And Finally

After months of on and off work (more off than on, what with the switching of theses and my first semester teaching), a revised outline of the novel is complete and word count is starting to add up. The bulk of this past Sunday afternoon was spent in front of my internet-free laptop (closed up in my home office), the dog at my feet, hashing out end-game (and middle-game) details of the book, reviewing the previous versions of the outline (and the chapters that were written in conjunction with it), and simply put new words down on paper (or screen as the case may be). So what I'm looking is this: 30 chapters, a story that can either stand on its own or lead into a series, and a self-imposed first draft deadline of March 9, 2010.

This means a couple of things, first, I'm not likely to be writing any new short fiction for the next couple of months. Second, I'm going to try like hell to leave well enough alone and not revise any finished short stories until after this first draft is complete. So, in a year that's started out with a handful of acceptances at some great journals is going to slow down a bit, but it's a good thing. I'll just keep telling myself that.