State of the WIP (August 2024)

I have to speed up time and I want this thing to be done by the end of chapter 480. Why 480? Because that will be the stress point of my fourth GoogDoc and I would really rather not start a fifth.

On the other hand, looking at where I am in the overall story...

...I'm probably going to start a fifth GoogDoc.

I'm going to try not filling it to the stress point, all the same.

Pro tip for those using GoogDocs on huge volumes of prose: The document will slow down to glacial pace once you get past 300 pages of single-spaced prose. Which happens to be close to 120 of my chapters in this particular WIP. Or roughly one novel.

And yes, I do have trouble with my anthologies towards the end of each year. I can make do during those handfuls of days, and that's okay. Doing that for the entirety of A Devil's Tale would have been... awful.

There's a lot of it, is what I'm saying.

And it's looking like there's going to be a bit more.

If I'm going to be honest with myself, it's feeling a little bit like that Minecraft meme: "Just one more block. Just one more block..." Only in this case, it's "One more chapter. One more chapter..." But it does have to reach an end.

Just... not in GoogDoc number four.

The good news is that I know where I'm going. The bad news is... it's going to take a bit longer to get there.

Here's for the scenic route. Who knows? I might figure out something fun to do on the way. And somewhere along that path, I'll figure out another alliterative title for the current book. Which is the fifth novel in the series. So far.

There is a lot of it, is what I'm saying.

And I don't know how many titles I can have using words that start with D. Suggestions welcome, folks. So far, I have "Destined Darkness", "Death's Delay", "Devilish Desires", and "Dire Deeds". The fifth book is unnamed as of yet. Hoping for something good to land on me for book 5 before I accidentally get to book 6.

I am definitely taking an extended break from pro-level writing for a while after I commit the final words of this thing to black and white. My old standard was two weeks off between writing and editing... or between writing and writing the next dang novel. Both generally happened sometime after the first week because I can't not write.

If I multiply two weeks by five to six books, I should be taking two to three months off from writing on a professional level. But, as I always say, should is not is.

I give it a month, tops, before the next novel idea lands on me from on high.

Meanwhile, my attempts to pitch are in the holding pattern as I wait for each potential agent to ghost me. I despise the lack of feedback that's now the modus operandi in the publishing/agency industry. Yes, it's less effort for them, but it's agonising for people like me. Any feedback is better than the howling echo of silence.

And worse, the one person who believed in me is losing faith that I'll get anywhere.

At least I still love the story I have going. That has to be worth something... right?

I hope it is.

I just want someone else to enjoy my stories as much as I loved writing them.