Each summer, I typically take two weeks to head up to the cabin. Of that time, I often get anywhere from two to four good writing days out of them. Over the last few years, I’ve managed to get quite a bit accomplished on each trip. For instance, A SONG OF SILENCE was written entirely on one such vacation week. This year, however, I wasn’t too optimistic. The biggest roadblock was that, well, I didn’t have anything new to write. Ask most writers, and they'd probably consider that a major setback. All I had on my to-do list was a run-through of the first 150 pages of ISLE OF THE SLEEPING GODS for trimming purposes, and I really didn’t want to squander my rare cabin time for that. I figured the best I could do was to brainstorm Eyes of Odyssium #3 and jot down the juicier bits from those brainstorms so I might have a better picture of what #3 might look like.
However, there’s been something I’ve been considering for a couple of months now. For those of you who know, THE 13th PARAGON Part I: SCRAPPER has been my “freebie” of sorts so far as ebooks go (so go nab it now while it's still FREE!). It’s a common strategy amongst indies, and I’m sure that strategy has garnered me a few sales and perhaps even a few new readers who now look forward to new books in the series. But as the current direction of Odyssium is really diving headfirst into its supernatural aspect (which SCRAPPER scarcely, if at all, touches on), I thought it might be a good idea to offer up a new starting point for newcomers--a new taster--something more representative.
So, let’s fast-forward to that C.A. guy, except in the FUTURE…i.e. C.A. a month or so after cabin trip #1 of 2018. How did it go, asked nobody really? Well, I’m about 24 pages deep into "Novella 2018" as it's so creatively called so far, and for the most part, I like it. It toes a fine line between being a prequel to SCRAPPER as well as a preview to the current Eyes of Odyssium series, so…kinda neat.
That said, I feel like I should make a preemptive apology to print readers. The plan right now is for this to be an ebook exclusive for the foreseeable future, though I do want to include it in a future Odyssium Collection down the road. Haven’t had a chance to write anything new on it since I got back because we’re in the aftermath of a hectic move, so hopefully I can pick up where I left off when things cool down. I figure by the time cabin trip #2 wraps up, so too will the first draft.
Till next time,
- C