My wife was headed to Target the other day and asked me if I needed more Coke Zero. When I told her no, she asked if I was trying to cut down. I had to explain that the only reason I needed soda was to mix it with alcohol so I could Heming my Way through Draft 1 of Book Seven. Now that the first draft is finally done, so too is the drinking. Now begins the era of editing sober and ostensibly, the...
Do you remember a time when there wasn't a crisis every single minute of every single day? Me neither. It seems like the universe is stacked against writers who have a full time job and a precocious, iPad obsessed toddler. And yet, we find a way to persevere, because writing is life, and to not write is to let the next great American novel wither on the vine. It may take a little longer, we may...
We're here. The midpoint. 31 chapters down. 29 chapters to go. Progress has been good, but the difficulty factor of this WIP has varied wildly in the past month. There are times when the plot barrels ahead, propelled by its own momentum, and others where I actually have to put my feet up and think about where a chapter is going. Can you believe that? Thinking? At my age? That's just one of the...
Numbers don't lie. I lie. I lie a lot. But generally speaking, you can always count on numbers to tell you the truth. And when you're working on the zero draft of a new novel, those numbers can tell you how far you've come and how far you still need to go. More than that, there are statistics I just made up that say: if you pass this point, you are likely to finish this novel. As someone who...
Almost three weeks have passed since the launch of Hybrid Mechanics, and since you've already purchased, read, and reviewed that book on Amazon, I thought I'd clue you in on what's coming next. You'll be happy to know that while Hybrid Mechanics was with my editor, I was already working on a new book, tentatively titled Brigham Plaza.
Almost as soon as I call a novel finished and ready for publication, I start on the next one. I think everyone does. And like a lot of other writers, I don't really have a new story in mind. It's just an idea. One of hundreds. And each one needs to be investigated to see if it contains a story. For months, a year, maybe more, I investigate each of these slivers of ideas and try to stretch them...
