I’m sorry for being so quiet around here, but I’ve been elbow-deep in words while I work on completing the first draft of Omphalos. It’s also for that reason that I didn’t read as much as usual this month, but of course I enjoyed the books I did have time for.
Nonfiction
- How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Orson Scott Card
- Endless Universe, by Paul J. Steinhardt and Neil Turok
- Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, by Temple Grandin
- (Re-Read) Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing, by Jessica Page Morrell
- Rhetorics of Fantasy, by Farah Mendlesohn
Fiction
- In the Cities of Coin and Spice, by Catherynne M. Valente
- Needful Things, by Stephen King
- The Dead-Tossed Waves, by Carrie Ryan
- Jennifer Government, by Max Barry
- Impact, by Douglas Preston
Substantial blog posts are brewing in the back of my mind, but my main focus for April needs to be Omphalos. My self-imposed deadline for completing the first draft is April 20, and then I’m off to the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in Colorado Springs.
Also, here! Have a sleepy gecko!
Today, Gabrielle Morabito completed a character portrait of Elizabeth and Aspect from Unidentified. It’s lovely! I’m particularly pleased that she included Aspect playing with Elizabeth’s hair, since he does it often in the novel.
I know people tend to be fairly surprised that the extraterrestrials in Unidentified aren’t exactly small, contrary to popular ideas about “little” grey men. Gabi did a great job with character proportions relative to each other in this piece. There’s a lot in the novel taken from classic abduction/ET contact reports, but I chose to turn those tropes on their heads to create something different.
The background in this piece is also quite significant, and I love the way she painted it! Thank you, Gabi, for a beautiful rendition of the characters I’ve spent so much time with.
Click here for the full version.
I’ve set a deadline for the first draft of Omphalos: April 22. That’s right before the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. I feel like if I complete the first draft by that date, I’ll head off to the conference feeling accomplished.
Obviously, I won’t pitch anyone at the conference with a first draft novel; I’m focused on seeking representation with Unidentified. In the meantime, I’m churning out the words for Omphalos, then revising them, editing them, and working toward seeing a satisfied smile in their perfectly polished surface. Okay, well, maybe not “perfectly“, but polished nonetheless.
My word count for Monday through Saturday is 15,023 words. That’s a good start! I’m aiming for somewhere between 90-100k.
