State of the Writing address

Okay, nothing so formal, but I thought I'd put in some questions I was asked at my signing as they bare repeating here since people have been asking both on and off the interwebs:

I hope this is the first in a series. Yes I am writing a sequel to Acne, Asthma, And Other Signs You Might Be Half Dragon. No, just cause I'm writing it doesn't mean that it's going to happen.

Are you going to self publish the sequel if it comes to it (i.e. if my publisher decided not to pick it up, or folded or otherwise was unable/unwilling to publish the title)? I don't know yet. The thought of being in charge of the whole thing currently makes me shiver in me timbers.

Are you going to be writing anymore contemporary? Probably not. They aren't my real cup of tea, and the last one made me cry too much. Also, the general lack of explosions and car chases was a real downer for me.

How long does it take for you to write a novel? Umm, that depends on the rest of my life. I know, I should be all professional, but unfortunately, my muse doesn't work that way. I started in on the sequel in March, but had to put it aside for other endeavours (fingers still crossed), and only just started back in on the sequel. So when will my first draft be done? Historically 2 to 3 months. So in July-ish. Maybe? Next question!

What made you decide to write?
... With writing, it's never about deciding to write, it's about failing to quit. This question is so loaded with traps. I love it, but the answer is dependent on the day and the mood. The question I think I like better is "why do you write?" because why did I decide to write implies that there was a moment in my life where I could have either written or not, and in that moment I had a profound thought. This wasn't the case. There was a moment when I could have written, and I did because I thought it would be fun (oh, naive me)

The Quiet Between Storms?

Whee! Last week was pretty big. My second book came out. If you haven't done a release yet, it's a little bit crazy and you start to feel like you're standing in an amphitheater designed to seat 20,000, and there are 100 people on the stage trying to get the attention of the audience.

The Great A to Z challenge starts up on Friday, and I've decided to throw in my hat. I'm frantically making videos, but it's looking like I'll be uploading during the challenge, but I'm committed to visiting five a day, so watch out for me. The challenge is enormous this year--I'm number 1535!

This Saturday I'm doing my first Signing at Mendocino Gallery Bookshop! So if you're in Mendocino, California at 6:30, I'll be signing books! 

Writing update:
All I can say at this point is "I'm working on it." I wish that I could really get into it, but since everything I'm working on right now is stuff that no one else has read, it seems rude to bore everyone about it or get your hopes up, because having 20K words into a project means nothing. I could hit a stumbling block at 40k or on the last couple of chapters, or the whole thing could crash and burn because sometimes that happens with novels. They are, by their very nature, difficult to write. So, I hope everyone is satisified with I'm working on it. I'm working on the things people have asked for (Yes, Liz, that project, too), and I'm working on a couple SeKrYt Projects. We'll see which gets where first. (My guess is the secret project will get announced before the others, but the universe has a tendency to laugh at me!).