Yes, I’m still here, more or less. And still writing. You’d think with Covid keeping us homebound for the last year or so, I would have had plenty of time to work on that series I talked about—what, maybe ten years back or something? Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but when you write as slowly as I do it can feel like that sometimes. Sooner or later, however, things get done. Maybe.
So why isn’t my series finished yet?
This next part’s going to contain a lot of excuses, so I’ll do you a favor and mark when it’s over. When you get bored, jump down to the bolded bit. I won’t mind.
To recap: I needed to pay for a new air conditioner, so I decided to write a romance series about a family of Texas cowboys who double as vampire slayers. It’s a closed series, meaning the collected books tell a single long story, with individual books being the “chapters.” I actually plotted for once and decided I’d need eight books in all: seven romances and the big wrapup. Got my characters, got my plot, got to work and whipped out a book in (for me) record time.
Unfortunately, it was Book #3. Yes, I know. Most people start with Book #1. And I would have, but I really liked the characters in Book #3, and the plot took off and I couldn’t wait to work on it every day, and next thing you know I’ve got a finished draft. Yay!
And almost immediately ran head on into a writer’s block.
Now, I’m a slow writer to start with. There are writers out there who can do 5000 or more words a day, day after day, week after week. They’re the ones you’ve heard of because they publish a book per month. Plus sidebar stories. And they still have time left over to chat with people on Twitter. My hat is off to them, because I will never be among their number. I’m lucky if I can hit 1000 words in a day. Skipping housework doesn’t help me, either, because I do that anyway.
I started Book #1. Hit a snag and couldn’t go on. Started Book #2. Made good progress—I liked the characters, the plot was shaping up, two side characters did something that even I wasn’t expecting—
Then I got to the sex scene. Stopped me dead. I tried going back to Book #1. Nope, no luck there. I wrote random scenes from further up the plotline. Started Book #4, realized it wasn’t working, let that one peter out. Then Covid hit and I had to get home WiFi because the library shut down and I needed Internet access to download files for my freelance job. With everything closed and home WiFi, I didn’t even need to leave the house.
So I…didn’t write. I watched a lot of videos on YouTube. I watched TV. I took naps. My off-and-on video game addiction flared up with a serious vengeance. Looking back, I was probably depressed. Or overwhelmed by the notion of coordinating an eight-book opus and making sure all the plot threads worked. Or lazy. It’s often hard to tell. Procrastination is a problem I’ve wrestled with for years.
Okay, enough of this shit. HERE ENDETH THE WHINING.
The good news: after almost a full year of farting around, I’m back on track again. I started writing longhand and lo and behold, it’s working out. Probably because a sheet of lined notebook paper offers way fewer distractions than the Internet. The female lead started coming to life, and just this morning I decided the male lead looks like Gerald McRaney, a fave of mine from the ‘80s. He’s a werewolf in a cowboy hat with a moustache and a receding hairline. You got a problem with that?
Pity this is Book #7. The rest are all still stuck.
Well, too bad. I’m writing, and that’s all that counts. I’ll worry about the others when this one is done. If I have to write the entire series out of order, that’s the way it’s gonna be. Because that’s how I’ve decided to handle this: I’m going to write the entire series at the same time, and not even think about marketing Book #1 until I’ve got at least six of the others finished in draft form. It’s the only way I’ll be able to guarantee I can release a book a month. Disney/Marvel can afford to let a year or two pass between movies. That doesn’t work for ebook publishing. When you’re doing a series, the faster chapters come out, the better. Nobody wants to wait for anything anymore.
Don’t worry. I already know how the story ends. That won’t be a problem. The problem is my bad case of sequelitis. A throwaway character from Book #3 took on a life of her own; she’s got a trilogy lined up as soon as I finish the series. Then the main characters from Book #3 come back for a reprise. Or two. I didn’t realize until recently his mother was a literal witch. And so it goes…
