James Pray.com

Winter

I am still alive, really; sometimes I get into a Mode wherein I work my tail off and accomplish much, to a degree that precludes telling the internet about it. That was my Fall season for 2011.

Anyway, there's no news to speak of just now, except that I am close to re-starting my sequel (...again), and suspect that it will go a lot faster this time, on account of actually working. It turns out that you really can have too many good ideas, at least if you're trying to cram them all into the same story. I note that I've said I had this sequel thing figured out before, so I will not say more until I actually have the cussed thing drafted.

Have fun out there.

-- James Pray, January 2012

Older Stuff that was Here

Late Summer

If you're wondering what sort of things I have actually written, the Bio page is now updated with answers (of a sort). If you're wondering why I don't mention project titles, it's a) to keep them out of search engines and b) because publishers pick them out in any case. I am at peace with this, and I hope you can be, too.

-- James Pray, August 2011

Summer

Somehow I think I've neglected to mention that Donald Maass is representing my work. Well, he is. He is great.

In other news, I got married in May and bought a house, which has had a detrimental effect on my writing schedule (this should not have been as surprising as it was). Something may be off when you feel as excited as I did last night about putting down seven hundred words. On the other hand, the washing machine is no longer helping rot out the laundry room floor, and I have shelving for slightly more than half my books, so my schedule's opening up. Onward!

-- James Pray, July 2011

Developments

Revisions are done (for the moment) and sent off...

Now, letting plans for the sequel percolate, and waiting to see if any changes are in order for the end of the novel. So far, plenty of good ideas, but I want to have my starting conditions a little more finalized before I start (because I've started it twice already, and don't want to get into the habit).

Also, I finally secured a Twitter account in my name! Still figuring out what to do with it, as Twitter is a medium I have tried very hard to learn nothing about up until now. Theoretically, it could be a useful promotion tool. In practice ... well, it will take practice, yes.

-- James Pray, March 2011

Moving Forward

As of the first week of the new year, I've signed with an agent for my first* novel. To criminally understate the matter, I'm excited. Once the celebratory phone calls, dancing, and loud music are out of the way, though, it's GO TIME, which translates into TIME TO WORK HARD FOR A LONG TIME, because I've got revisions to make.
I think this means it's probably time to start thinking about my web presence much more carefully than before...
More updates to come.
-- James Pray, January 2011
*The first novel for which I've tried to get an agent. It's the 8th I've started, the 5th I've finished, and the 2nd I've written end-to-end more than once.

Site in Development

After almost a year, the construction equipment is rolling in. The site is now in the process of being built. All by hand, because templates are for sissies. (There's learning to do, though, because since I was last in the business of coding sites, they've deprecated many of the ways I knew how to accomplish things with html).
The manuscript is edited as far as I'm going to take it until an agent tells me to do more. I am currently in the process of finding an agent.
That's it for now.
-- James Pray, October 2010

It would be a grand fib to write "Under Construction" here, because this is the digital equivalent of an acre of dark, bare earth, cross-stitched with grader tracks, with a chain fence around it, and no construction machinery in sight.
I don't know when this site will begin to take shape. The priority is somewhere beneath finishing editing a hefty hunk of manuscript-editing.
However! When that's done, this site will grow up to, in part, tell you all about that very story. You should be excited.
--James Pray, November 2009