Writing–can I pat myself on the back?

I’m bragging today. Not about super sales numbers or barrels of money, but because I finally finished a lot of long term goals, and I was only off by one week on my time line. And I’m feeling pretty darned satisfied.

First, I finished the rewrites for the sequel to my Empty Altars novel. My agent, Lauren Abramo, is reading the new stuff, and hopefully, it will be ready to go online soon. I had so much fun writing SPINNERS OF MISFORTUNE because I tossed lots of my favorite myths into the story line. My daughter read it and liked it, but she’s not as enamored of myths as I am, so she’s more of a fan of the Fallen Angels novels. But I got to make Arakhne, the girl whom Athena changed into a spider, one of the minor characters, and I made her a big spider–really big. Then I got to descend to the Norse Underworld with Hel, Loki’s daughter. Hel is one of those cool, creepy goddesses that I had to sort of love/hate. Fitting, since half of her looks beautiful, and the other half looks zombified. Talk about a split personality. That’s the kind of stuff that excites me.

Second, I finished the first draft of the third Fallen Angels novel. Holly (my daughter) read it and loved it. Once it gets past Holly, I always feel good. Everyone needs those one or two–three, if you’re lucky–readers, who call you out when you’ve fallen short. Holly nails me every time. She reads as a READER, for story and characters, etc. Did I bore her? Did she want to throw the manuscript on the floor and jump up and down on it at any point? Once I pass her, then I give my manuscript to my friends Mary Lou and Ann (both awesome writers), and they clock me for any other mistakes I’ve made. I’m waiting on their feedback now, but that’s okay. Because I can put BLOOD LUST away for a while and start work on another book. By the time I get back to it with their comments, it will look different to me. I’ll have more distance.

Third, I finished two novellas for my Christian/Brina novella series so that I can put them in a bundle. This will finish ALL of my novella series. The last one–done. And Holly read the last Christian novella and gave it a thumbs up. I’m still waiting on Mary Lou’s verdict. But my goal–to finish them–is complete. I really enjoyed this series, because I set it in medieval times for the simple reason (and this is sort of pathetic) that I could live in a castle and ride dragons and add witches and magic and anything else I could think of. I kept myself entertained. But Christian’s serfdom is finished now, and eventually, the bundle will go online. That feels good–to have something stored away that I can put up later, when I’m struggling with the new book I’m about to start.

Last but not least, I finished reading Samantha Young’s DOWN LONDON ROAD. I really liked the book, but I was reading it as homework, to study a contemporary romance and see what elements I need when I try to write my own.

I’d planned on finishing everything up by the last day of May. I went over by one week, but I’m happy with that. I’ve cleared out all of the projects I had going for urban fantasy, and now I can concentrate on writing a romance. I’ll do better that way. My head tends to niggle at things that are half finished, and now it’s clear to move on to the next project.

Also–Stephanie at http://stephanieneighbour.com/ nominated me for a Versatile Blogger award, and I promised to tell you 7 things about myself this time, but I blabbed too long about my goals, so I’ll list them next week. Lucky you:)