The War Room: Launch

Today is the first of what I hope -- HOPE -- to be a regular, weekly update on what's going on.

As in my writing, various related activities, promotions, etc.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. It's a strange world inside any writer's head, and since there are so many universes struggling to expand inside mine ... lots of chaos here, folks!

Why do I say I HOPE this will be a regular, weekly update? Because anyone who checks back here regularly will see that first, my Monday book reports don't appear every Monday. It's pretty sad when I'm so dang busy that I can't even read ONE book each week. I remember back when I rode the bus to work three or four days a week, with an hour-long ride each way, depending on the bus schedule, and I would plow through two or three books each week. Ah, the glory days!

And for another ... I had planned on launching the War Room ... yesterday! Yeah, that's how busy.

But it's a good busy, in this case. I had a goal of finishing the first draft of JENNIFER, Quarry Hall book 11, by the end of the week. Since I had finished an editing assignment, I pushed everything else aside and concentrated on JENNIFER all day yesterday. Ah, ecstasy -- I wrote nearly 11K words. My progress averaged under 2K every day since I started roughing this book at the start of September. It was kind of vital that I get this rough draft done in a timely manner because JENNIFER has to be turned in January 1, for release in May. Keep that date in mind!

My projects for the rest of October:
2nd draft of SANCTUARY, the next book in my Steampunk, Guardians of the Time stream series from Desert Breeze Publishing, which also publishes the Quarry Hall books. Due date for SANCTUARY is December 1, with a release in April.

Speaking of Guardians of the Time Stream .... last week I announced that THE BLUE LOTUS SOCIETY had just released. Well, I'm delighted and proud to announce that the cover art for BLUE LOTUS is in the cover-of-the-month contest at In D'Tales magazine -- the Creme de la Cover contest. Would you all be darlings and go over there and vote for BLUE LOTUS? Gwen, the cover artist for the whole series is a lovely, talented person who is currently on maternity leave (talk about creative!) and this would be a lovely present for her, to have another cover win! ODESSA FREMONT, the prequel for the Guardians of the Time Stream series, won its week a couple of weeks ago. Let's go for two out of two!

Thanks muchly.

And my new project, which I will work on in the mornings before going to the office (because that's how I get so many projects written, by rough drafting in the morning, earning a living in the middle of the day, and revising a different project in the late afternoon and evenings) is a new book in the Commonwealth Universe SF series, published by Writers Exchange. Finally -- and my publisher is going to be glad to hear this -- I'm starting on FIRST LAW. Yeah, I kept promising Sandy I would get to work on it, but life sometimes gets in the way, and deadlines for other books, and .... you know how it goes. FIRST LAW is from the beginning of Commonwealth history, before the Downfall, when the previous galactic civilization was called the Central Allied Worlds. Not a nice place at all. The Khybors, ancestors of the Leapers, have a long-range goal of finding some place far, far away from the prejudice and fear and abuse that seems to follow augmented folk from colony to colony as the CAW expands. In the previous book, SLIPPING THE WEAVE (currently in pre-production at Writers Exchange), we saw the genesis of brain-ships, and the first hints of Khybor pilots being able to pierce the fabric of space-time with their minds, augmented by their ships. The ability to escape those who want to destroy their entire race is within their grasp. In FIRST LAW, they will start making allies, while dealing with some traitors within their midst.

I'm kind of excited about getting to work on this new project, which will take me the rest of the month, and probably into November to get the first draft done. But doggone it, I was planning on doing the next Neighborlee, Ohio book for NaNoWriMo in November ... better get writing FAST, you think?

Want to be part of helping to promote my books, and find out ahead of time about free downloads, new releases, sneak peeks at cover art in the development stage, and a chance to win goodies -- essentially being my street team? Contact me on Facebook and ask to be invited to Michelle's Croo, a private Facebook group. You can also follow me on Twitter @MichelleLevigne (though I admit I'm not chatting much there....), and I'm even on Pinterest. You can look through my boards and see pictures I'm saving to give me inspiration for current projects, and a board called Future Scenes, that I think would make cool settings in upcoming projects.

That's in for now.
Are you afraid yet?