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Working on the next book

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So I’m outlining the plot for my next book, which is going to take place in the Birthright universe during the War with the Tahni.  It’s going to be the story of a Marine who’s stranded on Demeter during the Tahni occupation.  Those of you who’ve read Enemy of My Enemy and especially Glory Boy know what happened during that occupation, and you’re going to see quite a few familiar faces in this book.

A milestone…and a note on marketing.

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I just passed 90,000 words in my work in progress, Glory Boy. The way the plot is progressing, I expect it to take about another 20,000 words to wrap up.
This novel is the story of the wartime experiences of Caleb Mitchell, the main character in the Birthright trilogy, so one might naturally assume that I’m going to market it as a prequel to Birthright.
But I’m not, at least not at first. As it is, it’s a fine standalone military science fiction novel and I’m of the opinion that it will probably sell better if I market it that way than if I connect it to an existing trilogy.
So I am going to start out by selling this as a standalone and then maybe after few months, I’ll add something to the blurb that mentions the Birthright trilogy.
Just wanted to let everyone who follows my work regularly know what’s going on with Glory Boy.

The Ambien Walrus Wrote My Book

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So last night, I was all ready for bed, and I’d taken my nightly dose of Ambien. I’ve had a prescription for a while since I can’t sleep through the night without it and I have to be up early for work. Usually, I take it then hit the sack no more than 20 minutes later. But this time, I was just a couple hundred words from 50,000 in the new science fiction book I’m writing, and even though I’d taken the pill a half hour ago, I figured I could squeeze in a little extra writing. 50,000 words is a big milestone to pass when you’re writing a book, and I only started working on this one three weeks ago so it’s been going pretty fast and I wanted to keep up that pace.
I woke up this morning having no memory whatsoever of anything I wrote last night. I opened up my laptop and I’d gone like 200 words over 50,000 and ended the chapter I’d been working on. And it was pretty good! I’m tempted to say it was better than some of the stuff I’ve written not on Ambien in some ways.

Hmmm…I’m tempted now to take one on a weekend night when I don’t have to get up early the next morning and just stay up and write and see what the results are in the morning. That would be interesting…

My next book and how I’m writing it…

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I’m trying something new on my work-in-progress Glory Boy.  I’m usually a seat-of-my-pants plotter, which means I usually only plan out a chapter or two ahead and instead let the characters and the flow of the story guide where the plot goes.  But since Glory Boy is the story of Caleb Mitchell’s experiences during the War with the Tahni, I know exactly what happens already and it’s set in stone, as I have referred to those experiences many times in the Birthright trilogy.
So, this time around, I have outlined every chapter ahead of time and it seems to be working out all right so far.  I’m about 17,000 words into the book after a WEEK, which is some kind of freaking record for me.  If I keep going at this rate, I’d expect to be done with it in three months or so, unless some unexpected block occurs.
Stay tuned…