Computer Crash and New Projects

Sorry, once again, for a lack of posting. Recently, my computer has decided that it wanted to attract every type of deadly virus known to mankind. Thus, it crashed. For almost a month, I had no Internet access whatsoever, and for a while no access to even Microsoft Word.  So… that sucked. I couldn’t write. I couldn’t seach the Internet. I couldn’t blog. Almost my entire life is on the computer, especially during the summer. I know, I sound like a  stereotypical teenager, but really. Writers need their computers! I’ve been hand-writing everything lately, and I’m starting to get writer’s cramp.

Back to important things.

Maybe it’s irrelevant, maybe it’s not, but I’ve decided to postpone publication on Luna del Fantasma. Fact of the matter is, it’s not all that great, under further inspection. It’s spotty, at best. So, currently, I’m working on a few other projects.

1) Copperhead– Story of a post “apocalyptic” Australia, based in the mining town of Broken Hill. Begins with 3rd Limted account of the war that was the form of apocalypse that devistated the world. (We all know that if mass war broke out now, it would be a threat to the world itself; image how bad it would be a hundred years from now.) Then, it transitions forward about a hundred years, or whenever the war is all but forgotten. Told from 3rd PoV of the previous main character(Adam)’s great-grandson, Leo. Leo is best friends with the larger-than-life Calliope, named after the Muse. Leo never had anything to worry about, until his cousin (very nearly sister) Maria falls ill with an uncurable disease. It ruins his world when Maria dies, but when Calliope catches the same thing, Leo about loses his mind trying to save her, all the while discovering the lies he’s been believing all these years. Inserted between chapters are first-hand accounts of the war, told from Adam’s journal.

2)   Naming Roses– Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee,” this is a story of good ol’ boy Asher, a cocky, overconfident 17-year-old who thinks all his hometown of Cairo, GA (that’s pronounced KAY-row) is good for was running his mother off when he was a baby. At least, that’s what he though until he met Annabel. Anna was from Chicago, and not at all used to the hot Georgian climates. Orphaned at a young age, Annabel was adopted seperate from her older brother Vincent (named for Vincent Price.) Annabel was something completely different from the uppidy Southern girls Asher had come to hate, something much more real, and much more fragile. Annabel realizes much too late that she’s been drawn too deep into the small-town sameness. And, as she tries to get out, Asher is the one holding her down, trying to keep her sane.

3) The most “fun” of my projects, 18 Things to do Before You’re 18: The Reese’s Puff Challenge — Katy Flo Hoffmeister (inspired, of course, from Margo Roth Speigleman) has always been a little…out there. You know the type– play pranks on everybody, always making snarky comments and actually-really-funny jokes that you don’t want to give her the pleasure of laughing at. She’s naturally awesome, and naturally self-absorbed. But even she was unprepared for what she would find at her breakfast table on morning– the Reese’s Puff Challenge. Here’s her reason for taking this absurd challenge: it seemed to be fun, and who wouldn’t take a challenge on a cereal box? So, she drags her car-phobic/neat freak/gay best friend, Jeremy, and her homophobic/druggy-behind-her-back boyfriend, Dustin, on the roadtrip of a lifetime. Oh, and did I mention that her adopted-from-China little sister Nikki tagged along too? Yeah. This book will be the combined brains of me and my best friend in the whole wide world (who also inspired the character of Katy.)

4) For most people, FOUR projects at once might seem a little hard to keep up with. For me, not really. This one is the newest, and ergo the least fleshed out– This story takes place in Cincinatti in the 50’s. It’s a 3rd Omniscient mystery that is split up by the different characters– Luna, a blind 17-year-old who escapes from a mental institute; Mr. Andy, an elderly man who has washed down from his once very successful music career; Allie, a single mother who wears short braids; and Todd, a college student majoring in broadcasting who runs the radio show. Like I said, this one is barely fleshed-out, mostly just a few bones right now. I haven’t quite figured out what the big mystery is just yet, but each character discovers a small mystery that leads to a much bigger one.