I'm Just Having Too Much Fun

Tom's Apocalypse is finished, cleaned up, and in the hands of my most trusted reader, input-giver, and grammar/spelling stickler. The fact that he's my Dad is just a gigantic bonus.

So, what's next?

I need to figure out what to DO with Tom now that it's finished. The pandemic I've created is maybe a little too similar to current-day circumstances for a quick release, though it's far more swift to devastate, and boasts a macabre host of symptoms COVID could never match. So, clearly fiction, but maybe a bit too much while we're still watching and waiting for answers during our own crisis.

In other words, maybe I should wait until we're sure our results aren't scarier than the fiction the virus inspired?

In any case, I'll get it ready (with my all-star team, of course) and see what happens. in the meantime, here are the cover contenders:

 

Now, on to what's coming:

 - I've submitted Dark Mirror to a press I admire; I should know mid - late fall whether it'll be selected. If not, I'll publish it in October.

- Stumble remains an enigma for me - more demon than ghost in some ways, and still hasn't be read by another soul. But I think some of my best writing is within its pages. Likely, it's another one that will have to wait for its time...

- Constance & Enzo's Tea Time With Peyton - Oh my God I cannot wait to put this out...but I haven't a clue when! It features characters from That Summer, Bird With A Broken Wing and the Rose's Ghost Trilogy, which made it a blast to write, but do I release it now, when the Trilogy is still gaining new readership, or wait until readers want more? Which brings me to my next project that's been percolating:

- A second Trilogy in the Rose series. Yep. Some time has passed, and we get to know the children of our past protagonists as they deal with experiences of their own. I see Dmitry, Greyson and Roisin in my mind so clearly, and their stories are begging to be told. But, first:

- I am going to finish a long-time in the works project this summer. It's called Dear Daddy and features a mentally unstable woman who is living in denial of what she's lost - and she's doing it in a camper in the woods, through a bitter Quebec winter. It's written as a series of letters, mostly to her father (hence the title).

- Totally new projects include a story called Wisp, which is told from the perspective of a ghost, and a thriller/fantasy mashup featuring a parallel world of elf-type folk. That one's called Fable, after the town in which it is set.

Can you feel how excited I am? Because I think I'm oozing it. I love this writing stuff.

I'll keep writing, and you keep reading. OK?

Deal.