So What Is Michael C. Laney Up To?

A blast from the past, something old to Me and new to you!  Huh?

Well for everyone that's been following Me I am sure knows that the past year was a pretty big year for Me.  In March 2010 I posted My first two stories online, Descent To Venus and Older Is Bedder.  Then between March and October I wrote several new short stories and a few dozen poems, became a Twitter tweeter, and finished a novel I had been working on for almost four years Heather's Journey: The Sound Of her MASTER'S VOICE.  At the very beginning of January 2011 I discovered I had been plagiarized, and set out to deal with that problem with help from fellow victims and with success.  In February an unabridged edition of The Sound Of her MASTER'S VOICE was published for download and eReaders, in a way bringing to close what was quite a year.

Afterward I went to work on several projects, starting a new story collection and working on getting a good start on the first novel of Shadows Of The Night.  I know, because people ask, they're wanting to know when they're going to see what they know I have in the works, but the problem is it's hard to answer.  Writing is one of those funny things.  Sometimes you will be so inspired to work on a particular project, and then poof, you get stuck, or suddenly you have another idea for a project you want to work on, but I'm thinking, always thinking, about whatever I put on hold or on the back burner.  I've actually begun to think that,especially with longer projects, that I need to work on them a little at a time while working on shorter works in between.

Of course life is something else that tends to get in the way.  I can tell you I really miss the days when it seemed like nothing was ever holding me back as I wrote.  When I was in high school I churned out story after story, assigned and on my own, between going to school full time, working practically full time (35 hours a week) and keeping a full "social" life.  Now I pretty much work, and that's it, or at least all I intend, but usually something is always coming up.  And that's just the basic stuff.

This year the lady vyle has faced several health concerns, and in the past 365 days or so she has been under and in surgery four times.  She is well now, but when you're dealing with the love of your life I think you know that you will put everything on the back burner to attend to their comfort and  to let them know that you're there.

Then there are all those other things that come along.  Boy scouts, "volunteering" at the middle school, yard work, etc.  You know, all those things that come along with being a parent and an adult.  One thing at a time doesn't seem like much, but add it all together and you wonder where all the time when, or how the hell did I write more when I was young with either just as much, if not less, time.

So, I've had life.  Ideas have come and went, some to simmer on the back burner and others stuffed into the freezer to grow cold.  Yet I'm at least always working on them in My head.  And then, there's always what I'm working on now.

Currently I am working on revising My 1994 short story, A Day In The Life Of  Abagail King into a novel.  The story was one I had chosen to quickly convert from a 3.5 inch mini-disk file and put onto My Kindle so I could look it over and have something to read when I was in Missouri for My oldest son's graduation, and as I read over it before I even left I had come to the decision that the story itself didn't need all that much work.  In fact I was surprised at the BDSM themes that had ended up in several of the scenes, and which still stood up pretty well, despite the fact that at the time I had only been living in the lifestyle for a little over a year.

So what's A Day In The Life Of Abagail King (the novel) going to be about?  Well the story is the tale of a southern prostitute, told in her own words.  I know I do My best to try to make each story I write very different from one another, but those familiar with My other works will find it quite a departure from My other works.  Abagail tells her story with her own person moxie and sometimes cutting her words down, dropping the G's off her words when she gets on a roll to reflect her own vocal accent.  She a product of her upbringing and at odds within herself over southern values and modern ideas.  With little apology or shame she relates the events of one of her work days from $50 quickies to a lesbian BDSM scene to a party where she entertains a large group of men with the help of only one other woman.

Is Abagail King going to be for everyone?  Probably not, but then again I would be hard pressed to name anything I've written that had Universal appeal.  However I am pleased with what I have, having just reached the halfway point, and I have as always striven to tell a true to life story with true to life characters.  I have a date in mind I would like to have it done and published, but whenever I actually name a date it seems I never get it done by then, and I hate to give a date and continually push it back, so for now I'm keeping the projected publication date under My hat.

Next?

Well, work continues on on My Fungi collection, slowly but  surely.  Plus I have been reading over The Sound Of her MASTER'S VOICE.  The story of the second novel in the Heather's Journey Trilogy is slowly starting to build itself in My head.  I have already worked on cover and interior art for the novel and I can assure you that work will probably begin on Heather's Journey: The Manual Of Discipline before the end of the summer.

Until then, I'll keep you posted.  But look out for A Day In The Life Of Abagail King, coming soon!

Master Vyle