I'm really enjoying Jasper Fforde's wonderful novel The Eyre Affair, which blends science fiction, hardboiled detective fiction, and dry British wit, and was somehow published as a mainstream novel. The quote from The Wall Street Journal on the cover says it perfectly: "Filled with clever wordplay, literary allusion and bibliowit, The Eyre Affair combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But its quirky charm is all its own." Where else would you find characters named Thursday Next, Jack Schitt, Filbert Snood, Acheron Hades, and Victor Analogy? Fforde's second novel Lost in a Good Book is expected out in hardcover this month.

I rewrote the prelude for my novel last night, and I think it flows much better than before. The outline will be significantly changed thanks to all the great suggestions from my class, and I'm starting to subconsciously put things together. It probably won't be quite so depressing as originally planned, though some sad times are definitely in store for my hero. Since some sections are being rearranged, and some rewritten altogether, I'm not quite sure what the word count is anymore. The prelude ended up as 800 words, which isn't bad for a night's work.

I'll be (finally) revising "Danza de los Duendes", which I haven't even looked at since it was critiqued. I'm still planning on using it as a standalone short story, even if most of it will be from my first chapter, though told from Audi's four-year-old viewpoint. (The novel chapter will be narrated by his 33-year-old self.) After that's done, I can get back on the novel; I need to crank out around 30 pages for my next class assignment, which will most likely be the prelude and the first two chapters.

Also, I'm fairly certain it won't be called An American Symphony anymore. The title actually refers to the symphony written in Mr. Holland's Opus (yes, I'm a band geek). But it implies some grand statement about America, as well as a fairly large cast of characters working together to make a cohesive story. Since I'm not doing either of these things, the title has to go. Not sure what I'll rename it, but I'll leave that decision until I finish the novel.

So those are my big plans for the forseeable future. That, updating the content on my sister's website, and writing a review for musician buddy Taylor Roberts. And speaking of musician buddies, Kyler will be performing a set at the Six String Cafe here in Cary this coming Saturday night at 8 p.m. She's a phenomenal singer and songwriter and she'll blow your socks off with the power of her voice.

I leave for ICFA one week from today. I am so not ready. I did a read-through of "The Old Switcheroo" the other night to see how long it would take (25 minutes), and was almost constantly sipping water. My vocal cords were actually sore the next day. I'm going to need to do some more practice runs before I leave so that I don't look like a total idiot at the conference.

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Now Reading:
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Stories Out to Publishers:
9

Stories Sold This Year:
3

Novel Word Count:
um, uncertain