Dark Medicine appears to be on track to be in dictated draft by the end of October, and on pace to go through all the drafts and be ready to be shopped to possible agents by the end of April 2010. It is has been a much longer journey than I would have intended. I had expected this novel to be ready by last month. In some ways I feel like my main character, Alexandre Levreau—who has been on his own version of an odyssey—failed or blocked to achieve my goal of bringing this story home.

In other ways, I have a fear regarding this novel. Everywhere I turn I see a new vampire story. All the ones I have read or seen on television or in the movies are “Hollywood”ish versions of the old tale and I wonder where Dark Medicine will fall into the arena. Is there just too many vampire stories out there right now?

That will be a question for the agents, publishers and the market to answer. I am not getting my hopes up, but I will proceed to shop it in April. In the meantime, should it not be bought, I am starting research for a different novel altogether. What, you may ask, do I have up my sleeve? Excuse the cat who ate the canary grin, but I will give a hint—I have been researching my Native American heritage, folk tales, and legends again for my fantasy writing and it looks like I can cross some of the ideas over.

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