The Electric Ink of Ada Maria Soto
Menu
  • Works
    • A. M. Soto
    • Audiobooks
    • Coming Soon
    • Contemporary
    • Free Works
    • Historical
    • Short Stories
    • Work In Progress
  • Bio
  • Home
  • Newsletter
  • Works
    • A. M. Soto
    • Audiobooks
    • Coming Soon
    • Contemporary
    • Free Works
    • Historical
    • Short Stories
    • Work In Progress
  • Bio
  • Home
  • Newsletter

Now What


By Ada Soto | June 2, 2015 | Category Uncategorized

Two days ago I finished the third and, in theory, final edit of Bowerbirds, the sequel to Empty Nests. They were originally one book that clocked in at a completely unmanageable and inconsistent 130,000 words. And as of two days ago that giant unmanageable book is now complete and the second half is being formatted for publication.

This leaves me with one question.

What do I do now?

I started Empty Nests in 2010. In preparation for my blog tour I’ve been answering some interview questions and one of the common ones is ‘where did your idea for this book come from?’. Flat out truth is I don’t remember. I have scraped at my memory and I have no clue. I know lot happened in the five years between starting and now. I finished that first mammoth draft somewhere in late 2011 in between completing some very lengthy works of fanfic, my first published novella, international travel, teaching myself to knit, and the Rugby World Cup. I sent it to a friend to edit in 2012. By the time I got it back I was pregnant with the worst case of pregnancy brain and bouncing emotions. After I had my kid the brain melt just continued for another year and a bit when I declared that the kid would be in daycare two days a week and I got back to it in July 2014

Now Empty Nests will be out June 12, 2015 and Bowerbirds in late August/Early September. That’s five years which is a long time to be working on one project.

Now What?

I guess I should write another novel. That’s what you do when you’re a professional writer, right? One novel after another. Except which one? This next bit isn’t an entirely rhetorical question.

I have a M/M BDSM novella which is already 30k and not even half way through the plot I have planned. My evil enabler, Cooper West, has bet me it’ll be at least 90k by the time I’m done. It’s contemporary, domestic, with lots of sex and a slow emotional Friends to Lovers to Possibly Love build.

There is the M/M interoffice romance taking place in the halls of a vague, yet menacing, government agency (bonus points if you get the reference). That’s looking to be the polar opposite of the BDSM one as every time I try to write a sex scene in it the main love interest says no. I’m starting to think I’ve accidently created an asexual love interest. Is anyone even going to want to read a romance where at the most there will be some really passionate hand holding?

There’s my YA novel which has become a bit of a monkey on my back since I think it could be good but I’m missing the better part of an act two. It has a bisexual main character and it’s mostly about her relationship with her step mother and by extension her father.

Or I could finally cough up a sequel to Eden Springs. I’m not sure if it’s got much of a story arc. What I have is mostly a list of scenes as the two main characters get snowed in for the winter. That came out in 2012. Will anyone still be remotely interested?

And I have my big non-romance, urban fantasy, murder mystery which will be completely out of any other genre I’ve written in.

A part of me just wants to go back to fanfic where I get almost instant feedback and I don’t have to rewrite if I don’t want to.

I could say fuck it for a few months and just watch TV. I half a season of Agents of SHIELD to catch up on. I haven’t seen any of Agent Carter. I started watching Forever on an international flight. I’m only up to episode 8 and I’m already pissed it didn’t get a second season. And I haven’t had a chance to listen to Welcome to Night Vale since November!

So this is it, my big What Next. What keeps the ball rolling? What fills the back catalog the best? What justifies those two days a week at the fancy, private, daycare?

  • bebo Share on bebo
  • blogger Blog this!
  • delicious Bookmark on Delicious
  • digg Digg this post
  • facebook Recommend on Facebook
  • linkedin Share on Linkedin
  • reddit share via Reddit
  • stumble Share with Stumblers
  • tumblr Tumblr it
  • twitter Tweet about it
  • rss Subscribe to the comments on this post
  • bookmark Bookmark in Browser
  • email Tell a friend

Share this:

  • Share
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pocket
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit

4 thoughts on “Now What”

  • Holly says:
    June 17, 2015 at 3:57 pm

    Can I just say I’d love to read a book with an asexual character in a romantic plot? I totally get why it’s not commonly done, but as someone who identifies as ace… well, it’d be awesome.

    Just finished Empty Nest and found this post while looking for Bowerbirds info. lol Didn’t realize EN is still so new too! But Bb will be out just when I need a pick me up from school work. ^^

    Love your writing, and thanks for sharing your wonderful fiction.

    Reply
    • Ada Soto says:
      June 17, 2015 at 4:13 pm

      Thank you. I’m really glad you enjoyed Empty Nests and I hope you enjoy Bowerbirds as well.

      The Agency, my potential ace romance, is probably still a couple of years out. I don’t write fast or short I’ve found. I also think that’s going to be one of the harder things I write. The character has some quirks that make him very standoffish and I don’t want people to think I’m trying to paint all asexuals as that. I think it might be tricky to find that balance of giving a character a particular sexuality that is important to who they are but now how they define themselves as a person. When I started outlining it I just had plans for it to be a regular M/M romance but every time I got to a sex scene one character said “no” and the other said “I’m not pushing”. I actually did try to write a sex scene for it and it just didn’t work, felt very out of character. I had to really backtrack and look at the characters I had created. Then banged my head against a wall for a few minutes.

      Anyway, thank you for your comment and I hope you enjoy my future work.

      Reply
  • Molli says:
    June 18, 2015 at 8:28 am

    Like Holly, I stumbled on this post while looking for real date information about Bowerbirds, and like Holly, I’d read a good M/M story about a romance involving an asexual character in a heartbeat. I’ve read so few–it would be awesome if there were more out there. I’d be perfectly content with really passionate hand-holding!

    Absolutely loved Empty Nests. Can’t wait for the rest!!

    Reply
    • Ada Soto says:
      June 18, 2015 at 9:02 am

      Thank you. It’s still a toss up as to which project is going to come out next. I only get two days a week to write so nothing will come quick. But it is in the prime que for future publications.

      And I’m glad you enjoyed Empty Nests. I hope you’ll like Bowerbirds even more.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts


  • My Mother and the Thing That’s Happening Now May 3, 2020
  • Bowerbirds Re-Release May 3, 2020
  • Empty Nests Re-Release and General Life Update (Notes from the great NZ lockdown 2020!) March 28, 2020
  • My Mother and the California Fire Season November 19, 2018
  • Merlin in the Library – RELEASE DAY August 19, 2018
  • Mom vs. the PCT: UPDATE July 30, 2018
  • My Mother vs the Pacific Crest Trail July 5, 2018
  • AUDIOBOOK of His Quiet Agent now available! March 9, 2018
  • M/M Romance Goodread’s Group Memebers’ Choice Awards December 20, 2017
  • If This is High Functioning..? December 20, 2017
  • Tactical Submission Release Day! November 11, 2017
  • Warning: Contains Kink, Violence, and Bacon November 10, 2017
  • His Quiet Agent: When the characters write themselves November 8, 2017
  • Tactical Submission Available for Pre-Order! November 4, 2017
  • Tactical Submission Cover Reveal! NSFW(ish) November 2, 2017

Twitter


Tweets by @AdaMariaSoto

Archives


  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • November 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • March 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • January 2013
  • October 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011

Share this blog

  • Bookmark on Delicious
  • Digg this post
  • Recommend on Facebook
  • share via Reddit
  • Share with Stumblers
  • Tumblr it
  • Tweet about it
  • Subscribe to the comments on this post
  • Bookmark in Browser
  • Tell a friend

Tag Cloud

A. M. Soto A and P AllRomance And Everything Nice audiobooks awards baking Bowerbirds camp fire cooking costumes Cover Art cricket dyslexia Eden Springs Empty Nests fandom film review Free Read giveaway His Quiet Agent Life Saving Dal Mental Health Merlin in the Library Nested Hearts parenting personal history poetry preserves Proper Blog Post Pulp Literature recipe release rugby RWNZ science fiction short story Six Sentence Sunday Tactical Submission Through the Dark Clouds travel Whistle Blowing Windsor Club Windsor Knot writing

Pages

  • A. M. Soto
  • Bio
  • Newsletter
  • Works
    • Audiobooks
    • Coming Soon
    • Contemporary
    • Free Works
    • Historical
    • Short Stories
    • Work In Progress

Categories

  • cooking
  • DIY Blog Post
  • Expat Thoughts
  • Film Reviews
  • Free Read
  • geekness
  • Guest Post
  • Mental Health
  • Meta Monday
  • parenting
  • Proper Blog
  • sports
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • writing

Copyright © 2015 The Electric Ink of Ada Maria Soto

Theme created by PWT. Powered by WordPress.org