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from the desk &etc.

Posted on by Marko

Being a writer is an awful lot like having a lot of homework every single day of your life.

Yesterday I delivered the manuscript for Lines of Departure, the sequel to Terms of Enlistment, to my editor at 47North. It’s 28 chapters and 95,000 words, but I ‘m sure those numbers will change before publication as it goes through the editorial process. My dear wife, who is my first beta reader (and thanks to her M.A. in English also a capable critic) says that while the first one was good, the second one is quite a bit better, and I tend to agree. Not only did my writing improve over the last few years (Terms of Enlistment was completed in 2009 and had a significant edit in the Great Manuscript Massacre of 2010 when I ripped out 20,000 words), but I was able to pace Lines of Departure more briskly because I didn’t have to spend half the novel on boot camp and world-building.

Anyway, it’s done (until I get the first round of editorial notes), and now I’ll rinse my brain with video games and movies for a few days before I tackle the next projects. There’s a novella in the Terms of Enlistment universe (Measures of Absolution, which I will release on the Kindle and directly in the other ebook formats on August 8th), two novels that need to be finished (one contemporary YA, one urban fantasy mystery), and a brand new YA-leaning fantasy novel in the Ink and Blood universe. If I haul ass, I may be able to make 2013 a personal record year for novels completed. Three novels plus one novella is very much in the realm of the possible. But can our hero go for four? There are after all six and a half months left in the year.

I may not even have time for post-novel ennui this year.

Category: writing.

12 thoughts on “from the desk &etc.”

  1. My sweetie got this promo from Amazon in her in-box a couple days ago…pretty cool.

    https://blu176.mail.live.com/default.aspx?rru=inbox#n=2021284809&rru=inbox&fid=2&mid=71e5a91d-d34c-11e2-b53b-00215ad856a8&fv=1

    Ain’tcha glad I berated you for thinking of crawling back to K-ville and that unsold tract house back in ’07? Srsly, glad you toughed it out; I and many others knew you had it in you and it was only a matter of time ’til the suits saw it too.

    JTC

  2. Read “Terms of Enlistment”. I really enjoyed it. Since I am a retired Light Infantryman, the Boot Camp scenes were almost like a replay of my own Infantry School. I’m looking forward to the next parts. Keep up the good work.

  5. Another novelist, whose name I have forgotten, reports that she re-reads Edward Gorey’s “The Unstrung Harp, or, Mr. Earbrass writes a novel” after she finishes each one. I recommend it highly.

  6. >> If I haul ass …

    Time to start managing expectations. When Baen bought Lois Bujold’s first three novels and published them them a month apart, her new fans were gravely disappointed to eventually discover that she didn’t actually write a novel a month.

  7. Post-novel ennui is an often-overlooked part of the process, whose importance is not to be underestimated.

  10. An Ink & Blood novel will be exciting. I remember getting to the end of the story and thinking “awww, crap, that’s right it’s not a novel…” Was definitely a good omen for your future work.

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