After attending to a few work-related tasks this morning, I can finally get to my writing life. I have off the whole weekend!!!

I’m really psyched about my next project. I’ve been accepted to Kij Johnson’s Novel Writing Workshop at Kansas University this June. I’m nervous and excited! Even though I have one novel nearly complete and another about 30% done, I’m bringing a brand new project to the workshop.

This project really excites me. It’s strictly science fiction. My other works have been YA Fantasy and while I really do love that genre, Science Fiction is my passion. You might ask why I waited so long to start this new project? Well, to be honest, I didn’t think my writing skills were up to the task. I didn’t want to screw it up.

But after writing pretty regularly for the past 2+ years and have critique meeting twice a month, I feel that my skill level has improved. I’m willing to give this next project a try. It’s called “Going Green” and I’ll tell you about it soon.

So this weekend I need to really hammer out my novel outline. This is something I don’t normally do before writing a novel though.

Some authors write an outline of varying degrees of detail. When I start a project, I know the ending, a few turning points in the work, a few of the main characters and what I want them to achieve, and the end. It’s not very detailed and that has worked for me.

I let the work grow as I write, taking me on an adventure. I like it. I learn a great deal when I turn my characters loose and the story grows around them. I admit that there ends up being a lot of extra stuff in there that won’t make the final first draft, but it helps me to really immerse myself in my world and characters.

For this workshop I’m trying something new. I’m going to actually outline a more detailed draft of the novel. It’s a scary thing, but I’m sure the experience will help me grow as a writer.

Then I need to devote some time to ComicPalooza 2014 held in Houston Texas.

http://www.comicpalooza.com

I’ll be on a few panels and workshops within the literary track again this year. It’s a great time and I love talking about writing with other writers. Hopefully I’ll be able to share something with them that will be helpful.

So, here I go! Back to my Writing Weekend!