Peeking At WWK Writers' WIPs

After realizing last week that I had no idea what works in progress my fellow bloggers were writing, I decided to find out. I posed six questions for each of them to answer concerning their work. This week, WWK alumni James Montgomery Jackson and Alyx Morgan answer my questions.

James Montgomery Jackson

1. What is the title or tentative title of your WIP?

I have two WIPs: CABIN FEVER and “Future Novel”

2. What is the dust cover blurb of your WIP?

I’m not quite at the point of polished blurbs but here are the teasers:

CABIN FEVER: Finding in the middle of winter a comatose, naked woman on the porch of his remote Upper Peninsula of Michigan home thrusts Seamus McCree (the series character) into the middle of murder and mayhem sponsored by a splinter of the Michigan militia.

“Future Novel”: On the Vernal Equinox of 2091, Seamus McCree’s sixteen-year old great-grandson, S-7, is visited by a high-ranking officer of the hated Eastern Army. With his grandfather’s permission, she slips S-7 out of the so-called Neutral Territory of Upper Michigan into the United States of Eastern America to short-circuit the plans of an infiltrator from the  Western American States who is seeking to cause a world war.

3. In what stage of progress is your WIP?

CABIN FEVER: Will write the polishing “final draft” this spring.

“Future Novel”: Wrote 30,000+ words last year and realized I started the story in the wrong place. Planning for the first time to try to write an outline first for this dystopian thriller.

4. How many hours per week do you devote to your writing?

Alas, last year I spent most of my time on bridge-related activities, preparing for the March 2012 release of One Trick at a Time: How to start winning at bridge. Much of the time I would normally have spent writing, I used to improve my own bridge game, so I wouldn’t embarrass myself at the tables! Although this year I will be promoting the book, I’ll actually be playing much less bridge and have more time to write.

5. What are your aspirations for your work?

I aspire to have people read them.

6. In relation to your WIP, where do you hope to be by the end of this year?

I’ve set unrealistic goals before and set a goal this year to set realistic goals. My writing goals are: #1 promote the bridge book; #2 submit BAD POLICY (CABIN FEVER'S predecessor) to small presses (which I have already started); #3 submit CABIN FEVER to agents: and #4 have a completed first draft (and maybe even a title) for “Future Novel.”

EBD-I have two additional questions for Jim.

Unlike “Future Novel,” aren’t your Seamus McCree novels set in present day?

Yes they are, but I have become increasingly concerned about the power of corporations in the US. I thought the best way to fictionally express that concern was to project forward 80 years to a point where corporations are the government.

Although your bridge book isn’t fiction the process of publishing and promotion should be very similar. Would you be our Welcome Wednesday guest on April 4^th?

I’d be happy to. (I admit to first checking the calendar to make sure it was really April 4^th and not April 1^st!)

Alyx Morgan

1. What is the name the title or tentative title of your WIP?

REICHENBACH FELL?

2. Provide the jacket blurb of your WIP.

Living on the island of Alameda has always been peaceful, if not a little dull for high school sophomore Tabitha Patterson, until a series of thefts offers her a chance to put her love of Holmesian logic to use. Despite the misgivings of a certain police sergeant, Tab and her best friend Stu eagerly hunt down the clues necessary to solve the mystery. The closer they get, the more dangerous the villain becomes. When the crook threatens Tab’s grandmother, she decides enough is enough. Has Tabitha met her very own Professor Moriarty?

3. In what stage is your WIP?

The book is completed & in its [hopefully] final revision stage

4. How many hours per week do you devote to their writing?

Depends, roughly 4-10 hours

5. What are your aspirations for the work?

I’d love to see it published. I will send it to agents first, but might end up self-publishing.

6. In relation to your WIP, where do you hope to be by the end of this year?

I’d like to have sold some copies of my book, and be on the revisions for the next book in the series.

EBD-I also have two questions for Alyx.

Do you work with a critique group, Alyx?

I don’t, no. I have a few people who are my beta readers (one of whom has become my editor), but I haven’t joined an actual critique group yet.

Are you working on your second manuscript while completing revisions on the first?

No. I haven’t learned how to do that yet. When I finish these revisions & send it off to my readers & editor, then I’ll begin work on the second book. Until then, I feel that it’s better for me to focus on one story at a time.