January 19, 2014

Decisions, decisions

It's been a little over two weeks since I published Secrets and Sins (hope you got your copy!), and in that time, other than writing copy for my blog tour, I've essentially been kicking back...and giving some thought to what my next project will be. 

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and just about every year since I've been indie publishing I tell myself I should write a Valentine's novella. Unfortunately, I'm usually busy with other projects, and I don't start thinking about this until New Year's Day, which doesn't give me enough time. An idea popped into my head that I thought I could possibly get written in a month, because once I know what I'm going to write I do it fairly quickly (I know what you're thinking...if I write quickly, why did it take me six months to finish Secrets and Sins? The answer to that is the very difficult structure of that book...so there.). The problem regarding my hoped-for Valentine's novella is not knowing what I was going to write. I had a great beginning where the hero and heroine meet, but no middle and no end. Two-and-a-half weeks later, I haven't progressed. Idea not abandoned, but put on the postpone list.

I then experimented with two other possible ideas where I also only had a meet cute, but no story. Those have also gone to the postpone list, but I've abandoned the idea of getting a Valentine's Day novella done this year and turned to my list of books to write (the ones that are plotted out, at least loosely).

There was one story that kept popping up in my head, to the point where it would become annoying because I'd start thinking about it and jotting down notes while still struggling over improving the flow of Secrets and Sins. And since I believe in writing the story that is talking to me the loudest, my next project will be (drum roll, please)...

It Happened in Eighty-Eight.

Eighty-Eight, of course, is the Mississippi birthplace of Julia Cheeks and her late parents, Roscoe and Miriam Scott. This is a working title, for while it (you'll have to read the book to know specifically what that refers to,) happens in Eighty-Eight, only the beginning of the story is set there, with the rest of it unfolding in the Greater Chicagoland area. Then again, I might just keep that title because, to be honest, I like it. I plan to write a series of books set in this sleepy Southern town, which has more scandals than the juiciest soap opera. This will be a further introduction. Readers of Secrets and Sins have already met the heroine, Courtney Mathis, very briefly at a party in Eighty-Eight. I'm hoping you'll get to know her a lot better in the late spring/early summer.

So, what do you think?