The Progress on "Book III" Has Been Insane
and I think I'm halfway done, but maybe not... let me explain...
The start of Book III was a rocky one for reasons I’ve outlined already. But being delayed for a month got me well behind the schedule I wanted to keep. It also made it hard to start working on some other side projects I wanted to get rolling. That being said, finding the right grove to get back into the swing of things was tough.
This past weekend, however, I really hit my stride. Probably like I’ve never hit it before. This time of year, I usually have a lot of long weekends, though, as I have to use up my vacation time at the real job. That being said, it’s given me the opportunity to just lock down and get to work for multiple days on end.
One day, I wrote three chapters. The next day, I wrote four chapters. The following day, I proofread and edited all of that, beefing each chapter up more. Yesterday and this morning, I knocked out a few more. I had the goal of writing five, which I thought was ambitious, but I exceeded that goal by quite a lot. I am also at the halfway point of the book.
Although, now that I am here, some things are starting to shift, as is normal when one writes a novel. If I look at this book and compare it to the others, I am halfway done. However, I might not be, as I have the feeling that this one will exceed the two previous numbered “saga” books in both the number of chapters and in total length. Because of that, this might be the first book without a short story added on at the end.
I already had that short story in mind, but it may end up becoming the story I release in weekly chapters for paid subscribers on this Substack (that’s something I’ve already outlined here). I would eventually release it in a book in the future, but it would be available here first.
Anyway, Book III is also evolving and becoming a more serious story. The humor is still present that people have liked. The thing is, this is where the book series is getting more intense, the stakes are higher, the threats are more serious and deadly, and there will have to be some sacrifices at the level I haven’t yet written. Granted, I did get really dark in the anthology Eyes in All Shadows & Other Stories. If you liked the more serious tone of that one, this next book should not disappoint. In fact, I think that this book is a perfect marriage of the two different tones.
I’m not going to spoil anything, but if you’ve been waiting for this world to escalate into something more serious, this should not disappoint. There are characters that will have to step up like never before and for one of those characters in particular, I know that this will be something many readers will be happy with.
For now, that’s it. While I love giving updates, I have to get back to getting this novel done. For those who have stuck with me, I think that you’re going to get your money and your time’s worth with this one.