I did what I set out to do. Now comes the work.

This book is complete. "The Darkness You Fear: Ghosts of the Lost Blue Bucket Mine."

Mostly.

Now comes the work.

I've cut a couple of minor characters, added a character who is minor but who plays a huge motivational role. I've changed a bunch of names. I have a chapter early that just doesn't work, mostly because I wrote in 3rd person and had to change it to 1st person. I just keep hacking away at it, improving it slowly with each attempt.

I'm using the location of Fort Boise as a jump-off point, though the first Fort Boise, which existed at the time of the events, was later moved 50 miles to the east and is the present day Boise. So I may put in a Historical Note:

"The events in this book are mostly true, though the names and characters are fiction. The Fort Boise described in this book was located by the Snake River and precedes the later location 50 miles to the east of present day Boise. As far as I know, The Lost Blue Bucket Mine has never been found."

I have to put in locations and dates. I want the to correlate as much as possible with the real Lost Wagon Train, (Meek's Cutoff). It's got to be generally right, but perfect accuracy can wait for the last draft.

In other words, I'm trying to get this book in the rough shape it needs to be.

I've taken to sending these rough versions to Lara, because her editing clears away a lot of things making it possible for the last draft to be more effective. Then, if she has time, she can copy-edit the highlighted changes I make.

As soon as I send this off to Lara, I'm going to start researching the book for historical details. This is adding embellishment and believability to a plot that is centered around the characters.

I'm hoping to have this book done by the first week of February.

I like the book, though I wonder if it is going to go over with the readers. But I did what I set out to do.

Finished the third Virginia Reed Adventure.

I finished "The Darkness You Fear: Ghosts of the Lost Blue Bucket Mine."  On the last day of the year.

The publisher at Books of the Dead is open to it. I'm sending it to Lara for editing on Monday, after tinkering with it over the weekend. She'll take about a month, and in the meantime, I'll do some research and add as much verisimilitude to the story as I can.

The basic plot is done, though.

I do want to add some historical detail and descriptions to the 2nd draft, which I figure will add about 10% to the 75K words of the 1st draft.

Thematically, I thought it came out really well. Ghosts are hard to do, but once I realized that, in my story at least, they are symbolic of "guilt and remorse" the plot worked itself out.

It feels like my books get more and more complicated as time goes on. I'm not sure if this is good or bad.

It's as if I need the challenge.

At the same time, I wrote "I Live Among You" as a very simple book, and it came out well. "Tuskers" also had an original concept that was meant to be straightforward, too.

Really, why don't I do that?

I'm going to go ahead and publish "The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders" myself. I'm all caught up at my publishers -- each of them have a book in hand (or almost in hand.) It would be a very, very long time for the next book, and by then I'll have written more books, so I may as well just put it out there. I like it a lot. Maybe that will be enough.

I'm not going to try to find another publisher -- it was pure luck I got these two publishers without a long strenuous dispiriting search, and I have no intention of tackling that process now. It was the idea that I could publish what I want when I want that got me into this writing thing again.

So it's time to take the plunge. (I did do "Cyber Flash" as a self-published book, but that was more of a lark.)

I suspect I'll sell far fewer copies than the books the publishers did, but so be it. I've written a lot of material and I want to see it put out into the world. Sales are nice. Reviews are nice.

But having written the books and knowing they can be accessed by others if they so please -- that's the real reward.

Picking a book cover.

I've chosen the book cover to The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders.

This isn't as easy as it looks. Generally, a cover artist will give you several options. I try to trust my first instinct. The "Blink" moment. But the more you think about it, the harder it gets.

Years ago, I watched a documentary about a book cover artist (sadly, I don't remember who) and it showed the process of a publisher telling the artist what they wanted and then messing with it.

Almost always, the original cover by the artist was the artistic highpoint, after which the publisher mucks it up. Makes it too cluttered, throws off the design, just generally dumbs it down.

I swore if I was ever in the same position that I would listen to the artist.

Of course, it isn't that easy. First of all, the artist will throw it back at you, "Which do YOU like?" But they will generally give off signals of which ones they like.

I'm more sympathetic about the publishers now. What's happening is that you are often presented with an artistic vision that may not be as utilitarian as something else that isn't quite as artistic.

I read somewhere that sometimes the worse commercials are the best at selling product and the most artistic commercials are the worst. Heh.

The cover artist for several of my books is Mike Corley, who is a well-established and respected cover artist who happens to live in Bend and is a customer of mine. When I apologized for making him make so many small changes, he told the story of how he often spends months with a publisher mucking about, only to have the publisher come to him at the last moment and say, "You know that first cover you showed us? Let's do that."

Ironically, that's pretty much what I did this time around. The choice came down to the original two choices, with very few changes. The first choice was probably more utilitarian -- easily read title, etc -- but as Mike pointed out, the title is right there in print alongside the thumbnail picture.  The second cover was probably more elegant and that's the one I ended up choosing.

Anyway, the choice has been made. I'm hoping to have this out in mid-January.

Well, damn, I'm stuck.

This rarely happens to me. Really, only Faerylander hasn't been finished for reasons of stucktitude.

I have only two or three chapters to finish and I'm done, but it is a tangled mess. I drank some wine last night and got all lyrical as fuck. Which means I'll probably have to cut it.

The villain has to crack in the last chapter, but I just haven't set it up so that it seems believable. But just shooting him, or something, doesn't seem sufficient either.

Well, sometimes you just wrestle with something for a long time and them, Bamm, it becomes all clear. So I have to hope for that.

The good thing is that I have the next week to do nothing but that.

The bad thing is I'm already 10 days over my original schedule.

Anyway, there is nothing to do but keep trying so I'm going to keep trying.

Status of Tuskers III

So I thought I should explain where Tuskers III is.

It was finished and turned in and supposed to be published on October 13. (My birthday, by the way...)

On October 12, Ragnarok Publications announced that they were going to start distributing in bookstores, and that everything would be on hold for several months.

What do I mean by "distributing in bookstores?" This is what mainstream publishers do...they solicit in catalogs, well in advance, let the bookstores order what they want. In the old days -- back when Star Wars was published -- they were distributed in the newstands and such, though I'm not sure that happens as much anymore.

Up until now, my books from both Books of the Dead and Ragnarok were published as ebooks primarily, with physical copies available. I sold quite a few physical copies in my own stores, but not very many outside of that. You could order from Barnes & Noble, but they didn't have shelf space, and you could order from Amazon.

In other words, Tuskers III (along with Tuskers I and II) will be "featured" in the Fall, 2016 catalog. Which means, probably, that it will go out in the summer to solicit for orders.

Something like that.

It's very daring for Ragnarok to do this -- somewhat risky -- because there is always the danger of printing up books and having them returned. The contracts have to be rewritten, the price of the ebooks will probably go up slightly, that kind of thing.

All for the thrill of seeing the books on shelves in bookstores.  If any bookstores order them...

TKOB

I had a bunch of red-tape stuff to do today. I forgot to get the vehicle registrations in on time. Went to the DMV thinking it would be a nightmare. Last time I went, it took forever. Pulled #167, then heard #48 called out. So I went to the info desk (Linda, "why are you doing that?" Me, "Maybe there's another way.") Sure enough, we were sent to the express lane and got it done in less than five minutes.

Then went to Verizon for one of the many billions of times Linda has gone there to straighten out her bill. Me: "Why don't you change your method of paying?" Linda: "I want to do this way.) That was a long wait, with the boys and girls wandering around with their iPads to help and just a weird way of doing business.

Then on to Pacific Source because when I tried to pay and set up an automatic withdrawal, I couldn't figure it out. Turns out, I have to make the first month payment, THEN I can set up automatic withdrawal. Why? I can't conceive of a reason.

Then to the bank to pay off the Line of Credit with the Christmas money.

Then to Ranch Records to order the latest Squeeze album. "Oh, Duncan! The guy who runs people out of downtown!" Me, "....?...." "I think maybe my reputation is worse than I am...."

Then to Dandy's, where we had to actually sit in a car line to get parked to get Linda's favorite burgers. Killed the battery. Linda: "Let's walk home." Me: gets out of car to tell the very cute rollerskating girl, who laughs and brings out a portable charger and we're rolling a couple minutes later. No looking around at other cars to see how they are laughing at us...

Driving home: "Amazing that lots of people spend there time doing stuff like this and I spend about a day every quarter saving this shit up...."

No longer monomaniacal.

Apparently, I'm no longer monomaniacal about writing. I let family and Christmas and business take precedence over the last ten days.

The first few years of writing, nothing stopped me. Nothing. I was so obsessive that I was barely aware of my surroundings at times.

I'm trying to settle into a more moderate pace. 2000 words a day is by most standards a pretty big number. Counting working days and days off, I probably spend 200 days a year writing new material, and another 100 days a year rewriting. Say...400K words a year.

That's a big number, at least six novels worth a year. Not all of them turn into books. Not all are finished. Not all are given a second draft.

So anyway, I'm going to try to settle into a more moderate but consistent pace, also include a little more time for rewriting that I've done in the past.

I've got five novels more or less finished that I'm proud enough of to publish. I'm almost done with a sixth.

That's a pretty good result.

I'm working today at the store, and tomorrow I'm going to attempt to do all the red-tape stuff that's been piling up, and then on Tuesday, get back to writing full time.

And NOTHING will be allowed to get in the way.

Star Wars Xmas continues.

Finished off Star Wars Christmas by watching The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

So the common wisdom is pretty much right on. The Empire Strikes Back holds up really well. Not a lot wrong with it, a pretty great movie. The New Hope hasn't dated as well.

I've always defended Return of the Jedi, but I have to admit that the Ewoks are hard to take. Not so much the concept of them, but how fake they look.

Then Todd and I kept forging ahead and watched the documentary that comes along with the boxed set.

I found it humorous that the "experts" wondered if the new movie would be as huge as everyone expected.

Then again, I thought I'd sell the hell out of the toys. I guess since Christmas is over and the store did really well, I can reveal that the Star Wars toy sales sucked. I'm really surprised.

I took one of the cheap 35.00 lightsabers home to give to Todd and it was big hit. It was just fun to turn it on and hear that sound, and we had a couple fights (I used the saved up wrapping paper rolls.) But, yeah, none of the big toys sold at all, and the little toys sold hardly at all.

Interesting.

Also -- we were shorted all the main characters. And they wonder why the small stores can't compete. Let me tell you, we can compete very well, but not if you don't even let us have Rey or Finn or some of the other major toys. It's pretty disgraceful in my opinion. Then again, should I be surprised that a corporation like Hasbro gives preference to the big box stores? Silly me. (Remember, I couldn't even ORDER these toys until the exact day they were released in the big box stores. This is legal behavior.) Ah, well.

There are so many things that I shrug my shoulders about nowadays. I think the corporations are incredibly short-sighted and poorly run. But the public sees them a ruthlessly efficient. They aren't efficient -- they're BIG.

Thirty years later and Pegasus Books is having our best years and Barnes and Noble and Toy R Us and Topps are on the ropes.

Karma is a bitch.

Star Wars Christmas

We watched Star Wars: A New Hope, which will always be just Star Wars to me.

It's both better and worse than I remember. The "worse" parts are somewhat unavoidable -- such as special effects that mostly hold up but are definitely dated -- and the best parts that I didn't remember is the repartee and affection between Luke, Leia, and Han. I never realized how whiny Luke was the first 15 times I watched it.

Anyway, Sherron had never really watched it all the way through, so we teased her mercilessly when she called the Death Star the Dark Star and when she otherwise didn't get it.

I had to explain "Han shot first" and showed her the wiki entry and she was amazed it was "a thing." Heh.

I almost ordered her out of the house.

I'm going to try to connive to watch The Empire Strikes Back today. Even if I have to watch it by myself.

It's hard to explain how Star Wars struck the world in 1977. I compare it to how the Beatles came along with their irresistable upbeat tunes in 1963, after the Kennedy assassination and other terrible events.

It was so fresh, so fun, so much like the kind of Space Opera I grew up reading, that I was astounded.

Hard to ever replicate that.

Anyway, even though it doesn't have that kind of impact anymore, it's still a fun little movie. Doesn't seem at all ground shaking now.

More like a friend who has gotten older and a little frayed around the edges.

An actual Christmas.

Giving up on actually writing until after Christmas. Instead, trying to get things done and out of the way.

So I'll be behind on my book by a couple of weeks. I think it may turn out to be a good thing. I've been thinking about the book even if I haven't been writing, and I think I finally have all the pieces I need for a good ending.

Two chapters. Now I just need to sit down and write them.

I've been spending some time at the store over the last few days, which has been a good thing. We have a small chance of beating last year, which I didn't think would happen. Pay off a few bills. Start the year fresh.

Todd and Sherrone are home. We even put up a tree! We're actually wrapping presents! Christmas music!

Weird.

Retailing makes it hard to feel Christmas, frankly. Usually around 5:00 on Christmas Eve as I go to the store and raid it of any cool stuff I've had my eye on that nobody bought, and the store is closed, then it washes over me.

You get old, you get lazy, you don't have kids home, you don't put up a tree or wrap presents or any of that stuff. And of course, it took just a few minutes and feels good and I really need to get off my butt in the future. Even if it is just Linda and me, I'd like that.

Busiest day of the year.

This is usually our busiest day of the year. We were also getting a large, late shipment. So I felt it was cruel and unusual employment to leave Cameron alone today. Went on in and tried to help. Thought I might be there a couple of hours, didn't get out until six hours later.

If business manages to keep up at the same pace for the rest of the day, it will be the busiest day again. Of course, it might have all died off the second I left.

Anyway, another day of not writing.

I went out for a walk in the Badlands yesterday. A little muddy, but not too bad. Worked out the plot of the last two chapters. So I just need the time to sit down and get it written.

Todd and Sherrone are home, so that makes it hard to concentrate too.

Thing is, for the last three years I've been so diligent about writing that nothing could stop me.

I think I'm just turning human again.

So I suspect everything is going to take a couple of extra weeks, darn it. Not that anyone is holding their breath.

Quit nitpicking Star Wars!

No spoilers I can see.

No sooner had I emerged from the showing of Star Wars than the nitpicking began.

First let me say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt very grounded, not flitting about in a CGI haze. I liked the two main characters, Finn and Rey, in the same way that I liked Luke and Leia and Han. It has an overall upbeat feeling to it, and somehow manages not to be cynical in what easily could be (or is in every other way) the most cynical endeavor in movie history. 

I'd held off watching trailers or reading anything about Star Wars months ago. From the first two trailers, I dreamed of the beginning of the movie and I was amazingly close. Basically, I thought they would use a lot of the same elements at the first movie, and I don't think it's a spoiler to say that they do. And I was fine with it.

But upon getting home, I dove into the reviews and the articles about Star Wars, and it was kind of demoralizing. I mean, most people seem to like the movie, but they can't seem to help but nitpick it.

Normally, I hate the excuse of "It's just a movie." But in this case, "It's just a movie!"

So as far as plotholes and unlikelihoods, need I point out that faster than light travel is probably impossible, a lightsaber is a ridiculous weapon, what's with the stupid armor that doesn't protect anything, and...on and on...and on...

This a space opera, folks. It isn't rigorous.

There are indeed lots of plot holes, and some of them I noticed, and some of them even bothered me a little.

But the core story of the characters was strong and emotionally resonant and I can live with an unlikelihood or two or two hundred, because the whole thing is a fantasy and I get it.

Science it isn't. A fun story it is.

This is taking longer than expected.

Deadline is here and I'm not yet done with The Darkness You Fear. There is just more involved in a historical book. I've barely begun the process of world building. Been focused on plot and characters.

I've passed 70K words and still not done with the first draft. (I'd expected to finish up around 65K words for the first draft.) I mean, this isn't a bad thing, but it is obviously taking longer than I expected.

I've got at least one chapter, probably two still to go. I still haven't found the killer app. The bad guy needs a neat comeuppance, and I haven't quit figured it out yet. I'm sure there is one. I can feel it.

Then I still need to do a thorough rewrite. And then, I want to do another rewrite for the sole purpose of adding in telling details from research. I need description of terrain, of weather, of people, of gear (guns, clothing, wagons, horses, mining equipment), etc. etc.  I need to put in accurate dates.

This is a strong book, thematically, and that's what I want in a book. I don't know if I've pulled off the plot -- that's always the hard part. And...well, the writing is always something I'm concerned about, even though it is rarely mentioned in the reviews.

It's all about the writing, really, the word placement. A weak plot can be covered up by excellent writing, and bad writing can pull down a good story.

So the second draft is where I really try to get that right.

I'm going to be patient. The book will be done when it is done.

Freakishly weird story didn't work.

An update on the earlier entry today.

The freakishly weird storyline I was talking about didn't work...at all.

I tried reading it out loud to Linda and it didn't even make sense to me. So I guess there is a reason no one has tried ending a book with a series of flashbacks.

There is an easy solution. I simply remove a couple of the scenes and make them their own chapters earlier in the book. The only reason I wasn't doing that is because they have to be 3rd person, but told from the POV of characters whose heads we haven't been in before.

Up to now, I've had Virginia's third person thread, which is the main storyline, with two other stories lines told first person through diaries and journals.

But since I have had the third person narration all along with Virginia, I don't think this late in the book it will bother anyone if I go third person with other people. I doubt anyone will notice.

At least, they'll notice less than if I tie myself into narrative knots trying to stick to a first person diary format.

Why can't this be easy?

Freaky subconscious storyteller, making it all weird.

The Darkness You Fear is the most weirdly structured book.

But I like it. So I'm sticking with it. It feels right, even as my brain tells me that it is extremely unconventional. Maybe I'll have second thoughts in the rewrite, but the whole story kind of circles around itself, developing the themes. The themes are strong...I think...so the story works...I think.

The last two chapters, which should be straight forward denouncement are instead turning into three or four chapters of more or less flashbacks. Can you end a book with flashbacks?

I think there will still be action denouncement in the very last chapter, so maybe that will work.

Oh, well.

Freaky subconscious storyteller, making it all weird.

An ending with impact.

Need to write the ending of The Darkness You Fear, either one or two chapters with a epilogue.

I want to tap into the emotional aspect as much as possible, so I'm going to write that stuff first. Just try to access the poetic, emotional part of my brain, then build the plot structure around it.

How do the ghosts affect each of the characters, especially Jonathan Meredith? How do I get into his brain? How do I show how everyone is affected, told from Virginia's point-of-view?

If I could figure out a mechanism to get into Jonathan Meredith's POV, it would be a lot easier. So far, I've been consistent about using written accounts for POV or else Virginia. So how does Jonathan get into that?

Maybe have him find one of the journals and pick it up and start writing himself? That seems unlikely.

I think I'm just going to have to break the template somehow. Somehow have Virginia imagine what he's thinking? Have her be able to read his mind as part of the Canowiki powers? Or have the ghosts tell her what's going on?

Something.  I'll write his POV first and figure out how to explain it later. Because without his POV I don't think the ending works.

I'm a few days behind on this. Plus, I'm really realizing this book is going to require extensive fleshing out. Fortunately, there is nothing really structurally or continuity wrong with the book, which is why most second drafts are necessary. This just needs to be fleshed out, not just with telling detail but with some emotional depth as well. I'll take as much time as is needed. An extra month, if needs be.

I'm reading James Lee Burke and he certainly has no trouble going into other character's POV even though he has a first-person narrator. He also has no problem musing on the moral implications of events and personalities.

I think I just need to reach for emotional truth and not over worry about the structural or plot problems. As long as I'm consistent, people can hang in there on the plot. But without feeling, all I've got is plot. This whole book has been strong on theme, and I've just had to find a plot to provide structure.

So, I'm going to spend the morning spinning out poetry and then find a way to make that work in the final chapter(s).

It's killing me...

It's killing me not to be seeing Star Wars right away.

But I really don't want to fight the crowds. Then again, it doesn't look like those crowds are going away anytime soon. My usual trick of seeing the first showing on a Monday morning probably won't work this time.

Our schedules just aren't working to fit it in, which might mean a later showing, which I usually try to avoid.

Or I can wait until April or so, and see it in an empty theater. Heh.

Schadenfreude overwhelms me.

I feel like I need to comment on this article in Slate that compares what the big chain in England, Waterstones, is doing to what Barnes & Noble is doing.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/12/barnes_noble_is_dying_waterstones_in_the_u_k_is_thriving.2.html

I definitely think Barnes & Noble needs to find its own Russian oligarch to prop it up. Heh.

The snobbish tone of the article was off-putting. The author talking about the "garbage" he used to read (that is, entertaining, non-pretentious material) and that he never actually spent any money there (so you're that guy.) 

But the basic thrust -- that a bookstore should sell books not doodads -- well, I've been saying that for years.

Barnes & Noble threw the Nook in our faces, more or less told us that physical books were on the way out. I predicted that Apple and Amazon would eat their Nook for lunch, and that too happened. It was pretty obvious.

Now that the Nook has proven to be a disaster, they are resorting to selling whatever Stuff they can get their hands on and can market. Gimmicks like Adult Coloring books.

Another little saying I have -- when your industry starts to resort to gimmicks, you're on the downslide.

So...yeah, having more books, having books that aren't placed in prominent locations because some publisher paid you to place them, having more titles, not discounting, and giving the local managers more control -- all of those pretty much describe what independent bookstores do.

So the irony is that Waterstones is recovering (supposedly, I'm not convinced without the Russian oligarch money) because they are doing more of what the independent bookstores are doing and less of what they did to put the independent bookstores out of business.

Schadenfreude overwhelms me.

Grounded.

I took three days to write one chapter. The Darkness You Fear.

That never happens. Thing is, I was only 3 chapters from the ending and I wanted to Nail It. But whenever I start thinking that way, I create a block. The ideas need to be spectacular.

In other words, I was waiting for inspiration.

I did add one element that seems obvious in hindsight, and which gives some added drama and tension to the ending. But other than than, I wasn't inspired.

Still, the chapter eventually got written and it was solid, if not spectacular, and I'd say it was grounded in the story and that can't be a bad thing.

So...two chapters left. Might be more. I've got a general sense of what I want to accomplish emotionally and thematically. I know roughly where the plot is going. I just need to finish it.

Then I want to give it a beginning to end rewrite and send it off to Lara. While she has it, I want to do some research and add some telling detail, have her vet the additions, and then send it off. On schedule, I hope.



Meanwhile, I got the editing back for Gargoyle Dreams and Lara called it a "terrific" story, which was a bit of a relief. It's a bit different from what I've done before. When I told Linda of my surprise, she said, "It's a good little story with some real feeling."

So... that book is more or less finished. Like I Live Among You it doesn't require research or a whole lot of rewriting.

Really, why am I not writing stories like this all the time?

Star Wars, scumbag brain working out the plot.

Woke up with my scumbag brain busily working out the plot to the new Star Wars.

"Stop!" I say.

But it keeps coming.

I've only seen the first two trailers, but if I start with a certain premise, it becomes clear what the first third of the movie probably is. If I'm right, there'll be some complaints, but I think it'll be fine.

I won't give away any of it here. I'm probably wrong anyway.

I do this a lot nowadays. I'm always figuring out the plot, even when I'm not really trying. I'm conscious of the plot tricks writers are using. Sometimes they're fair, sometimes they're cheap. When they trick me, I'm impressed. Supergirl went straight to a plot point last night that I didn't see coming, but most shows are pretty predictable.

Unless they're like Leftovers, where there is no figuring out the plot.

"I don't understand what's happening!"

"Me either."