Behind Schedule

So I'm a little bit behind schedule on publishing my next two books. I realize I set my goal a little too ambitiously, but I didn't know editing was going to take quite so long. Because of that, Beginnings and The Ferryman will be out a couple months late, but still by mid-August (I hope). The good news is the books are better because of the additional time spent re-reading and re-editing. In addition, the book after these two, The Burden of Immortality, should be coming out early. I just completed my second edit of the book and am about to send it off for another review. Excited to see some things come together more quickly than I thought.

For those of you who have read Jeremiah Stone, Limbus, and Azazel (all part of the Jeremiah Stone trilogy), be glad to know Beginnings and The Ferryman are both prequels, though The Ferryman concerns the character Opus Wright and its quite the page turner. As for The Burden of Immortality, its a stand alone novel that will have you guessing until the end. Here's a taste of each:

Beginnings: Skirting the law while skipping between Ivy League schools in search of himself, Jeremiah finally finds someone who accepts him for who he truly is. This love, however, is short-lived as his latest interlude raises more than just the police’s curiosity. Within weeks, he’s on the run again with only one safe option to turn too, but can he manage to endure his choice while surviving the initiation process or will he lose himself within the folds of the mafia with powerful enemies on all sides. His life hangs in the balance as both friends and enemies weigh their options against a quick profit. In a last ditch play, he returns to the one person who might love him in return. The only question he has is will she accept where his choices have led him while knowing the danger he’s in or will she turn away like so many others. More importantly, can he live with himself if he puts her in danger? Unfortunately, it’s not his decision as external forces converge around him in an explosive confrontation.

The Ferryman: Brian Dalton thought he was going to survive his genius with only a resentful childhood, but when his parents are murdered in front of him, his life takes an odd change for the worse. Now, obsessed with Death, Brian is pulled into the CIA who’s more than willing to use his abilities to their advantage in a massive mole hunt. Brian, however, has other plans as he uses his mental prowess and new-found skills to commit a string of murders against his own personal enemies. But no one’s perfect, Brian realizes as he taunts an up-and-coming FBI agent’s morals who starts to close the noose around the killings. Disappearing under his CIA cover, Opus Wright, Brian temporarily escapes as his superiors are pulled into the mix while he struggles to stay one step ahead of everyone in a game he’s still learning. With his plans on the verge of backfiring, he wonders if his fascination with Death will prove to be his savior or his downfall.

The Burden of Immortality: Drazan Cvetko hates his life. He was meant for better than this, but pulling himself out of the gutter isn't easy. This all changes when his father dies and an old acquaintance delivers to him his father’s encrypted journal. Yet, despising everything the journal means to him, Drazan begins to painstakingly unmask his father’s latest archaeological discovery. Unfortunately, it’s not the only journal of his fathers out there and other people, people far beyond his understanding of wealth and power, want what’s contained within the scribbled pages. So, fighting his better judgment, Drazan launches himself into the middle of something he can’t begin to comprehend for the sake of what; a chance at immortality. Is it enough to risk his life for? Maybe the better question is what does he have to give up to acquire it?

Moods

If you've been keeping up with my blog then you know I've been editing Burden (my last completed project). The edits have been rough, but now the story has become readable. Moreover, the man character begins to show his personality, his drive, and it all has to do with conveying the mood he's in. Whether is fear or elation, dread or hate; he's now recognizing his motivation, something he hasn't done before. Because of that, he's filling out as a person you my endear to or come to sympathize with. By the end, I hope you understand his choice and, under his circumstances, make the same choice yourself. It's a stretch, but living the person's life, feeling the person's loves and hates, and understanding his moods only enables you to become a step closer to being that person. That's the difference I'm making now in my edits.

Now for something different:

I’m sad you’re so far away from my heart,

I can’t begin to count the days we've been apart.

Joy has left me as worry starts to take its toll,

Filling this aching deep within my lonely soul.

Will you remember me, will I lighten your step,

Or will I just banish what little we have left?

Now I begin to count the days we've been apart,

And I’m sad you’re so far away from my heart.

Talk

I talk a lot about editing and how much I dislike it, which is the truth. The problem is I tend to write as I think and some words just don't make it onto paper. I've noticed another problem, I  substitute 'a' for whatever word I'm thinking of , yet can't remember how to spell, when my fingers are flying at a blazin' 45 w/m. As you can tell, I'm not the fastest typist, which I think is another problem. My mind is working fast than I type at times and therefore I skip things. Either way, no matter how careful I am, I invariably screw it up. In Burden, I screwed it up a lot, but I think with Burden part of it was my disjointed writing as I fought with where the story was leading. Near the end, I hope it gets better, but for now it's painfully bad.

Good news on Burden, however. I had my son read the new ending and he thought it was excellent.

Now for something different:

Time doesn't make the heart grow fonder. Neither does distance. Both create broken men with broken hearts who yearn for better times and better days, though those wants are like ships in the distance. They hover at the edge of perception where, in a blink of an eye, they can disappear over the horizon never to be seen again. And, despite hope, they may never reach the same port again as despair overwhelms the senses. 

There's a saying, actually a few, which proffer to propose if you love something, let it go. If it comes back, then it was meant to be. I'm not a big fan of letting go. Actually, I'm not a big fan of finding either because something always seems to be unsettling within me. I call it doubt, and it spreads like a virus, invades like a weed. Once it has a foothold, it's almost impossible to remove it. This is where it stands now, crushing the life out of me.

Do I endure or do I succumb? It's the choice only old men have to make. Or maybe it should be, it's what makes us old men.

Quickie

I'm gonna make this quick today because I'm tired... tired of editing... tired of re-reading the same thing a dozen times looking for mistakes... and just plan tired. Despite all this though, I do have some good news. My son read through Burden and like the story, suggested a few changes, and after a few days thinking about how to adjust the ending, those changes have really enhanced the book. Unfortunately, the editing of the book has started and it's worse than I'd originally thought. I wrote the novel in first person, from the main characters point of view in the present, however, I don't seem to follow this all the time. Correcting this is easy, but time consuming. Thankfully, I'm a quarter of the way through the book already and I'm feeling much better about how the story reads,though I have yet to have my son read the new ending.

On another note, I'm getting edits back, reviewing cover designs, and preparing myself for another convention: GenCon in Indy. It's going to be a heck of a trip and I hope I can pull it off as I don't think I'll have much help manning the booth.Volunteers? Anyway, getting excited in lieu of how exhausted I am. I'll be glad when I can finally relax near the end of the year and just write (or so I dream).

Signing off now. Good night and may your dreams be filled with action heroes, dangerous villains, and beautiful damsels in distress.

Shameful

I've written books. I've written a lot of books, sixteen to be exact. So far, I've published three, am editing four right now, and have seven more I want to write. It's a lot to wrap my head around at times. Yet, this doesn't make me a good writer, though someday I believe I will be one. Right now, my problem is not with writing. It's with editing. I hate it. I'm not good at it. To spend time doing it really unnerves me. It is, however, my biggest weakness. Because I know I'm bad at it, I've been practicing writing better so the editing isn't so bad. Irregardless, that hasn't worked either (just read one of my last blogs concerning Burden to understand this viewpoint).

A few month ago I thought to publish a book or two on my own. I edited, re-edited, re-edited some more, and finally said enough's enough. They had to be pretty decent considering all the time I put into them, so I was about to make a go of it on my own. Then, perchance, I got an editing offer I couldn't refuse and took it. Sure, it'd delay me a month or two, but it'd be worth it. AND, because I've already edited the hell out of these books already, it shouldn't take that long. I have a single word to describe my editing after receiving my fully edited novels back; shameful. Thanks to the new editor, hundreds of mistakes I overlooked were found.  Just how this was possible, I don't know, though I've formulated an opinion on my editing ability: I suck!

Anyway, I've updated one of the two books I've received back and am working on the second, which I hope to finish within the week. Then both will be edited again and my changes gone over. Maybe then I'll call them good, but for now I can only say an author can only edit his work to a point before all is lost. This is my realization. No matter how much I may try to edit, another set of eyes will always find mistakes. Hopefully, I can limit those mistakes in the books to come.

And for those who've read Jeremiah Stone, Limbus, and Azazel; I'm working on those also so please don't think all my books will contain so many grammatical mistakes. After all, it takes time to be good at something, so I'm spending some time at editing. Wish me luck.