Thanks, Erin! I'm holding off until I've had a chance to rewrite the beginning, because that's the one thing I know for sure needs fixed, but I'll let you know when that's ready.

Just send it on whenever, dollface.

Just wanted to welcome AmyLiz.

Well, all the welcomes definitely make for a nice warm fuzzy on a Tuesday morning. Will be completely ignoring my looming deadline reading through the thread over the next couple of days...interested to see what everybody's working on.

Hi. Welcome to the asylum, babe. I'm working on a collection of short stories in addition to following crazy fanfiction plot bunnies. Sometimes my stories lose out.

interested to see what everybody's working on.

I've got a chapter and a half, plus epilogue, to go, in the third book of my current series. I've reached the point where I finish this chapter, take a deep breath, step away from it for a week, then print the sucker out and reread. There's going to be gaps in the pacing, and I want to keep it steady. But I hate this part, because taking a deliberate week away from a work in progress this close to the end, well, not fun. Needed, though.

Also about a page left to go on a short story for "Arabella" magazine; paranormal romance.

edit: oh, and Nilly gave me a brilliant idea for a plot point in the current novel, and I'm-a gonna use it, you bet.

Deborah -- Why are you letting the book rest for a week now? Rather than after the last chapter and epilogue? Just curious.

Short stories are a form I absolutely love and never mastered. Haven't attempted one in a long, long time, but I have a file full of ideas and false starts and random scenes. I've come to the conclusion that I simply write long (not, you know, Gabaldon long, of course). But in a perfect world (oh, for the no-calorie-chocolate and the required sleeping-lateness and the...Sorry. I digress.), one in which I had the time to give them, I would love to get them out and rework them and polish them till they shine like the bright, tight little jewels they're supposed to be.

Hi back to Nilly and erikaj and Betsy HP. Thanks ever so for the welcome.

Hello AmyLiz. It's so nice that you've joined us.

I'm working on my first novel. I'm stalled again, though, so it's sitting on my hard drive taunting me. It does that about once a month or so. I'm much happier writing short stories, but this one refuses to be short.

interested to see what everybody's working on.

I'm nearing the end of my first novel, trying to launch a magazine, writing an abstract for a new alt. weekly, poking at book on writing and dropping all of my freelance contracts.

Then I'm going to the zoo, and then I'm going to China, and we did a lot of things today, a-yup.

Why are you letting the book rest for a week now? Rather than after the last chapter and epilogue? Just curious.

Normally, I wouldn't. But I want to make sure the pacing on this one hasn't hiccoughed, and I think a long deep breath at this point, just before the big kaboom, is the way to go. Gut feeling. I can do it without any time constraints; this one is scheduled to come out in October of 2005, so it's about a year early. The ms is at 68,000 words right now, and I want to feel more comfortable with the build; it seems to have a statelier feel to it than the first two books, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it needs to be consistent.

I have wondrous beta readers, without who my life would be a shitload harder than it is, and a few of them (Deena, Beverly and Nilly included) live right here.

Then I'm going to the zoo, and then I'm going to China, and we did a lot of things today, a-yup.

Bill Cosby reference!