Our Books as Children

In looking over my last bunch of blog entries, I realized all I’ve done lately  is share recipes, complain about the post office, or add happy romance reflections.  I suppose that’s because my fiction uses up my “writing” time, and so when it’s time to blog, I’m typed out. When I’m not writing fiction, I bake or do life stuff I can’t write about because it’s private. Too bad because those would make for GREAT posts.

But in 2013 I’m going to focus on blogging about fiction, writing, promotions, cons…all things related to creating characters and their lives.

Just like every child or pet is different, so is every work of fiction. Some stories are prompted by a call for submissions. Some are born of anguish or celebration.

My last novel, Restitution, published by Shadowridge Press was a blast to write. It was fun and intense and a true pleasure beginning to end. My fingers could barely keep up with my thoughts. It was like a first child whose every smile lights up the room, whose each new step a miracle. And you fill a whole baby book with images of its progression.

The new one, My Name is Marnie, has been difficult to write. Sometimes it flows, other times not. Though the rough draft is done, I’m not looking forward to going back and rereading it. It still needs work. This is a second child in a way. It’s dark and brooding, and sad. And I try to make it like the last one but can’t because it is what it is. It was born that way. I know when I go back and look with a mother’s/writer’s love  that I’ll see it has worth. And I can transform it until the world agrees. But right now, I don’t have the patience for it.

That’s not to say I’ve just got those two books. There’s The Soul Collector-my foster kid who has been bounced from publishing house to house and hopes to find a permanent home with Shadowridge. Right now we’re finalizing the “adoption” papers. This was written a long time ago, when I was in a different place and this book is always an afterthought.

Hope House is my favorite (next to Restitution which is a different literary animal: short, intense, fun). Hose House is novel length, about 90,000 words. It’s a solid story with several sub stories within. Characters with entire lives behind them fighting to the death for the futures they want. It’s about genetics and child loss and adoption and the mafia and a backdrop in the jungles of Haiti. It’s  a well researched thriller that took as long to research as it did to write. This one will be out in June 2013 from Shadowridge Press and I’m really looking forward to promoting it. Hope House is my adult child in medical school who is impressive and worldly and surprises me everyday when I remember that  I created it.

My short stories are close to my heart. They’re my nieces and nephews. Wonderful flashes brilliance or darkness, or both, who come into my life for a short time then leave me, with only their recorded memory as proof they were ever there at all.

My short story collection aptly named The Collection and Other Tales of Horror will be out late February 2013, or earlier if I can finish a couple more before then. There are some old tales and some brand-new.  This will be a fun collection and I’m thrilled to have them all in one place like a family reunion photo.

As the months pass, I’ll share some of my writing life and processes, successes, and failures with you.

Happy writing and Happy New Year!

-Tracy

Please visit Tracy’s AMAZON Page to see all her works for sale.

Countdown to Restitution

My first mainstream adult novel will be formally released at this year’s Anthology Conference the weekend of November 9-11, 2012. It’s called Restitution and I am excited this book is coming to fruition.

This is a novel I wrote for the NANOWRIMO competition two years ago. It was written in a whirl of creativity and sleeplessness with the help of a full bottle of Black Bush and my trusty Mac computer. 30 solid days of writing. By the end my hands were sore, my eyes were blood-red and I had an overwritten story that I forced to 50,000 words to finish.

Almost two years later I opened it up, read and thought, WOW! Except for those last 5,000 words that turned to story into a miasma of crap. Easy fix. Deleted the words I didn’t need-which should always be a major step. I rewrote, renamed some characters and then edited it about four more times. Then some folks read it so I edited it again. And again. And then one fine day, it was done. Well except for that very last edit.

Throughout the month I will be posting more information but for tonight a quote and the synopsis.

A blurb from one of  my early readers, Kristi Petersen Schoonover: 

“Restitution is a tension-filled ride…a fast-paced twister of a mystery that will fill readers with dark glee and leave them breathless.”
— Kristi Petersen Schoonover, author of Bad Apple and Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole: Tales from Haunted Disney World

So what’s it all about? Here’s the synopsis:

Destiny intervenes for Tucker Millis, a delusional writer who needs a purpose in life and a plot for his new novel. When he discovers his new phone number once belonged to a man on the verge of turning himself in for a twenty-five year old murder, it’s a dream come true. Tucker uses the messages and calls intended for the murderer to manipulate lives and to craft his story. But he’s propelled back to reality when he can no longer escape the full horror and dire consequences of the world he’s created.

In upcoming posts I’ll reveal my inspiration for the book, the writing process, and how it is to work with my new publisher.

Can’t wait till the book comes out to read my fiction? Check out some short stories to hold you over. CLICK HERE.

-Thanks and happy writing

Tracy