Kathleen Duey's Blog, page 8

So this morning I am working on Outside the Walls ...

  So this morning I am working on Outside the Walls to address astute agent concerns. Since I don't outline plots or character arcs, I have decided to start here:



www.kathleenduey.com

Oh, look. It's morning.I am working on three writing proj...

Oh, look.

It's morning.
I am working on three writing projects now:

First:::
book #3/ A Resurrection of Magic

Second:::
Outside the Walls, a story about tradition and fear.

Third::
Russet, a story that spans a lifetime. Maybe. (It began as a twitter novel and amazes me every day.)

And I am preparing for teaching at the Monterey CA festival of the arts in a few weeks.

I love my job.

www.kathleenduey.com

The massive trunk of my Phytolacca tree. Every part of it...

The massive trunk of my Phytolacca tree. Every part of it, bark, flower, leaves and sap, is poisonous.

The revision process for A Resurrection of  Magic is just now beginning. YAY! The editor and I are in contact and she will soon begin wading through  600 pages of strange people with weird, elongated lives. Two characters who began (in book #1) telling me their stories, are still alive. In the first book,  they were living in the same city, 200 years apart. That gap has closed,...

Outside the Walls: The Maker's Place

       
           
      The Moon was windblown and bright. I could see the girl, but she was an outline, part of the night, and she didn't answer me. She just started walking again, heading back toward the wagon road. We followed her until she turned and gestured at us to stop. "Hide here and wait for me," she whispered.          Before we could react, she was running down the narrow, muddy tr...

Russet (in progress)

    When the train slows, then stops, I close the curtain--all but a slit, so I can peek out. From where I am sitting I mostly see the tops of people’s heads. They are getting off the train, hugging the relatives and friends who are there to pick them up.  
     I am almost relaxed until I think I see the jeans-and-running shoes guy.     
     I hold my breath.      
     Yeah. It’s him.
     He...

Every morning I check email. This morning, among the fan ...

Every morning I check email. This morning, among the fan mail, there was an especially kind letter from a reader in France who loved my books and was learning to speak English in part so that she could read my work in English. I skimmed her letter, then went down though other emails, answered a few business things,  cleaned out a few ads, etc, then went back to answer the fanmail and it was all there....except for the letter from France.

I tried to find it, and I have no idea how I lost...

OUTSIDE THE WALLS

     I am always amazed at the evolution of any story I write. The more I   follow the characters around, the more I begin to understand their world, their hearts. This place is a bleak one, I knew that from the start. I have been reading about child labor, witch trials, faeries, folk tales, and the history of segregation in many cultures, recent and ancient. So.... 
Here is the first page of the book as of this morning. 
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home again, home again....

I am working on the story that is evolving from the original Dickens and Fob idea. It has changed and grown and fascinates me. I am also writing Russet and it is astounding me. It's like nothing I have ever written. When one stalls, I switch. The day the editor is done with Book #3 Resurrection of Magic, I will begin revisions. This feels like going home for me.

 (I wrote series for MG kids, 6-12 novels a year. (Proof here:  http://bit.ly/108o0Oh  They are all on Amazon, too, bu...

Thank You

In the last three days, over a thousand people have read this blog. Some of you go way back and start at the beginning. Some of you leave comments, or email me later...
Thank you.

Thank you all for  liking my work. Thank you for saying my books have touched you. You have touched me.

I am grateful every morning for the people who write to tell me what surprised them in the story, what made them shiver. I love the notes that tell me which characters they are worried about, in love with, scare...

...a little more Russet

While I continue to wait for editorial response to two different projects, I am writing the next novel: Russet.


At first glance, I probably look happy in the pic. I am not. I am standing up behind my chair, because I needed to back away from the screen. I'm wondering if what I just wrote could possibly be true.
If it is, I can hope again.
Here:
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           My father.           He’s got gray-blue contacts...