just a little update

First, let me apologize for being MIA in the blogging world last week. I was on a deadline and had to put all my energy into finishing the first draft of book 2 in THE BLOOD PROPHECY TRILOGY.

 Totally what my pen felt like last week!

Which leads me to today's blog post. All the time I see posts from writers (published and on-the-way-to-being) listing the progress of what they're working on. I don't know about you, but I love these types of posts. Any time I read that others have added to their word counts, or edited a draft, or even found their way out of a particularly difficult scene, it just fuels me to open my WIP document and get to writing...it's great motivation to see others succeed!

So today, I thought I'd create my very first Progress Report blog post!

Now, I'm nowhere near as busy as some of the prolific writers out there (hello, Jennifer L Armentrout and Jennifer Echols. Hey, maybe I should change my name to Jennifer? Hmm...), so this post might be a bit lax on the the Progress part. But, it's progress nonetheless, and I'm proud of it!

So, as far as THE BLOOD PROPHECY series goes, I just sent off the first draft of BOOK 2 (that's the official title until I receive word that it's okay to share the actual title with you all) to the editor last week--YAY! 

Mirror image of how I looked when it was done!

It was a long haul for that one (it's true what writers say...the 2nd book is much more difficult than the first), and my mind needed a break, so I took the past three days to regroup. My original plan several months back was to jump right into the third and final book to finish up the trilogy and move on, but alas, things tend not to work out as we plan, right? I have several ideas for book 3 that need to simmer and marinate and work themselves out in my head before ever seeing paper or computer screen, so I'm pushing it to the back burner for now. It isn't due till next year, so I have plenty of time to wait (fast forward a year, to me scrambling to meet the First Draft deadline!).

I have a couple of new projects that I'm working on, both of which are pretty much in the first stages.

UNNAMED PROJECT 1 - It's YA (duh). It's dystopian (I know, overdone, right? But hey, I wrote about vampires long after the genre became saturated, so I guess it's kinda my thing.). It has a title, but I'm keeping that quiet for now. It's only about 8,000 words so far--and has been about that many for a long time now. It's not that I don't want to finish (I will, promise), it's just that the contracted books have to come first, you know? But I fully intend to give this story its due allotted time very very soon. 

UNNAMED PROJECT 2 - Also YA (duh again). Contemporary (a completely different world for me). This one is in the planning stage as of now--some character sketches, overall idea, a few scenes mapped out in my head. I'm very excited about this one, and it should actually be listed as U P 1 since I plan on working on it now. Some friends on Twitter turned me on to the world of contemporary and I love it, and I'd had this idea a long time ago but never thought I could write it. Now, after reading some excellent books in the genre, I feel like I'm ready to give it a go. I'm not saying I suddenly learned how to write contemps, but I'm willing to try.

That's pretty much it as far as WIPs go. Of course like all other writers out there, I have an endless supply of ideas and characters milling about the ole noggin, just waiting for me to get off my lazy bum and tell their tales. And I will...one day. :)

What about you guys? Any writing projects keeping you up at night? What are you working on? Tell us!