Kimberly Gardner

Okay, it’s not something completely new. But now that Phoenix Rising is in the edit phase, I need to get to work on another story.

So I’m planning to return to the Shifting Sands Ranch, just outside San Antonio and revisit Cy and Bobby Lee, the heroes of my short novella, Snake Charmer which will appear in the anthology Shifting Sands due out from MLR … sometime. *g* The antho has yet to be assigned a slot in the publishing schedule, but it’s coming. I promise.

All the stories are set on a ranch in Texas. Daniel, the ranch owner, and the men who work for him have been cursed by a witch. Doomed to assume their “alternative forms” during the full moon, each must find love and acceptance in spite of the curse. Only when they have all done that can they hope to be free.

I turned in the partial for this story a couple of months ago, and the full manuscript isn’t due to the editor for another couple months. But now that I’m sort of between projects I want to get it finished so I can get started on another novel-length work.

So that’s the plan. 

Today I sent the first revision of Phoenix off to my editor. Yay!

I wrote an entirely new chapter and did extensive tweaking throughout the manuscript which grew the story from approximately 76k to 82k. I just hope the changes are good ones.

I got an email back saying that she should be through a first pass by the middle of the week, so I’ll be waiting to see what she says. *is nervous*

Wow, it’s been so long that I almost forgot how to get here. *g*

I have much to get caught up on. So where to start …

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Contest alert!

Here on my blog and over at FWF, I’m running a contest. The purpose is to find the perfect name for my fictional bookstore and to give away a cool prize. Continue Reading »

Or should I say trying to beat the damn muse into submission?

I had myself all freaked out this weekend because the story I’m currently working on, the story that’s due to the publisher in May, is just not hanging together and that scares the crap out of me. Continue Reading »

Because I have no time to write a proper blog post and my Catholic schoolgirl guilt complex is kicking my ass over that, I’m posting a link to a fascinating post over at Edittorrent on scenes and sequels.

Theresa does a terrific job analyzing why the pacing of The da Vinci Code is so slam bang perfect. Yes, I read the book. Hasn’t everyone?

http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/2008/03/sequels-and-scene-pacing.html

I so need to study this technique more indepth.

Okay, now back to the Shifting Sands partial.

I never in a million years thought I would be writing either cowboys or shape shifters. Not that I have anything against either one. My friend J.L. writes some of the yummiest cowboys and shifters I’ve ever read.

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I’ve been keeping a low profile lately because I’m on a writing jag.

I have an anthology story due in May as well as a partial and synopsis for another anthology that needs to be done by April. O_O Continue Reading »

I have this friend, she’ll know who she is, who flexes her creative muscle by posting a piece of flash fiction on her blog every Friday.

The flashes are short, no more than 750 words, on a variety of subjects and genres and seem to bring a lot of traffic to her blog.

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Whenever I begin working on a new story it’s with a mix of excitement and trepidation. The excitement comes from the knowledge that I’m beginning a new journey with a whole new set of traveling companions and there’s quite a lot of mystery associated with that.

The trepidation comes from my fear that I might not finish that journey. Continue Reading »