Writing the Third Book

For the last few days I've been working on a new writing project. Actually, it's an old writing project that I shelved sometime around February because at the time I was having problems getting the thing going in the right direction. (If you want details: I'd reached a point in the storyboard where I'd written scene descriptions that were far too vague to be able to write from, and also at the time I still hadn't figured out one minor character's involvement with the main story line - between them, a killing combination that I have since learned from.)

So this "old" story is destined to become my third book (the first, Pavonis, was self-published, as regular readers will know; the second, tentatively titled The Artemisia Chronicle, was sent to Harper Voyager a few days ago - they're accepting submissions direct from writers until October 14).

A little bit about it, then. It's set in an alternate Victorian London (Steampunk!) and revolves around a plot to plunge Europe into a war, and the tale of three protagonists fighting to prevent that happening. At the moment I've got about 73,000 words down and it's looking like the first draft is going to be somewhere around the 100,000 mark, give or take.

Before I can really get back into this one I need to (1) figure out that minor character's role (mostly done, in my head at least) and (2) get a bit more detail into that storyboard (ditto). At the moment I'm thinking I should have the first draft completed probably about a month from now, but that's a very tentative estimate at the moment so don't quote me. Among other things I'm still winding myself up to full writing speed and we have other things going on so I can't be sure how much time I'll be able to dedicate to it.

In other news... We saw Jim Gaffigan in Denver last Saturday. That guy is just hilarious. Check him out on Netflix. This Saturday (tomorrow) we're off to see Seether in concert.

Until next week, then...