This fall I will find myself in a unique position - a position in which I have never been before. I will be working on two novels simultaneously! Wait, wait, wait, some of you are thinking right now, aren't you always working on multiple ideas at a time? To be sure, yes, but I've never seriously worked on two novels at once. It's one thing to gather ideas and take notes, it's another thing entirely to sit down and write to a deadline, and
that's what I'm going to be doing. I have to say, I'm relishing the challenge, although I'm also wondering if, in the end, I'll feel plagued with multiple personality disorder. Authors tend to get so immersed in their writing that they
become their characters, or at least one of them, so working on two novels with two very different protagonists and two very different story concepts is going to be interesting. The first book, and the one that will obviously take precedence, is the last book in
The Gateway Chronicles,
The Bone Whistle. The second book, due shortly after the manuscript for
The Bone Whistle is due, is
Breeder, the first book in my upcoming dystopian trilogy. So an added challenge here is that I will be pulling all the pieces together on one series while putting all the pieces out on the next. I think it's going to feel a bit like playing two games of chess at the same time - one I'm just in the process of winning, and one I'm just starting to play.
The Bone Whistle, too, is contemporary fantasy adventure, while
Breeder is futuristic dystopian romance with a touch of science fiction. Aside from the speculative nature of both mixed genres, these books are going to be very different! Not to mention that I'm playing around with the idea of writing
Breeder in first person present tense, and
The Bone Whistle, as with all the books in
The Gateway Chronicles, is in third person limited omniscient past tense. Multiple personality disorder indeed. But truly, I am looking forward to it. I think it will be a treat to be able to go back and forth between stories and characters, and I think it will help my brain to stay elastic, as it were. A brain that is never challenged grows stagnant over time!
Some of you who have been following my adventures for a while may be wondering how I can possibly have the time to write two novels at a time this fall. Well, I'm happy to announce that I'm making the leap to full time author! I will no longer be teaching history at my school, although I am retaining just one creative writing course. I will always have a passion for bringing young people along in their writing endeavors, so teaching creative writing just three hours a week is an important thing for me to continue doing. Aside from that, I will be caring for my boys at home, writing, promoting, traveling, and speaking, and I think it's going to be wonderful! And yes, I do have time to write two novels.
Don't forget to mark your calendars for the release of
The Scroll on October 17th! I've been finished with it for so long that I can hardly believe you all haven't read it yet! To whet your appetite, here's a little sneak peak:
Perry began to deal
the cards, acting indifferent. “Hearts, everyone? Someone will need to be on a
team.”
“I’ll team with
Darcy,” Sam said. “I’m terrible at this game.”
Darcy felt a stab of
annoyance. She was ultra-competitive at cards and hated being on a team with
anyone. Still, she knew she shouldn’t be so uncharitable toward her best
friend.
“You do this every
year . . . by yourself?” Darcy asked as Perry continued to deal.
“Yep. Helps me to
wind down.”
“You know what doesn’t help me to wind down?” Dean
said, and his tone of voice caused them all to look up. Dean lifted his chin
toward the window and stood.
Darcy looked out the
window and followed suit so fast her chair skittered out behind her and fell
over.
Colin Mackaby stood
on the other side with his nose almost flattened against the screen. The light
from the dining hall reflected eerily off his eyes and washed his face in a
pale yellow light.
Sam gasped and
backed all the way up to the wall, clutching at Darcy to keep upright.
Colin stared at them
without moving, and then he smiled and turned to walk away.
“Oh no he doesn’t!”
Perry threw his cards down and charged out of the wing and to the patio door.
The sound of Perry smashing into the crash bar echoed in the dining hall. Dean
was fast on Perry’s heels, and Darcy and Lewis followed, dragging Sam with
them.
They caught up to
Perry behind the lodge, just off the patio. He had Colin backed up against the
side of the building, his forearm jammed beneath Colin’s chin and his other arm
cocked out, fist ready.
“Stop!” Darcy threw
her hands out and caught each of them with her magic, forcing them apart.
Perry stumbled
backward, looking affronted, and Colin slid a few inches down the wall, never
taking his eyes off Perry. He seemed unsurprised that Darcy could perform her
magic at Cedar Cove now.
“You broke my
sword!” Perry shouted at Colin. “And you tried to give Darcy to Tselloch. She
should have let Liontari kill you, you worthless piece of—”
“Perry, stop it!”
Darcy shoved him hard. “You’re not helping anything.”
“You should listen
to her,” Colin said.
Perry made to lunge
at Colin again, but Dean held him back.
“You have no idea
what you’re dealing with,” Colin said. He looked at each of them in turn. “It
amazes me, how in the dark Pateros keeps you.”
“If you know so
much, why don’t you enlighten us?” Dean said.
“You don’t even know
how a gateway is formed,” Colin said, continuing as though Dean hadn’t spoken.
“And I suppose you
do?” Darcy asked, trying to keep her voice level.
“Wouldn’t you like
to know?”
“Yeah, I would,
actually.”
“Darcy,” Sam said.
“I don’t think this is the best way to learn—”
Darcy shook her off.
“We need to know, both for Alitheia and for here. If he knows how, maybe he can
help us.”
“Why would he help
us? He’s working with Tselloch. He’s obviously trying to help Tselloch take
over this world as well as Alitheia,” Lewis said.
“He doesn’t know
anything,” Dean said. “He just wants us to think he does.”
“Of course I do! I’m
part of it.” Colin’s expression became manic. “I’m more a part of it than any
of you ever will be. I’m destined to rule Alitheia, not Darcy, not any of you,
I—”
“Colin, Tselloch fed
me that lie, too—”
“It’s not a lie!” he screamed, and spit flew
from his mouth.
“Darcy saved your
life,” Sam said, speaking soothingly. “Twice. She’s trying to help you.”
“She’s trying to help
herself.”
Darcy huffed and
rolled her eyes. There didn’t seem to be any way of breaking through to him.
“You shouldn’t judge
her,” Sam said, pointing at Colin.
“If I wanted advice
from a dumb blonde, I would have asked for it.”
Perry broke free of
Dean’s grip and punched Colin across the face. Colin’s head recoiled against
the siding, then he ducked so Perry’s second fist struck the side of the
building instead. He crouched, spun, and leapt onto Perry’s back before
throwing an arm around Perry’s neck and bringing Perry to his knees with a
chokehold. Dean leapt forward and grappled with Colin’s shoulders.
“Do something!” Sam
shouted and grabbed Darcy’s arm.
“I can’t if you’re
holding on to me like that!” Darcy wriggled out of Sam’s grasp.
“What’s going on out
here?” an adult shouted across the grounds.
“Help, please!” Sam
waved her arms.
A flashlight clicked
on and two men ran their direction. “Boys, break it up! Boys!”
Perry shoved up with
his legs and slammed Colin against the side of the building. Colin let out a
sharp exhalation of pain, and Dean pried his arms off Perry’s neck and pinned
them to his sides. Perry spun, coughing and gasping, and punched Colin across
the face again.
“Stop, Perry.” Sam grabbed his wrist as
he wound back again. “Dean’s got him. He’s done.”
