If I had a nickel for every "first post" I put on a blog, I would be insanely
rich and would likely write full time. I'd be so wealthy, I'd likely never write
a first post again. Just a second, a third, and so forth. I could be a daily
read, leaving my soap box right where it sat, knowing I was a full-time ranter
(as you can see here). But as always, I'll eventually digress...
This is my first post on a blog I'm hoping to use to keep track of my
progress as I work towards the completion of my first novel (and then what
happens next). Well, it's not really my first novel, but it is the first
I'm going to actually finish, and edit, and try to publish (wow, that was
positive thinking). I have a goal set to finish up by the first week of July
(with 75,000+ words) because I'll be on a cruise all through the second. My
thought is that I will take that week off as not only a break from my real day
job (working with the disAbled), but also to put the novel in a drawer (not
literally) for a week before I go in for the first edit. After that, I'm
thinking about going the e-reader route as I've done the more conventional way
before and it was awful.
In this blog, I'll be talking about reading, writing, and my journey into the
land of publication. There will be questions and polls and any other related
material that comes up when it does. But enough about that, let me tell you
about this first novel.
It's in the young adult genre and if I had to put an age, I'd guess 15-19
years old, though it's definitely not limited to these ages. I only set it there
because it is written from the perspective of a 17 year old girl and I imagine
it would appeal to this group first and foremost. I've always thought I would
write more of an adult type novel, but the story I had in mind fit so well in a
high school setting, it would have been difficult to have it connect with my
adult readers (in general, and as far as I could tell) and I didn't want to
limit the story's potential. I also setup the plot of the first book where it
could be a stand alone novel or it could span into the course of a series. Not
to say adult fiction can't be a series, but the life experiences and themes I
wanted to incorporate are still more for the young of heart. But hell, maybe I'm
wrong. Usually am.
The novel is called "Several Times Upon a Random Tuesday" OR "S.T.U.A.R.T"
for short, and it is the story of a girl, Jenny, who wakes up to the worst day
of her life, again, and again, and again. She's naked, hungover, in bed with a
strange man, and that's only the beginning of things. From there, the atrocities
of the day stack higher and higher and eventually escalate to the ultimate death
of one of her dearest friends. Next morning, it's the same thing all over again.
Things get complicated when Jenny begins to fall in love with the strange man
she is waking up next to and discovers he has some dark secrets of his own. Even
more troubling, Jenny begins to find notes that lead her to suspect she might
not be the only one that's aware of the time loop she's found herself in...
I feel like somewhere in there I began to write one of those cliche back of
the book covers so I stopped. Hopefully the novel comes together as I have
planned and you enjoy it. Only time will tell!
Until next time,
-Edward
