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Moving on, then!

April's editing pass went better than I expected it to. Cleaning up prose and addressing a couple consistency issues I stumbled upon, that was the worst of it. Since Piaffe sits at 80k it was no small task, but thank fuck I can call it done.
Done enough that I need a break before tackling the completion of Levade, the second volume. I know I struggle with writing short stories, or even shortER stories, but really, there comes a time when one must stop and breathe or it becomes downright arduous. So, with that first volume of Dancing Circles wrapped up rather neatly, I'm shifting on to the second project on my 2013 To-Do List.
Finishing a half-complete project, Fang and Fire.


The story had been progressing extremely well, but then I ran into a serious snag because characters like to take on a life of their own and make their own decisions sometimes. I've been weighing the possibilities and various options, because the prospect of forcing the character into a situation that they would not subject themselves to just goes against the grain a little too much. This particular individual isn't sniveling or spineless, so I've been in negotiations with him, trying to deduce a rational stance by which the story could viably continue along the path I'd planned. I can't separate the two main characters for the entire second half of the novel. Leaving one of them entirely out of the picture would strain the reader's patience, after having come so far.

Zhar has spent the better part of this past winter in a bit of a snit because of this. He's slightly high-strung (okay, Ari, fine, "slightly" is indeed an understatement) and for much of this negotiation process, he's been giving me the cold shoulder silent treatment thing.

Poking at him the past couple days, however, it seems like he might have worked his way around to a possible compromise. Which is profound, because I had begun to despair that this story would ever reach completion. Getting back in the saddle with this one is going to require a bit of time and effort, or at least a small amount of rereading and perhaps a spread or two to get the feel of them again. Zhar and Ari had quite an intriguing way of balancing one another, and I don't want to ruin or lose that.

On a random side note, I haven't killed any of the sage seedlings yet...

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