WIP

Every year I write out a list of the stories I’m currently working on, or stories that I’m planning to work on. It’s kind of become my New Year’s tradition to post up what I call my WIP To-Do list.

So here we go!

2019 WIP To-Do List!

Wait, where are the short stories?

So you might notice a change from the lists I made in Jan 2016 and Jan 2017. I don’t have a section for short stories on this list. That’s because I really am just no longer focusing on them as much as I used to. I’m still writing them on occasion and granting access to my Moonlight Wanderers Facebook Group members, or to my mailing list subscribers, but I’ve really pulled back on how many short stories I work on these days. I may submit to a few anthologies on occasion (I have one pending right now actually), but I’m just not going to put a bunch of my time into that.

There are a few reasons for this. First of all, I’m really trying to get my novels off the ground. I want my stories to be front and center more often. Usually in anthologies, my work is appreciated, but doesn’t go far enough out there to get a mention in reviews, which can be tough. In my longer pieces though, readers get more engaged and I get far more comments on my work (both good and bad haha) which I appreciate.

Second of all, I just don’t have the time anymore. I used to browse prompts on Duotrope to see what could spark my interest and get the creativity flowing, but these days I have so many ideas that I’m usually juggling multiple books at once in various stages of publication. Novels and novellas take time to write, to plan, to flesh out. The world-building is far more intense than what is typically seen in a short story, so my energy is stretched pretty thin.

Finally, there’s the payment. It’s a dream goal to one day have a story picked up by a professional short story market, but in my now nine years of writing professionally, it just hasn’t happened. I’m shifting my focus to books because I feel like I can reach an equal level of happiness through that instead of writing a new story regularly to try and grab the interest of flooded professional short story markets.

I see my books as building a structure. I’m not making much right now with it, but eventually I want to. I want my books to be loved, my characters to be cared about, and for readers to fall into my worlds. I just don’t have that kind of flexibility with short stories. So now I’m focusing all my energy on novels.

Are those new books I see?

You’ll see all three books of the Stolen series up there: Stolen (coming out Jan 22!), Broken (my current WIP), and Chosen (my next WIP lol).

One Way Down (book 1 of the Colton Fen series) is probably the oldest manuscript on this list and will soon be getting quite a facelift. Smoke and Witchcraft, the sequel, will also likely be getting a huge edit either this year or next.

The Seeking is finished, I’m just waiting for some time to breathe before I submit it around lol.

Then we start getting down into my planned books, and I don’t think I’ve posted about these before. Please note that these titles are just placeholders. It takes me ages to figure out a good title haha.

Here’s a quick run-down:

The Two Sorceresses – A Snow White retelling that I’m keeping pretty close to the chest. Once I’m done with the Stolen series and the Colton Fen series, this is what I’m planning to tackle next.
Cruise Ship – A YA Horror on a cruise ship? Oh yes. And it’s the slipstream kind, so you know it’ll be fun.
Southern Gothic – An homage to one of my favorite comic books with a nice horror twist. This one will have many types of monsters too.
Mercy’s Revenge – The much asked for sequel to The She-Wolf of Kanta! I’ve had so many people want this book that I’ve lost track. I don’t know if I’ll get to this novella this year, but if not it’s definitely planned for next year.

So there you have it – my WIP to-do list for 2019! Yes, there is a lot to do, but I feel really good about this year. I’m also thrilled to share my WIP plans too, though if you follow me on Twitter you kind of got a peek at these back in December.

Happy 2019, everybody! And please let me know if you also do WIP To-Do lists! I find they’re really motivating to do each year and really help me to plan out my beats throughout the year during the writing/editing/publishing process. Cause you know it’s easy to forget about the road when you’re on the path.

Astrea tagged me in this, so I’m posting a snippet from my WIP that is in desperate need of continuing. I’m sad to say I wrote myself into a corner plot-wise and haven’t been able to write my way out of it yet. Anyway, here are the rules:

Lucky 7 has its own set of rules. Here’s what you are supposed to do:

Open your WIP (work in progress) and:

1. Go to page 77.

2. Go to line 7 on that page.

3. Copy the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs as they are written.

4. Tag 7 authors who also have Works in Progress.

Following said rules, here’s the excerpt:

*****

“What happened?” Terry whispered, his eyes wide. Rolph shook his head, his mouth hanging open. He looked just as confused as the rest of the pack, and more importantly, he looked just as terrified. The entire pack seemed to be realizing just how dangerous their leader was – perhaps it was occurring to them too late. Then Brakkis’ attention snapped to Terry.

“YOU!” he roared, and Terry’s legs turned to jello. With a single bound Brakkis seemed to leap onto the side of the cabin before leaping again to the deck of Rolph and Lani’s cabin. He landed with a crunch as the tiny deck barely contained the heavy landing. Rolph shoved Terry behind him, and moved slightly more inside the building.

“Now just a moment, you have to explain what’s going on here first.” Rolph began, but Brakkis’ eyes were on Terry. He shoved Rolph aside and consequently through the banister of the deck. Terry was backing away, and with every step Brakkis took another advancing on him.

“You said you were a medical doctor, am I correct?” His eyes were wild, and he hunched forward as though he was barely able to contain his animal nature.

“What?” Terry squeaked, “A doctor?”

Brakkis growled, and punched out to the side, putting a hole into the solid wooden wall. Terry let out a terrified squeak, and his legs wanted to give out on him once he hit the side of the bed. Behind Brakkis, he saw Lani race out the door and out of the room. He was alone with this menace, this beast of a man. Rolph couldn’t save him, Lani couldn’t stand up to him, and the rest of the pack were still too terrified of him to make a move to help him. Terry couldn’t blame them really, if one of the others had been attacked like this, he doubted he would show any better courage. Instead, Terry fought with the only weapon he had left: his tongue.

“I believe I was some sort of medical doctor, yes, but I’m not sure. I… I haven’t remembered everything yet. It’s still coming back to me…”

*****

Tagging time

I’m pretty sure all these folks have WIPs. Sorry if I missed anybody!

1. Kelley Frank

2. Reynardo

3. Medleymisty

4. Jessica

5. Spookykat

6. Ninablues

7. ThunderaTiger