Wow, so, July was kind of a wash in terms of getting shit done.
The only real good news that I can take away from last month, and it is good news, is that I’ve largely dealt with my real life problems. I was in the midst of tackling the ones already in progress, and then a completely new one cropped up, but as of now, I believe they have all been put back in their place, and I can just focus on writing! I have to admit, this is really fucking nice.
The bad news is that I didn’t finish Haven 7 or, subsequently, get any work done on Like A Fine Wine 2. Sorry about that. Believe me, I’m pissed too. I had really hoped to have more done, but sometimes life forces itself in your way and you just HAVE to deal with it.
But I’m almost done with Haven 7! It should be out within the next week.
Also, for the first time ever, EVERY single nude alternate version of my cover art is now on my website. Nothing is exclusively on Patreon. That will change very shortly with the release of Haven 7, but I thought you’d like to know. In a way, I feel like it’s a bit of a failing on my part, as the only way this could happen is if enough time lapsed between releases, which it has.
The other thing I want to discuss is the future. I had one of those revelations, although I’m hesitant to call it a revelation because it’s more of a ‘no fucking shit’ realization than anything else. It relates to something I’ve wrestled with before, and it’s kind of a ‘I need to face reality’ kind of realization.
I was looking at Like A Fine Wine a few weeks ago, and it just kind of hit me, all at once like things sometimes do, that I had just wasted its momentum and potential. I saw the numbers rising, the sales rank getting better, and then falling as the momentum it had, the interest in it, began to wane. If I had immediately gotten to work on the sequel, I could have gotten it out just as interest was beginning to peter out, which would renew interest in the series again. And then repeat until finished. This is something people have known for awhile and something I’ve wrestled with, as I get burned out.
I could be wrong, and it could just be that I’m not built this way, (I hope not), but I think I need to view writing series in order until completion the same way I had to change my view on writing what I wanted versus writing what sold last year. Making the shift in emphasis to Haven has been good. People seem happy. Which is good. But they would be happier if Haven came faster.
While one of my driving narrative devices in almost everything I write is characters building their own lives, setting their own paces, living the way they want, and that is something I do actually believe in, I also have to face the reality of the world I live in. In the world I occupy, worth and value are measured in dollars earned and productivity output. And as a writer, I’m already at a disadvantage, as there are a lot of people out there who roll their eyes at the idea of writing being ‘work’, or entertainment having any real value. Again, I know they’re wrong. Writing is work, entertainment is valuable, but I’ve noticed that a lot of people are stupid, and won’t let things like reality or facts get in the way of their beliefs.
My point is, I’ve come to the conclusion that, even if I burn out, I need to keep working harder. Because the competition isn’t going to let up. Even if the competition is cheating, they are still the competition, and that is still my reality.
Consequently, I’ve slightly revised my plans for the rest of 2020. Not by much, as I still do intend to use the rest of this year to wrap up loose ends, but I also want to lay the groundwork for the future.
Here’s an idea of what the rest of 2020 will look like.
As soon as Haven 7 is up, I’ll write half of Quickies #4, which encompasses the rest of my Fantasy stories.
From there, I’ll write Like A Fine Wine 2, publish it, then write the rest of Quickies #4 and publish that.
I will then write and publish Haven 8, then write half of Quickies #5, which encompasses the rest of my Science Fiction stories.
I will then write Like A Fine Wine 3 and publish it, then publish the first Like A Fine Wine Collection, then finish and publish Quickies #5.
From there I will write and publish Haven - Epilogue, as well as the third and final Haven Collection.
With that finished, I will write and publish Quickies #6, which will include all of my Post-Apocalyptic stories.
With Haven and all of the Quickies written and published, I will then turn my attention to Like A Fine Wine, writing the final three books in the series and publishing them as quickly as possible.
In the background of all this, I will be working on A Warm Place. As of right now, I have already written and edited most of A Warm Place - Prelude, which acts as kind of like an encapsulated story of what readers can expect from the series. It takes place a few months before the beginning of the series and can be read or ignored without a problem. It is my hope to have at least the Prelude and A Warm Place 1 written and ready to go by the time I finish all my other projects. Ideally I’ll even have A Warm Place 2 ready to go as well. Once I begin publishing A Warm Place, it will be my aim to continue writing and releasing novels in that series until it is finished. Ideally, I want to be able to release a new A Warm Place novel every 3-4 weeks. Like I was hoping to achieve back in 2018, I want to build up a few novels to give me some time to stay ahead of the series by at least one novel, so I’m not just desperately writing and releasing. It would be nice to have an actual set schedule, though I know how unrealistic that is. Even just one new novel a month would be great. Right now, I’m honestly not sure how long it will take me to get through wrapping this stuff up. Ideally, I will be able to launch A Warm Place with the new year.
That being said, A Warm Place is going to probably encompass most of 2021. Right now, I have 9 novels in mind, as well as the Prelude. I don’t know what will come next. I do know that I will try to squeeze some side projects in there. More Quickies, as they become necessary, some more incest to be sure, and maybe some fan fiction for fun. It would be really nice to finally get to write that. But we shall see.