Leto Armitage: Blog

The last two weeks have been a thing. I've struggled to get chapter 37 of the Pool Girl out in terms of finding time to write but when I have it came easily. One night I was burned out from work and laying in bed. An idea jumped into my mind. A new story came out of that which is now in the queue called One Thousand Cranes. I started typing it up and it came out pretty much fully formed. I had thought there would be two sex scenes in it but in the end it had no sex. I know a lot of readers are like me who like both perversion and romance. For the romance readers it might appeal. If you're more interested in the smut it won't.

Chapter 37 of The Pool Girl is done though. I need to give it another pass and will send it on for proofing today. I'll even get around to looking at my mail so my apologies if you've mailed me and not heard back I swear I will clear out my inbox as well.

Hope everyone is well,

Leto

Chapter 36 is in the proofing stage. I've had quite a few plot points guessed at in PMs by various folks up to this point but this chapter drops one that no one has yet (or at least communicated it to me). I realized the other day that new characters have been scarce for a while and that will continue to be the case. Our cast is pretty much set and the main dramas (with one exception) are in motion.

Chapter 37 will fill in the space between 36 and when Lavi's grand parents visit, a few seeds will be sewn for plot lines but it largely like what I think of the Miami chapters - a bit of escapism and a bit of a peek into Robert's past in what I think will be an unexpected way.

Meanwhile I was trying to relax a few nights ago and got this sudden idea that stuck in my mind. I sat down and wrote it out, nothing more than a vignette. Still, it refused to leave my mind and over the next two days a plot worked it ourself out. So, it won't distract me from The Pool Girl but I do have this story I'm going to flesh out and eventually publish. It's a lesbian romance with minimal sex but I like the idea and sometimes I just have to write things to get them out of my head.

I'm probably going to miss my mark of trying to get a chapter out in one week but not by much. Chapter 36 is almost done. The main fault for this is other writing. In my professional life I decided to do this silly thing and submit an article proposal to a professional journal and they said "sure, can you have it for us in two weeks?" So, I'm working on that. I suppose I'll actually have to say I'm technically a professional writer at that point - but only technically and frankly writing Lavi is way more fun. (Don't tell Melissa I said that.)

In other news in case you didn't see it and you share Robert's (and my) love of Godzilla the trailer for Kong vs Godzilla is out today.

Happy belated New Years to everyone! I wanted to thank everyone who DMed me for New Years.

I'm still learning how to write with this "being inside" thing. For some reason I write much better sitting on the deck in the sun than anywhere else and I live in the American south-east where it is as likely to be 60 degrees F right now as it is to be 40. This is definitely an element of writing as a craft I need to improve on. To do so I'm getting up a bit earlier and getting some writing in before work. It means writing in smaller increments but it is helping.

I just finished my first pass on chapter 34. It's a short chapter, about 5.5k words but contains a few important plot points I want to get out there and I don't want to hold it up too long. I'm going to do another pass before sending it to Pertinax who kindly puts up with my erratic schedule.

I also had a strange dream last night where I was dating two sisters determined to prove they could not be jealous of each other. That might become a fun little one off story if additional elements pop into my head.

But for now I hope everyone is being safe. It's still crazy out there and I worry it will get worse before it gets better. Best of wishes to all.

I posted a picture on Twitter this morning of my dog that approached me on the bed, nudged my arm with her head until there was space, and proceeded to lady down on my arm and go to sleep. What I didn't post was a picture from two hours later when she moved and my wife took her place.

This kind of thing is not conducive to writing but it is sweet as hell so I'm not complaining. Still, I set aside time to write this weekend and had to tell the family I was putting in earbuds and turning up music loud to focus and write while they did other things. The result is chapter 33 is one solid read-through away from being sent away for proof reading.

Highlights of the chapter as a tease -

Our trio heads home from the hospital.
Robert has an intimate chat with Ji.
Dinner with Linda, Rian, Sylvia and Peter.
Melissa's plan gets approval from someone very important to it.
The dinner party has a bombshell dropped.