I’m still playing around with the Goal Post timing. Last weekend was noon on Saturday and not much happened. If I don’t get much in the way of likes or comments this time then I’ll switch it back to Sunday. Though there’s always the possibility that everyone is busy or very few people give a crap. Eh, whatever. Also, my iPhone hasn’t been getting along with my email and the WP app for the last few days. It’s even deleted random emails or downloaded 10 copies of one, so I’m more computer bound.
I’m a day away from finishing the first draft of ‘The Mercenary Prince’. I was so damn close to killing a character, but I got delayed on Thursday and it pushed me back enough that I couldn’t get to the scene. So the bastard gets a weekend of life before I do him in. I could say who it is, but people who have been paying attention probably know the one character I would be this excited to kill off.
Beyond that, this book has been interesting because it finally brings Delvin Cunningham into the spotlight. He’s been important and had some excellent scenes, but here is where I really got to evolve him. There’s growth in character, history, relationships, and abilities. A few other odd things happened too, but I’m keeping that off the blog for now. The topic it refers to is controversial and I’m not in the mood to deal with that. Another thing with this book is that I got to flush out the Dawn Fangs and give some groundwork for the next series. I’m looking forward to that because it’s a series where all of the characters are vampires, so you don’t have the superiority that appears when they’re dealing with other species. There’s also going to be the challenge of having them be cold, ruthless, loyal, and emotional. This book showed that it’s hard to do that and the Dark Mistress seemed to jump abruptly. Maybe that’s just how they deal with mortals. Cold monsters until the ‘lesser beings’ prove worthy of their friendship.
I’ve been pushing full tilt on the book because I want to tackle the special project late next week. Nothing interesting in the cooking and doing homework with the son. That’s really the gist of my life. Grabbing a random manga volume from the collection to read while the little guy plays. Write more after he goes to bed. It leaves me exhausted and the ‘rut’ actually helps me make progress. Trying to write 4 books this year, which is a big challenge since I’ll be losing the summer. So I’ll be tackling Book 10 in a week or two, which means no rest for the writing.
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The only other thing that happened was me playing around on Facebook. I stayed off the groups for 5-7 days and I decided to post earlier today. I got a slew of personal messages about marketing opportunities within minutes and a few likes from people I knew. One stranger said the story sounded cool. So an absence only seems to make some people think you’re a brand new author and make their sales pitch. The book sales are steeply falling and ‘CURSE OF THE DARK WIND’ is barely over 500 sales. I’m not sure what to think of this since the success of ‘BEGINNING OF A HERO’ spoiled me. The other books are still selling, which is a topic for next month after I watch these a bit more. There are other trends I simply confirmed like an ‘obstacle’ for some readers that I can’t/won’t do anything about. Also, I don’t recommend reading old negative reviews and any comments that turn up. Not really a catalyst for happy.
Goals for the week?
- Finish the first draft of ‘The Mercenary Prince’. Kill that character.
- Review outline for Book 10 again.
- Notebook work for another idea.
- Tackle the special project, which might be finished by next weekend.
- Read more manga and relax.
- Pizza when I finish #1.
- Try to figure out more promotional ideas, but accept that the well is running dry due to it being a long series.
- Gather to courage to actually step on a scale.
- Sleep in one day or simply go back to bed after sending son to school.
Legends of Windemere 
I was going to say I gave my crap at the office, but then I remembered…I don’t have an office. It being a long series may be a big factor. I’ve almost always been a stand alone reader, a reader of sequels or trilogies. I was recently reading a series and I have to say, after book three I was just tired of it all. The main characters were well known to me, there was nothing new in the magic and the story lines started seeming repetitious. I’m not saying series can’t be done and done well, but my personal attention factor probably played into it. That may be another reason I like to read across a variety of genre.
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That might also be a reason why fantasy tends to stay very fringe. It’s been home to a lot of epics and massive tales that you really have to stick with. Most other genres don’t do that. The closest might be a series with the same protagonist, but they’re always in a new situation and you can jump in at any point. Fantasy tends to have the quests that take longer than a book. If they don’t then it ends up being a repetitive series or just a one-shot.
I think I have more big series than stand-alones and trilogies. My own interest in ensemble casts tends to extend things to make sure every character gets a personal plot that flushes out.
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I’m more familiar with books with the same protagonist. They are all really stand alones, just the same guy or girl in new situations. I’ve read some paranormals that I could stick too for longer lengths of time …Anne Rice with her witches and vampires comes to mind. Sarah Cradit also. Their writing is similar. It may be the style. Both are captivating.
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The only stand alones with the same character I can remember end up being the crime dramas. For some reason, I’m not surprised Sarah has a style similar to Anne Rice’s.
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I like that one of your steps is pizza. That’s when you know it’s a proper to-do list.
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That it is. My reward for finishing another book. At least a first draft. I’m going to need it because the special project is going to be a challenge.
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Good grief… 4 books in a year? I’ll be lucky to get 1 done the way I’m going. Just keep swimmin’ Charles! Dry spells happen then the rain comes down.
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Thanks. Though it isn’t as difficult as one would think. At least for me. I have all the books in my series outlined and I’ve been toying with them in my head for the last . . . 16 years. My god I’m old. So it’s really just bringing them into their final stage. I’m also the stay-at-home parent, so I have a day to write as long as I get all the cleaning, cooking, and errands done. I have a few distractions in the way, but I’ve kind of accepted them as part of my life for now. Still drives me nuts.
I think being a massive planner gave me an edge here and I’m simply excited to get to certain parts of the story.
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You can step on a scale as often as you want. Just keep your eyes closed. Nice of you to give the character the weekend. Any last meals or requests granted?
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Good idea. What I don’t see won’t hurt me. 🙂
It was an accidental reprieve. All meals and requests will be ignored. The character doesn’t deserve it and should count his blessings that I fell back asleep on Thursday. 😀
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That photo — yikes! And your glee at killing a character — yikes again! Have fun with it, Charles.
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I had the photo in my archives for some reason and I couldn’t think of anything else to put there. As for the character-killing glee, it’s a villain and I been wanting to write this scene for about a year. That probably tells a lot of people who I’m about to off, but I never hid the fact that I was going to do it.
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This sounds like a really full and chaotic schedule…don’t burn yourself out in the process. 🙂
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Trying not to. It’s feeling like I’m going to have a rough day to finish a bunch of stuff then I’ll take a day or two to relax.
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