Minisinoo's Fiction

"Royal Festival Hall," Chapter 14 of Dulce is available

2009-08-28T22:00:28Z

Summary: In a time of war, how does a crippled man feel when he's the one left behind? There are battles fought with fire and magic, and battles fought in the hearts of men. (Click on image above to access novel's main menu page.)

Sequel to Finding Himself. As a sequel, this story really will not make any sense unless you've read the preceding novel. The primary pairing is Cedric/Hermione, although most other pairings are canon.

WARNING: This tale contains ADULT situations and imagery. Don't want to get too specific and give away surprises, but just ... be aware.

Genres: War story, coming-of-age, romance, action

14. Royal Festival Hall (direct chapter link)
Hermione makes a choice, and realizes a few things in the process. Cedric has his first under-cover assignment for Scrimgeour and the ministry at Tony Blair's election party.

Also, Cowboys & Indians won "Best Alternate Universe" story in the Indie Twific Awards. Thanks to everyone who voted!

Poll Time!

2009-08-10T06:27:14Z

Even if you're no longer reading my fiction, or not reading current projects, please take just a sec for this. It's not long!

In fact, there are optional responses just FOR people no longer reading, or not reading what I'm doing now. If you're no longer reading, you'll have all of 2 questions to answer (and maybe just 1). :-)

This was born from an off-the-cuff comment for that "What I should write" meme. It's been a while since I did a poll about stories; I used to do them more often. This is an ANONYMOUS poll, so please be honest. It's also NOT on LJ, so you don't have to be a member of LJ to participate (unlike the LJ polls).

This poll is a lot more specific than the completely open-ended meme was. *grin* After coming back to both writing fanfic after almost a year away, I'm curious about who's interested in what.

TAKE THE POLL

Thanks, gusy (sic). (Crossposted with my LJ.)

Dulce update

2009-08-10T00:13:04Z

I am leavin' on a jet plane in the morning for 4 days and 3 nights in Las Vegas with my lovely, long-time editor, Naomi npkedit. I will probably have computer access, but not a lot of time. We intend to walk a lot, see shows, hit tacky tourist shops and talk till we have no voices.

Chapter 14 of Dulce is half edited, and all of it is off to muridae_x for Brit picking. serendipity_50 has the second half for editing and I'm taking it with me for Naomi (assuming we even open the file, ha), too. So don't expect it before next weekend, at the earliest, but it IS done. It took about a week longer due to having trouble finding information about the setting that dated back far enough.

For those who asked, the Charlie plot will be resolved in this next chapter. Action picks up a bit through the end. There are 2-3 chapters after that before Book 6 is finished. :-) Then I'll start work on book 5 of Aorist Subjunctive.

Dulce et decorum est 13: "Charlie" (AU)

2009-07-28T22:30:41Z

Summary: In a time of war, how does a crippled man feel when he's the one left behind? There are battles fought with fire and magic, and battles fought in the hearts of men. (Click on image to access novel's main menu page.)

Sequel to Finding Himself.
WARNING: This tale contains ADULT situations and imagery. Don't want to get too specific and give away surprises, but just ... be aware.
Genres: War story, coming-of-age, romance, action

13. Charlie
Cedric and Hermione meet in Hogsmeade to discuss the growing discrimination against Muggle-borns, as well as the upcoming Muggle General Election. A guest arrives to spend a few weeks in London at Bill, Fleur and Cedric's flat.

Note Bene: It's been a while. As in 13 months since this novel was last updated. In that time, we've had a new HP movie and the popularity of Robert Pattinson has exploded, sending him from relative unknown to A-list actor in a matter of months. Given how long it's been, it might be worth it to skim over at least the previous chapter, for a reminder. Particularly the conversation there between the Denmates (Cedric, Scott, Peter and Ed) is referenced in this new chapter.

No, it will NOT be a whole year before it's updated again. :-) Chapter 14 is already 2/3s complete in draft, and while yes, this chapter ends in a bit of limbo, you won't have too long to wait.

Dulce & Indie Twific Voting

2009-07-23T15:55:56Z

Chapter 13 of Dulce is now with the Britpicker, and I may be able to post it as early as this weekend or early next week.

"Beauty, Shining in Company With the Celestial Forms" and Cowboys & Indians have made it to the final round of voting in the Indie Awards, which opened yesterday.

Voting can be accomplished here.

"Beauty" is up for "Best Canon," "Best original character," and "Most Original Storyline."

Cowboys & Indians is up for "Best Alternate Universe," "Best Characterization (non Edward/Bella)," "Best non-E/B Storyline," and also, "Most Original Storyline."

All are on the "complete" side.

Voting only runs through 7/26 (that's Sunday), so it's not a lengthy voting period. Vote if you wish, and are familiar with the stories and fandom. :-)

(I'll crosspost this to my fic journal, as well.)

Mid-July post

2009-07-20T05:22:05Z

Dulce et decorum est

Some of you may be happy to hear that Chapter 13 ("Charlie") of Dulce et decorum est is now complete in draft. :-)

No, I don't know when it'll be ready to post, but I'm back in the saddle! I also updated the table-of-contents page with the tentative title of the next four chapters, although they're subject to change (and expansion), but I think that will bring us to the end of Book 6 (The Half-blood Prince), and open the way for Book 7 (Deathly Hallows). I think. It's sometimes hard to guess, but I doubt it'll be more than 5 chapters.

Twilight

Looks like two of my Twilight stories -- "Beauty" and Cowboys & Indians -- actually made it to the finals in the Indies. Voting hasn't opened yet. I'll announce when it does.

New story + awards

2009-07-13T02:38:18Z

First, I have a new story! I didn't realize I didn't post this here earlier, so forgive the delay.

For sideadde, rennaise, smellyia, and wolvesnvamps, for the Support Stacie Auction. I just hope it fills at least some of what you ladies were hoping for.

Summary: In the wake of their road-trip to Texas, Leah and Jasper may have formed a nascent family -- but where does that leave Alice? And after everything that's happened to Leah, can she still hope for even an approximation of a normal life? c. 11,500 words

Characters: Leah Clearwater, Alice Cullen, Jasper Hale
Genre: largely gen, coming-of-age, canon pairings apply

Thanks to sideadde for the editing. The lovely cover image was done by serendipity_50.

-----------------

Second, three of my Twilight stories have been nominated in the Indie Twific Awards. The voting ends at Midnight TODAY, so this is a day late and a dollar short. Ha. ~~As of now, you've got an hour and a half.~~ I've been informed they extended the voting, so you have until Midnight EST tomorrow (Monday). Here are the three stories and the categories in which they're nominated -- where to vote, etc. Obviously, voting is at your discretion, if you wish to do so.

FULL LIST OF NOMS in all categories.
CLICK TO VOTE. (All mine are in the 'complete' category.)

Cowboys & Indians: "Best Alternate Universe," "Best Characterization, non-E/B," "Best non-E/B storyline," and "Most Original Storyline."

"This is My Beloved Son": "Best Canon"

"Beauty, Shining in Company": "Best Canon," "Best Original Character," "Most Original Storyline."

A rather long explanation ...

2009-06-17T02:52:17Z

I just updated my website with some new dates and info on the status of various stories in progress. NO, the "news" isn't that I'm discontinuing them. :-) Don't worry. But I promised I'd post here the "long story" on what's up. All of you know I've been busy with a lot of real life matters this past year. Before I get into the "long" story, I'll give you the bullet points.

-- As reported earlier, I'm currently working on my "Support Stacy" auction story. it's about 1/3 finished. That's not a lot, no. It seems like every time I expect to have time to work on it, something comes up. Today, for instance, I had time, but I spent it catching up with sadly neglected email and comments. So I got no writing done, but honestly, I needed to do that. I still haven't finished all those replies, either. I unexpectedly have my child for much of this weekend so, again, like last weekend ... little writing time. It's VERY frustrating. I'm still aiming to get it done by the end of June, as promised. I actually have a good idea of where it's going, just need to WRITE it.

-- Once it's finished, I'll return to Dulce et decorum est. I honestly don't know when that story's going to be finished. My goal was to write through to the end of Book 7, but I swear to God, I'm NEVER going to write two novels again at once. It's nuts. But I do plan to get back to it and, hopefully, get all the way through events to the conclusion of Book 6. Only then will I stop in order to turn to ...

-- Semper Fidelis, Book 5 in Aorist Subjunctive. So no, this is NOT going to be out at the end of summer. I'll be lucky if it's out by Christmas of 2009. It's MASSIVE. More likely spring. I'm not trying to be depressing, just realistic. I really, REALLY want to write Book 5, trust me. laurel_tx, who knows the plot and has discussed it with me, can verify this. I REALLY want to write it and it's all plotted. It features a LOT of Cedric-Moody student-mentor bonding.

So that's the current update with tentative dates. Now, the "long" explanation of what the hell has been going on.

As reported before, I've been the chief editor for an academic collection. I've been working on this 4 years, but much was prep, invitations, getting the book placed, etc. Last spring/summer, those articles came in. So I spent a lot of the summer editing them, as well as finishing Past Present. But we (I and the other editor) didn't get the papers IN till mid-September. Then the hell started.

Hell = galleys

I swear to God, I'd rather edit 3 fiction novels in galley stage rather than one academic book. Regularizing footnotes & bibliography? Joy, joy! The fact the publisher's program wouldn't talk to our program and the Greek came out absolutely crazy ... three times ... yeah. Fun, fun. So a book that was supposed to come out in December didn't see print till March. Now, I didn't EXPECT it to come out on time, but that was extreme. Then came the presentations and conferences.

Add to that, I taught two very time-demanding courses this past year (demanding in terms of grading time). I'm also teaching this summer a condensed course (need the money, BUT time consuming). So between all my trips in May, grading, book ... yeah. I got very, very little writing time. I got very little LJ time (as most of you realize). This might (finally) change by late June/early July. But I've said that before ...

The upshot is that I've been writing again (finally) and if it's that little Twilight story for Stacy, at least it's writing. But don't worry -- Dulce and Aorist Subjunctive aren't dead on the table yet.

Peers in ... (June update)

2009-06-06T03:54:34Z

Yeah, you all probably thought I'd forgotten this place. :p

I just haven't had anything much to say. BUT, I am back to writing a bit, although at the moment, it's for the Support Stacy auction I was a part of. Four lovely ladies pooled their resources to help Stacy and requested a follow-up story to Cowboys & Indians -- the Jasper-Lead friendship piece -- that focuses more on Alice and Leah's relationship in the wake of things.

I am pleased to report that "The Star Quilt" (what it's being called) is underway and 8 pages in. Not too sure how long it will be, but probably on the long side for a short story, about the length of one of my book chapters, maybe a tad longer.

Here's the working draft of the summary and notes:

Summary: In the wake of their road-trip to Texas, Leah and Jasper may have formed a nascent family of sorts -- but where does that leave Alice? And after everything that's happened to Leah, can she still hope for even the approximation of a normal life?
Sequel to Cowboys & Indians
Special Note on Canon: The original novella was written and posted before Breaking Dawn was published, and I assumed BD would render C&I obsolete. The conflicts, however, turned out to be more implicit than explicit (e.g., the Leah of C&I would have been less hostile towards the Cullens). So -- and despite the fact BD was a plotted mess -- for simplicity, I've chosen to allow it to stand as a background, although most of what happened there won't matter to this story except tangentially. But that does mean a few things from BD are slightly different, so think of this as "parallel canon."
----

So it does nominally follow BD canon, much as I disliked the novel. For those as disenchanted as me, the events of the novel itself don't figure much; it mostly provides a timing backdrop. The issue is, "So what next?" for somebody like Leah. I meant it to be more Alice-centric, but (as usual) Leah has a loud voice in my head.

Amusingly Creighton (in Omaha) will figure in the story. This is the third time I've had a chance to slip Omaha into a story. I did it twice in X-men, given that Scott Summers was FROM Omaha.

Leah finally gets a happy ending. One a little more realistic than anything in BD. ;>
----

No, I've not forgotten Dulce. When I'm done with this, I'll pick that up again. Although I may focus on that for a bit, and put off the next in the Aorist series. (I hear the groans now.) But other things took over so much, I want to get this other story off the ground again before I stop caring about it. Remind me never to try to write two novels at once again. It just doesn't work.

PDF files

2009-04-28T02:55:25Z

Well, yeah ... long time, no update. I come with a notice of PDF versions of some of my novels. I'll add this to the header entry too.

http://amalthia.mediawood.net/ebooks/viewuser.php?uid=274

The stored novels include:
An Accidental Interception of Fate
Climb the Wind
Finding Himself
Grail
Special
The Room With a Computer

You can thank Amalthea thedivinegoat for the effort involved in making these!

Cowboys & Indians nominated

2009-02-20T01:12:11Z

I got notified last night that Cowboys & Indians has been nominated for an award (best novella) over at the Eddie and Bellie Awards. Actually BOTH C&I AND "Beauty, Shining in Company" were nominated, but as they were nominated in the same category -- and as "Beauty" isn't really a novella (it's a "long short story" or a novelette), I asked the organizers to remove it from the ballot. IME, it usually just splits a vote when one author has two stories in the same category (except for some specialized awards). So if you happen to have been over there already (I know voting opened yesterday) and saw both stories, then noticed one was removed ... that was my choice. The organizers aren't being heavy-handed or unfair. *grin*

So yeah, really cool. Those of you inclined to vote and who liked C&I ... *nudges in direction of link* Voting through the 25th. A reminder ... please, if you do choose to vote, at least look at all the other stories in the category, even if you go at my urging. That's only fair to all entries.

I'll be honest. I don't expect to win anyway, as C&I is both gen in a fandom dominated by romance, and not primarily about either of the two main characters. But it was really lovely to have somebody nominate not just one story but TWO -- and one of them potentially controversial ("Beauty" was originally written for the LGBT fest). So thank you to the nominators, whoever you are. I'm very grateful.

But the MAIN reason I'm posting here isn't because C&I got nominated, flattering as that is, but because -- LIKE ALL AWARDS -- the voting page is A GREAT SOURCE OF RECS! It's really nice in this case as the organizers have provided links to all stories nominated, making it convenient. I've looked over the list and recognize a number of the story titles, and know several of them ARE good stories. Some of them are by others on my FList or people I recognize from HP fandom, and are well-worth reading. So (unlike some Twilight awards), this one seems to have a really high percentage of quality stories.

GO EXPLORE. Find some new stories for those of you in the Twilight fandom, or who occasionally stick a toe in the water of Twilight. It looks like a really exceptional list.

Where in the World is Minisinoo ... er, Carmen Sandiego ... ?

2009-02-08T22:31:17Z

The State of the Min

It seems as if I started this fiction journal largely in time to ignore it. Ha. No, seriously, I figured it was time to give an accounting of what's up and why I've not been writing.

The academic book for which I'm the lead editor is currently going through printing hell. We're having all sorts of typographical problems with non-English characters, et al., which is requiring three separate editorial passes through the proof process. What was supposed to have been done by the middle of January is going and going and going, all while I'm trying to teach a fairly demanding upper-division history class this semester. So I am not happy. But the upshot is that getting this book in order and good shape is essential to my academic reputation (and my job). Ergo, I'm not doing ANY writing of fiction at the moment, fandom or otherwise. In a week or two, I am due to recommend a story for the Lazy, Yet Discerning Ficster blog, and Cowboys & Indians was recently recced there. But C&I is far from new and that one rec about sums up my activity in fandom of late. :p

At least I finally got all of the old X-Men comicverse stories restored on the site with the exception of Lightning Over Elk River, and the movieverse side is now completely back, with the exception of the two old Heyoka novels. I have not forgotten these and do hope to get them uploaded at some point, but I'm simply not doing anything in fandom at the moment. I'm barely even keeping up with anything on live journal, alas.

Once this book is safely to the printer, I will have a little more time. As noted, I have one really demanding class I'm teaching this semester (a mini-paper from 28 students every week, plus quizzes to grade every other week), but I'm actually looking forward to ONLY having that. Ha.

Happy New Year! (early January post)

2009-01-04T19:22:02Z

Hope everybody's new year went well. I have two bits of news for this update.

Website Restoration News

I'm slowly getting things back up over there. I had some time over the holidays, so I uploaded both the novellas How the Leopard Changed her Spots -- the Powerswap AU with a deaf Cypher-Scott and Mystique-Jean -- as wells as Eros on Trial -- the Ult-X version of Lee Forrester and Cyclops. The Golden Goose Round Robin is also now restored.

That leaves only The Elk River Saga and both Heyoka novels to do, and the website will be back in full. I seem to be missing "Hanging Lights," the Ult-X Christmas story. I don't have the HTML page with the story, but I realized it's archived at fanfiction.net, so I can get the text for it there.

"A Dance in December"

"A Dance in December" was done for the twoseekers Holiday fic exchange. It's a one-shot, depends on no existing storyline, and is Harry/Cedric. Summary: Fifteen years after the last Triwizard Tournament, which ended so disastrously, another Triwizard Tournament is staged at Hogwarts, complete with Yule ball. All four former champions are invited, and asked to bring a date. Harry and Cedric bring each other. (Semi-AU ... Cedric is alive, but much remains of canon)

It's longish -- about the length of one of my novel chapters. It's not Dulce, but it's something. There were quite a few good stories for the exchance, so if you're a fan of H/C, check out the comm to find more. :-)

Mid-December

2008-12-22T01:46:15Z

First post in a while because yes, Real Life has EATEN me. In short, I've been grading papers. Really big, long (30-page) papers, both draft and final. So that's why you've not seen anything from me. BUT, I am almost DONE ...!

That said, I do actually have a small report:

Dulce
I should be back in the saddle for Dulce soon. Probably not until after the holidays, but at least it's on the horizon.

Mystery Story
I won't say a lot about this, but I sat down to pen what was supposed to be a short little fulffy drabble ... but it just kept getting longer. It's now sitting (in very rough draft form) at 21 pages! Er, not that short. Anyway, all I'll say is that it's H/C and is for the little holiday exchange at twoseekers. I've taken over mod duties for that comm, along with rotaryphones. The story is due to be posted on Christmas, or thereabouts. I'll announce and link to it from here, too. But it's something to toss out there, given the long-ass time since I posted any fiction.

Merry Holiday-of-your-flavor to all, and to all a good night!

mid-November

2008-11-18T05:56:02Z

I'm just making this as one update ...

I posted when Past Present was complete. And that's ... really about the last update I have. I also updated the Cedric Recs page there at the end of October ... and that's about it. I fully intended to start Dulce, then got galleys (e.g., proofs) for the book I'm editing, and now I'm about to get slammed with a bunch of 30-page papers. So ... er, yeah. Not going to be writing much until December rolls around.

That said, I DID (at least) open the file and get a (really) rough draft of the first scene. So ... I've not been entirely unproductive? That's about the most I can offer. :p

I won't be updating again until early December, so just assume "same-ol', same-ol'," and I'll be back as soon as I can. (Cannot WAIT for 2008 to be over, at least in terms of projects ....)

Week of Oct. 21-26

2008-10-27T00:03:00Z

Past Present

It's done! I suspect most of you already know that/have been following it on the website or my personal LJ, but to make it official here as well ...

Past Present is posted in full!

Let me know what you think. :-)

As it says at the bottom of the epilogue:
On Sequels: Past Present was an odd novel in that it really feels like a MIDDLE series book to me; it's almost in two halves -- before the major death and after it. Unlike all the others, it doesn't have a clear "climax" because it functions as a hinge novel for the series. There are three more books to go, and I think all of them will wind up novel-length, or at least long novella-length. The next one, Semper Fidelis, is one I've been looking forward to writing since before Crush! Big Things Happen. That said, I really do owe more chapters on Dulce, and I'll be returning to that for a while before going on to SF. Due to that need, and the complexity of SF, I really doubt I'll have it out before mid-summer at the earliest. It's going to take a while to write, but I will be working on it. I know it's sometimes hard to stick with a series that has such long (for fanfic) gaps between the appearance of books, with no serial posting of chapters in between, so I want to thank everybody who's been reading for a while, for sticking with me. I hope that, when it's published, SemperFi will be worth the wait!
------------

Dulce et decorum est

I'll now be returning to work on Dulce, but it's been so long, I'm going to have to read back through it myself. Ha! :p

So it'll be some weeks before any of that shows up.

Week of Oct. 13-19

2008-10-20T00:14:35Z

Past Present

More of Past Present went up this week -- the pivotal chapters of 5 and 6.

Chapter 7 will be posted tomorrow, and Chapter 10 is going off to the Brit picker tomorrow. That's the last of the big chapters. I have up through 9 formatted, so once chapter 10 comes back, I'll go to an every-other-day posting schedule. The epilogue is done and back from a first vetting with Laurel. I still have some work to do on it, however, but I hope to have it off by mid-week.

So we are winding down. Tomorrow will mark 7 of (essentially) 10 parts.

GRAIL!!!

2008-10-13T02:44:52Z

GRAIL: a novel of resurrection

... is finally restored in full! WHEE!

For new-comers since I wrote completed this (way back in ... gosh, 2005?) ... Grail was sorta my answer to the mess that was Brett Ratner's X-Men III. It didn't actually start out that way ... I just wanted an excuse to write my own version of the Phoenix story, one of my favorite comics storylines ever (and one of the most famous). But the more that came out about X-Men III, the more I escaped into Grail, ha.

Grail is (sorta) a sequel to Special in that it has that prequel background, plus the events of X-Men (I): the Movie, and X-Men II in between. It isn't necessary to have read Special to understand Grail (although it helps). It IS necessary to have seen X-Men I & II. There are a LOT of comicverse nods in Grail but, again, one doesn't have to be at all familiar with the comics to understand the novel (it just makes it more fun).

ENJOY!

(And this leaves only Heyoka and some of the comicverse to have the whole site back online...)

Week of Oct. 6-12

2008-10-12T18:47:06Z

Past Present

As most of you know, I've begun the posting of Past Present. We're up through chapter 4. Chapter 5 will go up on Wednesday, and 6 on Friday.

I'll continue to post it throughout October, about one chapter every 3 or so days. That should mean I'll post the epilogue on Oct. 31 (Halloween!). But of course, some of this depends on my editors and their time. Up through Chapter 8 is finished and converted to HTML. Chapter 9 is with Muridae, but Chapter 10 is still with Laurel and I haven't even sent her the epilogue yet. So things might slow down towards the end of the month.

Nonetheless, it IS all done! And if it's a bit slower to come out than my current plan, it won't be by much. When all chapters are posted, I'll talk (just a little bit) about the novel to come: Semper Fidelis, but given the delay in posting this one and the probable length of SF, I can already say it won't be ready until late next spring.

Dulce et decorum est

Now that Past Present is more or less complete, I'll be returning to work on the next chapter of Dulce as soon as the edits for the former are all done. The next chapter begins a new mini-plot arc that I think of as The Charlie Arc, ha. Suffice to say that Charlie in Dulce is very different from Charlie in Aorist. Also, you'll get to meet a new OC who's been waiting in the wings for a while.

Past Present 1: Where Do We Go From Here

2008-10-03T20:17:37Z

May I present (finally) ....

Summary: Over Christmas holidays, Harry and Cedric begin the complicated process of navigating their new relationship even as Sirius -- his name now cleared -- plans a blow-out holiday party. But nothing ever goes smoothly in Harry's world. After disaster strikes, Harry, Sirius and Remus look at the Pensieve memories that Dumbledore left, which concern Tom Riddle's past.
(Click image to reach main page)

Genres: Suspense, coming-of-age, romance
Warnings: ADULT, death of a secondary character
Central Characters: Harry/Cedric, Sirius/Remus, Viktor, Ron, Kreacher, Regulus, Weasleys, Tom Riddle

Chapter 1: Where Do We Go From Here?

This novel is #4 in Aorist Subjuctive
Summary: Harry used a Time-turner to change his past. Cedric lived. Other key figures didn't. How can Harry and the Order fight Voldemort now?
Main Pairings: Harry/Cedric, Hermione/Viktor, Remus/Sirius
Full complement of characters from the books.

A Note on the Posting Frequency: Every 2-3 days, folks. There are 10 chapters; they're each long. I'll post one every second to third day, to give my editors time to get through the last few, which I'm throwing at them even as I'm starting to post. I expect I'll have all of it up by the end of October, but we'll see. It is all written, except for the epilogue.

Also, just a quick reminder note (from PP's main page):
Although The Denmates remain (Ed, Scott and Peter), this version of Cedric is very different from that in Finding Himself. Lucy is not his mother, the Diggorys are not as well off financially, and Cedric had a very different personal history. Similarly, Hermione's parents may have the same names that they do in Finding Himself, but they're both only dentists (her father isn't a maxillofacial surgeon), and they aren't (quite) the same people.

Weeks of Sept. 15-28 (I'm back .... )

2008-09-28T22:55:40Z

Well the good news is that the Monster Project that ate my life is completed ... for the moment. I will have some galleys to read through later, but for now, I'm able to return to writing for FUN. And that means I've opened Aorist Subjunctive again...

Aorist Subjunctive 4: Past Present

I've sent off chapters 7 and 8 to the editor, and I'm currently about halfway through the draft of chapter 9. I've also got chapters 1-6 converted to HTML, if not cleaned up yet, and the cover image is being created. So depending on how far I get, and where I am at the end of chapter 9 (I have a list of things that need to be covered), I might be able to start posting very soon. It's sort of a toss-up. I could post it sooner, but post it slower, or I could wait and post it all faster. Crush was posted across 12 days, one chapter a day. I might opt for taking 2 days between posting for Past Present. The chapters are, overall, longer. But we'll see.

But at least I'm back in the saddle and actually have news to report for this week!

Week of Sept. 2-14

2008-09-14T21:25:39Z

Yup, yup, I didn't update last week because I had nothing new to say. :p

Past Present (Aorist Subjunctive 4)

In a probably not-unexpected move, I'm going to push back on the due-out date for Past Present. I'd said September/late September. Yeah ... make that October. I simply haven't been able to do ANY for-fun writing in 3 weeks. Trust me, this probably frustrates ME as much if not more than readers. *snort* Again, 8 chapters are done in draft, 6 of those are back from the editor and simply need to be cleaned up before posting them. But I don't want to *start* posting until the novel/la is finished. I know what chapter 9 will BE, just need time to sit down and actually write it. After that, I'm not entirely sure how many chapters it'll take to conclude the story but I'm guestimating 12 chapters total. Might be one more, might be one less, but around that. So the story is 3/4s finished, I just haven't had a chance to write more, and chapter 9 requires me to have the right frame-of-mind to do it justice. Normally, I can just sit down and pound out something, but from time to time, certain scenes don't permit that -- or not and have them be any good. If I can get the last of a paper edited tonight, I may see if I can at lest manage to get started on 9, as I really need to get back into the swing. I'm almost done with this big project, but I've been 'almost done' for 3 weeks now. Of course, given that it's been over 2 years, almost 3 in process, 3 weeks really IS 'almost done.' Ha.

But yeah -- October, folks. Once I have all the chapters written and Laurel clears them as not having any major issues, I'll begin posting the first chapters. These are normal novel-length chapters, instead of mixed-length "parts," and so I'll probably post about one chapter every couple of days.

(I'll correct the website pages to reflect this change too.)

Week of August 25-Sept.1 (podcast)

2008-09-03T23:55:47Z

(I'm including September 1st as it was a holiday.)

Again, not much WRITING this week, but for those who haven't already seen it on my Live Journal, I got the reading podcast done. The winning story was "The Way I See It."

So my first podcast (and maybe my last!) -- *is nervous* -- a nice, gen Harry Potter story featuring Cedric. Those of you who've wondered about the Ojibway words, now you can hear them. It's about 22 minutes.

"The Way I See It"
Summary: While clearing out Dumbledore's things after his death, the new headmistress stumbles upon a box of old student papers, which contains a surprise. (This is the background for Cedric used in Finding Himself, albeit not for Aorist Subjunctive.)

"The Way I See It" (original text) (For those who want to read along, or who can't quite understand me.)

Enjoy! On the RL front, I'm finally winding down this collection, so I may be able to get back to writing soonish. :-)

A Reading

2008-08-25T16:32:28Z

I FORGOT to post last night the one other bit of fandom news. I'm going to run and experiment and do a reading of a short story, record it as a podcast/mp3 file, and then upload it. This isn't something I've done before, at least for fanfic.

Some people are interested in that sort of thing; others could care less. If you're interested, I ran a poll in my own LJ, having narrowed down the field to five choices, at least one from each fandom. More information about the stories is available on the voting post, but in brief, they're "The Way I See It," "Letters and Papers From Prison," "Partners in Love and War," "101 (and Not Dalmatians)," and "My Beloved Son."

YOU MAY VOTE HERE

Recognizing that a number of you receive this updates letter by RSS feed or email, and may not have an LJ account with which to vote, if you still wish to add your vote, you may do so with an anonymous commment (the journal does allow them). Just put your story title choice in the subject header and/or in the body of the message. I'll count those too.

Week of August 18-24

2008-08-25T03:21:19Z

Another week of, alas, pretty much no fanfic writing. I did manage to chat with Laurel on IM about Past Present but that about summarizes my time given to fiction this week. I'm still working on RL edited collection and the semester is starting, so this is just not a good time for fiction writing. I at least know where I'm starting Chapter 9 ... :-D

Just letting folks know that I've been temporarily buried by RL, and may be for another week or two, but once I can get this edited collection off my desk, I can have my life (and fic writing) back.

(In short, next Sunday will likely be a repeat of this message, but it shouldn't last too much longer.)