Got some votes on what NaNo novel I’ll be working on this year. I’ll admit that I’m a little surprised by the current favourite, but it’s a pleasant surprise. I love this level of interaction with you all and I’m glad you’re playing along with me (I could never have made the decision on my own!).

Since next week I’ll be well into whatever NaNo novel I’m working on, this week will be the last week of SORB samples for a while. I think it would be nice to put the piece fully to bed for a bit and probably look at it again in January. That’s the end point for HarperVoyager (i.e. if I haven’t heard anything by then, they don’t want the piece), so there’s no point messing with it until then. They wanted any submission to them to be solely to them, as well. So I can’t even send it out elsewhere just yet. Never mind.

So… I think I’ll give you one last glimpse into the comedy that is Keith.

This is the same scene as last week, but the action has moved on a little. Keith has been able to show Brad the data on the computer and neither of the pair are happy with what they have seen. Following this, Brad makes a request for help that Keith initially resists. Until…

“I’m fired, right?”

Brad gritted his teeth. “Look at as much gay porn as you want, Keith. Cover it with as much straight porn as you can stand; I don’t care! Just don’t say you can’t help me.” He bent down, waiting until Keith lifted his flushed, embarrassed face off the table.

Uh-oh! Busted…!

I kinda feel sorry for the way I treated Keith, actually. Uncomfortable conversations and dropping him into the middle of a situation he is in now way equipped to handle. Ho hum; I guess that’s what stories are made of, right?

As usual, the home crowd from Six Sunday are hanging out on the main site. You can find them by using the banner link below.

I must have been knackered last week because I didn’t even tell you guys that I’d met the HarperVoyager deadline. ^_^

It involved lots of late nights, lots of cursing and deleting and cutting and shuffling and very many cups of tea, but I did it. I polished off Silk Over Razor Blades as best I could and now it’s time to leave it alone.

By the way:

THANK YOU

to all the people who read the piece and provided comments. Be it a sample or the whole manuscript, I can’t describe how valuable your feedback has been. Catching all sorts of things I would never have thought of, hammering at my grammar and continuity. This novel is now at its absolute peak because of you guys.

o.O I’m sure that if HarperVoyager don’t want the piece, I’ll find (more) problems with it, but for now I am resolved to leave it and move on. I sent in the details they wanted at 23:30 on 13 Oct after forcing myself to stay up and do that night. Tell you what though, I’m bloody glad I did, because when I looked at the submission portal on 14 Oct, it had closed! Even though submissions were supposed to be until 14 Oct. Apparently there was some sort of technical glitch, but I’m just glad that I didn’t have to worry about it. My heart does go out to those people who missed the deadline because of the glitch though. Terribly unfair.

Anyway, since I’ve made the deadline, I want to show off a little bit more (!!!), before moving on, so here is another six sentences form SORB, no longer a WIP but a CM (completed manuscript).

A few lines after Keith makes his comments about the ability of ‘Tech’ to find anything, his conversation with Brad continues.

“How do you get away with dressing like that?”

“I’m a volunteer who lives in the basement of this hole. Nobody gives a crap what I look like.” Fingers flying over the keys, Keith shrugged. “Take a look at the report while I sort this out. Your computer is about thirty years passed retirement age.”

I like this guy. I wish I had more space in the novel for him as a character. Unfortunately, his story just didn’t make the final cut. Ho hum.

As ever there are lots more people taking place in Six Sunday. Please use the banner below to visit the main site and say hello. 🙂