Writing time

With all the promotional activity going on around me (for my first novel, The Mars Imperative), as well as the work on my second novel (The Tesserene Imperative)--editing, cover design, and so on--t's been weeks since I've had much time for actual writing.

When I signed the contracts for my first two novels, I was within 3-4 chapters of finishing my fourth novel (My Other Car is a Spaceship). Here I am, five weeks later, and I'm still not finished with it. I finally had some time to write this past weekend, and managed a chapter. That puts me into the final chapter, with perhaps a short epilogue to follow. With any luck, the first draft will be done by this weekend.

Finishing a novel is always bittersweet. First, there's the exultation that comes from completing a project of that magnitude. (A hundred thousand words or more of original composition isn't a trivial task!) Then it's followed by the thought that you may be leaving old friends behind forever (unless there's a sequel coming). Finally there's the realization that you have months (if not years) of editing, polishing, expanding, trimming, and more polishing ahead before the book is ready for publication. (Not to mention all the time spent on promotion, cover design, blogging, web design, preparing blurbs and excerpts, lining up personal appearances, and the multitude of other tasks that go with selling a book.)

So, even when the book is done, it isn't done by a longshot. But at least it isn't boring.... 8^}

Mark.

Coming soon: Selamere's Quest

I suppose I should have mentioned that I have a short story coming out in the August/September issue of AlienSkin magazine. The story is called Selamere's Quest, and it's a bit of a genre-bender. It looks like a simple sword-and-sorcery fantasy, but there's more than meets the eye.... (Isn't there always?)

I hope you enjoy it.