Saturday Six

1. My regular posting schedule was interrupted by moving to Dallas for the summer. I miss Austin already, but am excited to spend some time with my parents. I haven’t lived with my parents for an extended amount of time for 5 years now! That’s crazy to me. Also, I’m really pumped about my job working for the Dallas Cowboys!

2. Which leads me to my next point. Anyone in SCBWI Dallas? Do y’all have weekly meetings? I’d really like to get involved while I’m here and have time over the summer. I’ve never participated in a live critique group, but as y’all know I enjoy connecting with other authors and I loved going to the SCBWI Dallas Agent/Editor Day earlier this year. 

3. For those who have asked, I am actually working right now on the story that got me an agent, but in an entirely different form. It’s a traditional novel now and I am in the middle of an extensive rewrite adding a new mythological basis for my world. As you can imagine, changing the underpinnings of an entire universe has quite a few ripple effects into the rest of the story. Character names have had to change–how weird is that? I’ve been working on a story for a year now and all the sudden the characters don’t have the same names! Main character got to keep her name, though, so that’s good. The setting has changed. In fact, the book has moved across the country–from East coast to West coast. This has required another round of research, which has been fun but time consuming. A new beginning was a must! The mythology even added new themes that have surfaced as I’ve written and that are now my job to tease out. Finally, the tone of the book has gotten darker–I’m happy about this, to be honest. It’s crazy to me because there are actually changes stemming from this one aspect that influence and effect every single scene in the book. However, I was okay with this change because I got to keep the entire structure of the plot. It’s the same story. The same characters at heart. And more importantly, I feel really good about the changes I’ve made. 

4. So, after my long explanation of what I’m working on, I plan on shooting an email to my agent sometime in the next week or two. He knows what I’m doing. But I’d like to show him the progress and then hash out a plan for the rest.

5.  Reviews to expect in the near future: 20 Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, Illegal by Paul Levine, Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr, Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert Redick, and–an oldie but goodie–Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn.

6. I’ll leave you with a post I really enjoy from the Deadline Dames. It’s called “My Hack Manifesto“–not new but a worthwhile read.

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