Photo by Julie V. Photography

That’s right, my dear inklings. Today, I shall give you a work(s)-in-progress update, which, if my calculations search functions are correct, I have not done since February. Fortunately for us all, a WsIP update also qualifies as a WILAWriTWe, because part of learning about writing includes all the doings of The Writing Life. Bam.

So, without further ado or adon’t, here’s the current in-progress scoop on my Writing Life in no particular order (because when is The Writing Life ever orderly?):

• I’m an associate editor for The Consortium‘s upcoming “A Consortium of Worlds, Vol. 1.” It’s a short story e-magazine comprised of speculative fiction by seven Consortium writers, including Yours Writerly. My role means I am managing submissions, working on my own short story, editing others’ stories, coordinating deadlines for writers and Head Editors, arranging for cover art, and generally trying not to freak out. It’s great fun, sometimes overwhelming, and continuously learning-experiential in all areas.
• I am the cover artist for the upcoming “A Consortium of Worlds, Vol. 1” short story e-magazine. See previous.
• The Consortium is currently enjoying a short story boom, and I am booming along with it. My prolificness? prolificacy? started with “Dead Reconning,” my high fantasy submission to the e-magazine. I’ve since finished a horror short story and am now 1/3 through with another high fantasy one. I can still count on one hand the total number of short stories I’ve ever written, but I plan to get that up to two hands before the end of the year.
• Conceptually, the cover art for Aaron’s next novel, The Dragonswarm, is underway. I am also the cover artist for this project. This one will be another oil painting, and I’m hoping to start within the next couple of weeks, depending on when the project description falls into my greedy little hands.
• As Jessie pointed out last week, The NaNoWriMo Approacheth! I’ve known since the beginning of the year which story idea I’d be working on this time, and it’s been driving me slowly crazy to resist writing any of it. But now that it’s just two months away, part of my thought is bending toward pre-writing and pysching myself up for the yearly November madness. I can’t wait!
• Jessie is editing my next novel, Shadows after Midnight, which comes out the first week of October! I’ve peeked at her edits a few times and plan to start revising based on her feedback within the next week. Final edits are a process I both enjoy and despise. Enjoy, because I love finding out how my work reads to someone who knows what she’s doing — and then taking those critiques and using them to polish and tighten my story. Despise, because this is the part where I get sick of the story, the characters, and my own voice, and I end up just wanting to be done with it all and get it out there. For me, this despising and getting-sick-of is a crucial element of my process. This element helps me not tweak the novel to death and helps me get it out the door. Otherwise, I’d tinker with it for the rest of my life. Ugh.
• I’m also doing my Head of Consortium Writing School thing. Mentoring writers. Talking about writing. Scheduling social writings. Being reminded to schedule social writings. The usual.
• Is there more? I think there’s more. There’s always more. But that’s pretty much all I can think of at the moment. If I’ve forgotten something important I’m doing, tell me about it in the comments! 😉