Hello, all. It's been a while. A year to be exact. Sorry about that. It's hard to relate what I'm doing when I truly don't have a clue.
It's been a productive year, methinks. I finished the sequel to Healer and am in the process of editing and proofing. The book cover is...a work in progress? (She tells me she's working on it. Sigh.) My goal is to publish it soon. That's about as close to a commitment that I can muster.
My work-in-progress list has grown. I still have the two Daemon series additions, as well as the final two of the Spiritual Gifts series to finish, and I've begun a paranormal suspense series that I'm calling The Corona Chronicles. That's the one I mentioned in my last post. It's proceeding differently than my other works, so I can't wait to see how it comes together. I've now started two other pieces: one a non-fiction based on my work and philosophy as an occupational therapist, and the other appears to be a children's story.
The non-fiction is interesting. I do not consider myself an expert on much of anything, but this piece insisted that I was the one to bring it forth. For the moment, it's called Need and addresses basic truths about health. Writing non-fiction is different than writing a novel, so I'm on an interesting learning curve.
As far as learning curves go, the children's story is another level of What am I doing? The story was easy (and based on a true story), and I actually have a vision of the final product (for once), but I am clueless on how to proceed with editing because I need to gear the story toward an age or reading level. I attended a panel discussion of children's writers a few years ago, but my take-away isn't helping me now.
My primary thought during and after the panel was the focus on who would be reading the children's book. The writers assumed the child would be doing the reading. At the time, I had spent time with my brother as he sought books HE wanted to read to his daughter. Yes, he wanted her to enjoy the book, but he also wanted to have fun as well. He looked at books from the stance of What silly voices can I make up while I'm reading this to her? and How many times will I read this book before I want to throw up?
Mi espouso and I have two daughters (both grown now--not sure how they survived us). One of the stories their daddy read to them was Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. Mi espouso aspires to do voice-over acting and especially loved the many animal noises he could incorporate into reading this book. The girls thought he was hilarious and helped him out with each oink, moo, and bark. If that's not father-daughter bonding, I don't know what is. That's what my brother sought, but had difficulty finding.
Hmmm...that was a soap box, wasn't it. Okay, then. I'm done. Back to writing adultish stuff and figuring out what to do with this kiddie thing. (Suggestions welcome.)
T.
