Come on Baby, Light My Fire

I've been absolutely horrible about keeping up here at this blog.  I have to apologize for that.  The truth of the matter is that I've been a bit depressed.  It seems that my publisher isn't interested in more books in the PRECINCT 13 series (or... at least there's been no interest so far.)

In the way of the wheels of publishing, I wrote PRECINCT 13 and turned it in last year.  It came out this August.  Normally, my editor buys the next book almost right away, and I start working on a sequel so that it can come out _next_ year. 

Because my editor hasn't bought the next book, I've actually been "out of work" for almost a year.  I haven't been writing any original fiction at all (I have, alas, written nearly 200,000 words of fan fiction, but that's another story.)  This was a mistake.  It was an honest one, but a mistake all the same.  Had I not trusted that the book contract "would be coming," I could have written and finished any number of dream projects.  But, because I was expecting news of a contract sale "any minute now," I let myself fall into vacation mode.  I doodled around.  I played with fan fic.  I generally didn't do anything to forward my writing career for an entire year. 

I can't afford to do that any more -- not financially, and not emotionally.

So, I'm starting to finally wake up, smell the coffee, and start casting around for various ideas and projects.  One thing I've decided to do is take part in the NaNoWriMo.  I was thinking that one of the things people always say to me is, "Tate, you should write a Garnet Lacey e-book."  I've always sort of nodded politely and not done much about that idea, because I had deadlines to meet.  Also, it's sometimes difficult for me to get excited about something that no publisher is waiting for.  However, it feels like November might be the time to get serious about that.  So, I've officially signed up and am planning to spend that time working on a Garnet Lacey e-book.  I'm going to dust off my proposals and see what looks neat.  I'm thinking of this as an opportunity to do some things that the publisher would never have gone for -- maybe Garnet will have a secret affair with Parrish (maybe there will be a three-way!)  Who knows?  The cool thing is that, for once, there are no limits.  I'm really hoping to enjoy the process and revisiting old friends.  But, if you have anything you'd like to see in an e-book, now is the time to tell me.  I'm going to start jotting down ideas in my NaNoWriMo notebook! 

I am also planning on tracking my progress with this and other projects here on my blog.  So, I hope you'll stop by now and again to cheer me on.  I'm sorry I've been away, but it's good to be back.