Oh, is THAT what it is!

On my way home from the LARA meeting and book signing on Sunday, I was thinking about various projects, just letting them run around in my head. I’d like to have Ghosted ready for the Novel Workshop in February (provided I can swing the cost…eep), so it’s next on my plate in terms of big projects. I’m still unsure/unclear about some areas, so what I have to do (among other things) is lay all the scenes out on the table and let my subconscious figure out what goes where. So there I was I driving (singing loudly along with Rick Springfield’s Venus in Overdrive), and loosely pondering all this along with the concerns and fears that I wasn’t figuring it all out and I didn’t know what the hell a particular plot point had to do with anything when suddenly I realized it wasn’t just a clue, it was a parallel mystery/subplot that the protagonist had to solve in order to solve her bigger problem as well as her emotional arc.

Holy crap, dudes. My subconscious has been waiting a damn long time for me to figure that out.

So that was pretty nifty.

Then I got home and I was pondering the short story I need to write next. Fantasy, nostalgia about anywhere from the 1920s to the 1980s. I’d like to keep it to about 1K, so a new story in my WWII/Thirteen Treasures of Britain universe would take too much set up. We’ve been watching Penelope Spheeris’s Decline of Western Civilization II… Another “Duh!” moment. Early 80s, hair metal, the Sunset Strip, a groupie who saves her band from selling their souls to the Devil…

Just finished writing it. :-)

Now, on to brainstorming the next couple stories, so I can get them off my plate and get back to work on Ghosted!