Busy Writing - or: WHY I'm not writing Ears!

Currently in my free time I am busy writing, and editing, and rewriting, and yanking bits of text out, or moving it somewhere else, or... 

I've "several" novel manuscripts in various stages of readiness. Each one needs certain things done before being ready. Generally my biggest problem is number of words: I usually have too many!

Eight Feet series:
These include Inside a Love Song and Behind the Drum. Both have been edited down, checked and edited some more, and both still are too long. So I need to go in and ruthlessly yank scenes out, while making sure that the overall narratives lose nothing vital by these gut-wrenching changes. I could break both into two shorter novels, but that interfers more with the overall continuity. I hope to revamp them during the Christmas holidays. Meanwhile the third book in the series: Singer of a Songless Land is getting initial very rough draft updates once a week as "the guys" discuss new material. Most of my summer went on these two.

Yrmegard series(?):
Yrmegard, like Ears, is histocial fiction. I've had so much fun learning about medieval Germany at the rise of HR Emperor Frederick II. The more I learn, the more complications arise for me as a writer! The biggest challenge is finding relevant material in English. Will Yrmegard become a series or a mere duo? I'm not certain yet. With it crrently divided into two, Yrmegard, the Magdeburg Years (Y1) and Yrmegard: the Breslau Years (Y2) these will make two managable novels that won't be too long for consideration. Ears is a character who gets "honorable mention" in Yrmegard. He appears briefly, and in company with his master - though that connection is not presented in Yrmegard. Anyhow I am currently boggled in Y1 at deciding which of three ways to take Yrmegard: a) into a brutal marriage; b) into an engagement; or c) just let her be. Originally the story presented the first scenario (a), however, once I learned what the divorce laws in 1212 would have implied, that seemed the most difficult to resolve with good narrative and historically accuracy. Nevertheless I will have to "try on" all three - which involves writing out all three scenarios - before I'll know which one works best so that Y2 can go on as it is. Oh I KNOW the first one works best, it's just all the legalities which make it such a challange!

Jack:
Jack in somehat autobiograpical yet is firmly fiction. I'm not sure if Jack is going to turn into a series. Version one, which I'm supposedly editing as I write this blog (and no, I can't do two things at once), is - suprise - too long! And I haven't even finished the first part of the story! So I need to find a nice convenient place to tie it up and still have the possibility to continue. That's what I'm supposed to be working on currently - and was doing last week! But this week I've been looking ahead and creating three years beyond the initial story - which certaily hints of a possible series. Certain vistas opened and I've been working every free moment to get those down before they were forgotten!

Taken!
Taken! is my scifi story. Much to my surprise it is NOT too long! It does have the possibility to turn into a series. There are a few science things I'll need to edit, (they promise to be quick fixes which I can get done in a day or so. Basically it is ready! Hurrah... so this means trying to query agents, and that takes research which takes time away from writing.

And these are the reasons Ears is not currently being updated. I AM sorry!