I’m at that stage in the Stealing the Sun project where everything feels like it’s this big hodge-podge mess of brambles and mud held together by muckety-mucky, and it’s all started to roll down hill in the middle of a rainstorm full of wind.
Got it?
If you’re doing indie publishing (or any other kind of publishing, I suppose), and working in series, you know what I mean. Five books all coming together in five different time frames, but all interconnected. And then, yeah, there’s that sixth book that’s gonna happen in there somewhere. It’s kind of like the chain saw that someone throws into the juggler’s act at the last minute just to see if h e’s which attention.
Bring it on, I say. Bring it on.
Details? You want details?
Let’s see…book 1, Starflight… the thing is complete through copy edit and updates. In other words, the manuscript is done. And today, for the first time I saw it in the base template it’ll be in when it becomes a physical book. It’s complete with interstitials and everything…though still needs touch-up and a few bits of book design flare that’s on its way. This is always a real thrill because now it seems more than real. And the cover is probably a day away. I’ve been working on it in fits and starts, so the core is ready, but I’ll spend another day her pretty quick to put it into cement.
And, have I ever mentioned that writing back cover copy is the hardest 100+ words on the project? Well, I think it is, anyway. That part is now done for book 1, also, and in initial work for book 2…
Ah, book 2 … Starburst … I’ve just finished a fairly heavy second pass and now have it in final beta read and heading toward copy edit. The cover still has work to mess with…but it, too, is nearly finished. Book design and interstitials to come.
Which brings us to book 3:
Starfall: STS Book 3 early draft is done tonight! … only a week behind plan, but who's complaining, eh? #amwriting #amwritingSF
— Ron Collins (@roncollins13) August 16, 2016
I finished the composition of Book 3: Starborn earlier this month. It was the biggest bulk of “new” words I needed to write in the whole project, because it’s springing from a 10K novelette I had written earlier. Now it’s a 40K novel I’ll be going back to its shortly and suspect it will be about a 45K novel in another couple weeks…then it will be off to betas, and the whole five-book project will probably hit critical velocity as the final work on the book 4/5 manuscripts start to overlap with the end-games of Books 1, 2, and 3.
And this doesn’t even touch on the communications and marketing department.
So … mmm-humm … things are a little hectic right now.
How are you?
Ron, Just finished reading “Blue Lady” in Analog 10/16. Wanted you to know how much I enjoyed it. 10(?) years ago, while reading “the Elegant Universe” for the first time, it occurred to me that death could be our rational energy matrix exchanging “position” for “velocity”. Your treatment of this idea in a sci-fi murder mystery was effective and highly satisfying. I look forward to reading more of your work. What would you recommend from your catalog considering where I’ve started?
Thanks! I had a great time thinking about the ramifications of that concept. I’ve really glad you liked it.
Since you like short stories, I would recommend my collection Picasso’s Cat & Other Stories. It’s all SF, of fairly eclectic range. Skyfox Publishing will be releasing STARFLIGHT, book 1 of a 5 book space/SF series in late November. You can get the early news by hitting my newsletter (link above). If you cross over to Fantasy that’s a bit more sorcery than sword (maybe?), My Saga of the God-Touched Mage has been a very popular piece.
Don’t be a stranger!