So, much as I’ve done every year for the last 10, I managed to combine a national holiday with a weeks vacation to maximize the number of days I can avoid my day job while minimizing the number of vacation days I actually use. Holidays like the Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and the uber Thanksgiving two day break work great for this strategy.
One additional objective for this year was to write and release 2 additional chapters in the ongoing Forgotten Empire project.
I didn’t make it.
There were a number of reasons. Laziness, a host of great books waiting to be read, the fact I’m nearing the end of the first book, and the next chapter is probably the most critical to setting up the story for the next two books, so no pressure on me at all. If I had to choose I’d say it was a combination of all the above. Let’s look at each of them in detail:
• Laziness, hey, I was on vacation, so that has to count for something. You’re supposed to be lazy while on vacation. Sit back, smell the roses, recharge the battery, all that stuff. So I did.
• A host of books to read. Oh my, I did some serious reading. Pretty much in order I read:
- Heartless (Book #4 of the Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger
- The John Rain series by Barry Eisler (Hard Rain, Killing Rain, Rain Fall, Rain Storm, and Killing Rain, and The Last Assassin)
- Hammered (Book #3 of the Iron Druid series) by Kevin Hearne
- Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
- Just a Geek, and Memories of the Future by Wil Wheaton
That’s what, 11 books for the week? And let’s not even count the number of web pages I visited to continue my research in becoming a self-publishing juggernaut. Nope, don’t go there.
• The end of the project (Book #1) is coming to an end. As with all projects as I near the end, while I feel charged up to get it done, I’m always conflicted with the fact that I’ll soon be done. The two battle it out in my mind and I dither between one state (get it done) to the opposite (this whole project sucks, you should stop before you embarrass yourself).
• Finally, its a critical chapter to the entire series. There’s a lot riding on the story reveals in this chapter, its important, and I don’t want to mess it up. Sure, it’s only a first draft, you can clear it up in the editing phases, but still, the better it is in the first draft, then less work will be needed in the other phases.
Also, to be honest, while I did a lot of plotting and planning for this first book, its still a massive learning experience, and honestly, I’m making up some ideas as I go. Some are working, others are not. The big Macguffin, what Hieronymus is searching for, only just came to me two nights ago just as I lay down to sleep. Before that, I pretty much had nada, zip, nothing. Call it first novel jitters, a learners mistake, poor planning, whatever. Having been here once means I’m going to work harder to make sure I don’t hit that wall in book #2 or #3 or ever again.
It’s not like I wasted a lot of time. While the story reveals in chapter 22 are important, there are other plot threads that I could continue just fine, so I did. Chapters 23, 24, and 25 are all half written as well. In fact, the final chapter word count targets were all set for 3500 words, and I managed to write 2250, 1680, 1650, and 1780 words per each chapter for the week, for a total of 7360, or two chapters of material spread across four chapters. So, I made the word count goal, but not the release goal.
In addition, I awoke this morning with an idea for a side story in the Archer and Hieronymus universe concerning Alethea and Saara and started writing it. Since I’ve been itching to do a real short story for awhile I dug right in as soon as I could get my butt in gear. By noon I had 1100+ words, and before I started this post, the word count is sitting at 3027. That means I’ve really managed over 10,000 words for the week, a real first.
Wow, 10k words of writing in a week.
So, the results for the week are mixed, but the trend is good. There’s still work to finish in chapter 22, The Overseer, it’s getting there slowly. Good follow ups to use my energy to write the easier scenes in later chapters, even if its not exactly defeating the roadblock in the story. And finally, a short story that’s just flowing out naturally. I was starting to think I’d never come up with anything and then bam, there it is.
I can do this.
Oh, and I was also working on a secret project I hope to reveal soon. So stay tuned.
Image: Another one of my artist influences, Jeff Jones, passed away earlier this year. Last year, Frazetta, this year Jones, I hate it. I loved his smooth style and classic presentation. His black & white work was also superb and greatly influenced how I drew woman for years. He will be missed in this household.
