run to the breakers

So last November I completely wrecked myself with all the writing. In the end I finished Locks of Clay, but to the detriment of pretty much everything else. I did my job, I fed my dogs, I wrote, I stopped sleeping, and that was about it.  Didn’t really have the energy to blog, and then when I got the edit back on Skeleton Army I had some choices to make. I wasn’t sure exactly what direction I was going to go in.

So I went to Lafayette for a month. I took a picture of a giraffe.

this guy really knew how to take a leak

I also visited their Home Depot.

Ultimately I decided that there was enough story to tell prior to Locks of Clay that two additional books in-between would be warranted. I did a pretty in depth edit of Skeleton Army, which I think I like the results, and now I’m working on the two companion books, which will form a sort of trilogy within the larger series. (Locks of Clay will ultimately form another trilogy in the same way.)

So why am I working on the sequels instead of polishing up SA itself? In February I found out about ABNA, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. A no-holds-barred thunderdome of writers, last man (or lady!) standing takes away a publishing contract with Penguin.

Now, I still believe in my business model and I’m still looking forward to self publishing, it’s an exciting challenge and I’ve always been a business guy. But the competition is free, and I figured it couldn’t hurt.

Skeleton Army is currently a quarter-finalist, which means it’s survived two cuts from the original field of 10,000 to the current slate of 500. At this point each manuscript is being reviewed by Publisher’s Weekly, so even if I don’t advance any further than this, I’ll walk away with that much.

The next cut is to 100 and at that point Penguin will read each remaining manuscript to cull to a final three. At that point the internet takes over.

In the meantime I’m working on the rest of the trilogy, and once ABNA is over I’ll get back on Skeleton Army. Current goal is to have all three ready for prime time by the end of the year, with Skeleton Army itself done by sometime late summer or so. Maybe sooner depending on how the final edits go.