June has been an odd month, so far. I’ve been feeling like I’m drifting aimlessly, which is more or less normal procedure after a book release, but it doesn’t make the feeling any more comfortable. What I’m meant to do during and after a new book release, of course, is write the next book; but I find that I’m rarely in a cohesive enough frame of mind to concentrate properly on the next book while the new book is in the process of being published. That means that I’m usually scattered, undisciplined, and inclined to waffle for both the duration and about a week after launch day.
Today, I’m happy to announce, I seem to be back to form. The last couple days have seen anywhere from 500-1500 words consistently written, which means that the new book is settling in well–or, to be more accurate, the new books.
That’s right. I’m obviously mad. This time, I have two strings to my bow. And by that I mean that I’m writing two books at once.
One of the WiPs is the next book in the Two Monarchies Sequence, BLACKFOOT. Carrying on almost directly after the end of SPINDLE, BLACKFOOT concentrates on the adventures of a young girl called Annabel, her friend Peter, and Annabel’s cat Blackfoot–along with a parliament of cats, sneakily growing ruins, and a certain staff that supposedly vanished years ago. Some previously-met characters will be appearing again *coff*PolyandLuck*coff* and many questions will be answered. I don’t want to say too much because spoilers, Sweetie, and I haven’t finalised the blurb, but I’m really looking forward to this one.
The other WiP is a romance. That’s right. An actual romance. Well, it’s in an Edwardian/Korean style setting, with distinct fantasy elements to it, but it’s my first fully romance novel. I usually do Fantasy With A Smidge Of Romance or SciFi With A Smidge Of Romance. With BRIGHT AS THE EYES OF YOU, the focus will be on the romance. I’m planning on publishing a chapter every couple of weeks on Wattpad as soon as I have a cover to upload. I’m hoping to get feedback from native Korean speakers (and romance readers, if it comes to that) since BATEOY is a bit different from my usual kind of book. Below is a rough blurb for your information. I’m having a lot of fun with this one, and since I have THE WHOLE MONTH OF JULY OFF FROM WORK, I’m hoping to finish the first draft of both books reasonably quickly.
BRIGHT AS THE EYES OF YOU: Confined to her couch because of an inability to walk, Clovis Sohn spends her days and nights dreaming, drifting further away from the reality closest to her with each passing day. But Clovis’s dreams are also real, showing her the outside world and people that she otherwise has no access to. As Clovis dreams and watches, she becomes caught up in the complicated love life of publishing assistant Ae-jung, an ordinary young woman who has three very different men in love with her.
There is Clovis’ mischievous half-brother Jessamy, arrogant writer Hyun-jun, and bored, playful composer Yong-hwa. Ae-jung is mistress of many secrets, not the least of which is her love for Hyun-jun, and neither Jessamy, with all his delightful humour, nor Yong-hwa, with his fondness for games and subtlety, can succeed.
Jessamy is young enough to love again, and Hyun-jun is just beginning to learn to love, but it is playful Yong-hwa that Clovis connects with. Ae-jung’s rejection of him has hit as hard as his unexpected love for her did; and Clovis, who has always thrown her bread to the wounded bird over the healthy, decides that Yong-hwa needs another game to bring him back to himself.
And in the end, perhaps it will take Yong-hwa to bring Clovis back to herself.
In addition to all this, I’m learning Korean and Hangul, and enjoying every moment of it! Hangul is like decoding and deciphering all at once, and as someone who practised to be a spy as a kid, I’ve taken to it like a duck to water, proving that some people don’t grow up, they simply grow older.
What are you guys up to? What are you writing? Reading?
I am reading an ARC titled Sirens which is edited by another author/editor I read for named Rhonda Parrish. I’ll be hosting when they do a blog tour later on this summer. I’ve already got three books (well 3 planned) when I finish that one. Don’t Know Much About the Bible (recommended by a history buff), Side Jobs by Jim Butcher–which is a re-read but was the book club choice for the month. And From Hardtack to Home Fries which caught my eye when I was walking through the library.
I’m writing well editing a story about what if teens ruled the world. And I haven’t quite settled on what my next project will be. Possibly the bookstore story.
Hm, Rhonda Parrish. That name sounds familiar…
Your writing sounds interesting! Being at the editing stage is always a mix between good and bad: you know, you’ve finished the book, but there’s still SO MUCH to do 😀
I’ve been caught up in my own stuff so I haven’t been reading as much, but I want to get back to Douglas Adams again shortly 🙂
You will have to let us know if you have a good method for learning Hangul. My current method for learning Korean is called “trying to sing the lyrics to K-pop songs.” It is not a very good method. 😉
I just about ten minutes ago finished reading Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, and I am so bummed because I thought it was a stand-alone, but it is in fact the start of a series and I want the next one NOW.
Haha, that’s a little bit of what I do with the spoken Korean bit: singing songs. I’ve begun to reconise certain words, so it’s helpful. The Hangul, written…well, I’ve learned most of the characters and their sounds, and I’m following several Korean twitter/instagram accts, and I’m making sure to sound out every tweet/post I come across, and then check myself for accuracy when it comes to reading the Hangul characters. I also practise writing phrases that I need to know/will come in handy in everyday conversation (so far just stuff like ‘hello’, ‘my name is’, etc) and whenever I come across a verb ending or something else useful, I try to remember it 😀
So, a bit scrambled, but I seem to be getting a bit of it. Learning lots of titles and forms of address 😀