Writing Update 1-16-12

Yay!  I have finally finished editing "Boundaries".  It is now in its second draft.  It is a novelette with 15,515 words.  Whew!  "Boundaries" is from a story collection that is about a family that lives in the town of Shaw Falls.  The three siblings in the family all attend Kye Valley Christian College just east of the town of Kye Valley.

I do want to start sharing my stories on here.  But, I want to copyright them first.  The story collection that I want to start with is one that I'm calling "Dawn Comes Softly".  Right now it has three finished stories in it.  I would like to add at least a couple more stories to it before I have the whole thing copyrighted.  So it will probably be a while before I start sharing story excerpts on here.

The three finished stories in "Dawn Comes Softly" are "The Peace Within", "The Night The Heavens Cried", and "Little Sister".   The two new stories that I'm thinking about starting have the tentative titles of "The Secret" and "The Promise".  "The Peace Within" is the story that starts this story collection.  "The Secret" is the next story.  The other stories come later.  There might be another story between "The Secret" and "The Night The Heavens Cried".

"The Peace Within" is still in the first draft.  So I want to get started editing it soon here.  I like to bring a story to about the third or fourth draft before I let anyone read it.  As a general rule I don't let people read the first draft because it's usually pretty rough.  When I have let people read the first draft I have always regretted it.  So, editing first.

What is the main theme of "Dawn Comes Softly"?  If I could only choose one word for the theme I think I would choose redemption.  God's redemption is definitely the focus of the entire collection.  I'll share things that will give you an idea of what this story collection deals with.

-- A son has grown to be a man.  But his real father has no idea that he even has a son.  Will the young man's mother finally tell both men the truth?

-- A son goes missing for more than 10 years.  If he is found, can he ever really come home?

-- A blossoming romance suddenly died more than 25 years ago.  Is there any hope of it ever being rekindled?

That's a little bit of what this collection deals with.  "Dawn Comes Softly" is a collection of stories about two families.  The patriarchs of these families were two of the three founding members of a church in the town of Kye Valley.

I am still working on the first draft of "Sweet Nathaniel's Eyes".  This story is from another story collection.  I am expecting it to be quite lengthy - about novella length.  So I will be working on it for a while.

Later this evening I would like to add another installment to "A Fictional Place".  In a few minutes here I am going to go work on dinner.  :)