I'll show you things never seen before

I finally got through the difficult Chapter 4 of Champion this week.  Every book I've written has one or two of these chapters which are a real chore to write, and consequently they take far longer to complete than they should because during those times, I focus on vacuuming the cat and other distractions.

I also read and critiqued a friend's manuscript, which is always an interesting challenge because I never know what I'm going to get.

I suppose I should be pleased that two of my four gamma readers (the draft after I implement beta reader edits) actually returned Blackout to me on schedule, but really I'm kind of disappointed.  One of the two who didn't at least contacted me to say he was behind and was really going to try.  The last one I haven't heard from, and that's disappointing because I've been spoiled with my last few manuscripts.  Since I'm writing a lot more nowadays, I have more in the pipeline and I'm trying to spread out the beta/gamma reading so it's not always the same three people - if they spend all their time reading my stuff, when are they going to write their own?  I guess what it comes down to is actions speaking louder than words.  People who beta or gamma for me and both meet the deadline and have valuable comments will get asked again.  People who don't...won't.  Unfortunately, I can't sit around waiting for those lackadaisical betas; I have deadlines to meet too (admittedly, right now they're established by me, but I take them seriously).

So, in order of completeness, here's where I am with my current projects:

Pariah's Moon is being line-edited by my agent and should hit the submission markets by week's end.

Blood on the Ice is being read by three gammas who I know and trust to make their deadlines. My plan is still to have it to my agent by the Pikes Peak Writers Conference next month.

Blackout is ready for post-beta revisions.  I'll be starting on that soon (I haven't decided whether to work on it before BOTI or after) but I have no specific deadline for this one.

Champion is written through four chapters and then some, and we're heading off to party in New York City with Mustang Sally and the Young Guns.

Coming this summer...a supersekrit collaboration project which I will talk about more in the future.