Before I get to the update, a story presented on theguardian.com and written by Stephanie Convery:

Terry Pratchett’s unfinished novels destroyed by a steamroller

The article’s title is self-explanatory.  The late author/humorist Terry Pratchett, who died in 2015, wanted his unfinished works steamrolled so they took what one has to assume were the hard drives of his computer and did just that.

A shame, I must say.

While much of my “bits and pieces” are pretty crappy and not worth printing, on the other hand they are bits and pieces I’ve worked on and given some of my time to.  Maybe one day people will be curious to see all my stuff and, in that case, I’m not adverse to having it available to be seen… though I doubt at this time you’ll find a large amount worthy of “discovery”.

Which is a good segue to my Corrosive Knights series and the progress I’m making on book #7, the latest in the series.

With regard to that, there’s the proverbial good news, bad news, and good news here…

I’ve mentioned before Book #7 was intended to conclude the series’ main story, though I’ve been hasty to add that there was going to be a book #8 which would present an “epilogue”.

Well, things might be changing.

Without getting into any spoilers, Book #7 was always intended to present a “two part” story which dovetails in the end before reaching the conclusion.

So, the first bit of Good News: Instead of concluding the main story with Book #7, I’m now thinking it might be better to present the two stories separately, ie have a Book #7a and a Book #7b.  Or, to be less anal about these things, have a book #7, follow it up with Book #8 -no longer the epilogue story I was planning-, and end it all with that epilogue story as Book #9.

In other words, the Corrosive Knights series, to all those fans out there of the books, may wind up being one book longer than I intended.

The Bad News is that if I go this way, it means there’s a lot of work for me to do on what might be the “new” Book #8.  It will no longer be part of a book and, being its own full novel I feel it has to be “novel length” which means it clocks in at the 100,000 word area.

Which puts me in a bit of a quandary.  The first part of the story is essentially written up (It already reached the 100,000+ range).  It needs considerable editing/cleaning, for sure, but I was holding off on doing this and instead focused on the second part of the novel’s story.

Now, if I decide to let that second part be used in its own novel, it means I could jump back to that first part of the story and finish it up and get it released relatively quickly.

However…

Here’s the thing, I’m in something of a “groove” with this second part of the story and I’m loathe to switch gears and move away from what I’m currently doing.

Let me be crystal clear here: I’m dying to get the book out but writing is a difficult thing for me.  Mostly its because I’m very, very hard on myself.  I don’t want to create something that is at best average and/or predictable.  I pride myself on releasing stories that, I hope, surprise and engage readers.

To do that, I get into this OCD-like state where I’m thinking about the work I’m currently doing during almost all my waking moments.

I know this sounds like exaggeration, but I assure you this is the case.

For me new, interesting ideas can suddenly pop up.  I could be walking the dog or driving to get some crappy fast food or sitting on the toilet or taking a shower and, just like that, it hits me.  Most other times I’m thinking about where I’m currently at and how to write the latest chapter.  Either that or rewrite it and make it as good as I can get it.

The bottom line is this:

If I have enough material to make a second novel out of that second story (something which is still not a done deal), it means the concluding two books of this series will take a little longer to be released than I was hoping.

My hope was to release this last book by late this year or early next year but, if we do have two final books, I have a lot of work to do and that will take me through the end of the year.

At least.

And then, I have to get into the rewrites/editing and that will take longer.

Which brings us to the last of the Good News: If I do decide to split this book in two and finish that second book before going into the editing of the first, the last three books of the series are going to come out really quickly.

I’ve already written out what would be the first book.  I’m currently writing that second book.  I have the first draft of the epilogue book already written.

All I may need to do once I finish that second story is edit the three last books which means they will be released pretty quickly.  Writing a book is always far harder and more time consuming than editing it.

However, all this is in flux.

Let’s see how the second half of that story goes and I’ll update you soon enough.

In the meantime, stay dry and enjoy the last of the summer.

I’m seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not yet close to finishing book #7 in the Corrosive Knights series.  In fact, there are still several months of work to be done and my hope is that it will be completed and released by later this year or, if worse comes to worse, the beginnings of next year.

No, the light at the end of the tunnel I’m referring to is the end of summer.

How I long for it to finally end!

I love my daughters but, both being in college means working on the places they live in.  The last week we headed out to where my younger daughter is going to College and went in two cars filled to the brim with her stuff (not to brag, but when I was a young ‘un, all I needed fit into a suitcase!).

We unloaded the material, had a one day mini-vacation, then spent a full wasted day waiting for an IKEA delivery that never showed up.  The next day, our last in those northern lands, forced us to rent a van and haul hundreds of pounds worth of to-be-put-together furniture from the warehouse that was supposed to deliver it to us (they screwed up, plain and simply, and couldn’t deliver on our last day there), then take said furniture up a flight of stairs (no elevator at my daughter’s apartment), and put it all together in time to then drive the five hours back home where I needed to be because by the next morning at the bright and early hour of 6 A.M. I needed to take my wife in for a medical exam.  To those worried, don’t be… it was a routine exam and everything was perfect.

The past week is an encapsulation of the summer in general, where I feel I’ve made progress on my writing but am seemingly always being pushed into other endeavors.

As someone who prides himself on writing a certain amount each day, its frustrating as hell but, on the positive side, its sometimes good to “step back” from what you’re working on, give your brain a chance to not think about what you’ve been writing, to then return to it later and find yourself far more “fresh” and energized.

I’m hoping that’ll be the case.

School starts for them both in the next couple of weeks and then, until Thanksgiving and unless something else happens, it’ll be just me and the computer.

There’s not a whole heck of a lot more writing to be done before I can start revising the book in earnest and I’m just dying to get there.  Corrosive Knights Book #7 is the conclusion to the Corrosive Knights Saga and I want to make sure I’ll give everyone out there their money’s worth.

And as I said before, just because the story ends there doesn’t mean there won’t be at least one more book set in that universe.  Indeed, I’ve already got Book #8 of the series written (at least a full first draft) and it will serve as an “epilogue” to the series and, best of all, because I’ve already written such a fully formed first draft, it will be out very soon after #7 is released.

That much I guarantee you!

Was in an artistic mood and came up with…

If you’ve read my Corrosive Knights novels, you should have an idea what this is all about.

Not intended to be a cover or anything specific, just a quick artistic representation of something found in the novels.

By the way, the current Corrosive Knights novel, #7, is clocking in at 103,000 words and humming along nicely, though there’s still plenty left to do before I get to the next draft.

Before I did the above image, I decided to create what I hoped would be a “rough” cover for Book #7.  Incredibly, things came together nice and very quickly.  So nice, in fact, that I may well use this supposed “rough” cover for the real thing when the book is done.

The beauty of having it done so early on is that it gives me time to put it away and not think about it.  When it gets closer to the time to start putting the novel together for release, I’ll hopefully see the artwork “fresh” and determine if indeed it is worth using as my cover.

When the day nears I’ll show it off.  Even if I wind up not using it, I’ll certainly show it off! 😉

It occurs to me its been a while since I’ve offered an update on book #7, the concluding chapter, of the Corrosive Knights series.

Basically, I’m in what I call the third draft of the book though, truth be told, this is probably the first “complete” first draft.

OK, I know that sounds confusing but here goes: The first draft of the book generally told the story I wanted to tell but with some very big gaps which were meant to be filled up in the future.  That draft wound up being a puny 50,000 or so words and I knew even then considering all the bases that were to be covered that this book would probably be my longest Corrosive Knights novel.

To date, my longest Corrosive Knights novel runs slightly north of 110,000 words so there was a lot to be done still.

However, I needed to print out what I had to that point, read through it, then get a clearer idea of what needed to be done next.  I did this and for the second draft of the book had approximately 65,000 words written up.

Once again, when I got to the end of that draft I knew there was still a hell of a lot to add into the book but, again, felt the need to print what I had, read through it, and then hit it again.

So, as I said above, I’m on the third draft of the book and roughly half-way to the end.  I now have approximately 95,000 words written and know there will be plenty more to come.  I’ve got the first half to three quarters of the book pretty well written out though there will be some bits and pieces that need to be trimmed.

This is a natural process.

I wish I could sit down and in one go write up a book start to finish but that simply isn’t the way I work.  Things need to be clarified and refined and sometimes a thunderbolt will hit me and I realize “don’t do this, do that” and I have to go back and re-work sections of the book.

Again, this is a natural process.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can finish this book by the end of this year but, this far out, that’s a hard thing to promise.  Regardless, once this draft of the book is done, I’m reasonably sure I’ll have just about everything I wanted to put in the book there…and then some.

Hopefully we’ll soon move to the next stage of writing, where I’m more focused on refining what I have and don’t need to add any new material.

It’s been a little while since I’ve provided an update on the Corrosive Knights series and, specifically, book #7 in the series.  This book concludes the main story line (though there will be a book #8, an epilogue, to the series).

So, what’s the news?

What you’re seeing in this photograph and lying underneath the previous 6 books in the Corrosive Knights series is the finished first draft of Book #7.  On Friday, February 24, I finished that first draft and printed it out so that I could get to work on the second draft.

Mind you, the first draft of this novel, as big an accomplishment as it is, is nonetheless still far from the finished work.  I’ve mentioned before how my two previous novels, Ghost of the Argus and Foundry of the Gods, required 12 drafts before I was happy with the overall product and deemed it good enough to be released.

However, let’s not rain on this particular parade: The fact that I’ve gotten to the point where I’m happy enough to print out this first draft, and it is as complete as it is, fills me with optimism that this novel will not take quite as long to finish as those last two books.  Bear in mind I started this novel in mid-November, worked through roughly half of December (vacations and kids coming home inevitably meant less work being done), then January and February.

To get a first draft of a novel done in what amounts to approximately three months -give or take- is extraordinary and bodes well for the book’s eventual completion and release.

Of course there are still plenty of things needed to be done.  The first draft clocks in at approximately 66,000 words yet I’m certain when all I get to that final draft this novel will be north of 110,000 words.  This means there are maybe 50,000 more words left to write.  Where will the bulk of these to-be-written parts come from?  From a subplot I decided to sketch out while sticking to the novel’s main plot in this draft.

Regardless, I’m incredibly excited by the book’s progress and intend to hit the gas hard in the coming months.  Will I get the novel done before the year is over?

Hard to say as I’m still so early in the book’s process but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope so.

Wish me luck!

Yesterday George R. R. Martin announced, via his blog, that the latest book in his HUGELY popular Game of Thrones series might well be released this year.

Some fans were very quick to note Mr. Martin’s said similar things before and, while I can certainly understand the frustration of these readers who no doubt are very eager to get to the books before the HBO series finishes off (which it will do in the new season, beating Mr. Martin’s final novel in the process and potentially spoiling material he may have been building towards), I have quite a bit of sympathy -perhaps even more- for Mr. Martin.

For you see, though my novels aren’t nearly as popular (or well known) as Mr. Martin’s, I’ve “been there” with books in the process of being written which I’ve thought would be ready at a certain time and, alas, they simply were not.  In fact, my most recent Corrosive Knights book, Foundry of the Gods (#6 in the series) I originally thought I could finish by February of 2016 but didn’t get it done and released until November, nine full months later.

Trust me when I say I would have loved to finish the book in February and be nearly a full year into Book #7 of the series rather than a little under two months.  Sadly, sometimes it takes longer than you’d like to finish something and, while my novels don’t feature the virtual army of characters present in Mr. Martin’s series, the story I’m laying out in Corrosive Knights is intricate and requires many pieces to fit together.

Rushing Foundry of the Gods’ release would have done no one any good, neither me -I would have been very disappointed with the book- nor those who have read it, who no doubt would have been just as disappointed reading what amounted to a “rush job”.

So for those impatient for Mr. Martin’s latest Game of Thrones novel, I urge patience.  Hopefully the book(s), when they are eventually released, will prove worth the extra wait.

Having said that and as should be obvious by the header above, I’m presenting an update on Book #7 of the Corrosive Knights series.  As should also be obvious, this book follows Foundry of the Gods and, more importantly, is the conclusion to the Corrosive Knights series.

Perhaps it is because the book finally reveals/focuses on events I’ve had swirling in my mind for many, many years that the writing of this novel has progressed quite well.  Even though I had little chance to write for most of the end of December (vacation and daughters come home and enjoyable distractions abound!), as of today I’m roughly 33,000 words into this book.  As my novels tend to run around 100,000 words, it means I’m in/around 1/3 of the way through this story, an incredibly quick pace compared to other works.

Even more thrilling is the fact that yesterday I laid out the outline for the material that fills the remaining 2/3rds of the novel, which means that for much of that material I simply have to write it out and not sweat the plot details.

That’s not to say, however, that the book is “just about” finished.

There are still story gaps to be dealt with, specifically in the middle section of the book.  This, by the way, is very typical of the way I work.  While some writers have trouble finishing a novel (a complaint I’ve heard often of the books of Stephen King) or beginning one, I seem to have the least amount of difficulties coming up with my novel’s start and finish.  It is the middle sections, the glue that joins my story’s beginning and end, that tends to cause me the most “hard” work.

Still, there’s reason for optimism and while I cannot guarantee the book will be finished before year’s end, I can absolutely guarantee that if it isn’t done by the later part of 2017 it will be finished and released by early next year.

Let’s see how things go.

So its been a few days since I’ve a) finished and released FOUNDRY OF THE GODS, the sixth book in the CORROSIVE KNIGHTS series and b) since I got my website re-made and the blog problems settled.

I could sit back, take it easy for the rest of the year and catch up on some of the video games I’ve bought but haven’t had time to play (Battlefield 1 and Fallout 4 being the two predominant ones) or, likewise, catch up on movies I’ve rented/bought but have also let slide (I just picked up the digital version of the extended cut of Suicide Squad and want to see if that improves upon that very flawed film in any way and also have Captain America: Civil War waiting for me along with at least a dozen other films I’m curious to check out), or, likewise redux, catch up on some books I’ve picked up and have waiting for me in my Kindle…

But who am I kidding?

Finishing FOUNDRY OF THE GODS was an incredible rush, especially after having worked on it for just a little over two years, and now that its done I’m juiced to get to the next novel in the series, #7, which will be the conclusion to the main CORROSIVE KNIGHTS storyline.

Mark this date on the calendar, I certainly will: Today is the day I formally start that book.  I’ve already done quite a bit of work on it, from using the index card app to build a rough plot outline to actually writing a few chapters of the book when I was free enough to do so.

Will this book take me two years to write as well?  I suspect it might not, only because I already have so much material squirreled away and ready.  With FOUNDRY, I started almost completely from scratch with a start and ending and little else.  With Book #7, I also have a start and end planned out but also some good stuff for the middle sections.

When all is said and done, I also suspect this book will be one of the longest ones I write, longer perhaps than THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE ARGUS, which is currently my longest book, wordcount-wise.

But enough gabbing.

Time to write!

As of today, 11/8/16, I have the paperback version of Foundry of the Gods “in review” and should become available for purchase by later today or early tomorrow.

The Foundry of the Gods ebook is now listed with the other five books of the series under the Corrosive Knights Amazon link:

Corrosive Knights (6 Book Series)

Even more exciting, as of today I’ve experienced something I haven’t experienced before:  I have book sales simultaneously listed for the United States, UK, France, Canada, and Australia!

I’ve had sales for my books throughout the world but this is the first time I’ve seen sales appear simultaneously in five different countries and, for that, I want to thank those out there in these countries for giving my works a try.  I sincerely hope you enjoy what I’ve made!

Next step: Update my main webpage.  Should do that at least every time I write a new book, no? 😉