I can’t see myself only writing in one genre. Yes, there are authors who only write novels that involve detectives and serial killers. And some writer’s pen only romance or historical sagas. But, I can’t see myself limiting myself.

My first novel WINDFALL was a dramatic thriller. However, next year when I write its sequel, I’m not going to limit myself to writing another dramatic thriller. It might end up being a dramatic thriller but it might be something entirely different. Right now I don’t know. I’m giving myself options.

This year I’m writing two novels. One is a coming of age story. The other is a paranormal romance.

I suppose if I was younger I might want to focus on one genre and become famous for that. Like Stephen King did with horror, or John Grisham did with novels about lawyers.

But I’m 60. At this point in my life I’m not going to limit myself.

I’m a writer, sometimes novels and sometimes screenplays, and I’m going to write what I want to write.

Writing Devices for the Blind in 1913 (Library for the Blind)

It starts with a rich collector who has discovered an early Abraham Lincoln document. The collector asks two people to authenticate the manuscript: Greg Evarts, a detective, and Patricia Baldwin, a professor. The professor, of course, is not only smart but stinking rich and beautiful. The novel has everything from intrigue and murder to romance.

The story begins in California and progresses to the historical east coast where the reader is introduced to private libraries, secret apartments, and shown how rich and powerful civil war descendants live. Conspiracies and secret societies from the Civil War era are unveiled in such a realistic manner that, when I finished the book, I actually did some research to separate fact from fiction.

This one is worth your time and attention.

If you read it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Current Novel needs a title. Right now I’m considering Perspicuous Dreams. Perspicuous means “clearly expressed” or “lucid”. I know a lot of people won’t know what perspicuous means but I have the same problem with verity. I am also considering Lucid Dreams.

Any thoughts on these two titles?

Because I’m so busy with two novels, I wasn’t going to enter this year’s contest but this morning I woke up with an idea I couldn’t turn my back on.

The MoviePoet logline contest is the first stage of a feature-length screenplay contest. The top 30 loglines advance to the second stage where the first ten pages of their screenplays can be submitted. The top ten writers in this stage advance to the third stage, where the entire screenplay is presented.

I have entered this contest twice before and my logline has NEVER advanced.  I have always considered three my lucky number so we’ll see if my logline progresses to the second stage of the contest this year.

Yes, I’m entering Windfall. The manuscript is ready… I just have to get the files ready to upload. In addition to the entire manuscript, I will upload a 3,000-5,000 word excerpt and a “pitch”. The files have to be in an accepted format (.doc, .docx, .rtf, or .txt.).

Winners of this contest wil get a contract with the Penguin Group (U.S.A.).. And, yes, I would love to win. Finalists will be announced in May and the winner will be announced in June.

The main character, Wes Holloway, is the U.S. President’s aide (“…a.k.a. the body person… a.k.a. the buttboy). He tells the story in first person.

Have you ever watched Meltzer’s television show DECODED? If you haven’t, you should give it a gander because it’s really good. Anyway, this book is filled with some of the research revealed in his television show including Freemasonry secrets and secret codes invented by Thomas Jefferson. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you read this book. I gave The Book of Fate five stars out of five.

And, I like to write about writing.  So I have this blog.

But, sometimes I’d just like to write about other things, things that are on my mind.  Like politics, health, being the mother of a teenager, aging, etc. I didn’t want to write about those things on this blog because this blog is, afterall, about writing. So, this week-end I set up a new blog. 

In case you’re interested in taking a look, go to Faith’s Thoughts. You never know what I’ll be thinking about! In fact, it might surprise you!

Fox Writing with Quill Pen

Here is what my sister told me in an email: I read all of Windfall this past Tuesday. It took me about seven hours to complete. I had a hard time in the beginning with all the characters and I almost stopped reading it. However once it came together I couldn’t put it down. Thumbs up Sis!

All I can say is, “hang in there.” At the beginning of the book,  the characters seem unrelated, but their stories overlap and most questions are resolved at the end.

Today, I got some good writing done on FINDING VERITY.  Almost two hours worth at the laundromat and then another couple of hours when I got home. 

Current word count on FINDING VERITY is 15,634.

But this plan went by the wayside rather quickly. I discovered that when I was making great strides on one of the novels I had to continue working on it. I had to give it more than one day of attention. So I had to change my plan.

What this told  me is it’s important to build FLEXIBILITY into our goals.

So my new commitment  is this: I WILL WORK ON ONE OF TWO NOVELS EACH DAY. If one gets ignored for a couple of days or a week or so, so be it.

Here is my new word count: 

FINDING VERITY – 14,523

CURRENT NOVEL - 9,630 words.

Right now I’m readingTHE BOOK OF FATE by Brad Meltzer and I am enjoying it. My thoughts on this book will be blogged about in the future.

The story is not for the weak-hearted. No there is not a lot of blood and guts but it is a story about a three-year old boy who is stolen from his mother. He is found, naked and drugged, in a suitcase. It is heart wrenching and written well, told mainly from the standpoint of the boy’s mother and the woman who found him. Other viewpoints include the man who ordered the kidnapping and the man who was going to pick up the boy and leave the money. The story takes place in eastern Europe.

Although the story was dark, it was not the same old same old, something I always look for in a story. (I get so tired of knowing how the story is going to end before I get to the end.) The Boy in the Suitcase had a twist at the end which gave it a kind of upbeat ending.

I read The Boy in the Suitcase on my Kindle. It is also available in a hardback at Amazon.com.

I won’t want to read another book about a kidnapped child for a while but I gave this story five stars out of five stars.

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