It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blog, so now, while we’re all ensconced in one level of quarantine or another, I figured now was as good a time as any. To be honest, my quarantine isn’t all that different from normal life. If anything, I’m busier than I had been before the ’Rona forced many of us to imprison ourselves in our own homes. My day job keeps me “essential,” and though the big convention that likely accounts for close to half of my physical book sales for the year has been cancelled, I’m still soldiering on with my new releases regardless. With any luck, enough of the fog of the pandemic will have lifted for my two October conventions to go off without too much of a hitch...but I can't say I'm SUPER optimistic.
So, here’s an update on those releases. First, let’s talk about the revision of THE 13TH PARAGON PART II: FROM ASHES OF EMPIRES. Work on that is completed—in fact, you can already nab the eBook version of it from your online retailer of choice. The updated paperback just needs some size corrections, and then it’ll be groovy to go. Fingers crossed, that will be ready for release very soon. As for what was changed, I can’t say it was quite as drastic as what was done with SCRAPPER’s revision. No completely rewritten chapters, just a lot of dialogue tweaks and fleshing out some ideas that hadn’t been developed to the level those same ones are now.
Next, allow me to jabber a bit about the final book in the Eyes of Odyssium trilogy. That’s in a similar state of limbo. The artwork is done and it’s amazing…it just needs the same sort of minor cover adjustments as ASHES. Though the pressure is off what with the cancelled convention (which has traditionally been my deadline for launch on a new book), I’m still hoping to get it out there as soon as possible to provide another outlet of entertainment for anyone looking for a little escape.
As I’m waiting to finalize and launch those two projects, I’ve been keeping myself busy in the writing department as well. Next year’s book, the as-yet untitled Odyssium Collection Volume 2, is coming along pretty nicely. I had two novellas in the bag from the freer days of 2018, and this year wrote a pretty unusual short story for it. At the moment, I’m close to 60 pages/14K words into the second novella/novelette/whatever it turns out to be for the Strange Days of Odyssium series.
Working on this reminded me of how much I love these breaks from the brain-breaking slog that goes into full novels. Creating content for the collections is a breeze in comparison, and you actually feel like you’re really accomplishing something when you finish a story over the course of a few weeks or a couple of months. It’s a big difference from writing a novel, where you kind of feel like you’re just chipping away at this big, daunting monstrosity. Worse, when I’m done with a novel I’m usually feeling kind of numb when I cross the finish line, so I don’t get to bask in whatever positive feelings I probably should be having.
Digressions aside, I’ve enjoyed writing these shorter works so much that I’ve even contemplated going straight into doing a third collection. Doubtful I’ll actually go through with it since I’ve started to find my footing on the launch novel for the next Odyssium series, but you never know.
So, that’s what I’ve been up to. Hope you all are staying safe and sane through this.
Till next time,
- C
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