Okay, everyone, a quick question for you.

Realising that my publishers and agents all want me to stick with fantasy for adults, but also aware that it’s not good to keep all your eggs in one basket, I decided that I’d better make sure that those eggs aren’t all griffin eggs (did I just strain the metaphor?).

Therefore, I hastily promised my agent that I could and would come up with another fantasy series for grownups in case we needed something else to spruik. And amazingly enough, that very afternoon when I mulled over what I might do, I came up with something more or less on the spot.

Now, I really can’t say whether the new project is for adults; aside from anything else I’ve always been terrible at picking audiences for my own work (and quite frankly, no-one else can really agree either). But however it may be I started work on a new project some time ago, and by now it’s getting toward the 50-page mark and looking strong enough that I know it’ll be finished rather than petering out like some of my previous efforts.

It’s at this point that I’ve started wondering whether any of you might be interested in seeing it for yourselves, especially considering that there’s been no major news or much of interest going on here lately. So I’m asking you now to see what you think. I can just post up a short summary of what the story’s about, or I can go so far as to put up an extract. Or I can do both.

Which would you prefer? Don’t be shy; comment and let me know, and verily, thy wish shalt be mine command!

Regular readers may recall that some time ago I began a new series for young adult readers, in which the first three installments were titled Scales, Claws and Spikes. You may also recall that though my agents and publisher thought the first installment was pretty good (despite not being able to agree on what age group it was for), I was ultimately advised to put it aside for now and concentrate on my books for adults.

Anyway, I’ve now entered that first installment in the Text Prize contest for unpublished children’s/young adult manuscripts, for which the prize is a publishing deal with a $10,000 advance. I don’t have high hopes of winning because I’m not really the sort of person who wins writing awards (something my detractors will have no trouble believing), but wish me luck anyway!

Well, I finished the first stage of editing on book five, The Shadowed Throne. Good to have that one out of the way! Editing is exciting the first time, but do it enough times and it just turns into work – like most things in life, I would imagine. But finishing it always puts me in a good mood.

You ever get that feeling like you’re not really in control of your existence? Like you’re stuck being you and living your boring life whether you like it or not? Ever wanted to be someone else?

Well, sadly this isn’t the universe of Being John Malkovitch (love that movie, and I found the soundtrack at ComicCon!), but sometimes the time comes when you just gotta stand up and take control of your life, and put it in the direction you want it to go in. And that’s what I, K.J.Taylor, am doing, and I’m going to start by telling the truth at last.

I hate being a fantasy author.

There, I said it.

It’s lonely, it pays in peanuts, and you get the meanest critics out of any genre, for reasons I’ve never quite been able to work out. And other authors think you’re a dork.

So today I’m announcing my decision. I’m quitting, and I’m moving on to write what I’ve always wanted to write all these years.

Romance!

In fact, I’ve already finished my first manuscript, which I will be sending off to Mills and Boon tomorrow. The working title is Words of Love, and it’s about the steamy love affair between a fabulously good-looking grey-eyed authoress called Kassandre Janice Tench, and the mysterious bad-boy rock star who comes into her life after he saves it in front of an audience at the biggest rock festival of the year. Can these two star-crossed lovers possibly overcome their differences and find happiness together?

Find out!

I will, of course, publish it under a pseudonym which I have yet to choose. Suggestions are welcome!

ETA: Just in case it wasn’t already obvious… April Fool.

Today, at about 2pm in my favourite cafe, I finally completed book eight, The Silent Guard! Book two of the third trilogy, The Southern Star.

Now I suppose it’s on to book nine, which doesn’t have a title yet. I think I’ll finish the short story I’m on first, though. And I just got the substantive edits for book five, The Shadowed Throne, so there’s that.

Ah well, in any case, that’s book eight in the can. It clocked in at 199 pages and about 105,000 words, in case you’re curious. And, as always, the title is subject to possible change – assuming I get to the point of selling it!