Better late than never

It's been over a month now and I've been meaning to supply a second post for quite some time. Oh, well. Better late than never, as the oldtimers used to say.

What have I been doing?

Writing, writing, and more writing. I love it. One day, I will do this full time. For now . . . I write whenever the kids are in bed and the usual (and unusual) housework isn't nagging at me.

What have I been writing?

At this moment, I have two short stories that I'm putting the finishing touches on. I am part of a writers' group in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, called Permanent Ink and our next meeting is the 28th of July (two days away), so one of those short stories is going to be shared. Also, I have a thriller that I'm currently querying out to literary agents (hint!) and I am editing an 800+ page fantasy epic. This fantasy novel, which will remain unnamed here until I am ready to reveal it to the world, is one I am extremely proud of. I first started writing it around 6-7 years ago (although the story idea is one that has been culminating for many years prior) and I am amazing at how complex of an adventure my little friends go on. Complex, yet noble . . . but how would you know unless you read it? In three weeks, I will start to offer tidbits of this novel to the writing group.

My goal at the beginning of the summer was to work on nothing but short stories, perfecting about a good dozen or so for publication, then go back to editing my thriller novel. However, after a literary genius by the name of Ian Graham Leask came to our little library on Wednesday, April 14th, and offered much advise to all of us in attendance about the literary world, I decided to charge on full speed ahead with editing the fantasy novel instead of one of the other ones. Why, you may ask? There is an axiom in the writing community that one should try to publish your best work first. Well . . . the fantasy novel is that one.