I’ve spent a little over a week running through the story I had already written and made corrections and edits to smooth things out. Now I’m back to the rough draft part of the ending. I have a few more scenes to go as well as some new ones sprinkled through the middle of the book. This part will progress much faster than reading and editing. Or, I should say that it will appear to progress faster. When I’m editing, a few words are removed and some are added, so it “feels” like things are moving slowly. When I’m plopping down new words, it goes really fast. It also shows in the diagram at the right that indicates my progress on the book. Technically, I’ve only had two days that I didn’t work on this book since September when I started. One day was dedicated to hiking and the other day was a day I worked on Facebook Ads.

So, now I’m in the final stretch. Most of the scenes have gone through a round of editing to make sure the grammar is correct. Once I finished the last scenes and re-read some of those to check for grammar, the book will be ready for the read-out-loud part. The plan is to do that next Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully, we can read it in two days, though I’m thinking we might finish it on Monday. We both have the entire week off next week, so that’s gratuitous. I also have Monday off. Veteran’s Day was a floating holiday this year, and since I work for a credit union, it’s a holiday that I get off.

Bank Holiday! Woot!

OK, now that I got that out of my system… My wife doesn’t have that day off, so she’ll work her usual schedule and I’ll get up at the same early time as my usual work day and start writing around 8 am. Those are great days for getting my writing done because I can just do 1-hour sprints and do what I need to do to get the book done. I especially like doing rough drafts on bank holidays because I can just crank out the words. I’ve managed to do up to 13,000 words in one day on a bank holiday. I won’t be doing much rough drafting (though I’m sure I’ll have some to do), but I have a lot of work to do on this book. Things are fitting really well, but I want to make sure the details are correct. I have to verify the timelines of each scene so that my day/night stuff doesn’t get out of whack.

The book is already 104k words in length. I anticipate it’ll be at least 110k, and I’m betting closer to 115k. The second book (The Secrets of the Tome) was 115k, just for comparison. The Archons was 136k.

Once this book is published, I have plans to take a small break. Well, I’m not really going to stop writing, but I’ll probably do a couple of short stories, or work on my research. Then I’ll hit book 2 of The Traveler series hard. I still have some planning to do for that book, then I need to get it written and out the door. Once I do that, I’ll try my hand at Facebook Ads. I should have statistics for sales for the Escape from the Abyss series with book 4 completed. With only 3 books, the series can barely keep its head above water. I have a few theories on why that’s the case, but my number one theory is that the series is not complete. That and the fact that only three of at least seven books are published. Once I reach the mid-way point or further, sales should be better. Potential readers will see that I’m committed to the completion of the series and give it more credibility. I totally get the hesitancy at starting a new series that isn’t complete. I’ve written a couple of series already and they usually do better once the last book drops. I suspect the same thing is happening here.

So, now you’re wondering: how many books will be in this series? Well, I’m gauging it on the sales. If the sales go up after the fourth book is published, then I’ll go for the 10-book set. I have potential stories for up to 20 books, but that’s probably too many books. I currently have a read-through of 86% from book 2 to 3. That’s the critical metric on a series read-through. I only have a little more than one month of statistics though and it’s tough to separate people who bought all 3 together with those who read book 1 and went back for book 2 and 3. Those numbers get firmer after about 6 months of stats. To be honest, I’m not sure I can read through a book that’s 136k words in less than a month. Anyway, if the sales don’t do too well with 4 books published, then I’ll probably trim it back to 7. That is the minimum number of books I can write to complete the series without feeling rushed. I want to make sure the last book ends with a bang, no matter what. If I end up writing only 7 books, that means I can complete the series by the end of next year (since I only have 3 more books to write). Then I’ll work on book 3 of The Traveler series, which I’ll be analyzing the same way. Does it sell? Write more books. If no, then keep the series short. The Traveler could end up a trilogy, though I have plans for at least 5 books.

Other Plans

I’m always thinking about future stories. The idea machine in my head never stops. Technically, I could write every story that I’ve thought up and probably never finish them in my lifetime. However, I’m always on the lookout for something different. One of those ideas turned into The Traveler. That’s a story that doesn’t exist anywhere else that I know of. Maybe someone out there has a similar story plot, but I’ve never read it. The Abyss series came from the broad strokes of Battlestar Galactica. Though it’s twisted beyond that story to be something different. Let’s face it, the Abyss has no Earth and the Archons are not human or machines. There’s also no Baltar, which made the show what it was.

I have a Word document that I started a couple of weeks ago. I use Word with bullet points to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. The theme of that document is ideas for a Chronicle. I already have a lot of stuff in that doc and several ideas sound intriguing to me. Any new Chronicle will go the opposite way that the Daphne series went. It’s going to be gritty and geared toward an older audience. Some of the ideas I threw against the wall segued into themes that were too similar to other stories. I jotted down notes that “this story sounds too much like x.” I kept the notes so I might be able to twist it around and make it less like “x” and turn it into something new. We’ll see how that turns out. I’m really trying to go for something completely new and out of the ordinary. I’m also writing an occasional short story. Or to be honest, a scene or two of a potential short story. They’re for practice, but they also might turn into something big. That’s how the novel Desperate Action came from The Traveler.

Of course, “other plans” can’t occur until my current two series are completed. I anticipate that the earliest those two will be done will be near the end of next year or into the year after.