At this point in time, only two projects are definitely on my “to-write” list: the Rymellan series and a story for Torquere Press’s Sapphic Signs…

Check. Posted four stories to Rymellan Fiction and wrote Like Water and Water.

I do know that I’d like to focus on short stories and novellas. Since I don’t write a story with a set length in mind, I might end up writing a novel anyway, but my preference will be to work on projects that I expect to come in under 50K words.

Bzzt! I ended up writing Threaded Through Time, Books One and Two, both of which came in over 50K words. Having said that, when I started to write Threaded Through Time, Book One, I expected it to come in under 50K words.

I see myself publishing only one print book in 2011: Rymellan 2.

Bzzt! I ended up taking Threaded Through Time to print, too.

Okay, so I won’t be enjoying a second career as a psychic anytime soon.

What’s in Store for 2012?

At the moment, I have only one story on my “to-write” list; in fact, I’m already writing it: the March Rymellan story. Will there be any other Rymellan stories in 2012? I don’t know. If I had to guess, I’d say no. But as you can see from 2011, nothing I say in this post is cast in stone.

I will, of course, take Rymellan 3 to print and eBook in 2012.

What Else?

Once I’ve finished the March Rymellan story, I’ll open my ever-growing ideas file and choose what to write next. I hope to cross a few ideas off the list in 2012.

I’ll try to do what I wanted to do in 2011: focus on shorter works. I’d like to write a variety of stories, none of which I’ll talk about because I don’t know what I’ll do with them when they’re finished.

Possibilities:

1. Learn from the experience and stick the story in a drawer.
2. Submit the story to an ezine, magazine, or anthology.
3. Wait until I’ve built up a decent collection of stories and then publish them.
4. For novellas: publish them.

As you can see, the options range from never publishing a story to potentially having a story accepted for publication in a year or two. Given that, there’s no point talking about what I’m writing as I go along. I’ll only talk about a story when I know that it’ll be published, and when.

No More WIP Page

Once I’ve posted the March Rymellan story to Rymellan Fiction, I’ll remove the WIP page from this website. It’s mainly there so people can check where I am with the next Rymellan story. That will become moot in March, and since I won’t be talking about whatever I’m writing as I’m writing it, there won’t be anything to put on the WIP page.

Summary

In 2012, I’ll finish writing the March Rymellan story, and I’ll publish Rymellan 3 in print and eBook. I’ll focus on short stories, novelettes, and novellas for the remainder of the year. When I know if/when a story will be published, I’ll post about it on my blog.

I wish you a safe and happy holiday season, and all the best for 2012. See you next year!

Enjoy!

This naturally leads to the question, “When will the Rymellan series end?” Last year I did an interview with Julia Rios of The Outer Alliance, in which she asked me just that:

OA: Your other big project, the Rymellan stories, which you publish quarterly online, has enough material to fill two books now, though only one volume is actually in print so far. How much more do you plan to write in that world?

SE: I hope to bring the series to a satisfactory conclusion at the end of Rymellan 3. As you mentioned, Rymellan 1 is already available in print, and Rymellan 2 will be available in early 2011. I expect to reach the end of Rymellan 3 sometime in 2012, so I’ll stop publishing quarterly at that point. After that, I might publish stories about significant events that take place later in the characters’ lives, but not quarterly.

Serendipity was in play here, because I’d only just sat down a few weeks earlier to contemplate the future of the series. For readers who were there at the beginning, the series started when I posted the first two stories (The Dance and The Military Academy) in March 2008. For me, it began back in 2007, when I started to write those stories. At my three-year mark around October 2010, I thought about how much longer I wanted to write the series. That’s why I had an answer at my fingertips when Julia interviewed me.

Almost a year later, my answer still stands. In fact, I can now say that the March 2012 story will be the last one in the web series. The guesstimate I gave in the interview was pretty good, considering that I don’t outline. But I knew at what point I wanted to end the series, and I had an idea of what it would take to get there.

Will March 2012 mark the end of Lesley, Mo, and Jayne? Probably not. In my answer, I also said, “After that, I might publish stories about significant events that take place later in the characters’ lives, but not quarterly.” That’s still true. After finishing Rymellan 3, I have a lot more I can write about the triad and Rymellan society. If I do, I’ll write standalone novellas (no more cliff hangers!) on a “when a story tugs at me” basis, and I’ll make them available at eBookstores.

To recap:

1. I’m not starting anything new until after I’ve finished the Rymellan series.
2. The Rymellan series will end in March 2012.
3. After taking a break, I’ll probably publish more Rymellan stories, but not to the web, and not quarterly.

Later.

Enjoy!

Read it here: How I Met a Dead Woman

On another note, I recently created a Facebook fan page for me. It will allow me to post stuff about writing and my work without boring the family and friends who are on my personal profile. You can check it out here:

My fan page   (<– like this!  )

Talk to you next week!