Monday, July 21, 2014

Doings at Rooglewood at Last

Yes, this is a rather belated edition of the monthly Doings at Rooglewood blog post, but I do have a good excuse for my tardiness. Namely, I've been writing. Lots and lots of writing, which is bound to turn into lots and lots more.

"Of course," you'll say, "you are a novelist, so writing happens all the time, right?"

One would think. But looking back over this year's Doings at Rooglewood, how many months do you see me saying that I am doing almost nothing but writing? A few years ago, that would be the case, but life is just busier since starting Rooglewood Press.

Still, I have finally completed the major drafting what has turned into a much larger writing project than I first anticipated. And it's super secret still, so I can't talk about it much. But I will say I am thrilled with how it's coming together. It still needs a tweaking revision (as opposed to a full revision), and a copy edit (oh my! does it ever need a copy edit), but the book is pretty much itself now (if that makes sense to you).

It's a secret though. So I can't say much. Sorry! As soon as I can say more, I will. For now, however, all you need to know is that this has been my major doing.


This week, however, I am shifting gears had heading back into Golden Daughter work for a little while. It's galleys week (possibly two weeks). Which means I am reading over the typeset manuscript several times, searching for glitches, pet words, dropped words, typos, inconsistencies, and anything else potentially problematic that might catch my eye. Galleys are always a wee bit intimidating, but I must admit, this is probably the most intimidating one I have ever tackled . . . based entirely on sheer SIZE. This book is just so dragon-eaten big compared to my previous publications! Which means the potential for problems is increased by that much as well.

So I am reading the galleys backwards and forwards. Seriously, I am! I am reading it out loud to Rohan (with a pencil in hand to mark mistakes), and I am reading it silently and backwards to myself (also with a pencil). When I say backwards, I do mean I'm reading it last-chapter-first, second-to-last-chapter-second, etc. I'm not reading it literally backwards.

Thank the Lights Above, I also have two awesome proof readers and my copy editor checking for errors, so it's not as though the entire burden falls on my shoulders. Still, I'll be very glad when this stage is over!



 I'm getting excited for the Fan Fiction Contest these days! The first several submissions have already arrived in my inbox, and let me tell you, they are epic, dramatic, and tremendously fun. This year's contest may not be the biggest (though that remains to be seen!), but it will certainly contain the most fantastic submissions yet. I've had some fun designing the Title Banners to go along with each story as well. This year's banners are, I think, much prettier than last year's, and should compliment each story very well. Looking forward to showing you in September!

If you are interested in participating in this year's fan fiction contest, the rules (and prizes!) are detailed here. It is a totally fun and friendly contest, so don't feel shy! If you have a story to share, we are eager to read it.



The Five Enchanted Roses contest is definitely a subject of interest around Rooglewood these days. Submission forms are starting to arrive, containing intriguing titles which leave me eagerly guessing as to what the stories themselves might be about. I don't anticipate the stories themselves will start showing up until next month or the month after (authors do have to find the time to actually write, after all), but in the meanwhile, I sometimes will catch a snippet, excerpt, or hint on Facebook or the various blogs I (sporadically) read.

Are YOU planning on participating? Want to share your working title and a one-or-two sentence plot notion? We would all be delighted to hear!


Draven's Light, my 2015 novella, is also moving along in its various stages of development. Well, actually, no . . . It's kind of just sitting at the moment, waiting for me to have a chance to look it over again, poor story. But Rohan read it over this last week! Actually, he painted two bathrooms and part of our living room over this last week, but during the evenings, he read Draven's Light, staying up until 2 morning three nights running because he wanted to see how it would turn out--which, while not a smart move health-wise, was completely flattering!


 Over this weekend, I received a couple of exciting concept sketches from animator M. J. Morgan, who is creating a musical animatic based on Heartless and this song from the Goldstone Wood music contest. And Iubdan's Beard, are these sketches ever darling! I absolutely love all of them, particularly her character sketch for Princess Una, which is, in my opinion, completely perfect. I look forward to sharing this wonderful project with all of you . . . 


And the last doing of note . . . I am gearing up to start writing my next major novel in another few weeks. This will be my official 2015 novel, the book that follows chronologically after Golden Daughter. I am both very eager and tremendously nervous about this one. Technically, this is a story I've been planning to write for a good six years or more. But really, so many of the ideas (and my own writing abilities) have changed since its conception, I don't quite know what to expect from it. Also, conception is not the same as plot, and the plot itself is still a bit hazy in my head, I won't lie. So we'll see what happens! Once I get it well and truly started, I'll let you imps know the title, but for now, I'm keeping it all pretty hush-hush.

Here's some fluffiness to delight your heart:
Herein you see pictured Minerva, Marmaduke, Monster, Magrat, and Mutti. The only one of our kitty kindle not pictured is Makoose, who was grooming my elbow at the moment I knelt to take this picture, and therefore was unable to model himself. And isn't Mutti looking so relaxed these days? Every day, I see her making greater strides toward honest-to-goodness housecat-dom. She used to hide behind the piano most of the day and evening, but now she spends most of her day on the ottoman, and most of her evenings (after Rohan comes home . . . everyone loves Rohan) out in the living room with us. She even kept Rohan company while he painted!

It was just a year ago that I started seriously working with this feral kitty, wondering if I'd ever get her to let me touch her. How far she's come along!


All right, I can procrastinate no longer. The Golden Daughter galleys are waiting . . .

Tell me, what are your doings these days? Any great projects you're particularly excited about? Or summer trips, perhaps?

21 comments:

Bookishqueen said...

I am thinking through an idea for Five Enchanted Roses, but I am not certain that I will finish it. With school starting and having a job, I will not have much time to write, and what time I do have will most likely go to the book I am writing. :( I wish there was more time in the day!

Meredith said...

What amazing doings! Am super excited about all of them and really intrigued about that secret project. Good luck with the proofs for Golden Daughter. That's the hardest part of writing for me, because its the stage I am constantly second-guessing myself. Since my writing process has undergone lots of changes this year, the revision and proofing stages are more challenging and fun now. So excited about that story and Draven's Light. Am still waiting with eagerness to receive Until that Distant Day and Five Glass Slippers. The suspense is frustrating, but, eventually, I know the waiting will be worth it. It's been such a hectic and strange summer, too, so I've been out of touch with lots of things.

Am working on a Beauty and the Beast retelling called Blind Beauty. The concept started when I wondered how it would be if the Beauty and Beast characters met briefly as children. What if they shared similar predicaments in their lives that drew them to each other, but what if circumstances kept them apart? What if the Beauty character didn't know what the mysterious boy she met briefly really was? These characters are ones I'm really attached to, and its the most character-driven story I've done. I love them all and am really working on this story to ensure its the best it can be before submitting it.

Looking forward to the animation and the Fan Fiction Contest. Please give your cats pats from me.

God bless you.

Hannah said...

Wow! I'm so thrilled writing has been going so well for you! I can't wait to read all of it!

Well, after finishing my fan fiction, I'll get back to work on my Beauty and the Beast Retellings, which I have entitled CENTAUR and THORN. I'll be doing a post on my blog telling a little more about them later. :)

Hugs!

Anonymous said...

I need to get back to my Camp NaNo story and am procrastinating reading blogs...

Scrumptious doings, all!
And yes, verrry curious about the secret project!
*pets adorbz cats*

I finally read Heartless last week so I actually got some of the references like dragon-eaten! *is so excited* Heartless was awesome and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the others! :) *glares at library for not having them*

Good luck on your proofs and writing and such like! :)

Blessings,
Deborah

Sarah Pennington said...

This past week has been Goldstone Wood fanfiction week for me, so I'll have at least two pieces to send in for the contest! (They'll be coming in August, so you know.) Plus I have two novels with the possibility of starting a fourth (or maybe just a short story) so YAY WRITING! I'm hoping to finish at least one big project this summer and then another big project in September/October so I can work on my Five Enchanted Roses story as soon as possible.

So excited for Golden Daughter, Draven's Light, and your secret project! Also, I want to hug your cats. I really do.

Unknown said...

I have three entries for Five Enchanted Roses perculating:

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROSE:

Leta Ashworth's life has finally returned to some hint of normalcy now that her father has been released from prison. But then the man who put him there--and who once owned Leta's heart--returns to her life. Now Leta must face the consequences of the past--and fight for any hope of a future. A retelling of BatB and Jane Austen's Persuasion, where neither the Beast--nor the Beauty--are truly what they seem...

A TITHE OF THORNS:

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast + Bearskin, with sprinklings of Faust.

A ROSE FOR A DREAM:

Retelling of Beauty and the Beast, inspired by Daniel and the Lion's Den, set in a setting based off Ancient Persia, Ukraine, and Russia.

Savannah Jezowski said...

Mine is called WITHER, and it's about--
oh, I can't tell you or I will get carried away and tell you everything!
But there are forces of darkness escaping from the Underworld
and an utterly romantic Beast with a jaw-dropping secret and a positively dreadful Beauty and--
eek, I better stop. I'm just too excited.

Anonymous said...

I have almost finished planning my Enchanted Roses story, but I have no idea what it will be called. Lucky you people in America with warm days and swimming and so on, we Australians are freezing our hands off! I am glad Mutti is going so well!
Jemma

Meagan @ Blooming with Books said...

Love all the news. Can't wait for The Golden Daughter.

Gracie said...

Wow! Sounds like you are having a busy yet great summer!

I don't particularly have anything too big which I am going to do, but I do have some things. I haven't been very faithful with my book writings, but I still need to finish it, I'm taking violin lessons and I'm hoping I might be able to take voice lessons. It has been kinda a cool and mild summer here in Missouri, but I'm thankful for that because the last three years have been drought years.

Hope you have a good rest of the summer!

Gracie
"P.S" I'm new-ish to this blog and I have been wondering what Imp means in the context of your blog.

Hannah said...

Hi Gracie!

The term "Goldstone Imps" was coined by Clara Darling, an Imp to the core. We mean "imp" as in a small faerie, possibly mischievous, but often loveable. :)

Melanie J. Morgan said...

I'm pretty sure most already know what I'm up to, so I'll break it down briefly (mostly so I have my own written to-do list that people can hold me accountable for). The animatic is going well, I'm currently half-done the rough sketches of the storyboard panels, I need to finish the other half then go over it cleanly, and, if I have time, employ shading. Prospective deadline is end of July.

Because of time constraints, I'm only submitting one fan fiction this year (it's become a bit of a tradition for me now). Though, hopefully it'll turn out half-decent.

The rest of the year will be devoted to my entry for Five Enchanted Roses. However, I'm keeping that puppy super hush-hush, so nobody's getting squat information from me. ;)

This, all the while preparing for a convention/conference in Canada to hopefully get a job, attending to resumes and portfolio DVDs and websites and applications, and all the other getting a job-related stuff I must attend to. So super duper busy.

Anne Elisabeth, so glad to hear about the goings-on and can't wait to read all the things!! I thank you much for your compliments and I am eager to finish and show you the fruit of all our work!!

Blessings all!
Melanie

ghost ryter said...

Your cats are ever the cutest things! : )

Right now I'm finishing up my last fan-fic (I have two poems, and another story, and I'll be sending them all in real soon). After that, I'll be devoting full attention to my Five Enchanted Roses stories. For one of them, I'm playing around with the title Of Thorns & Roses, but now I'm wondering if maybe too many other people are going to be using like titles. Hm.

Good luck with you gallery work and edits and whatnot! I know God will be guiding you.

Oh, and... an animated musical for Heartless? I'm going to EXPLODE with excitement!!

Shantelle Mary said...

Sounds like you're busy with writing! :)
I'm intrigued by your secret project... can't wait to hear more!! :) Also can't wait to read Golden Daughter and Draven's Light!
I have a possible submission for Five Enchanted Roses. It's tentatively called A Beauty Unforgotten. We'll see. I'm not entirely satisfied with the story itself, but perhaps with a bit more editing, I'll feel its good enough to send in!
Praying your editing goes well!! I'm almost to that stage as I'm nearly finished writing my full-length novel! Eek! I'm so excited! :)

God bless!!

Unknown said...

I'm working on one 5 Roses right now, but it's under wraps. Sorry! : ) I will tell you that it's much longer than I anticipated, and I'm now trying to curb it under the dreaded 20k mark.

In more exciting news, an organization is publishing an essay I wrote. : ) It's on women in modern literature and quite exciting!

Jenelle Leanne said...

I have no idea what my Beauty and the Beast story's title is... titles are my least favorite part of the writing process.

No, seriously.

I have no idea if I'll get it finished in time... and I have no idea how to summarize it without giving everything away, so... I won't even try. (At this point I have about 3 paragraphs written, and though I know where it's going, summaries are the other bane of my existence, so that is going to take some time as well).

Gracie said...

@Hannah
Okay, thank you for clarifying that for me. :)

ghost ryter said...

Am I allowed to send in an illustration with a submission to the fan-fiction contest?

Anne Elisabeth Stengl said...

Wow, I'm loving all the FIVE ENCHANTED ROSES titles and story hints! And even those of you who are keeping it all mum . . . well, that's tremendously intriguing as well! Very eager to read all of your work.

@Gracie: Yes, an imp is like a mischievous little sprite or Faerie. And a Goldstone Wood Imp is one of the core, most enthusiastic fans of Goldstone Wood! And we are always eager to add new Imps to that number, so we are happy to have you join us! :D

To clarify--M.J. Morgan's wonderful project is an "animatic," not an "animation." So, from what I understand, it will be still images depicting how an animation *would look* if finished. More like a storyboard with voices and music. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Melanie!)

And ghost ryter, you may CERTAINLY send in illustrations with your fan fiction submission! I will be very happy to post them.

Anonymous said...

Just re-reading Moonblood,
is Carun Corgar or whatever it's called the castle of Gharis?
Jemma

Unknown said...

The title for my re-write is very hush-hush. ;)

That being said, my novella is a science fiction re-telling with a feisty Heroine. And I am very, very excited about it. ^_^