I've wanted to be an author since I was nine, back when the biggest influences on my writing were Animorphs and Saturday morning cartoons. So it shouldn't be too surprising that now that I'm in the middle of this crazy journey there are a few things that are a little different than what I would have imagined.
Chief among those differences is the number of projects I'm taking on at once. I've always been a one-track-mind sort of person, and without consciously thinking about it, I'd always assumed that I would focus on one book from start to finish before I started another one. The reality has been much different from that. Right now I have four projects in various stages of completion--all in completely different genres.
The different genres piece wouldn't have surprised my nine-year-old self. I've always explored all types of books as a reader. Why wouldn't I do that as a writer as well? But I never would have guessed that I I'd write them all at the same time. So without further ado, here's the state of what I'm working on. I'll refer to them using letters, as not all of them have titles yet. Hopefully this will clear up some confusion as I post things about each of them from time to time.
MG -- A contemporary coming-of-age story about a college student trying to help a friend through mental health struggles. I'm in my (hopefully) last round of heavy editing. In a perfect world I'd release it in March, but knowing how life goes, it may very well be later.
FBN -- A middle grade fiction book that feels like a mash between Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland. I basically tried to pack as much lunacy as humanly possible into 190 pages. Even though I'm a full-grown adult I'd still honestly get a kick out of it if I ran into it as a reader. This one is the closest to publication of all of these. Right now I'm shooting for late February.
MS -- A science fiction book (probably for adults, although at the moment it's right at the line between that and YA, so we'll see). I'm most of the way through the first draft. I'd like to release it later this year, but I can't put a realistic date on it yet.
US -- A fantasy novel for adults that was inspired by one of my favorite video games. It would be a minor miracle if this one came out this year, but you never know. I only have two chapters of the first draft done.
Part of the reason for the sheer variety is that if I'm not writing things that are exciting to me, my work is going to end up feeling stale, and that won't do anyone any good. If any of the above is up your alley, feel free to join my email list to catch any new updates.
Cheers!
James
