Duskfall

So, I figured I would give y'all some more info on the novel I just finished--Duskfall.  It's a dark, heroic fantasy with epic tendencies (lol).  Here's the pitch:

Winter never thought she would marry at all, let alone to Knot, the man she found floating belly-down in the sea one year ago with no memory of who he was or where he came from.  Things get even more complicated when soldiers from the rival empire and two agents from the most powerful magic assassins in the world show up, both insisting that Knot is their property and demanding his return.  Winter and Knot are forced on a journey to discover his dark past, sort out their feelings for one another, and confront the dangerous addictive magic within Winter.

Basically, it's Bourne Identity meets Dune meets Requiem for a Dream in a fantasy world.  And it's AWESOME.

Some Stats:
Total Word Count:  180,864
Total Manuscript Pages:  913
Chapters:  63, not including an Epilogue
Viewpoint Characters:  3 major, 4 minor
File Size:  1.9 MB for the manuscript itself; 20.4 MB for the entire Scrivener document
Series Bible:  almost 20,000 words and counting
Start Date:  for this revision (this was the 2nd major revision), June 2013
End Date:  27 August 2013

So there you have it.  Right now I'm outlining a short story for WoTF.  It's the first time I've tried outlining in some time, so I'll definitely keep you posted on how it goes.  I think it will be a good exercise, if nothing else.  After the story, I'm moving on to another novel!

I'll tell you one thing, though:  it feels good to have a fairly-polished-ish draft of this one done.  The ball, at least as far as this novel is concerned, is no longer in my court; it's up to editors and agents galore.  So bring it on, I say!

Lonestarcon 3 etc.

First and foremost:

My novel Duskfall, formerly known as Before the Dark, formerly known as The Rising Part 1, is now officially finished(ish) and ready to be sent out to agents, editors, etc.

WAAAAAAHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, word to ya mayumz.

Also, I just stayed up all night.*

Also, guess what I am decidedly NOT right now:



Yeah.  I am, like, the exact opposite of that.

In other news, I went to Worldcon (Lonestarcon 3) this last weekend, and it was pretty cool.  Hung out with some old friends like Rob and Steve the Bookstore Guy (who, incidentally, was nominated for the Hugo "Best Fanzine" category for his book review site), and met some new friends like Paul Genesse and Genese Davis (no relation, and unfortunately they are both married to other people so a "Genese Genesse" situation doesn't look like it's going to happen).  Also, met many other awesome fans, writers, reviewers, and in general all-around awesome people who are too numerous to name.

Had a workshop with Martha Wells and Greg Wilson, and they actually were kinda okay with my Duskfall manuscript.  Like, they said they would totes keep reading it and everything.  And here's a shameless plug:  In a panel about writing combat scenes, Martha Wells totally mentioned me and said I did a good job with the writing of the fight scenes in the workshop.  So, yeah, that was awesomesauce.

And, best of all, hung out with and met lots of awesome agents and editors and the like, to whom I shall now ever-so-gallantly-voraciously-dynamically-suggestively-combustively-graciously(?) begin sending my manuscript.

Oh, and saw two sets of long time friends and their respective babies, both of which were frickin' adorbs.

So, basically, things are awesome and I am happy right now.  That may change depending on if/when I crash, today, but there you have it.

Cool things are in the works, by the way.  I'm re-starting the next novel in the Duskfall world, working on another WOTF short story, and might even be playing some The Last of Us in the nearish future.

I'll try to keep you posted on the goings-on.  So, like I said earlier...word to ya mayumz.




*  In these cases, in which I stay up all night/very late/get little sleep, my propensity towards speaking like a teenage girl increases exponentially.  So, like, be ye warned.  Totes.

Here's what I've been up to:

Bryce Canyon National Park,

featuring hoodoos;

 Desolation Trail to the lookout over Salt Lake Valley,

featuring three of the coolest people you'll ever meet;

and the Subway canyon in Zion National Park,

featuring twelve more of the aforementioned coolest people you'll ever meet.

Also, I received an Honorable Mention from the Q2 Writers of the Future contest to go along with my Semi-finalist entry from Q4 of last year (Semi-finalist is in the top 1%-ish; Honorable Mention is in the top 10%-ish), and submitted another story for the Q3 contest.

Submitted a modified version of my Master's Thesis to the Utah Arts Contest in the Short Story Collection category.

Received feedback from my alpha readers on my current novel, and have now begun ROUND 2 of revisions on said novel.

So, all in all, it's been a fun time.  There are many more to come.

Finished! (Kind of...)

If you'll ever-so-kindly glance to the right at my progress bars, you'll notice that I've finished revisions on Duskfall, which was once titled Before the Dark, which was once known as The Rising, which is the novel I've been working on for some time, now.

The manuscript is now in the hands of some alpha readers/writing groups, and I'm awaiting their feedback.

It feels good to be finished, even if it's really nothing more than a hiatus.  I'll be working on a couple other projects in the meantime, as you can also tell by the progress bars to the side.  These projects include, but aren't entirely limited to,

• two short stories that I'll submit to subsequent quarters of the Writers of the Future contest,
• a top-secret steampunk project that I can't discuss but I'm REALLY excited about because, hey, steampunk, and
• revising some of my older stories and submitting them to journals/magazines and forming a new collection that I'll submit to the Utah Arts Contest.

So, I have some things to keep me busy until my alpha readers get back to me.  I'm excited for these new projects, but I'm also surprisingly excited about (eventually) getting back to the novel.  There were some pretty rough parts of revision, and I suffered many a moment of "this sucks and I can't write!" syndrome.  The manuscript still has a long way to go, I think, but there just might be something there.

In other news, one of my other goals for the next couple months is to, ahem, blog more.  So, there's that.  I have a lot to blog about, honestly, I just need to be disciplined enough to do it.

So, here's to discipline.

Cruise! (Part 2)

More pics from super awesome cruise time...

Tons of shows on the ship, including the full broadway version of Chicago.

Next stop:  Jamaica.  We went on an excursion where we hiked up a waterfall, basically...

All had to hold hands in a line.  It was awesome.

We kissed once or twice.

Yah, seriously.  A waterfall.

And we ate DELICIOUS Jamaican jerk chicken and pork.

And a weird fried cornbread thing.

View from our cruise ship...

Second formal night!

Our beloved floor # 6.  And my very attractive wife.

Me looking rather dashing, if I do say so myself.

They had outdoor movies.  Seriously, this cruise ship was massive.

I'm pretty sure the #1 reason people go on cruises is to see the wildlife.

Tons of delicious places to eat on the ship, by the way.  I gained 10 lbs and I don't care who knows it.

Oh, there was another zipline.  This one was ON OUR BOAT.

Seriously, believe me when I tell you this ship was big...they had outdoor rock walls.  (And an ice skating rink, for that matter, not shown.)

Seriously.  Tons of places to eat.

Last stop:  Cozumel, Mexico.

So, yeah....basically it was a wonderful and amazing trip and we had boat loads of fun, pun completely intended.

Cruise! (Part 1)

For those of you who may not know, my wife and I did a little pre-emptive 5-year anniversary trip a few weeks ago.  It was awesome.  Following are some pictures that prove said awesomeness.  Warning:  Lots of pictures follow.  Hence, this is a very [physically] long post.

We stopped off in NYC for a day-long layover and hung out with Rachel's sister and her husband.  Basically, we got our Empire State of Mind on.

 View from Empire State Building.

9.11 Memorial.

Our cruise!  On the Royal Carribbean ship Allure of the Seas (apparently the largest cruise ship in the world, or that's what they told us anyway).

First formal night.

I mean, lesbee honest...the only reason to tie your own bow tie is so you can wear it untied like this at the end of the night.

First stop:  Haiti.  Or Royal Carribbean's version of Haiti, anyway.  It was beautiful, but a little, er, commercialized.

Ziplining in Haiti.

 View from the top of the zipline.  That's our ship, way down/over there.

Beach.

Cruise Ship.

I decided to actually use the panorama feature on my phone.  Wasn't too shabby.

The End Draws Nigh

In case you haven't noticed, my % counter for my current WIP--Before the Dark--is at 95%.  My self-imposed deadline is this Friday.  I think I'm going to make it, folks.  Then it's on to alpha readers!

[In other news, it's been a long time since I posted, I know...things got busy.  Apparently that happens, with me.  Also, pictures of awesome 5 year anniversary trip with the wifey to come, so stay tuned.]