abandoned

The "When's That Book Coming...?" Update: Summer 2012 Edition

It's that time again--State of the Union!

You'll notice I've made zero progress since the last one, which really isn't like me, but it's true--I've written fuck all this year (compared to nearly 500K words last year). Even my vacation, in which I wanted to finish a chunk of a WIP? Nope, didn't write a damn word.

No more.

I've already started making adjustments to re-prioritize my own work. Hopefully I will have more done by the fall update.

Here is the status of all my projects as of this month:

* Oblivion - First draft very vaguely in process--requires a lot of structuring. Hoping for release early next year.

* Solace, Broken, Viral, etc...? - There will be definitive news about these in the fall.

* Amends - On hold.

* Children of the Apocalypse - Backburnered. Again.

* In Darkness Waits - I realized what was tripping me up with it. It's on hold while I sort it out.

* Ashes - Still poking around with it for fun.

* Godless (Dessa 5) - Baking in my brain--I've been talking the series out with my second beta and at least I know the ending now, so when it's ready to come, I'll write it.

* Haunted - Nowhere near having time to work on rewrites yet.

* River/Wolfe omnibus - Still on hold. *sigh* It'll get on Kindle eventually.

* For-Pay-Writing-That's-Killing-My-Soul - Three projects down, four to go for the rest of the year.

* Solomon's Seal - In progress.

* 9 Crimes - Nate novella is done and it'll have a few more short stories/bonus things with it. Releases early August.

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Also, if you happen to be reading this the weekend it's posting: LAST CALL for Nate-POV requests for inclusion with his novella. Thanks!

The "When's That Book Coming...?" Update: Spring 2012 Edition

It's been three months. Time for another State of the Union!

* Exhumed - Second draft complete. Should be in edits next month (I want to run through it one more time first). Looking at a July 10 release so I can avoid a Mercury retrograde. Shut up.

* Amends - On hold. If I'm able to take a working vacation soon, I'll churn out a few more chapters so they're scheduled and ready. It was burning me out and like three people were reading it anyway, so it got backburnered (*waves to the three people*).

* Oblivion - Planning stages still. I'm going to try to write it early fall, hoping for a January release.

* Solace, Broken, Viral, etc...? - Uh...next question please.

* Children of the Apocalypse - Backburnered. Still on my radar. I need that working vacation.

* In Darkness Waits - I realized what was tripping me up with it. It's on hold while I sort it out.

* Ashes - Still poking around with it for fun.

* Godless (Dessa 5) - Baking in my brain. Characters are talking to me--probably cause they know half of them won't make it out alive.

* Haunted - Nowhere near having time to work on rewrites yet.

* River/Wolfe omnibus - Still on hold. *sigh* It'll get on Kindle eventually.

* For-Pay-Writing-That's-Killing-My-Soul - Two projects down, four to go over the next few months.

* Solomon's Seal - In progress and SO MUCH FUN OMG.

I don't like talking about stuff I might jinx. But screw it. I'm happy so far.

I was writing an unpublished blog post the other day (still in draft mode) and sort of scared myself. If Oblivion is the last in the series I publish, that means as of January...I won't have ANYTHING new scheduled to come out--no new Skyla Dawn Cameron books.

*is askeerd*

I haven't been in that place for years now. Even when I delayed stuff by years, at least I knew it would come eventually. I have tons of other finished stuff, but nothing I want to shop around for various reasons. So...square one, baby.

Enter Solomon's Seal.

I'm having a blast.

Want a random teaser? Read below, under the cut. Not giving any context, as I think it speaks for itself.

Read more

The "When's That Book Coming...?" Update: Winter 2012 Edition

How about an updated book state of the union? Plenty has changed in three months.

* Exhumed: Complete. Awaiting a second draft from me in the spring. I have to do some schedule shuffling so there's a strong chance this release will be summer now.

* Amends: This'll be hit when I'm done with my writer burn out. I finished two books back to back in Nov/Dec and really needed a break from writing. I will update my blog when we're back on track (hopefully within a few weeks).

* Oblivion: This is the fifth book, after Exhumed. I don't need it done summer/fall but it's tickling my brain. I think it just needs to percolate awhile longer and it'll be ready to start. Currently I'm jotting notes down on my murder board and I almost have a first draft of the jacket copy written.

* Solace: I'm plotting this one as well (it's the sixth). I likely won't start it until the end of the year, but then sometimes I surprise myself.

* In Darkness Waits: I'm going through that thing again where I'm struggling with the voice and wonder if it's supposed to be in first person. The book won't tell me. None of you have read it, though, so you don't much care but I still want the first draft of this done by March.

* Godless (Dess bd 5): It's still baking in my head.

* Ashes: It's likely a trunk novel so I pull it out and play now and then.

* CotA 3: I'm re-reading everything written so far and I'm hoping before I dive back into another book, I'll get my feet wet finishing up this one. Fear not! It's on my radar, at least.

* Haunted: I have to edit the other novellas coming out before I can get to my rewrites on this.

* River/Wolfe omnibus on Kindle: Delayed as I haven't the time to proofread with extra work stuff. *pushes to bottom of to-do list.*

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I think that's it. I need to write a post about other stuff and I'm trying but I keep thinking I sound bitchy so haven't saved it. For now: bitching at me that the series isn't The Zara and Nate Show? Yeah, that's not going to change. They're not the main characters of the series--they never will be--nor can I write books that are carbon copies of Bloodlines. If you feel you have to suffer the other books for moments of them, you're probably going to be really disappointed. Baking cupcakes might be a better idea than reading stuff you'll hate. Or write fanfic. Fanfic about cupcakes. Or something.

Please send me fanfic about cupcakes. Yeah, I think that was my point.

The "When's That Book Coming...?" Update: Fall 2011 Edition

Everyone wants me to finish something.

Freebie serial readers have asked when Children of the Apocalypse 3 will be done.

Zara fans want to know when Exhumed will be done (never mind released).

Zara fans who either don't buy books and/or are impatient for Exhumed want to know when the next Amends chapters will be up.

Beta reader wants me to finish Dessa 5 (as do the couple of other people who have read some of the other books in this unpubbed series).

I want to do all of the above along with finishing Ashes and IDW, which I can maybe do something with. Mostly, though, I'd like to sit down long enough for the room to stop spinning. This year I wrote one new novel, totally gutted and rewrote from the ground up (and expanded) two novels, and I'm on track to finish another new novel. And it never seems like enough.

Most importantly, however, I have a book called Lineage which has been contracted for *cough* three years now and my last draft has to be in by December for edits so we can make a February 21 release date. It's one I get paid money for, so it will be finished before everything else. If I can jump in late with NaNo, maybe one of the above will be written in part next month too.

So, to answer the FAQs (I try to keep this updated on my author page as well):

* CotA: It's always been my intent to finish by the end of the year. I wrote most of the end of the book--I think I have 3-4 chapters to finish. I will post when it's done. I realize it is frustrating because it's basically one big long story divided into five parts and even when three is done, I'll be leaving it with a cliffhanger because there's a lot to go. But it's still a freebie so I do what I can when I can. I'm also going to try to slip in time to redo the covers. Maybe around Christmas I can schedule a week to devote solely to CotA.

* Exhumed is in my head but unwritten and as I have a novella out next summer, Exhumed won't hit until late 2012. Your eagerness pleases me, though you'll come to regret it when you read the damn thing, or when you hear me tweet "WOE" while writing it. But it won't be seen by anyone until November 2012 at the earliest--I don't even have jacket copy written for it yet.

* Amends will be updated when I can update it. Every 2-4 weeks. Please keep an eye on my blog/FB/Twitter (and chapter five has been up for awhile now).

* Lineage, as said above, is February 21, 2012. Buying the ebook from Mundania or the paperback will get you a Nate short story I'm finishing right now, called Sunrise.

* Dessa 5 (99.5% of you can skip this): It's called Godless and I have a few scenes in my head but unlike the first four, I've no idea how it will end. It also breaks my heart a little to write it and end Dess's story (and Vaughn's, and all the rest) for good, so that could be why I don't want to think too hard about it. They might all die at the end, so I don't want to rush.

So there you have it. What I'm working on and when you may see some of it. I'll do another round up early next year.

#SixSunday

From my YA paranormal WIP today.

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I couldn’t see then because I broke. Like the plate I threw at Violet, everything that seemed strong and solid cracked, smashed, fell in pieces to the floor. My knees wavered, shoulders slumped, head went dizzy and I felt like I needed to throw up and lie down and cry and scream and all kinds of other things all at once.Oh god, I just wanted him back...

Vaughn was closer, hands on my shoulders, and it was only because something solid touched me then, held me up, that I realized I was trembling bone-deep. "Dess..."

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More Six Sentence Sunday here: http://sixsunday.blogspot.com

And Away We Go...

I officially started Chosen yesterday, the fourth book in the YA series I've been working on.

I finished the third book in November and new I needed a break (if you're interested in my thoughts on writing upon completion of said book, you'll find them here). I'd been working on In Darkness Waits in the meantime like a good little productive bunny when the muse clawed--eer, tapped me on the shoulder and informed me I'd be working on Chosen instead. What's funny is that I pulled out my word count spreadsheet for the series and realized I started the first book, Abandoned, on January 6, 2010. Proof:

(If you want that awesome spreadsheet, talk to Shayne Winters.)

I've written 270K words in this series since then and I'm looking now at how far my heroine has come, how she's regressed in some areas, how much as changed. This is the book where so many things I set up for earlier really come into play and it's almost a little scary, wondering if I can deliver AND still set up the fifth and final book.

And it's kinda depressing the hell out of me at the moment 'cause I left my girl on a dark note at the end of the third book and now I'm paying for it having to write angst. Waaaah...I should probably start drinking 'cause it's only going to get darker.

Of course, I won't be drinking any time soon as I have the flu--I was in bed all day and dragged my ass up for dinner (technically breakfast) and to throw out a few words in Chosen 'cause what did I do the whole time I was lying in bed not feeling well? Blocking out scenes. No rest for a writer.

Meanwhile, the first three books are sitting here on the coffee table after I had them privately bound in December. A handful of people got copies for Horusmas and I do hope they enjoy(ed) them.

Well, back to writing for me before an early bedtime. And here are my teaser lines for Chosen:

It's easy to be a good person when you're powerless.

I'm neither of those things now.

Happy Friday! Have some angst...

Excerpt-palooza

I still haven't finished my website overhaul 'cause the last few things require me to do some Photoshop magic...and right before Christmas, my lovely two year old great big monitor fucking died for no reason, so I'm on my tiny old backup monitor from several years ago, and...dude, I have no freakin' idea how I managed to do any work on this thing. It's so small. SUCH a PITA. I have several Photoshop projects languishing because it's so difficult. Hell, my writing is languishing because I'm used to more space. I should be used to it in another few days...hopefully I can get a new monitor next month.

BUT, in the meantime, I added/updated some book pages for unpubbed novels and WIPs, plus added some downloadable excerpts in PDFs, and there's fun for everyone.

1. You can check out the first three chapters of my weird little "RF" (rural fantasy) Soulless over here: http://www.skyladawncameron.com/novels/soulless

2. If YA paranormal that is NOT like Twilight is your thing, you can check out the first three chapters of Abandoned here: http://www.skyladawncameron.com/novels/abandoned (Though there aren't excerpts of the next books in the series 'cause of spoilers-aplenty in them.)

3. If you have a hankering for romantic horror comedy with zombies, head over to read three chapters from Asha's Guide to Zombie Dating Etiquette. http://www.skyladawncameron.com/novels/agtzde (I'm on the second draft of this one...I wrote the first five years ago for NaNo, and it's still one of my fave books.)

4. Finally, if dark post-apocalyptic urban fantasy is your thing, I have the first chapter up of In Darkness Waits. http://www.skyladawncameron.com/novels/indarknesswaits

I probably shouldn't be posting excerpts of stuff that's not pubbed, but I'm so excited about everything I've worked on this year that I can't help it. Whee!

If I Ran MuchMusic: Character Karaoke (aka "Skyla Is Mentally Ill") Edition

Sarah-Jane Lehoux occasionally does her "If I Ran MuchMusic" blog posts at Positively Random and Absolutely Useless where she posts the awesome music she'd play if she were a VJ at MuchMusic. Now, I don't have cable anymore, but I'm pretty sure they don't even play music anymore, which is sad.

Anyways, I'm stealing it for the day because I battled characters into the wee hours of the morning while they played a game with me: let's see who can break Skyla's heart the most.Read more

Bad Skyla

Yeah, so remember how I was going to NOT write a single word on the book after Wounded because I know it needs time to gel and stuff in my head for a few months?

Screenshot of my desktop just now:

*cough*

I have this issue when a new book and new world is hounding me--as soon as I know the narrator's name, I Must Write It. I can't ignore it past that point.

And then there's a point when I don't want to work on something at all, but it's circling my brain again and again, and then suddenly I'm in the scene and I know how it starts...

Yeah, I couldn't not write the words. Total insanity over here--I'm blaming the six hours I spent formatting manuscripts for ebooking today.

I might give the first chapter a shot this weekend, and then I should be so burnt out that I can go onto something else. Incidentally, the song that popped on iTunes when I broke open the file and typed a couple of lines? Syrup and Honey by Duffy. I swear the "Baby, baby, baby, spend your time on...me" part was the MS calling to me.

Safe

How I cleared my head today after lots of stressed freaking out.

(Print here: http://www.deviantart.com/print/13654207/)

Dessa and Alec from Wounded (WIP, sequel to Abandoned), which is currently 58K into the first draft. I'd have added a song, as typically I listen to a lot of music with both arty stuff and writing, but Alec doesn't like me picking songs. The closest would probably be Serenata Immortale.

One of the questions that's been popping up a lot in Wounded is, can you feel safe with someone you don't entirely trust? And how do you deal with it when your heart seems to drag that much farther behind your brain?

Longish except after the cut. Note: The above isn't an exact depiction of the scene (it was actually a closer depiction to a different scene later in the book), but it has the same feel as the excerpt and that was all I was going for. Plus I liked this one better. And I cut a bunch of plot spoiler stuff (note to beta reader: that's why you might feel like something's missing) from the excerpt but hopefully it still makes sense.Read more