When an approaching darkness threatens an island of light, one man must push back the storm and summon the strength to move mountains.
As you may have noticed some time ago, things stalled on this project. I let life get hectic and get in the way of writing. I had a new kid. Work got more... complicated... my computer died. It’s led to a complete breakdown of the process. I was about to get started on it again, when my wife pointed out that while this is a work in progress, I have six manuscripts that are substantially closer to being publication ready, and I should stop this nasty habit of cranking out a draft and then letting it gather dust, and actually send out something that I’ve been agonizing over revisions and edits for close to three years now.
We made the comparison to my writing being like raising a family. I keep having kids, raising them up, doing what I can to make them ready to face the world, but every time I make a move to send them out there, I pull back and say, "Nope, there’s still so much more I need to do for my kids to prepare them for what’s out there! They’re not ready." And so rather than having any of my babies move out, I just keep buying more bunk beds.
As such, this project is moved to the back-burner while I prepare other manuscripts for publication (currently, The Professional Corpse, which also has a page up). Once that one is out the door, I’m directing my focus to getting another fantasy draft published that I’ve been sitting on for longer than The Professional Corpse, and then, with two more of my grown kids out of the house so they can start earning their own keep, that will free up some metaphorical bedroom space for new children.
So, the presumptive final draft is ready to go except for art and a last check for typos (and first drafts for the next two books in the series already complete!). I’ve done just about all I can without a fresh set of eyes. When we hit 250 pre-orders, we should move pretty quickly into the production phase. If we hit 750, that’s when things get really exciting, and we turn this book from fun and exciting, to great and exhilarating! Follow along, share along, and let’s bring this thing to life like Jaime after a poisoned glass of Shiraz, shall we?
