselves.  Joss Whedon is the bomb–and he’s my hero.  Right up there with Stephen King, George Lucas, George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, and Anne McCaffery.)

So.  (rubs hands together)  Now that I’ve officially picked a project and a timeline (we’re going to do the 4 days sci-fi, 3 days fantasy), things are taking off.  Look for that first chapter to hit your mailboxes soon.

-Sara King

http://www.kingfiction.com

I worked it out and I’ve gotta write 8000 words a day on average in order to write two novels in one month.  That’s my goal.  Two novels in one month.  I want to seriously crack down on this stack of unwritten stories, now that I’ve got the time to do it. 

To that end, I wrote 9300 words today. 

Just to put things into perspective, I averaged about half that (a little over 4000 words a day) for the January spree that ended with a book and a half in the new fantasy series.  I don’t think there were more than 5-6 days where I wrote more than 8,000 words, so this is a serious challenge for me.  I’ve got high hopes, as usual.

Also, to my utter glee, it seems I’ve moved onto a 36-hour sleep cycle.  That’s 12 more hours to write in a day before I pass out.  Granted, it leaves me a little confused as to what day/time it is, but who cares.  This is for all those unwritten novels out there.  I’ll rest when they’ve been given their due.

(Or when I can’t handle it anymore and crash.)

-Sara King 

www.kingfiction.com

I did it.  I sent a fantasy to the Writers of the Future Contest.  I must be smoking something.

I spent two weeks working on The Auldhund, probably about 100 hours in all, only to end up with a word-count that no sane author would ever try to submit to anything other than a writing contest.  So, if WotF doesn’t take it, I’m screwed. 

About par for the course.

In other news, I have a problem.  I have about 6 different voices in my head clamoring to make me write for them.  Three are from the fantasy series, advocating a short story and two novels, respectively.  One is for a thriller I’ve left on the back-burner for (3?) years now, called Sleeping Lady Lodge.  One is for the adventure sci-fi for Millennium Potion fans.  Another is for an extended version of The Golden Directive, for Luisa Prieto.  Oh, and then there’s the one for finishing the Millennium Potion series, as well as one for a couple realistic sci-fi short stories for those finicky mundane sci-fi markets.

And, in addition to all that, now I’ve got this nagging urge to write 1) a romance and 2) a screenplay.

Damn it, maybe I should just go on strike.  I need someone to slap me around a little bit and tell me which one to go with, give me a very firm shove in the right direction.  Otherwise, every time I sit down to write I end up with this crescendo in my head as all ten of those nagging little voices duke it out.  Then I end up doing just what I’m doing now–sitting down to write only to end up blogging because I’ve got six different documents open (no joke!!) and can’t figure out which one to work on.

Or, heck, maybe I should leave the floor open to votes.

What pisses me off the most is that I’m going to die having this same problem, except by that time, the backlog will probably have reached several hundred stories and novels.  The mere thought of that is excruciating.  Talk about unfinished business.  Whatever you do, don’t hold onto my laptop.  Whatever poor soul that gets stuck with it should probably douse it in salt and burn it, just to be safe.

-Sara King

http://www.kingfiction.com

This writer’s hit upon some gold:

http://www.hownottowrite.com/big-huge-book-reviews/writing-the-breakout-novel-by-donald-maass-part-22/

-Sara King

www.kingfiction.com

Aside from the Aberrant Dreams anthology (forthcoming, will contain Discerning Tastes), you might want to consider picking up the Codex Writers’ Anthology, called Prime Codex.  The members of this writing group have really impressed me, so I’ll be ordering my copy tonight.  (Plus, it’s got a story by Tom Pendergrass, so how can you go wrong??)

Here’s the link:

http://www.papergolem.com/codex1.html

You can also find it on Amazon by doing a search for Prime Codex.

Enjoy, and support speculative fiction!

-Sara King

http://www.kingfiction.com

Thank GOD.  After a week-long hiatus, thanks to the dedicated efforts of my Awesomest Techno-Guru, my website is up and running again, and it’s better than ever!

(Kisses Logan’s feet.  Feeds him grapes.)  *Realizes that Steven might be reading this and will probably get jealous.*  (Shrugs, pops Logan another grape.)

Which means I can blog again 

Ok, so what happened to me in the last week while I waited for my website to migrate to its new home?

Jeesh, lemme start with Clarion West turning me down.  Turds.  I fart in their general direction.

Also, I wrote a short story called The Auldhund that I like very much.  It only took 12 tries to get to the current draft (No, seriously.  Six drafts each under two different names, and still it’s nowhere near complete.  It’s a fantasy with Rhydderch and Wulmaer set in the same world as the Rockfarmer’s War (or whatever the hell I’m going to call it…These Damn Books still has a nice ring to it).  The Auldhund has the makings for WotF, especially since I’ve had my Awesomest Detail Gurus (Tomas and Kevin) pour over it and help my poor, stunted brain insert some scene in there.  (Gah!  Scene, setting, place…who needs it?  Character is so much cooler…)

My only problem with The Auldhund is that what began as 7900 words bloated into 8500 words, then billowed into 8900 words, and is now stubbornly hovering at 10300 words, with the nagging urge I’m cutting too much good stuff away in my editing.  I am seriously thinking of throwing out the latest 10300 draft and returning to the first draft I liked so much, foregoing the last 4 days of work altogether.  Wouldn’t that be fun.  How friggin’ typical.

Let’s see…  A half dozen rejections, every one of them one-liners.

My sleep schedule devolved into 2-3 hour naps, 2-3 times a day, and has resisted all attempts to put it to rights.  I’m exhausted most of the time as a result, and the whole Cabin Fever thing is really starting to get to me.

And, the coolest thing of all:  I found and joined an awesome online writing group called Codex Writers.  I did so originally to establish contact with Tom Pendergrass because I wanted to tell him how cool his two published pieces were that I read (one in Aberrant Dreams, the other in a WotF anthology) and couldn’t seem to track his elusive butt down in any other way.  I was able to deliver my message, but, even cooler, I was able to become a part of a no-joke serious professional writing group–exactly the kind of thing that we’re missing up here in AK.  I’ve already signed up for two of their ‘contests,’ one in which I’m expected to write a novel by November (no problemo) and another in which I’m supposed to write 2000 words of fiction every day (that’s gonna kill me.)  They’ve got great writers, a great forum, and a great attitude.  Just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside thinking about it.  I’ve gotten two great critiques on Auldhund so far, courtesy of Krista and Meg, and I’m stunned at the sort of professionalism they’ve leveled upon my work.  Kind of leaves me in awe, and makes me wonder why the hell I didn’t find Codex earlier.

So, to recap, the Barbarian Hordes struck again.  Editors have me on their shit-list for some reason.  I slaughtered a really great story by screwing with it.  I joined a writers’ group that doesn’t seem to be a collection of hacks.  Oh, and I have my blog back.

Life is good.  (Feeds Logan another grape.)

-Sara King

www.kingfiction.com