Schooling of a Monster

Brain Feeling A Little Mushy?

by Stefani

Somehow I always seem to forget that his blog exists, then I need it for something and suddenly remember.  I had a fantastic Samhain, aka Halloween, and I hope all of you did too.

It is yet another November and we all know what that means, it’s Nano time!  This year I am writing the sequel to Schooling of a Monster, which should be amazing.  In this sequel Micah is on his own and hunting without aid.  But when the police suspect that a monster is kidnapping baby girls in the area, he begins to question his competance.  I am calling it, Rock-A-Bye Baby.  Check out my Nano page for the cover I made today, just search for me with my screenname steffiebaby140.

Speaking of Schooling of a Monster, I still have no finished the rewrite.  But that is my goal for December so that I can send it off to a new potantial publisher early next year.  Humanity is going alright, though I will have to put it aside for awhile.

Update on personal life:  I recently got to actually spend time with my fiance.  It was fantastic and I was devastated to have to send him home.  Wedding date is tentatively planned for next August, that is all I have planned for now.  This wouldn’t be such a pain in the butt if he lived in the US or wasn’t opposed to thwarting the US’s immigration laws.  Why is it that the people who want to do it the right way are punished for doing so? 

That is all for now, off to write my 1,667 words for today.

Stef

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Ever feel like your beating a dead horse….

by Stefani

Welcome to my world!  I accepted long ago that there are patterns to the Universe, that good things come in groups and bad things come in groups.  But I tell you, sometimes I sit here and wonder how I get myself into these situations.  I’m not going to bore you with all the details, but in both my personal and private life all I can do is seemingly the same crap over and over.  At some point I will have to stick a wrench into things and do something different, or else I’m just living up to the definition of insanity.

Not much is going on with my writing, I’m too stressed and overwhelmed with personal stuff to really get anything useful from it.  I am making significant progress both on the rewrite of Schooling of a Monster, and the new piece I’m working on, Humanity.  I have 2 weeks off of work coming up that I will be having a lot of unexpected free time so I can work a lot then.  Let’s just say that I was planning some major life changes for those two weeks until it all went screaming to hell faster than I could blink, and now I intend to vegetate and recuperate in that time.  I will keep you updated on everything of course.

On a happier note I have almost finished the new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol.  I must admit that I was mildly annoyed with Mr. Brown at one point but that faded quickly since the twist that I normally don’t like turned out to be very important and integral to the plot.  I am back on board and the second major plot twist left me with my mouth hanging open in shock.  Definitely a great book for those that are a fan of Brown’s work, but if you’re expecting The Da Vinci Code 2.0 then you might be a bit disappointed. 

Also, if any of you have never seen the HBO series Big Love, I highly recommend it.  I was interested initially because I was raised Mormon, so polygamy is not an unfamiliar thing to me and I wanted to see how close to the mark they got.  The series is spectacular, and so close to reality it was a big eerie for me.  I have nearly finished season one in a little over a week and plan on getting season 2 and 3 as soon as I have the funds.  Have a great Thursday, the Supernatural dry spell of reruns is nearly finish, yay!!

What’s in the Works

by Stefani

Somehow every time I decide to pay more attention to this blog, I seem to forget that it exists for a few months.  But what a few months it has been, both work related and personally.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas/Yule/Hanukkah/etc and that the gift fairies were very good to you.  Before I wander completely off track into a deep discussion of my recent months and all that stuff that I am sure no one needs to hear, on to what I am posting for.  I just wanted to keep everyone up to date on what I am doing in the writing world.  Of course I mean besides Helium and my freelance work.

Schooling of a Monster – Yes, old news I know.  But I am currently working on a complete rewrite and edit of it that I think will make it a lot better.  The old version is still on Authonomy  and I urge you to check it out there and put it on your bookshelf if you have an account there.  I highly recommend it, the books are a lot of fun and I need to focus on that site a lot more.  I will be updating that version as soon as I get the individual chapters rewritten so keep an eye on it even if you have already read it.

Crimson Scream – I still haven’t finished this one, even though it was my Nano novel 2 years ago.  I got stuck on a bunch of plot points at the end and pushed it aside.  But I am still working on it and will be finishing it soon.  Then it can be edited and probably posted on Authonomy as well.

Last Days of a Saint – I finished the Nano part of it in time, but it was a close call.  Halfway through November I decided that I didn’t like who these characters were becoming so I started over and am much happier with it.  It’s nowhere near done and for now has been placed on hold while I work on other projects.

Humanity – I may have mentioned this as a short story that I did, but that is not what I’m referring to now.  This is a brand new novel that I started based on that short story.  I am very excited about it and will share more details with you along the road.  This is in the very early stages right now but it is getting a lot of my attention.  Let’s just say…it’s vampires like you’ve never read them before.

Those are all my official projects right now, but I have so many more ideas that I could just burst.  If you want an update on anything specific feel free to leave a comment and I’ll address it as soon as I can.  Blessed Be my good people!   ~Stef

“Your universe is full, but in my world there is only you” by Bo Bice

by Stefani

Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde

Once again it’s been much too long since I’ve posted here.  But, no more!  Its almost November…meaning its almost Nano time and I will try to post something everyday through the month.  I am mentoring some new participants this year, and that will be very fun.  I have 3 mentorees so far, I can probably take 1-2 more if they come along.  I have been working hard on getting all my tips and advice in order for them.  That is almost out of the way and on to novel prep we go.  I am planning to do character profiles tonight, and basic plot points tomorrow.  I thought of writing the sequel to last year’s Nano novel, but decided against it when I got an idea that I just couldn’t pass up.

I won’t reveal too much of the plot.  But basically it is about a despondent woman who finds herself in the sights of a completely maniacal stalker.  It should be very fun, I am excited to get started.  And in true Nano fashion, from the second I settled on an idea I’ve been coming up with 10-15 new ones daily.  I am writing them all down to examine later.

I am busy on the front of trying to get published as well, so my work on Helium has suffered greatly.  I am working on a query letter for a publisher that I plan on sending next week.  I also am putting my novel up on a site run by Harper Collins.  You can post your work, and other members read it and rank it.  The top 5 ranked submissions every month get sent to the Harper Collins editing desk for an opinion.  Its a pretty huge opportunity if anyone ever gets picked from that pool for publication.  I am working on getting “Schooling of a Monster” on the site, and I will post the link when I do.  Until then, I should get back to the desk job.  ~Stef