I supposed #MeMeMonday means it’s all about me and/or what I’m up to. This week, anyway, it’s about what I’m working on with my writing.

In the past I’ve only ever tried working on one story at a time. I didn’t think I could focus on more than that. That policy let to some nasty dry spells when the muse for a particular story wasn’t cooperating. So, I thought I’d give multiple WiPs a try—and it seems to be working well for me.

Most (but not all) days I get at least a few hundred words down, and some days have seen upwards of a thousand words. So woot! That might mean releases will come in spurts with longer stretches in-between, but maybe it’ll even out in the long run, especially if I continue to include the occasional short story in the mix.

So, what am I currently working on? Two followup stories (probably novellas), another followup that’ll probably be short novel length, and a new one that’ll surely be full novel length.

The Best-Laid Plans is a follow up to The Contingency Plan. This story will probably be novella length, and there will possibly be a third story later on, rounding this out to be a trilogy. Unless I ditch what I’ve written so far and go in a different direction, it seems that the death of Prince Marcelo’s sister, which is what led to the marriage between Princes Marcelo and Efren, wasn’t as innocent/accidental as it had first appeared. Oh dear.

The Choice (title subject to possible change) is a follow up to The Recruit. This story will also probably be novella length, and once again, I envision a third story later on, rounding this out to be a trilogy (some long-term plans I came up with for the vampires are just a bit too tempting to leave alone). Once again, it seems that something we thought was resolved in the first story, isn’t quite as settled as we believed. It turns out that Cameron, egged on by his current boyfriend, have a few too many questions about Phillip/Neil’s demise (or lack thereof) and are presenting too much of a risk to the vampires, whose continued existence depends upon secrecy. Gee, I hope Albert doesn’t have trouble making unbiased decisions in this situation due to his concerns for Neil’s feelings.

Dreams Are for Real follows Closets Are for Clothes. I’ve been stalled out on this one lately despite it being merely a (from the ground up) rewrite of a previously published story (Another Dream). Like with Closets, there are significant enough changes that the old story is mostly just a vague outline. I’ve got over 10k written on it, but now I want to insert some stuff into what I’ve already got. So I need to get that sorted before continuing. I’m also debating with myself on the POV. I was going to go all Larry’s POV, but I don’t think that’ll work considering the plot. Marty is going to have to get some time. I don’t think it’ll be alternating, though. Maybe more like the middle third? For those who’ve read Closets, Marty is Mike’s uncle who was referenced in that first story. There’s a possibility that I’ll rework the whole thing from Marty’s POV, but I kind of like some of what I’ve already got down (plus chapter one was a preview at the end of Closets). Anyway, this is the second of three stories in the Dream On series. I might actually make a start on book three before finishing this second one.

When Are You? (title subject to possible change) is a standalone novel. At least, I don’t foresee any likely followup for it. This story is another way in which I’ve veered from my usual methods. Due to the convoluted timeline (it’s a time travel story), I’ve had to sketch out an outline. There are still quite a few details to be worked out, but having any kind of an outline written down is a change from my usual pantsing methods. I don’t know how much I plan to give away in the blurb yet, so other than to say it’s a time travel story, I’ve not going to say anything else at this time. I suppose the title gives a little hint.

You can check my ongoing word count progress on these stories on my WiPs page: https://authoraddisonalbright.com/my-publications/addisons-wipsrelease-schedule/

One last thing I’ve got in the pipes is a short story, Of Rats and Cats. It’s already complete and being passed around to beta/critique partners. It’s a fun, comedic, meet-cute. It was written for an anthology planned by a local writers’ group (Midwest Writers of LGBTQ Fiction). Proceeds are to be split 25/75 between a charity LGBT organization where our meetings are hosted, and the group’s treasury, to help defray expenses for us to set up tables at pride events, etc. However, it seems the group might disband due to lack of participation, or even if it doesn’t, we might not get enough contributions to justify the anthology. One way or another, this question should be settled at our next meeting on the first Saturday in August. If either of those things happens, and the anthology goes by the wayside, I’m considering self-publishing the short story and putting it on KU. I’m not sure yet.