Finito

I've finally completed the first draft of my first post-hiatus story. It's called "Sonny" and it's about a day in the life of a boy dealing with abuse at school and at home. It wasn't particularly difficult to write, but it came it fits and starts over the course of a couple of weeks.

A big part of that, I think, is my dedication to reading. There's no coincidence that the writers we all read are constant readers. Sure, full-time authors have more time to dedicate to it than we do as aspiring writers, but that's no excuse.

It's a mainstream story, and all (or at least a good portion) of those markets are slow as hell, so once I give it a good once-over and send it out, it will probably be a while before I hear back. In the meantime, I have a few unfinished nuggets in the ol' trunk I'd like to have a whack at, and a new idea or two knocking around upstairs that probably should get a look-see. But first, I need to finish off BLOOD MERIDIAN.

Oh, and in other news, the official release date of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS has been announced, for all my fellow fantasy buffs. Mr. Martin confirmed the announcement on his Not-A-Blog. He isn't finished quite yet, but he's apparently close enough for his publishers to make the announcement, which means the end is very near.