Gaiman is Rochester, The Next Big Thing, and Amelia Bedelia

orgot to check in for A Round of Words in 80 Days last week!

The current round is ending soon, but things are moving slowly, now that I'm back into editing. I sorted all my snips and notebooks and a few beta notes, and now... all that's left is to pick a story and edit the heck out of it. I've got four novels and five short stories to choose from.

That's why NaNo was so helpful - I seem to work better with external pressure. If I had an agent setting deadlines for me, now that's when I could work in a whip-crack frenzy. How do I apply it to myself by myself?

Especially when there are other things to get distracted by, such as Neil Gaiman saying if he could be one historical person for a day, he'd choose the Earl of Rochester. Ah, Rochester. I sort of feel proprietary, now that I've written stories about Rochester. I wonder if this happens to all historical novelists?

Speaking of stories, I've been tagged by Jeff in My Next BIG Thing:

Hmm, I've already answered these questions about Out of the Water so now I get to answer them for Druid's Moon:

What is the working title of your book? Druid's Moon

Where did the idea come from for the book? A dream! The scene I drempt of was two characters trapped in an underground room, and a mysterious villain/monster chasing after them.

What genre does your book fall under? Speculative/paranormal romance

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? So far I've got three options for Fred: Alexander Skarsgård, Henry Cavill, and the Formula 1 racer Romain Grosjean (but only in the specific poses/expressions I've linked to), and these two mystery girls for Lyne

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Apprentice on an archaeological expedition in England, Lyne unearths more than she bargained for when she discovers a thousand year old curse enslaving a man in Beast form, whom only she can rescue.
(Still tweaking. I just drafted this.)

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I'm hoping for an agent!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? About two months, plus one month of typing it up.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Hmm, other Beauty and the Beast retellings... Which reminds me, Joanna Bourne's Booty Tuesday features Kristen Callihan for two more days!

Who or What inspired you to write this book? That dream! I just had to find out how those characters had gotten into the cave, and how they were going to get out.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? Druids! Legends and spells! British Isles! Kraken!

Tag yourself if you wish, I love hearing about everyone's stories.

Back to tumblr for a second - recently, Joe Hill posted about his ideal bookshelf, and I thought I'd list mine here, narrowing it down to five books/series:

The Lord of the Rings (under this banner falls all of Tolkien's books. Er, it's a rather long bookshelf)

The Outlander series (including the Lord John books, of course) by Diana Gabaldon

Hemingway's collected short stories

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis

Neil Gaiman's collected short stories (and The Graveyard Book, if I can sneak it in)

T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets

Grimms' Fairy Tales

And also... er, wait, I've passed five, haven't I? Darn it, I haven't even gotten to the MG/YA yet!

Speaking of which, the 50th anniversary of Amelia Bedelia is coming up!

Did you read these books when you were a kid? I like them, even if they are a bit silly.

And on a sad but lovely note, here are two letters from Johnny Cash.

Oh, one more thing! Caught a Twitter conversation between Joe Hill and the Whisky Trench Riders the other day: