“The time has come,” the Walrus said…
I’ve finished the first draft of the next Ishmael Wang book. It went to beta readers last week and to the final copy editor today. It’s slotted in for production in September and publication sometime in October.
Yes, I plan to narrate it and put the audio up, but that’s down the road. I need to get more stories moving in the pipeline and it takes a month to produce an audio version. I want to write while the words are flowing. I can record when I’m dry.
August was a trial month for me. I’ve established a writing schedule and it worked very well for me and my family. The goal is to produce one rough draft per month for the next five months. That will give me six new books in the pipeline. The nature of the beast is that – even if I succeed – that doesn’t mean six new books in six months for you.
I’ve reserved four slots with my editor, one is already in use. The next availability is November and I’ve asked for one each in November, December, and January. Since she has no openings in October, that gives me an extra month to get ahead of her schedule. That means each month I’ll have one book in production, one book being written, and one book waiting for editor. While that last one seems like it’s wasting time, the reality is that it gives me some elasticity in the process so if I get really stuck for a couple of weeks, there’s slack that won’t get in the way of my editorial slots. I’m hoping to publish a new book every other month starting in October. Any faster than that and I’ll be short-changing the production or the writing or both.
The next book is tentatively titled From Ashes Born. In the book, Pip returns, hijinks ensue, and Ishmael solves a silly problem. It’s the first volume in what I’ve been calling “Seeker’s Tales From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper.”
Which brings me to the book I will be working on this month: Book 1 of the parallel series in the “Smuggler’s Tales From The Darkside Of The Golden Age.” This is a new cast and crew telling the stories that the CPJCT doesn’t want you to think about. There will be some cross over between the two trilogies and my plan is to merge the two story lines into a new series when these complete.
In other related news, I’ve got 30k words into Cape Grace, the sequel to South Coast, and have some ideas about what I need to do with that one, too. I’ll probably drop back into that story sometime in the next few books just to wrap up that branch of the canon.
And with all of that, I’m still planning to revisit Tanyth Fairport and the world of Korlay. I just don’t know when.
August has been a good month. Here’s hoping September is even better.