21.8.08

update: works in progress, facebook

Well, I've done it. I'm using Facebook now. MySpace just wasn't cutting it - clunky, slow, kind of like an old beater of a car that'll chug from point A to point B all the while sounding like it's going to die from some horrible respiratory disease in the process. Facebook actually seems like a lot of fun, and I'll be testing out its networking capabilities next Monday once I officially launch the Always Choose Love Initiative, which I alluded to a while back. More than that, though, I'm hoping I'll be able to stay in better touch with a variety of folks, even if it just an occasional chirp.

In other news, work on my novel, called Rebel in Waiting, is gradually drawing to an end. I'm getting into a fourth and last round of edits, after which I will try to find a literary agent. It's actually been quite grueling in addition to exhilarating. While I knew going in that it wouldn't be a novel for everyone, I'm hoping it will at least be a novel for someone - other than me. At the least, working to refine it has been a useful lesson in patience and taking the time to explore, in critical detail, what works and what doesn't. Even if the book isn't "for everyone," I can at least say that after four rounds of edit, the end result is vastly superior than that first draft, which can only fuel my excitement and bolster my confidence.

For all the talk about a niche book, though, I can safely say that my second novel - I'm well into Chapter 3 - will be accessible in the conventional sense of the word. I don't want to say too much yet, but it's fantasy of sorts along the lines of G. Garfield Crimmins The Republic of Dreams: A Reverie. It's about a forensic poet investigating art crimes in the County of Imagination, a land of artists. The language (conlang) I invented is actually getting put to use, and I've got all sorts of other goodies planned to give the book a Tolkien-like reality, albeit with a plot that doesn't involve war.

And just as exciting as seeing an end to the editing process for Rebel in Waiting is finally being within reach of a working draft for my poetry book, which I intend to enter in contests after an exhaustive editing process.

With so many pots in the fire, I'm really eager for the feast...

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