Spring is in the Air

We had a nasty snowstorm on Friday that caused 100 car accidents, put buses ridiculously behind schedule, and dropped the temperature about 10 degrees Celsius from what we’ve been enjoying the last week, and in spite of it all, I know it to be true that the seasons are changing. How? No, not because of Phil the groundhog. Although I’m sure he’s a perfectly legitimate source of testing seasonal transition, I choose to trust my own instincts. And my head won’t stop buzzing.

Winter is great for hibernating – and this year it wasn’t only hiding away in the warmth of my apartment, it was also a time to rest my mind. I focused a lot on edits, on short stories, on tuning up old projects, but I feel like the past few months I haven’t really come up with anything new. Two weeks ago, the thoughts started pouring like melting snow. The ideas won’t shut up. I can’t sleep, shower, work without some new idea or character coming into my head. Which is great – I’m thrilled! – but it’s hard to fit it all in. So, I’m taking it one project at a time.

The first installment of Greylands gets posted on Thursday, and I admit I’m nervous about it. At worst, it’ll be kind of a cool story that people can read and comment on, but I am hoping it’s enough to inspire a couple of submissions towards it. I was surprised that it came out to be more like chapter 1 in a short novel than a short story on its own, but I still think it works.

Edits for Bitter Cold are going slowly but surely. With luck (and hard work, focus, etc) I’ll be done a second draft by the end of March and then send it out again for a second batch of edits before I do another read-through. On the whole I’m really enjoying it, but I do wonder if parts of it should be re-written. Do you ever have that feeling? You’re not sure if it’s actually good enough for the public to read, but you’re not quite sure how to change it? How do you get around this?

Finally, the thing I’m most excited about, I’ve had a few revelations about The Fenwith Trials. You can find a full description of the project here, but it’s about to undergo some major renovations. A new narrator, new format, new POV. A lot of the scenes will stay the same, and most of the characters, but how it’s told will be completely different. Better. I feel it in my bones that I’m moving in the right direction on it. It took me 5 years to finish the first draft, but I’m really hoping it doesn’t take that long for the rewrites…

So that's everything I'm up to - what are you working on? Share below!