Kristian Mercer

Playing Catch-Up

So...I have been silent (I am distraught to admit) for almost a month. I honestly don't know how that happened. It's not as if I fell off the face of the planet (too science fiction), or succumbed to a wasting disease (too Gothic), or even bought a great pair of shoes (too chick lit).

No, nothing like that. Just life as usual.

BUT. I have made Progress.

I made the March 10 deadline for the Hearts Through History Romance Through the Ages contest. This year I entered my work in the Time Travel/ Paranormal category, so we'll see how the Fae and magick fare against vampires, werewolves, and witches.

(BTW, I was pleased to see that the Beau Monde's Royal Ascot contest has a Regency paranormal category this year! Go alternative universes!)

I learned three things in prepping for the HTH contest:

1. Times New Roman is way more compact than Courier. My first 30 pages are, in fact, my first three chapters, which is GREAT.
2. Editing is never done. Even the chapters I thought were perfect ended up being revised, and tightened, and revised some more. Sigh.
   
3. Thank goodness for Karen Harbaugh's amazing "index card method of writing synopses". I certainly would not have been able to condense my story into two pages without it!
   

Now that I've recovered from all that, I'm finally back in writing mode. I finished another chapter last night and have now completed 55.8% of the edits to the first draft. As you can see for yourself, courtesy of the cute little word meter from www.zokutou.co.uk! I'm so glad to see it back on my blog--and be able to share my progress with all of you.

Finally, some business. Our March session of Year of Craft started today, but there's still time to join in! Guest speaker Ann Roth will reveal "He Shot the The Sheriff and I Know Why," and you'll definitely want to share in the discovery.

And check out the Seattle Writer's Conference, coming up on April 7. When I saw that Susan Wiggs and Jo Beverley were among the speakers, I signed on as fast as my mouse would click through the links. I can't wait!

I don't want to lose any of my barely regained momentum, so it's back to work for me. But don't worry--I've been storing away snippets for posts for weeks now. There are lots of interesting musings still to come!