It’s only two days until October, and that means I only have 33 more days to prepare for this year’s NaNoWriMo. Of course, if I don’t finish Dominion in time, this will be moot, which is a distinct possibility what with the way I seem to be writing this novel in slow motion. But I’m closing in on the end of Act Two, otherwise known as the Great Swampy Middle (TM Jim Butcher), and I expect Act Three (otherwise known as the part where all hell breaks loose) to go a little faster. Here’s hoping I’m right about that, otherwise I’ll be invoking the Zokoutu clause this November and hanging out in the Nano Rebels forum while I work on finishing this puppy.
If I do get it finished on time, then in November I’ll launch right into the zero draft of the sequel. So the rest of the year, writing-wise, will pretty much be dedicated to a) finishing Dominion, b) editing it and prepping it for publication, and c) drafting the sequel, which is sure to carry me over into next year.
And I am already thinking about next year, since it will be here before we know it. After the Damned sequel is published and out of the way, I think I’m going to see if I can salvage Hero Factor. I think I can. I suspect that the real problem with it is that I over-edited it until I broke it, and that I need to wind it back a couple of revisions. But I like most of what’s there, and I really don’t want it to be a trunk novel, because I think you guys will like it, too. Also, I have ideas for a series and spinoffs, and those will never happen if I don’t find a way to fix this story.
After that, I think I’m going to take a break from novels for a while and practice writing short stories. I think short stories take a different skill set than novels, but like most skill sets, I think it can be acquired, and I think my writing career could only benefit from putting some sincere effort into acquiring it.
So that’s my tentative production schedule for the next six months or so. As usual, we’ll see how it goes.