I'M SUPER EXCITED RIGHT NOW!

It's the first day of August and I am so close to finishing the final (hah) revision of "The Mark of Flight". The query has been marinating a while and it's about time now to chuck it in the skillet and see if it comes out looking palatable to the agents. HELLHOUND revisions have been postponed until I can get MoF off the table (I'm hungry, can you tell?), but I'm still planning to finish the overhaul before NaNoWriMo...

...WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE REASON I'M SO EXCITED!

I get to decide what book to work on next! *fireworks*

There's something about facing that blank Word document and typing the first words, making that first mark to delineate world, character, or story , that is both terrifying and immeasurably exciting. The idea of digging into this rich compost of research and imagination to make something new out of it is probably one of my biggest joys as a writer, second only to typing that last punctuation.

I haven't been published yet, so we'll see if those get knocked down a notch--not sure if they ever will, though.

SO ANYWAY. I have three projects I'm considering for NaNo this year, and they're all very, very different.

1.Roost

2. Beggar's Twin

3. An Act of Mirrors

Because this would be a SUPER-LONG post if I tried to tell you about all three (and it would take me forever, besides), I'll start by describing ROOST.

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Who's excited for the Hobbit? I'm excited for Smaug,
(Read: Benedict Cumberbatch)

ROOST
Alden Finch Craft is the most promising Shanlori trainee in Roost, but he’s never been paired with a Ketchra—the dragon-bonded pilot-half of the Battle Rider pairs. First, he came from Prestia, the city that used to rule Roost and now fights them for access to the wild dragon nests they protect. Second, he’s the son of Argo Craft, Admiral of the vicious Prestian Drakonauts. It doesn’t matter that Alden fled Prestia as a child; blood is blood, and no Ketchra wants an armed Shanlori warrior behind them when they’re not sure which side he’ll shoot.

Alden loses hope of becoming a Rider until a cruel prank on the training platform reveals his potential as a Sling. Roost has never successfully trained one of the deadly wire-diving Shanlori, and if they can find Alden a Ketchra he just might be the edge they need to defeat Prestia…but can they trust him if the battle comes to fighting his own father?

Wing Captain Ruri Kishorn lost both his dragon and his Shanlori sister in battle five months ago, so when his former-instructor suggests he become Ketchra to a teenager with a Prestian accent, he vehemently refuses. What good is a Shanlori—even a Sling—when his partner is shell-shocked, suicidal, and dragonless? But after a brutal attack by the Drakonauts leaves Roost’s lower town a smoking ruin, Ruri can no longer ignore his duty, even if it means opening up to another person.

As the attacks rise in both violence and frequency, Ruri begins to suspect that Prestia is planning to destroy Roost once and for all—but why now? As the hatching draws near and suspicions arise around his new Shanlori, Ruri must push past the guilt of surviving and stand behind the young man who could save Roost from certain destruction.

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I'm estimating about 100-110k on this one--comparable to HELLHOUND in length, with a lot of interesting action and emotional turmoil. It will be told from three (MAYBE four) points of view: obviously Alden and Ruri's but also from the POV of Talis, Argo Craft's Shanlori. I'm playing with the idea of a fourth POV--a girl who is a prisoner in Prestia, and part of the reason they're so desperate to destroy Roost. I haven't decided if she's a more powerful character seen from outside, or if we need to get in her head.

Anyway, that's the first possibility! Let me know what you think - I'll be posting a poll with the third story.