Monday bits and bobs

I have a bunch of smaller tidbits for you today, so I figured I’d just combine them into one post.

Last Friday, the lovely Shara White was nice enough to give STEEL VICTORY a belated shout-out on her blog over at Calico Writes. She was a fellow student during my time in the Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction (SHUWPF) program, and I know she’s been excited to see my book in print for a long time. Thanks for being one of my earliest and best supporters, Shara!

It was very last minute, but I was able to participate in the Barnes & Noble TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD read-a-thon at my local store in Ellicott City this morning! I’ve been lucky enough to do readings of my own work at venues such as conventions, writing retreats, and art galleries, but it was very, very cool to finally be reading in an actual, real-life bookstore. Hopefully someday soon I will be back there reading from my own novel!

And finally, though I haven’t been shouting it from the rooftops, I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this month. I’m in a cabin with a bunch of SHUWPF friends, and it’s a lot of fun to reach my own goals while cheering everyone else on as well. My target was minimal this month: Full scene-by-scene outline of book 3 (tentatively called STEEL BLOOD) and finish the re-write of the first STEEL VICTORY prequel story, “Peacekeeping.” I spent the first 10 days of July doing book promo and catching up on editing projects, but this past weekend I was finally able to launch into my own work. I’d forgotten just how much I love plotting and scheming with my characters.

So far I have the overarching plot and a few delicious subplots for book 3, and I’ve outlined the first 28 scenes. As long as nothing crazy happens this week, I should be able to finish the outline and initial character development by Friday or Saturday.

I have probably just jinxed myself terribly.