Affiliations
“The plan. It is made and adhered to if you lack no conviction. I think Fate carries my plan in the palm of her hand, sometimes shaking it like a nineteen-sided die, one side for each year of my life. The trick is to trip the bitch up.” –Tessa Marie Conley
At just over 80,000 words, the first draft of SCALES is complete. I have a wonderful writer’s group critiquing for me, and an equally wonderful selection of readers offering feedback. It feels amazing knowing Tessa’s story is finally on paper, so to speak.
Happy New Year! Just a quick update on SCALES. Current word count is 75,733. The story is very close to complete, and I am feeling it might top 90K at completion. We will have some exciting news about promotional work being done for SCALES at World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City in March. Exciting stuff!
I took a short break from working on SCALES. I’ve found sometimes it’s good to allow a shift of focus, then get back to a story after a couple days. It’s been four. I’m Jonesin’. LOL
During the little break I finished off a short horror story called STRIP MINE. It’s about Tommyknockers. Growing up in a mining district did a lot for my imagination. This story takes place on the Shelf Road, at the hairpin curve, close to Cripple Creek, CO.
I have studied a lot about some of the Scottish Clans that were “transported” from their homes in the Highlands by the English, centuries ago. Many were placed on ships and exported to North America, some to the US. I decided to incorporate a bit of that history into the theme behind SM, and came up with a female character, a Tommyknocker who has it in for local miners. It gets creepy.
So I’m back to working on Scales now, which is at 68,000 words. Happy me. I hope you are all having a great Sunday.
SCALES is grooving right along. I am having such a great time with this story. (= As the word count goes, It’s 61% complete. It’s a little different with the completion of the “story”, however. The story is at least 75% finished as it sits. I will be adding description and clarifying settings, rounding characters if they need it and best of all, I’m building Tessa’s journal.
Tessa has been journaling all along. She doesn’t get to write every day since her life grew so hectic, but there are quite a few insightful entries. I’ve decided to add them in here and there, to give an added glimpse into her thoughts throughout the story. It’s kind of fun. (=
I’ve set a goal to be finished with the first draft and it looks like I will meet that goal, with some time to spare. I’ll be able to start editing early. 
It’s been a great morning. I spent the last three hours working on SCALES.
The genre for SCALES is Urban Fantasy. The audience ranges from Young Adult on up. Keeping this in mind, I’ve had an interesting thought about the theme of the story.
I’ve spent the last two years watching the themes of my stories darken significantly. SCALES is following suit. When I was little, my mom once said, “If it looks like a duck, and quacks, then baby, it’s probably a duck.” I love that woman and miss her terribly. Her odd insight can be applied so many places in my adult life.
My point? SCALES is also a horror story.
I originally claimed SCALES was horror, but changed my choice to put the story in the proper category. Horror holds true in some aspects, although it falls easily into the genre of Urban Fantasy. There are many horrific elements in the story, both scary and of the psychological nature, as well.
You can take the writer out of the horror, but you can’t take the horror out of the writer. LOL
SCALES is at 35% completion now. I’ve been crafting one of Tessa’s milestones. She has many. She’s realizing new qualities about herself . . . and Peter.
What a great day I’ve had at my desk.
There is a “counter” to the left of this post that shows my progress as I write SCALES. Today, it says the novel is 23% complete. The next part of the story I write will be about the villain of the story.
I want to share another photograph that I took while I was in London. Of course, this photo has also inspired me to write it into existence in this story.
Torc from 100 BC
This is a torc worn by royalty in the Iron Age. It weighs nearly 2kg and is molded of an alloy called Electrum, which is a naturally occuring mix of gold and silver. It is dates back to 100 BC.
Like the facing I put up on the site a couple months ago, this torc is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. When I first saw the display of torcs, and there were quite a few there, I imaginined a man who might wear such a mark of royalty.
Scales just broke 20 K words. I’ve melded a large amount of the short story version together with the novel version. (((= I’m loving writing Tessa’s story.
I was also asked by a very good friend, who also just happens to be an excellent photographer and artist, about possibly doing a photo shoot relating to Scales. I’m thrilled! Nothing is set in stone for that, but just thinking about giving Tessa a visible face is so exciting!
I made the decision not to do NaNoWriMo so I can continue working on Scales instead of dedicating some of my writing time to a new project.
I’ve moved my goal for the completion date up to January 15. It seems ambitious, but realistic, considering how well writing is going lately.
This is my first EVER bookcover. I am so excited that I couldn’t wait to share. =) I’m thrilled to be a part of this anthology, which is due out in early 2012. If you click on the image it will get bigger and easier to read. Isn’t it gorgeous?
