Writing news: The last 100 yards - The first 5 yards - The longest yard - A single inch
I just discovered that my last post had been almost a month ago. Here is a brief update on my works in progress. Maybe as clarification: I have a pretty chaotic non-linear writing behavior. Not in story-telling itself, there I rely on a well-built structure with all twists and turns predefined. But when it comes to the production process. Today's snapshot is a good example:
The last 100 yards: "Brilliant Actors", my second Calendar Moonstone cat burglary adventure, is on its final editing stretch on my desk. It was one of the books I had already written about ten years ago and after "A Brilliant Plan" was done and sold well, I dragged this out and ran the edit process through it (great work for the commute). I will finalize my edit and the few rewrites this weekend and will ship it off to the professional editor. Which brings us to a launch date on Amazon around June. An ideal read for the beach.
The first 5 yards: In parallel I started working on the second full length Paul Trouble Troubleshooter novel, working title "T2". Paul and his little team will be involved in a kidnapping that turns south. I have some great ideas for fighting scenes, one-handed, weaponless Paul against a group of five fully armed mercenaries in the endless New England woods. The first five yards for me is designing the story structure, collecting it from the various brainstorm notes I took in the last year since Troubleshooter came out.
The longest yard: Where "Brilliant Actors" was already designed and written in the digital drawer, my second (German-only, sorry) young adult novel needs to be written from scratch and is coming along slowly. Veeery slooowwwwly The first two parts went relatively quick, but the third part where I need to resolve but also in parallel prepare for Part 3 is forcing me to restructure. I already threw away two full 3rd part structures and had to built again. Not my most favorite work. But I need to hurry up, or my kids are no longer interested in this type of story.
A single inch: My little Troubleshooter novella "Trouble at Christmas" had given me another idea for a little Paul Trouble backstory. Where "Christmas" took us back to Paul's hometown, the new novella with the working title "Private Trouble" will actually play in the past shortly before Paul is deployed to Somalia, just finishing his Marines training. It shows the two-handed not yet fully resourced Paul who is still in his anger-mode paired with the fresh training he received. The story is done except for a last chapter where I am unsure why I should add it.
You can see, I always write on several pieces at once. The main advantage for me is: motivation. There are parts of novel writing that bores me: editing, editing, editing. And, to an extend, the marketing part. You stop writing and the creative flow completely. By having various books in production, I can decide on the fly what I want to do when and where. I edit on the commute, write a novella while traveling and design a new story in the evening.
The last 100 yards: "Brilliant Actors", my second Calendar Moonstone cat burglary adventure, is on its final editing stretch on my desk. It was one of the books I had already written about ten years ago and after "A Brilliant Plan" was done and sold well, I dragged this out and ran the edit process through it (great work for the commute). I will finalize my edit and the few rewrites this weekend and will ship it off to the professional editor. Which brings us to a launch date on Amazon around June. An ideal read for the beach.
The first 5 yards: In parallel I started working on the second full length Paul Trouble Troubleshooter novel, working title "T2". Paul and his little team will be involved in a kidnapping that turns south. I have some great ideas for fighting scenes, one-handed, weaponless Paul against a group of five fully armed mercenaries in the endless New England woods. The first five yards for me is designing the story structure, collecting it from the various brainstorm notes I took in the last year since Troubleshooter came out.
The longest yard: Where "Brilliant Actors" was already designed and written in the digital drawer, my second (German-only, sorry) young adult novel needs to be written from scratch and is coming along slowly. Veeery slooowwwwly The first two parts went relatively quick, but the third part where I need to resolve but also in parallel prepare for Part 3 is forcing me to restructure. I already threw away two full 3rd part structures and had to built again. Not my most favorite work. But I need to hurry up, or my kids are no longer interested in this type of story.
A single inch: My little Troubleshooter novella "Trouble at Christmas" had given me another idea for a little Paul Trouble backstory. Where "Christmas" took us back to Paul's hometown, the new novella with the working title "Private Trouble" will actually play in the past shortly before Paul is deployed to Somalia, just finishing his Marines training. It shows the two-handed not yet fully resourced Paul who is still in his anger-mode paired with the fresh training he received. The story is done except for a last chapter where I am unsure why I should add it.
You can see, I always write on several pieces at once. The main advantage for me is: motivation. There are parts of novel writing that bores me: editing, editing, editing. And, to an extend, the marketing part. You stop writing and the creative flow completely. By having various books in production, I can decide on the fly what I want to do when and where. I edit on the commute, write a novella while traveling and design a new story in the evening.