I have been working on a new novel this year. My last one, “the Ironclad Exile“, was released in February of 2018 and I really haven’t had anything to say since.

I started plinking at this one as a result of weird dream I had and recalled when I woke up, back towards the end of last December. In fact, I wrote the Prologue on Christmas Eve. I did a bunch of browsing Pintrest for inspiration, but the words were just sort of stuck for the next couple of months. So, I set it aside.

On the 25th of June, I knew what I was supposed to be writing. I had the meta-concept solid in my head, who the protagonists were, and my writing compass was pointing well away from North. In a month of casual tinkering, I got about 15,000 words written, and that was the chainsaw work done. Between July 26th and August 10th, I got an absolutely ridiculous 62,000 more done, plus another nearly 15,000 done in character descriptions, locations, research notes and such.

So, at this point, my next novel, “Afterliving for Guys” is at 110k, according to Scrivner. All that’s left is finishing up the alpha-test read and incorporating that feed back. Then, that will be “frozen”, short of discovering “martians” that have snuck through the editing process this far. Then, it’s getting the paper-back design nailed down, including the back-cover. The eBook cover is done already; keep your eyes here for a cover-reveal on the Canadian Labour Day weekend.

I’m expecting the eBook to release in the first week of October, and hopefully the trade paperback format version within a week of that. That feels pretty damn good, I must say.

The problem is that I don’t want to be done yet. There are still stories left in this setting. So, I’m 10k in on the second instalment, in about 3 days. Much as I said when I stared writing “Afterliving for Guys“, I don’t know if this one is going anywhere, but it’s proving a lot of enjoyment in the act of writing. I’ll taking while I can have it.

The masc protagonist is kind of fun, and is very much not the normal for this type of story with me, and that in turn is forcing me turn to lean on different ideas and directions for the plot. The femme is kind of cool, but really hasn’t charmed me yet; I expect that to come out of the next scene. This one is a bit of a slow burn in comparison to it’s predecessor. But that’s okay, too. Not everything needs to be a Space Shuttle launch.

I’ve got a working title, but I’m not sold on it. It feels like a place-holder; right sentiment, wrong words. So, I’m waiting for the real title to come out of the dialog somewhere, much in the same way that the name for “the Ironclad Exile” did.

I have to say that it feels good to be writing again. The Muse for creative stories only visits infrequently, but it’s wonderful when it does. Stay tuned here for more updates over the next couple of weeks!