This will be the second November without NaNoWriMo; I’m having more trouble than I expected adjusting to the disappearance of something that was so integral to my growth as an author. Change, I suppose, is the only global constant; we move on, of course, and for me that means keeping to the same schedule I honed back when NaNoWriMo was in full swing. Deciding what to write during that monthlong sprint has always been a challenge, though; as I’ve said repeatedly, I have far more ideas than time to write, which is a good problem to have.
For years, November was the month that I wrote the next book in the Sean Colbeth series; that’s a holdover from his first novel being produced during the November period back in 2019. I’ve gone back and forth on whether that would be the case this year, and though I’ve begun prepping what is tentatively being titled Redemption, I think I am actually going to focus on finishing Midnight at Dawn. Much like the predecessor in that series, I’ve written more than half of it already and then set the darn thing aside. As Sean and Vasily are often wont to do when they get shelved, Kathryn Oliver has been reminding me with regularity that I’ve left her in something of a cliffhanger…
Yeah, probably not the best place to leave things.
Part of my problem, though, was that the next section — and, literally, the back half of the novel — takes place in literally uncharted waters for me. Up to that point in the book, it followed the same general format as Reflection in the Shadows: your basic police procedural with a touch of magic dusting everything. Midnight is taking that format and twisting it even more, and honestly, continuing down that path is incredibly scary (and not just for my characters). Enough time has passed now, though, that I think I’m with Kate on this one: I want to know how this story ends.
(Okay, I actually already know how it ends, but you see my point.)
So Midnight appears to have moved to the front burner and will be my focus starting in November; once that is complete, I’ll begin work on the next Sean novel, likely in late January. His next book is bubbling in my head almost in the same manner as Bliss, so I’m hopeful that it will come together fairly rapidly. Just pray that I don’t blow out my wrists in November. 🙁
One more thing before I go:
Emails to get a copy of Chosen Family will be sent out to subscribers beginning November 1. If you are reading this as part of my weekly email, you’re good to go; direct subscribers to my blog have been manually added to the newsletter system and should get the email. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can always subscribe just in case (though that might mean getting duplicate emails when this blog publishes).
I lied, one more thing:
For now, I’m going to maintain my extended social media presence. Recent pushback on the updated Terms & Conditions — especially the AI-website-scraping part — forced several of the big players to change course. However, while I’ll continue to crosspost on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, please know that my website (and this blog) will be my primary venue for getting the word out about my novels.
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