I reread "Said the Joker, To the Thief" and I'm amazed by how intricate it is. It is by far my most sophisticated work, the melding of character and plot and theme. Came out of nowhere. If I could write like this every time, I'd be pretty impressed with myself.

Coming up on 13 weeks since I sent "Said the Joker, To the Thief" to Kindle Singles. The more time goes on, the more I think it was just a foul-up of some kind. I think if it was an acceptance, I would have heard by now. Up to about 12 weeks I could harbor the illusion. Oh, well. I always knew it was an extreme long shot.

Meanwhile, I have four free days, interrupted by 3 works days, and I want to really concentrate on "Takeover" once I start, so I've decided to start another novella, this one starring Mother Sali. Won't feel bad about interrupting it. Just have fun. A throwaway, either it works or it doesn't. Hell, maybe I'll even try to finish it.

This was just way too much time without writing. It feels off. I need to use my creative muscles on something.

So just do my fantasy thing, let my subconscious go to work, have some fun with it.

Writing novellas has been a valuable experience. Basically, novellas are plots distilled to the essence. No time for chapters that are inserted just for action. The action has to be in the forward progressing chapters. So if I could manage to do the same for a book two or three times as long, I'd really have something.

In "Said the Joker, To the Thief," Callipe's journey could have taken up at least half the book. Instead, I just cut all the adventures in-between and had her just show up for the ending. It worked as a novella, but if I had included those adventures, it probably would have worked as a book too. (If I ever have a call to extend it, that's what I'd do.)

It's my intention to have all of Callipe's in-between adventures as another novella. So I'm looking at a minimum of four different novellas, and I'm thinking I'll probably do a Lady Lysandra novella as well.

No real endpoint, really. Just any time I want to dive into that world.