Coming Out (as an author)

April is over and so is my excuse that I was too busy with other writing projects to blog. Not that I’m stopping all writing projects. In fact, with the onset of summer, I hope to shift this blog from failed attempts at depth to something more practical for an aspiring author. Not that more personal ponderings won’t be posted on occasion. (“Ponderings” is a made up word. I’m a writer, I can do that, right?) But in the high hopes that one day I will actually have fans who read this ridiculous blog, I need to start toward a writing-oriented goal.

Also with the onset of summer, I’m sitting down to focus on some of my completed works. They need pruning, refining, and a lot of editing. Consistent consistency issues all up in that draft. I anticipate sending out queries by the end of the summer. So, before I go back to classes in August. Which means I have to work quickly. I have three completed works (abbreviated for my own convenience):

KM: an epic fantasy that probably needs to be altogether scrapped and rewritten

SOL: a modern fantasy with extensive character sheets, first draft totaling at 90,000 words

SOTS: a sci-fi/action, first draft totaling at 52,000 words

RS (in progress as of two days ago): a modern paranormal fantasy because why not (1,700 so far)

I like YA fiction. My mom still likes YA fiction. I will probably still like YA fiction when I am my mom’s age. Not all of my ideas are sci-fi/fantasy. Promise. I have several adaption ideas, two romances in mind (though I hate reading them so we’ll see how writing one goes), and I want to write crime novels once the complexity of a mystery plot line stops intimidating me. Still, the four listed above are rather varied sub-genres.

This poses a huge question: which one of them do I focus on prepping to pitch? Which one of these do I want to come out with as an author? Whatever I choose–assuming it’s picked up–would establish my career for life. Not that I need to stick specifically to a genre to keep fans, but how do I want to be remembered? Which is the most important and which one best represents my style and voice?

At this point, I think I know. I think I’ll be focusing on editing SOL this summer, alongside my new project RS. (My dog just came traipsing across the keyboard. I guess she says hi!) I just want to be sure that whatever I pick represents me well and makes a positive impact.