WIP is shorthand for Work in Progress, in case you're wondering.
I feel like I'm constantly being asked how my progress is on the second book of Shadow Reign Chronicles. My answer is always the same:
"Not as far as I'd like to be."
I started writing the second book, which I'm calling TAR until I'm completely happy with the title, and I won't be until either my progress is further or until I've finished it (I'm not telling you what TAR stands for, so don't ask.) and I only completed the first three chapters the same day I finished The Vernore Gene (VG). On Sunday, 9/13/09 I had a sudden brainstorm so I wrote a chapter without a place to put it yet. I call it my prologue but we'll see if it actually goes there.
I was interrupted of my work by an idea sparked by Norse mythology which I stared an outline for and wrote almost half of it just in Feb. I was sure it would be finished in April, but it took a turn I didn't expect and then reread and felt it just wasn't working the way I wanted it to. I plan to rewrite it when I'm ready to look back on that idea. In that story, I love no character more than the one that would be me--if I were a boy. I asked some friends while writing it if it was strange that I wrote as a boy and how I felt about a certain girl. I think a lot of people just said "no" to keep me happy. I don't think they understood that even if they said it was weird, I couldn't care less.
Then I read my first Manga book and a new story sparked into my head. I have been working on The Lyon's Key (TLK) since Feb. (which is when TLK took over the Norse myth story) and now I'm done with the first draft. My goal was to finish the first draft by my birthday which come sooner than expected. Uhg! (oct 12)
I also played with the title for TLK in my head and think about changing it all the time. I did this also with VG when I was almost done. I wondered if it would be better as something else or if what I called it would be intriguing enough. Now I'm so happy I stuck with it. And though I love the cover it's causing me grief about what to do with the next books cover. I want to keep with the jungle theme but I keep telling myself I'll know better once I finish or at least make a bigger dent in the second book.
Working on a cover for TAR though has helped me to stay on track and to keep thinking about the characters and story line for book 2. I keep thinking about the issues that I need to resolve and the "Family" quirks from the first book. I'm juggling so much in my head I want the right character to stay in the right frame of mind and it scares me that I might mess up when jumping between two completely different books.
Having explained all this to my family thousands of times, I found that I had to use similes. This was fun.
"I wrote 24 (VG) and immediately started 24-2 (TAR) but got distracted by writing The Cosby Show (Norse myth) but The Cosby Show took a turn for the worse and the idea for Lost (TLK) jumped into my head and I've spent so much time and have had such a good time with Lost that I haven't had a lot of time until recently to put 24-2 back in my head. So once Lost is satisfactorily out of my head I won't fully return to 24-2 until then."
Wish me luck.
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