I am listening to The Tension and the Spark-- I have not listened to it since last winter. It fills me with bleakness. As Elton John says, "Sad songs say so much," and we love them. I love them.
The weather is laden with heaviness. Even though the darkness indicates winter, the mornings are balmy, but there's the feeling that at any moment it will be cold again. A true Indian Summer.
I am finishing Cambriel soon. At the last moment several things came up, and I began to think I must write another 50K to finish it. Not so. This thing will be done in three days, whether it should be or not. I'm ready to have those two hours every day back, thanks very much.
It's been a wild ride. This is the most diverse book I've written. I know that's a dangerous word, but really.
So far I have lived out my gothic circus fantasy and part of my unicorn fantasy, my walking along a crumbling, deserted Interstate fantasy (though I did that in fact this summer) and a whole lot of other fantasies I didn't know I had. A truly fantastical book. And there's even a surprise sex moment (scene might be too strong a word). There's been a lot of characters coming in I didn't expect, including a tie-in from a story I thought was hopeless, Red Rose. There's also possibly more violence than in anything I've ever written. And a good amount of humor, which I've never tried writing before and is probably pathetic. Some pathos-- a lot of melancholy and darkness. Diversity is a very dangerous word, and before I was a stranger to it. I hope I don't end up hating this book.
In short, Cambriel came at a much higher price than A Raven for a Lark. It has been much harder to do. But it has been so much better, and it has really challenged me. If I send to a publisher, this will no doubt be the first thing I send. It is very interesting, to say the least, even if my writing craft needs a lot of work.