Bad News and Good News in the New Year.

Lets get the bad news over with first- Empire won’t be ready for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

The good news? I’m giving myself time to make it the quality it deserves to be! I continue to be amazed at the improvements made as I work on it. I don’t want to submit something that isn’t truly a breakthrough novel. Empire will be, eventually.

I used to fear editing. I made such drastic changes that things began to warp into all the wrong shapes. I’m completely thrilled with the editing process I’m using with this work.

I always had a feeling my writing was more suited to novel-length works. Reading what I wrote this summer has confirmed that to me. I tend to be hyper detailed. I have to know a scene and character backwards and forwards- something that makes writing shorter works harder to create to my satisfaction.

There are a few scenes I want to rethink. The ending fourth of the work especially needs some scaffolding and resolution strengthening. Overall, the book is much better than I could have dreamed.

That said, the more I work on it, the more I realize it won’t be for everyone. I expect more than a few low scored reviews from people that don’t like how passive my main character is. I also think some people will find it a bit slow. I’m prepared for that, but it’s the story. I could try to make it more attractive to a mass audience, but I would have to change things that are important to me to do so. I will write more action-packed stories in the future, but that’s not this book.

As I read and edit, it also becomes clearer to me that this book is about fear. Not just regular fears- spiders, heights, clowns, etc- but fear of action. Fear of taking steps to change the things that make our lives harder. Fear of looking past the things we can’t change and to the (perhaps smaller, but still very important) things we can.

As I work through this very important year in my teaching career, I have to balance my paying job with my writing. Empire will be finished soon, but I want to do so in a manner which lets it be all it can be, while not ignoring my other responsibilities in life. I’m sad it won’t make this contest, but it wouldn’t win in the state it’s in right now.

I want this work to be the highest quality I can provide at my current ability level. That is way more important than meeting a date for a contest.

Check back for more updates.

Empire is getting edited for entry to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 contest!

I know I haven’t posted here in a loooooonnnggg time. It’s pretty hard work trying to teach a new subject at a new school. Editing a novel on top of that was simply impossible for a while. This is my formal observation year, so teaching has to be priority number one.

The good news? Things have finally leveled off and Empire is coming along nicely! More than nicely, actually. I would have to say I am pretty darn proud of it so far.

I am working on getting it ready in time to try for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for 2013. I highly doubt I will. I have to be ready for it to come out and be a total bust. I mean, the publishing world is crazy right now and I can’t afford to promote it like many authors do- I don’t have the money or the time. Hell- I don’t even have the time to edit these posts like I should. That time has to go to editing the book, or working on lesson plans, or grading, or taking care of my family… you get the idea.

I will share one part of what I am working on here, though. I have to prepare a “lead” to enter in the contest. That is a short summary of the story- like what you find on the back of a book. I have a few that are rough, but will post on the bottom of this.

The librarian at school is going to let me post my favorite ones in the library for students to vote on! I will be very interested to see what they say. They all seem very interested in the book, but I think that’s mainly because they like me a lot. Whatever! I’ll take it!

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Have you ever tried to imagine what it would be like to lose your home, your friends, and everything you think you knew?

Paul Simpkins faces this reality after his hometown gets shut down by the mining company that owns it. He then has to move to a new town, try to make new friends, and try to not get killed by the bully that has hounded him his entire life.

Paul decides to run away after the girl he likes disappears and he faces a major embarrassment in front of the whole school. He gathers up his old crew of friends and they set out to save Empire, Nevada.

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Paul Simpkins thinks everything is going great. He has good friends, he loves his hometown, and he loves being a normal teenager- even if he can get a little awkward when he talks to girls. But then disaster strikes. The company that owns basically everything in his town announces they are halting all operations there, so Paul and all of his friends are going to have to move.

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When his family moves to Reno, Paul finds himself friendless, unpopular, and unwanted at his new school. Even worse than that, Paul’s nemesis, Donnie Watson, has moved to Reno as well, and is making Paul’s life miserable. Even the smallest chance of a relationship with a real live girl isn’t enough to save Paul from a disastrous year.

After a major embarrassment, Paul decides to run away and reassemble his old group of friends to attempt to save Empire.

Will Paul be successful, or is he just a doomed as his hometown? Find out in Empire, Nevada.

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Economic collapse, mass eviction, and a once thriving city turned into a ghost town. This might all sound like something out of science fiction, but it was reality for the residents of Empire, Nevada in 2011.  Paul Simpkins is trying to come to grips with the realities of life in this tumultuous setting. He’s a chubby kid with a small, but tight-knit group of friends. He loves his hometown, but has to watch helplessly as almost everyone moves away. Except Donnie Watson, that is. A preternatural bully- Donnie has been the thorn in Paul’s side since they were infants. From name-calling to physical abuse- nothing vile is off-limits to this reprehensible character.

Things only get worse after Paul moves. Both his and Donnie’s fathers are lawyers for Michelette Mining, the company that owns Empire, and both families end up moving to Reno so that they can work at the company’s headquarters.

Even the small glimmer of a chance of a relationship with a real live girl isn’t enough to save Paul’s junior year of high school. After near-endless harassment, social seclusion, and one major embarrassment, Paul decides to reassemble his old crew of friends and run away to try to save Empire.

Can Paul resuscitate the corpse of the city he loves, or is Empire, Nevada doomed to be a ghost town forever? Find out in this absorbing new novel.