The Southern California Writers' Conference
I love having upcoming events and milestones to look forward to, and one of the ones for this year was the knowledge I would be attending the Southern California Writers' Conference this February 12th to 15th. This was my second year attending, and this year I had a much better idea of what I wanted to get out of it. Last year was a bit of a whirlwind, but a creative-infused one at that!
Going into the conference this year, I'd spent a few months trying to self-evaluate how I was doing on my stories. I was making progress, certainly, but as you might have seen on my current story status page, I had a number of active writing projects I was working on that were all vying for my attention, including three novels and two short stories in addition to other work I'd put on the back-burner. So it was with a bit of soul-searching that I realized that, like art, trying to juggle so many projects at once wasn't doing me a lot of good, and that it would be better to try to focus on taking one to the finish line before I worked on finishing off the rest of them.
I hemmed and hawed a bit about which one I should pick, but in the end, I found myself really drawn to finishing off Secrets of an Accord, which is a sort of origin story for how two main characters in the series got to know each other, and it's a story I feel is a really good introduction to the world of my books as well.
So, armed with this knowledge, I prepared for the Southern California Writers' Conference, which included preparing manuscripts of the first few chapters of "Secrets of an Accord" for two advance readers as well as rogue readings, where groups gather to receive feedback on their work. I've also shared these early glimpses into the story over on my Patreon. One of my advance readers (who is himself a published author) was especially fond of my work and also offered to be my editor! Talk about humbling!
That said, I felt like I had a pretty good feel for the story (I had it fully outlined, and well over half of it in a first or second draft state), and attending the conference only heightened my interest in making it even better, infused with more charm and personality, and more impactful overall.
Writing in a box can sometimes be quite difficult, and it was really valuable for me to be able to come together with other writers and discuss some of the trials and tribulations of the process. In particular, this year I spent a lot of time learning about some of the various publishing options that are open to me. It's important to note: I'm not trying to put the cart before the horse here. I am very well aware that I want a complete, edited, proofed novel in my hands before I start worrying too much about publishing, and if I'm going to go the traditional route, indy, Kickstarter, or something else entirely, but it was important for me to start to be able to understand the time and costs associated with various routes, even if I'm not even close to the point where I need to make a decision just yet as to what path (or paths) I'd like to travel. The thing that's most important to me is being free to tell the story I want to tell, but to also do it as best I can. At minimum, that will mean a lot more writing and self-editing, as well as hiring a professional editor and proofer to make sure that when all is said and done, I put my best foot forward. :)
How to Noodle a Novel
Like my art, sometimes I also get so caught up in the details of a story that it keeps me from moving forward with any resemblance of a healthy, regular clip, but I'm certainly trying to get better on that front. That is part of why I try to use Productivity Trackers to hold myself accountable for how I spend my time, and it's also part of why I realized that working on multiple stories at once (five of them...) simply was doing me no good. I only have so much free time, and it's hard to keep things fresh in my mind if I'm regularly juggling projects.
But I digress: now that I've chosen one to push forward, it's actually been incredibly helpful in clearing my mind and helping me focus. It's also meant that I've felt more willing to try to expand and add additional layers of depth to the story, and so far, it's going quite well! It's meant that I've had to break out the carefully-laid outlines again and try to spend time adjusting them, however, which is unfortunately taking longer than I would have liked, but that's how it goes sometimes. :) I wish I were able to give you or even myself a firm date as to when the first draft of the third version will be done, but We're just going to have to hang in there while I push forward just as quickly as I can. I'm definitely hoping to get it done before crunch sets in at my full-time job!
These two, these two lost souls with so many adventures ahead of them:
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| Art by Emma Lazauski |
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| Art by Cynthia Reep |
They started like this:
And they started out without any knowledge of the steadfast companions they would become, and how they would each grow from the years they spend at each other's side.
That said, here are some fun facts about my novel, Secrets of an Accord:
- It is now in its third version of the story.
- It is the formal introduction between two characters of my overarching set of stories: Oberon (the man who was cursed and turned into a horse) and Sashah (the werewolf enchantress).
- It shares at least four different types of unique magic that exist within the world.
- It showcases a gorgeous city that specializes in bright dyes and dark secrets.
- Werewolves? We got werewolves.
- Curses and transformation? We got that too.
- While the location isn't a center for magical creatures, a number of them make appearances in the book, including gryphowls, and various creatures that have been bred by mages.
- Sentient animals.
- Cats with very unique and special abilities.
- Dark humor, mystery, and adventure.
In any case, thank you ever-so-much for your support, and hopefully in the coming months I'll have even more to share as the third version of the story progresses. :) Onward!
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