State of the Snarkology: Writing Goals 2014

Forgive me while I ramble...

Amidst the never-ending chaos of housing renos and preparing the Snark kids to return to school, I've spent the last week struggling with the final scene in Battle Cry. Oh, the absolute irony of hosting a guest series on writer's block while dealing with it. 

It's difficult to summarize the exact nature of my block because I know what the characters want and need to say and how they should say it. It's a goodbye scene between two lovers so it does carry a lot of emotional punch.  It's not a new scene, but rather a revision to an existing scene. Ultimately, it came down to one fundamental factor--setting.


I tried having the lovers talk in two or three different locations. I varied mood, tone, surroundings, but then it finally came to me in the middle of the night--the setting was all wrong. They need to return to the location that has been the foundation of their entire relationship; they must go back to the beginning or the ending hasn't been honored the way it should be.

Now that I know what's wrong, the block is gone. I can see the scene clearly in my head. Now it's just a matter of finding a quiet space of time and writing it.

Wait, isn't a post about goals?  Well, yes. I'm talking about BC because it's my Goal #2 for 2014.   

On January 5th and June 9th,   I wrote up a set of writing goals for 2014. I'm finding that updating this list periodically helps me stay on track. Goal #1 is accomplished so no point in revisiting it.

2.   BATTLE CRY, book 3 in my Loki's Wolves series, is complete. The next step is to polish, obtain feedback from beta readers, polish again, editing, editing, and more editing. Publish and promote.

Status: getting closer. Still on schedule.


Goal #3 was revised in June:

3.   Write and submit three short erotica stories to anthologies.(I'm gonna allow myself the latitude to add "or self-publish" here.)

I had a couple anthologies in mind. I flubbed one when I failed to note the "historical" requirement for the submission. I submitted to the second. This morning, I received the nicest rejection I've ever gotten from an editor. Still, it's a rejection but I'm gonna count it as a check mark toward "Accomplished". Acceptance is never guaranteed. I've just gotta keep trying.

Status: on going.

3a. Viking Love Slave is a new project that grew naturally out of my anthology submission. It's evolved into a space opera/parody with explicit erotica. PURE SATIRE.  My tag line is: "Viking gods getting it on with nubile love slaves...In Space."

 VLS isn't for the general erotica reader. It's specifically aimed at geek girls who've spent their entire lives adoring campy science fiction shows that get cruelly canceled after just 13 episodes. (Firefly!) I also have Norse gods (Thor and Loki) and shape changing psychic vampires, so there's something for everyone.

If I'm gushy, it's cause I'm having a blast with this project. I'm such a NERD--I laugh at my own jokes.

As soon as I finish with BC, it's next up in my queue. My goal is to have a final draft of 120k done by Christmas. I intend to break it into three 40k parts and market it as a series.

Status: Work to resume as soon as this troublesome scene in BC is completed.

4.  Complete the first draft of TRICKSTER, book 4 of my Loki's Wolves series.

Status: on hold.

5.  Finish HELL ON HIGH HEELS and submit to an agent.

About a month ago,  I made the decision to put my romantic suspense efforts on hold indefinitely. I've developed a presence as a fantasy and paranormal romance author and that's where the majority of my creative energy flows naturally. I've decided to take the manuscript for HOHH and redraft it as a snow leopard shifter story. All of the elements can be made to work together. It's simply a matter of sitting down for a couple months and rewriting the manuscript.

Status: on hold. Next in queue after Viking Love Slave.