On Another One Down

So, yeah, I haven't been posting here, mostly because I've been a bit occupied. Broken Halo's first draft has more or less consumed my free time and thinking space since I finished publishing Badger and Iron Angels mid-August. It is a good sign that the story kind of caught me up like that, or at least I hope it is. In any case, I managed to write like a maniac the past few weeks and put the finishing touches on the rough draft last Friday. On a related note, I think I've actually crossed the magic one million words of rough drafts mark that is supposed to mean I won't suck anymore. So for everyone who has been enjoying (or by the reviews, not enjoying) my work, don't worry. It will get better. :)

Anyway, finishing Broken Halo means I'm able to shift my focus to other projects now. First up on the list is going to be Hector Kingsley: Murders in Whitechapel. The book has been sitting on the backburner for a while, mainly due to my preoccupation with other projects, but I think that now that I've more or less overdosed on space operas for four months, some steampunk is in order. Fortunately, I've been cooking up quite a few interesting ideas for our stuffy, erudite investigator, and I think the upcoming draft will provide a much better story than I had before. My goal is to pretty much rip through the revisions in about three weeks--a pace which kind of intimidates me when I think too much about it, but it feels right. Here's hoping I don't screw everything up!

Eagle is going to need a bit more pondering before I'm really ready to start into it. I'm hesitant to get really in depth on it now, both because of the risk of burning myself out, and because I am worried about getting obsessed with it like I did with Broken Halo. I need to revise stuff sometime, and that means I will just poke along for a bit with the rough draft until I can turn my full attention to it.

Other than that, my progress seems to be going fairly well. Books are selling, I'm somewhat less close to utter and complete madness, and I think I am doing alright. Thanks for your patience with my little update here; I will try to get a few more posts up if I get the chance. In any case, I will see you all later!

On Working With a Background

One of the more interesting aspects of writing a sequel is the fact that I have to work around a background that I've written in another book. I have to remember the characters' names from the other book, even if they were background characters. I need to make sure that the universe is consistent; I can't have ships changing the number of guns or missile bays between installments. It's kind of overwhelming at times, and at this point as I'm hopping between series, it can get annoying to have to refer back to my own book for information.

Therefore I need to start a background notebook for each of my universes. Have one for Hector, one for Jacob, one for Iron Angels and so on. The problem is that so far I've been keeping all of my worldbuilding notes in little tiny notebooks. These things are a mashup of pretty much every series, though. On one page I have the weaponry for a Banner-class dreadnaught from Jacob Hull's universe, and on the next I have the order of battle for a Directorate fleet in Broken Halo. That's not even including the side projects I do for the fun of it, or the random notes I take it in for trips, to-do-lists and everything else that pops up. It was worse before Emily managed to convince me to start using these little books; before that I would just use random bits of scrap paper and hope that none of them got lost.

The whole digging through the tiny notebook thing isn't going to cut it now, though. I need to start collecting my little story bibles into separate notebooks. It would be so much easier if I had everything organized, and if I was able to find everything I needed. Although... maybe a binder instead of a notebook? That way I could just slip stuff in whever I needed it? Gah! This is going to be such a mess...

On What Happens Next

Well, four books are up! That is good...

Soooo, now what?

My focus on getting Iron Angels and Badger done has kind of consumed my attention for the past few months. I've literally spent every spare hour that I could on those projects, but that has left the ground in several other areas a little bare. My blog is, shall we say, a bit out of date and shabby, I've done little in the way of promotion, and my other books have been a bit neglected. Now I finally have the time and energy to devote to them, but I'm faced with the need to choose which one!

So in terms of my main writing goals, I think that Murders is my next revision target. That book was originally supposed to come out near the end of 2012 and cap my efforts for the year. Even though Hector Kingsley has not been my most popular work, I think that I will at the very least finish up this sequel. Besides, while explosions are nice, I think I need a short break for a while so that I don't burn the action side of my brain out.

New projects will include Broken Halo (Iron Angels' sequel) and Eagle (next book in the Jacob Hull series). I'll be poking along with those while I get their stories set up, and hopefully will finish both rough drafts before the end of the year. That should give me plenty of time to get both books out during 2013.

Of course, there's always the side projects. My blog needs to be reorganized and such. Maybe there should be time set aside for that on Saturdays? I don't know. Bah. Too much to do and not enough time... See you around!