State of the Elfyverse: End of the Year Edition

Folks, since we’re two days away from the New Year, it’s about time I updated the state of the Elfyverse.  (I think it’s been two months, maybe three, since I last did this.  How time does fly.)

We start off with the in-progress short story, tentatively titled “Boys Night In.”  I estimate this as about 60% complete; I have the framework for this story, and some of the jokes, but there’s something just not right as of yet.  (I shall, of course, keep working on it.)  Story will be, approximately, 10K words in length.

AN ELFY ABROAD — part 45 is in progress.  Part 44 has been revised.  Part 46 has been tentatively sketched out, in prose only . . . no detailing or jokes.  (This means I’ve probably written five, maybe six thousand words since the last check-in.)  Story stands at an unwieldy and perhaps excessive 255,000 words . . . very good possibility this book is going to end up being split as it’s at least fifteen chapters from the end.

ELFY — I tried twenty agents this year; two bit on sample pages.  Both passed after I sent the sample pages.   Two small-press publishers have shown interest; one believes ELFY, which stands at 240,000 words, needs to be split in thirds.  (I’m still mulling this over.)  The other believes ELFY should stand as-is, but there are other things (not of my making) that are perhaps an impediment to its release at the second small-press publisher.

Needless to say, I am not giving up on ELFY.

KEISHA’S VOW — This is an ELFY prequel, set in 1954 . . . I’ve done some editing here, and perhaps have added 1500 words since October.  I’m still working out part 23, and have realized a few possible problems, but haven’t had much time for this work in particular due to working on the collaborative effort with Piotr Mierzejewski.  KEISHA’S VOW continues to stand at just over 35,000 words; this novel should finish somewhere between 95K and 115K if all goes well.

Now, the state of the non-Elfyverse stuff . . . .

CHANGING FACES, a spiritual, paranormal romance set in the present day, has been re-started, and about 2500 words have been added.  This work now stands at 105,000 words, and should finish by 130K.

THE GIFT, a spiritual, paranormal romance novella set in the present day, has been re-started, and about 1500 words have been added.  This work now stands at 24,000 words, and I hope will finish at 40K.

Novella in progress with Piotr Mierzejewski — currently untitled, formerly titled IRON FALLS — we have about 20K words of an unformed story.  A very rough first draft, IMO . . . some chapters are more finished than others, which I suppose is a saving grace.   This novella is near-future military suspense, set in 2047 in Russia.

10K word story sent to Writers of the Future in September (can’t give out the title), which is fantasy/adventure.  Can’t imagine this story will do well if my/Michael’s collaboration “Joey Maverick: On Westmount Station” didn’t even get an honorable mention, but I suppose it counts.

Word count for the year stands at 235,000.  Not including this blog, various book reviews, writing e-mails, or anything save actual writing on projects.

I have no idea how to count all the editing of projects I’ve done for ComicsBulletin.com and for various friends, so I won’t . . . I’ll just say, “a lot,” and be done with it.

Happy New Year, everyone.   (Oh, and my New Year’s resolutions?  Finish CHANGING FACES at long last.   Figure out why AN ELFY ABROAD is going so long and get a plan as to how to split it up.  Finish THE GIFT at long last.  And finish KEISHA’S VOW at long last, too.  Plus find ELFY a publisher!  Please?)