Okay, so the year's almost up, and I've got some time on my hands before the New Day Job announces itself, so I plan on focusing most of my free time on novels. Revising and polishing my own, that is, and reading as many quality novels by other writers as possible. I'm starting off with Holly Black's Tithe, about which I've heard lots of great things.

As for my own writing, I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on some of my long-term novel projects.

This week, inspired by some ideas I had at the Outer Banks last week, where Heart's Revenge, my paranormal romance, is set (not to mention great comments from Rachel Heslin, Mary Madewell, Jim Hines, and Jon Hansen) I know how to punch up the opening chapters of the novel. I also need to go through the whole book and tighten everything up, and expand the role of my "surly elderly tourists," which should be fun. Oh, and I need to enhance the romantic bits. Ewwww. ;)

Next on the docket is the young-adult urban fantasy, The Last of the Hand, which I haven't looked at in over a year. I'm looking forward to this one -- I still think it has a lot of potential. Again, I just need to punch up the opening. I read some of Jim Butcher's first "Dresden Files" novel from an excerpt on his website, and he has some great mini-conflicts and characters at odds with one another that really get the plot moving (I really want to read the rest of his novel -- he's another author I've heard great things about). I don't expect to have to do a ton of revising to my fantasy novel -- just minor tweaks. A week at the most, I hope. And then I'm sending it to the Delacorte YA Contest.

And finally, the SF novel is done. I have a couple tweaks here and there, and in a week or two I'll probably go back and do some tightening on the final section and do some word-chopping on the earlier sections, but it's all done as far as I'm concerned.

I also want to start thinking about the next novel, which I hope to start first thing, January 2004. Right now it's looking to be the historical baseball novel, as I've got an outline and a good idea of how that one will take shape (not to mention 3-4 baseball novels to read!). But that's all subject to change.

So that's the plan -- thanks for indulging me! Sometimes I just need to see all this stuff in print/onscreen to keep me organized. Now, I've got some reading to do. Later.