entertaining the sombrevilles

Cover

Book covers are really important to me, and today I got to see mine for the first time. I had requested one with a “sexy, art deco feel” – and this one has that in abundance. I am so happy with it, and I’m thrilled to have reached this part of the process. Soon I’ll be able to show it to you.

Whirl, whirl

I’m starting to realize Entertaining the Sombrevilles will actually be a published book soon. Slowly that realization is dawning on me and it’s lovely and scary at the same time. When I started working on the novel it was just a bit of a fun side project to pass the time – but I don’t think you can work on any story for this long without getting attached to it. I can’t imagine going trough life without characters inhabiting your mind, characters who often grow into imaginary friends. My focus is always the characters and their relationships, no matter which story I’m writing, and my characters mean everything to me. Letting them out into the real world is exciting, but also something I’m anxious about. What if people don’t like them? What if I’m the only one who can appreciate all those little things that make my babies so amazing?

There’s a lot of whirling thoughts right now, as you can tell. Mostly, though, I’m super excited that things are finally happening – things that I’ve dreamed of since childhood. No matter what the reviews will say (if there are any), I’ve come a long, long way since last year. And I have lots of things left to learn.

Currently

So, it might be time for an update. I haven’t blogged in forever because I wanted to focus on my fiction-writing, and fiction-writing takes time. So much time. It’s been going pretty good, though, and I’m about to start planning the second book in my pirate series. But there is even more exciting stuff happening, that I haven’t shared with you yet:

Entertaining the Sombrevilles is going to be published! It will be out on Less Than Three Press and I’m currently working on the final edits. I’m really happy to be working with LT3 and I hope the book will turn out well. I’ll be posting more details as soon as I can.

I also got myself a twitter account. I haven’t quite grasped how twitter works yet but if you want to follow me on there, I’m elvirabell_.

The siblings got a beta

I’ve just sent Entertaining the Sombrevilles to a beta reader. I feel both anxious and excited about it – it’s such a weird story, which is why I’ve been hesitant about it for a long time now. Then again, all my stories are weird, weirdness is sort of my thing. And no matter how other people may feel about my writing, the reason I do it is because I like it. You have to give yourself these little pep talks every once in a while, especially when you’re about to do something scary, such as sending your novel to a person you’ve never met.

I think I’ve made up my mind about the short stories as well. I really need to write more standalone shorts, my problem is that the stories are based on characters I already have, and the point is you need to read the novel before you read the short stories. Which is difficult when the novel isn’t done yet. But I may have found a way around it, we’ll see!

For today I am a writer

Day off today, and I am absolutely thrilled about it. There are lots of writing-related projects and ideas in my head right now, too many to keep up with, but I’m doing my best. Here’s what I’m currently focusing on:

Wavesongs: Plotting, plotting, plotting. And after that I need to do research, and more plotting. I’m really looking forward to the actual writing, but I won’t get ahead of myself this time.

Entertaining the Sombrevilles: I need to do something with it, because it’s basically finished. Still pondering this.

Erotic short stories: I have a lot of these by now. What to do about them?

I’m totally absorbed by books and words right now, and I love it. Working on a story, or reading a great book, is the best feeling in the world.

On another note, I watched Crimson Peak recently and oh my God, Tom Hiddleston. ❤ I haven’t given him much thought before but boy, is he amazing. And handsome. Very handsome. Why aren’t there more movies like that? I’m so, so weak for anything gothic. I’d love to write gothic gay fiction stories because that combination would be simply divine.