When I finished the first draft of "Fires of the Jinn" (new title; I like Lucifer's Forge, but it doesn't really fit the book), I expected to dive into research and then write the first chapter to finish it off, then do a rewrite, then send it to my private editor.

Instead, just two days after finishing, I started writing a full-out fantasy. This is only the second fantasy I've started since coming back. The first was "The Reluctant Wizard," which I liked, but which I wanted to turn into a trilogy and I needed to reserve the time to do that.

"The Reluctant Wizard" was the second book I wrote after "Faerylander," but I didn't feel like I fully hit my stride until "Death of an Immortal" and "Led to the Slaughter," and I decided to put those out first since I thought they were more accomplished efforts. ("Faerylander" will be my magnum opus--at least 5 books. Rewritten so far like 30 times.)

When new books keep coming to me, it's hard to go back and work on the older books.

Anyway, during the 25 years I was taking a hiatus from writing, I always assumed I would be writing fantasies, as I did in my first career. Instead I veered off into horror, macabre westerns, urban fantasy, creature books, and a thriller.

But I have to say, "Said the Joker to the Thief" feels like coming home. I especially like that anything goes, that I can write whatever I like, just do it. I feel ready for this now, I fully trust my subconscious to construct a coherent plot, and I like winging it.

I don't really want to know where it's going.  I'm trying to keep every chapter a surprise. When I start mulling over where I think it's going, I grab the first thing that comes along that seems "off" and try to use that instead. I want it to veer off course every day, to do something unexpected. If it is all a jumbled mess at the end, then so be it.

I don't write short stories, but in a way, I approach every chapter as a short story. I just bundle the chapters together for a book. I don't know if it works well, but it seems to be the way my creative mind wants to do it.

Even though "Said the Joker to the Thief" isn't officially a November book, it might as well be. I started late and won't finish until December, but still...

I mentioned before that the way to improve "Fires of the Jinn" was to give it "time, perspective, and care."

So by going off and writing my fantasy, I'm doing that. And having fun at the same time.

I'm thinking this "fun" thing maybe the only thing I permanently take away from all this. 

The shock of the new.

So what have we learned, boys and girls?

1.) That the experts are full of shit.

See, I knew this already from my business, but I guess I have to be systematically reminded. In areas where I feel I don't have all the information, I will often bend to the expert opinion.

In my business I've learned to make decisions with logic and objectivity and what instinctive intuition I can muster. I haven't paid any attention to what everyone else is doing for years. I believe that group think always takes over any group and anyone who thinks differently will be marginalized.

Interestingly, Linda was convinced this was going to happen from early on, and I just thought she was being an alarmist and kept reassuring her that it wouldn't.

So no more time wasted on the pundits. Goodbye Chris and Rachael and Lawrence, and especially you, Nate, you sorry bastard.

2.) That the general public is challenged when it comes to the consequences of ethical decisions.

I've often wondered how many people really understand what ethics are. I've been amazed over the years by the number of people who will lie, steal, or cheat to save a little money. People will throw away their integrity for a 50 cent advantage.

Trying to reason with people who are convinced otherwise is useless.

Most of all, bias is nearly impossible to break.

So there we have it. My attempt to make sense of what just happened.

Wrote the final chapter of Lucifer's Forge and then the epilogue.

Used about half of what I'd already written. It turned out well, though I do like the previous chapter slightly more.  Now all that remains to be written is the first chapter. It's a good feeling. The book is ready even if I got hit by a truck tomorrow. 

As I've mentioned, I intend to read "Young Men and Fire" by Norman Maclean, soak it up, and then write the first chapter. I want it to be as powerful as I can make it.

Then the whole book will need more of a rewrite than usual. I like the plot and the characters just fine, but there is so much detail that needs to be gotten right that it is going to require a lot of research.

I have a large number of characters and settings, but I have no trouble keeping track of them in my head, and my feeling is that if I can do that, then the reader--with the book in front of them-- can keep up too. I hope.

I also need to figure out the correct time and space line. Then, finally, I need to decide what to do with the finished novel.

It will be a good book, by my lights, if I can make it convincing in the rewrites.  Maybe my best.  It kills me that maybe no one will read it. But I gotta be honest here. I really don't like agents, but without an agent I have no real chance of selling this book.

Now that I'm finished, I've decided to keep it a straight thriller. No fantasy elements. I'd been reserving that if I came up short--not that fantasy makes it better, but that it gives me new energy.

But I like the book the way it is.

So...its a good book whether anyone reads it or not. Maybe I'll be satisfied with that self-knowledge.

I don't know. Obviously, it's frustrating.

Writing the last chapter of "Lucifer's Forge" today.

Funny thing is, I've already written it once. Back when the agent asked for "100 kickass" pages. I felt the story started off a little slow, so I wrote a flashforward chapter with events from the very end of the book.

But other than the main character and the overall arc, everything else about this attempt is wrong. Wrong characters, wrong timeline.

I have 2000 words sitting here that I could try to adapt. But I think it might be safer just to start from scratch.

When I say I'm writing the last chapter, I mean the last chapter in the book.

But I have one more chapter to write--the first chapter.

I have another action-packed first chapter in mind now than the original flashforward. It is basically a flashback that establishes the motivations and tone for the rest of the book.

Anyway, this just points out why my effort at "100 kickass" pages was doomed from the start; for the very same reasons that I don't write short stories or outlines or why my sample chapters sent to agents never get a response.

My strength, if you will, is in the overall book, the way the plot weaves together, the development of the characters. I think, if a reader gives me a chance, that they will have an overall enjoyable experience, that there is a satisfying chunk of writing.

I understand the imperative--the attention grabbing first scenes, the increasing tension, the need to constantly engage the reader's interest.

But...well, I tell a story the way the story comes out. Not an excuse. If it's boring, then it's my fault. But I think my pacing is all right, I think my character development is all right, I even think I have enough plot points to keep the reader engaged.

What I don't like is the idea of artificially pumping it--the action, the drama. Yes, be mindful that action and drama are needed, but hopefully by keeping the overall story foremost in mind.

I like the overall arc of a story, how it develops, and that is something that doesn't exist until it is finished. Writing "100 kickass" pages was essentially trying to write an outline, and I'm not surprised it didn't work.

I compromised on that 100 page outline--moving chapters around, taking a couple of chapters out, writing that flashforward first chapter. When I came back to this book, the first thing I did was restore it to it's original conception.

Fuck the smarmy "100 kickass" pages request. The book is complete, and damn it, I like it better this way.

Two days ago I had two chapters left to write of Lucifer's Forge.

Now I have...two chapters done and two chapters left to write. It happens. Especially, for some reason, near the end of books. I don't want to rush it.

I do like the way it's turning out. (Now it's the first third of the book I'm a little uncertain about because it didn't get a great reaction when I showed it around earlier in the year. But even then, I liked it.)

I think the book can be good if I can make it so, which may sound tautological. I mean that the basic premise is good, and I think I've written a good plot, but...I don't know if I can make it plausible, which the books depends on.

I'll try to research, try to get things accurate.

So how do I improve a book?

I've thought for some time that I have a certain baseline ability, which has improved somewhat over time with experience and practice. But still...baseline.

Re-writing obviously. Working harder to make it better. But that has always been a roadblock for me because I've had too many experiences in the past of ruining books by "working hard" on my rewriting. I think I need to change the terminology--not call it "work" at all.

I think a book can be improved by time, perspective, and care.

Time. To let it settle, to let it sink in, to let the subconscious work on it, before, during and after the first draft.

Perspective. Letting it set for awhile. Coming back to it, not "working" but giving it a light touch, looking for places to improve wording and plot, to deepen characters, to add detail, to describe.

Care. Making sure that all the parts work, that everything is consistent, is enjoyable and easy.  Making sure it is ready to be published.

I'm purposely slowing down my process to do this. I can get about 70 to 80% of the way there in my first draft and a quick rewrite.

I want to try to get 90% of the way there, even if it takes twice as long to do it.

The problem chapter  managed to get written yesterday.

It required all my tricks and all my discipline, what with the things that need to be done at the store and with Todd home.

It's amazing to me. The story seems to exist somehow outside of me and it is just up to me to discover it. It was a chapter where I wanted one of the main heroes to trick the terrorists so that they are caught by the fires they set. But I had no idea how that was going to come about.

What tends to happen is that I go into the character's head, and there is all this other ancillary stuff happening and in the course of detailing that, the main plotline emerges.

That's what writing is to me--the filling in the blanks between the main events.

So I have two characters fight. So and so slugs so and so? Big deal.

I have to fill it all in, the sights, sounds, thoughts, complications, the personality quirks, the incidental things of life. If I have a sufficiently interesting author's voice, if the pacing is good, if the details add to the story, then it's fine.

In a previous chapter I have one of the main bad guys tell another character to prop open a door and then follow them inside. So he searches around for something to prop the door and then goes inside.

And Gary at writer's group says, "Why is that there? What does it add?"

And he's right. But what really leaps out at me is that it doesn't happen more often. I'm supplying all these faux real-life details and why don't they slow down the story? How come it works most of the time?

Even in this example, it gives me a beat, a timeout, before the inside of the warehouse is revealed, it gives the bad guy the authority, the young terrorist is put in his place. Yes, in the end, it isn't worth the paragraph, but everything in a book is more or less like that. Unless you reduce it to, "Terrorist set wildfires, firefighters fight wildfires and terrorists. The end."

I've avoided "how to write" stuff this time around, because I firmly believe that if what I write "feels" real to me, then I'm doing it right. I guess I just have to hope others feel that way too.

The inevitable hesitation before the finish of "Lucifer's Forge" has struck. It seems to happen with every book.

I think part of it is that I've figured it all out. Through most of the book, I'm discovering the story, and that is the most fun part of the whole process. But by the end of the book, I know exactly where the story is going.

So it's as if I've already written it, because it is complete in my head.

I can't imagine how authors who outline their books work up the motivation to actually write. The creative dream that I carry around in the midst of the book is the real joy of it. The constant glimmering potentialities on the horizon, the gelling when I sit down the write, the surprise when it goes somewhere else or when a minor character takes over. I'm living in another world, where the architecture is dimly glimpsed but the details still need to be filled in. I'm on an adventure as much as the reader is.

The story has impact as I write it.

Whereas, knowing what the story is already is more cold blooded, has less impact, which worries me. Makes me hesitate.

Of course, when I actually sit down to write it there are always more than enough surprises, and I get swept up in the story. If not, then I need to step back and figure out why not.

Hesitation, but also impatience, because I'm SOOOO close to finishing, (I have finished it in my head) and I want to see how it looks.

I suppose part of me doesn't want to finish. I like this world I've created, I'm not sure I want to leave it. Of course, I have weeks ahead of me when I'll be in the muck of it, trying to wrestle what I've written into something coherent and consistent.

But it's not the same thing. It's the dishwashing after the meal.

Ah, well. The biggest lesson I've learned is to develop a process for writing, stick to that process, and be patient.

Wrote two action scenes where I knew exactly where I was going, over the last two days.

Both chapters passed muster with Linda. When she gives me a pleased little smile, I know I hit the mark.

Now I need to write two action scenes where I don't have a clue.

I've always said, these last few chapters are some of the hardest. It's almost as if somewhere in my subconscious I'm afraid to finish, or don't want to finish. Of course, the final chapters are some of the most important, and they really need to be nailed, so they can't be rushed.

I do have a tendency to try to finish my books too soon. So it is important that I approach the ending with that in mind. Am I rushing it? Is there something I'm leaving out?

Geoff at Cohesion quite rightly pointed out that I'd dropped the snakes in "Snaked" in favor of the tsunami, and when I wrote new chapters to bring them back in at the ending, it did improve the book.

So with "Lucifer's Forge," I'm trying to keep the terrorists in the picture, even though the firestorms have become front and center.

I also have a tendency to wrap things up just a little too neatly. In some ways, this is cool. It shows an ability to construct a complete story arc. But I need to mess it up a little, go off in a slightly different direction than I want. I mean, I pause and say, "OK. This is where the story is going, where can I upset that and still get the results I want?"

There is a sense of rightness to a book. Either I feel like I've done it or I don't. Sometimes the doubts are minor and maybe only I would notice them. Other times I just look at the book and think, "This didn't do it."

I have 9 books I'm sitting on where I had that feeling. They're...all right. But to make them better than "all right" would take the same effort that it takes to write a brand new book, so....I sit on them.

This book is good. I'm not sure how good, but it meets my standards. I do intend to do much more rewriting with this book than normal, and for some reason that doesn't intimidate me this time. I think I've slowly worked out a process for rewriting that is tolerable.

And I know that most of the time, if I don't overdo it, the rewriting definitely improves the book.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I have about 9K words left to write, so we'll see where I end up.

Ten free days to write the ending of "Lucifer's Forge." I worked Sunday, so Cameron offered to work Thursday.

Todd has an art show on Art Hop Friday downtown, so he'll be home setting that up. He'll be showing his lumberjack animal paintings and robot critters and they're amazing, so I encourage everyone to come see them!

When I finish the book, I'm first going to fix the timeline, and adjust the sequence of chapters accordingly. Then I'm going to go and fix whatever else is a discrepancy.

Then I'm going to start reading all the books about firefighting I can, and make that part of the book as accurate as possible. (Fire porn.) My intention is to read "Young Men and Fire" by Norman Maclean and soak up the feelings and then try to transfer those feelings to my first chapter, where a similar event takes place.

The more telling detail I can put in the book, the better. I suppose I could overdo it, but I can always tone it down in the re-write.

After the research, I will do a thorough rewrite, taking the time to do it right.  

I'll have to make a decision when I'm finished about what to do with it.

If I publish a book that I think is good by myself and it sells only five copies, will that be OK? I mean, I'll KNOW it's a good book, and sales are not a reflection of quality. So I do this thing where I know that I've done something really good but only I know it and there is a certain subversive pleasure in that. (Weird, this hiding my light under a bushel.)

In a way, I think of the store. I knew how much work and effort and creativity I was expending on the store and no one else did, except maybe Linda. And it was mostly a struggle, all the work seeming to be for naught, and yet I knew that I was Ginger Rogers dancing backward in high heels and there was a satisfaction knowing that. (A comic store in Bend, Oregon is Ginger.)

Plus it will be pure. That is, the Horror market probably won't be interested in it, but to get to a market that would be interested, I'd have to try to get an agent, and then--I'm guessing--compromise with either an agent or publisher, plus at the bare minimum, wait for a couple of years for this book to come out.

So I write a good book and I put it out there and let it speak for itself.

Except--unlike the store where all those years of effort finally paid off--I have very little confidence that the same thing will happen to my book. An ignored book remains an ignored book--no matter how good it is.

That's just the way it is.

Talked it out with myself about the ending of Lucifer's Forge. (Yes, I live in a world where I talk to myself, not only at home, but on my walk. So...crazy guy.)

Got a handle on about half of it. So I'll write that half and hope I come up with ideas for the other half.

I feel like I'm back on track.

This 1000 word a day thing is pretty strange. I was pretty sure that I'd break out of this slow pace after awhile, but I've now done it for 28 days, and it looks like I'll continue doing it to the end of the book. But after this, I think, I'll try to go back to my 2000 word a day goal.

This is a challenging book, but if feels right. I think there is a good story here. I just need to validate it with a sense of reality, if possible.

I've got rough endings for two out of the four story threads and some vague ideas on the other two.

I realized yesterday that I might be making the same mistake I made in Snaked. I set out in that book to write about poisonous sea snakes, and then let the tsunami overwhelm the last third of the book. Thanks to Geoff at Cohesion Press, I went back and added more sea snakes chapters and it made the book much better, more satisying.

So in the last third of Lucifer's Forge, I've concentrated on the fires and the firefighters, and have let the terrorists slide. So my goal now it to get the terrorists back into the story, and satisfy that part of the story.

The big thing is, each day I write, I'm coming up with scenes that I think work.

I'm stuck on "Lucifer's Forge," just 10% from the finish. Nothing is coming to me and I'm not sure I should be trying to force it. I'm going to set the afternoon aside to try to come up with something, but I feel like I need a stronger trigger.

I think part of the problem is that I don't have the whole story in mind right now, that sense that I understand where all the parts fit. And some of that comes from the knowledge that chapters will need to be moved around to fit the timeline.

This is also the part of the book where it isn't so much about exploring as bringing it all home. It's all well and good to invent scenes forever, but if I want to wrap up the plot, I'm sort of constricted to going to each of the storylines in turn and bringing them to a slam bamm finish. Strangely, knowing what I have to do, having an outline, actually makes it harder.

I have four main story threads, which is more than usual, and each of the threads have a number of characters. I'm assuming, hoping, the reader can keep track.

Basically, each of these threads needs a couple of chapters each, plus a couple of other misc. chapters to come to a satisfying climax.

I guess I'm leaving a lot of the work to rewriting this time, which is usually not a good thing, but I'm hoping this time it will be different. Hoping the research will be fruitful. 

No hurry.

Maybe that's the problem.

I think the book as it is currently written is over my head; requiring too many details to get right.

For instance, at writer's group, Gary pointed out that the Santa Ana's blow from the east to the west, which makes nonsense of the chapter I wrote. How many other things like that am I getting wrong? How plausible is any of it?

I'm thinking that though I can't completely eliminate the mucky-mucks, I can try to eliminate the "meetings" which seem to me to be the phony-ous part. I just have to keep chipping away at the unbelievable elements, until I have something that passes the smell test.

If I don't think that is going to happen, I'll just publish it myself with the awareness that nobody will read it. Move on the the next thing.

If I want to make things easier, I probably should move away from real life detail stuff. Thrillers for instance. I'd like to write thrillers, but I've always been uncomfortable with the technical details, and that's what thrillers almost always require.

Maybe I should just write my supernatural tales, which require no research. Maybe I should write things that require nothing but my own imagination.

The historical westerns are a little different in that fewer people are going to challenge me on the details. There is a built in suspension of disbelief among readers of such material. A little research goes a long ways. 

On the other hand, if I can pull this book together, it would be a more impressive achievement. It's a more ambitious project, to be sure.

I'll try my best with the research, and hope that the telling details tie it all together.

Read 3 chapters to writer's group of Lucifer's Forge. Didn't get much reaction, which either means it's so bad there is no point in critiquing, or so good that nothing needs be improved. (In which case, it would be nice if they said so...)

Or just so middle of the road that neither warrants praise nor panning.

That pretty much covers it, right?

One of the chapters is one of my favorites in the book.

The group members are at a bit of a disadvantage, in that I started reading them new chapters as I wrote them from the middle of the book. But the way I write, each chapter is pretty much a little short story, with a beginning, middle, and an end. About 20% of each chapter might be contextual, but the other 80% should stand on its own.

My narratives aren't straightforward, except rarely. I jump around a lot among characters and settings. When I set out to write a chapter, I'm thinking of it as a complete unit. A book is an assemblage of these complete units.

I figure as long as I have the overall story clearly in my head, then the reader can probably keep up. Hopefully.

Compartmentalizing like this also helps me finish the book. I just keep writing these scenes, one after another, and eventually it turns into a book.

Each morning, I ask myself which of my characters needs to come to the forefront. Usually it becomes clear pretty fast. Sometimes I have to cycle through each character again and again until one rises to the fore.

Now 67K words into the book, and there is a fair distance to go, so the 80K minimum goal is going to be reached without any doubt.

I'm close enough to the end to start wondering what I should do with it. Right now, it's probably good enough to publish myself with some light editing. If I want to try to sell it as a horror novel, it will require some fairly heavy re-writing, bringing in the Jinn as an actual character. If I want to try to sell it as a "thriller" and use it to try to entice an agent, I probably need to spend much more time on technical details and research.

I guess I'll know when I'm finished where I think this should go.

I'm approaching the climax of Lucifer's Forge. (Formerly, Fires of Allah...still not sure...)

Basically these are actions scenes, playing out the premise and the set up. I can sort of glide to an ending, but I've started feeling like I need more, like I need some kind of kicker.

Well, I thought of a doozy.

At first, the idea was a little too elaborate, requiring a bunch of extra characters in an already heavily populated plot. Then, well, I thought of a twist on the twist, which brought in yet another element.

The irony is, that the two elements pretty much cancel each other out. That is, I only need to write a couple of scenes with them together and it all becomes self-explanatory.

Plus, I wasn't comfortable with the politics of the first surprise, whereas the second surprise makes both sides guilty, thus canceling out the first position.

Talk about vague plotting! Sorry about that!

I found myself dreading watching The Walking Dead last night. Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.

SPOILERS!

It was worse than I thought.

I'd figured it would be Glenn for a simple reason: his death leads to the most storylines. His widow, his kid, his legacy.

Didn't see Abraham departing. (Did the actor ask for a raise?)

So now I'm torn about this show. It was a pretty miserable experience, and there were a couple of genuinely shocking moments.

I actually value that--how often does that really happen to someone like me who watched lots of grimdark material? At the same time, it really seemed to cross over into Torture Porn. Especially the way it was draw.....nnnnn out.

It's interesting, in juxtaposition to watching Westworld, which asks how complicit we are in this kind of entertainment. Generally, I always say, Hey it's only fiction. (Also somehow tied into the dread I've been feeling about the election, heh.)

The effectiveness of this hour was that it seemed realistic to me. The character interactions, the message Negan was sending. I didn't think he was a cartoon villain, he seemed realistically chilling to me.

And again, I value that. Someone taking the premise all the way to its logical conclusion.

But did I enjoy it? Do I want more of it? Do I really want to watch a season of Rick knuckling under until he can't take it anymore?

I'm pretty torn. I'll see how I feel next week. I've never yet quit a show and regretted it. It always seems like a good idea in hindsight.

(I'm stopping the Talking Dead, for sure. I always feel somehow like I've eaten a bag of donuts after I watch that show--tasty but meaningless.)

Not judging anyone else's appetite for this. I've never been the one to say "Too Much."

Until now.

My first serious book? That's what I was intending. But...

What does that even mean?

I know in the past that this was a sure recipe for writer's block. So I was allowing my imagination to go in whatever direction it needed, but to trying to keep it grounded.

The first thought, even without the agent's douchbag request for "100 kickass pages" and "make it Big!" was to write a thriller. This my preferred reading these days, and I have a theory that you should write the same kind of book you like to read.

But once I got into the firefighter culture, I realized that I could write it from street level and have a pretty good book. Maybe try to ground it a little more in reality.

I did get into the head of the terrorists, so that is a step away from "what I know." (Not that I know what goes on with firefighters, but given where I was raised, being a firefighter wouldn't have been an impossibility.)

If I went that direction, I intended to take out the mucky-mucks and the astronaut.

Right away, there were some problems. The plot of the book demanded a sacrifice, and originally it was going to be a mucky-muck. With the mucky-muck gone, it had to be one of the two main characters, which would certainly make it a tragedy, but maybe a little too much so.

Then, I really liked the God's eye view of the astronaut character, a chance to show the whole picture.

Yesterday, I wrote a couple of astronaut chapters, and one of them is my second favorite chapter of the book. It's a bit hokey, in that I go for the drama. But the drama is cool--in a thriller.

Let's face it, I really want to write a thriller, and by doing so, I'm stepping away from the "serious" idea.

Here's what I need to remind myself. I'm always writing the best I can. There is no diminishment in my attempt to write full characters, to make it real. That's what I'm always trying to do.

So that's where I'm going. The only question remaining is do I go the one further step and include the supernatural element of the Jinn. I have a kind of quasi magic realism inclusion of the Jinn, but it could easily be expanded into the real thing.

My guess is that I'll end up doing that--because, to me, it adds a little extra zing to the story.

To satisfy the "serious" readers?  I was probably never going to be able to do that. My readers are always going to need to be people with a serious case of "Disbelief Suspension."

A young artist in town who I talked to yesterday, giving advice, though who am I to give advice?

But the main thing I said to her is really something I should be doing myself.

I told her that she should quit worrying about promotion or trying to make money off her art and just concentrate on her art. Of course, she is really young. 21 years old. Hell, I didn't even start writing until I was 22 or 23. Couldn't figure out how to get started. Then flailed around for 5 years writing the same 50 pages over and over again.

Anyway, what's true for her is true for me.

Writing the book is one thing. Everything that comes after is a completely different thing. It's all very distracting. It is frustrating and dispiriting. And has absolutely nothing to do with creativity. The actual writing is inspiring and fun and fulfilling.

Sure, I want people to read me. But I don't seem to have any control over that. And the more I try to assert control--by promoting, finding agents and publishers, the less creative it is.

Next year is pretty much taken care of. I have two books that have recently (still waiting for the physical copy of "The Darkness You Fear") or are currently coming out ("Tuskers III" is going to be "In Stock" at Amazon on the 23rd, and the ebook should follow soon.)

I have two books coming out through publishers: "Tuskers IV" and "Snaked" sometime around the middle of 2017.

I plan to self-publish "Gargoyle Dreams" myself early next year. A love story with a gargoyle doesn't seem to fit anywhere, but I still really like it.

So I'm going to turn a blind eye to the "selling" part and return to what I really like: the actual writing of the books.  Just ignore everything else.

Really, it's the art that counts.

Ragnarok Facebook party last night. Smart, clever people, and of course, halfway through my session, my portion disappears.

Just staring at blank screen.

So I start up again, but not much gets going. Sort of like I walked into a party and fell flat on my face.

Then again, it was kind of liberating. When the worst happens, then you just roll with it.



I wish I knew why so many things happen at the same time. The announcement of selling "Snaked" to Cohesion Press, the Ragnarok Party, the rollout of "Tuskers III," and hopefully soon the paperback of "The Darkness You Fear." After several months of nothing happening at all.

Well, the writing is the most important thing. I'll cross 60K words today on "Fires of Allah."  I've fucked up the timeline as usual. That's going to take some jiggering when I'm done. But I like the overall flow of the story. It's mostly action scenes from here on out, just concluding the four or five separate storylines.

I have a whole lot of characters in this book, so one of the main jobs in the rewrite will be to make them distinct, or to relegate them to the background, one of the two.



As far as I'm concerned, I've cleared the schedule for next year. I've got two books coming out for sure, I plan to go ahead and publish Gargoyle Dreams in March. I'm going to finish "Fires of Allah" and send it around, and then if I get no nibbles, go supernatural on it, and try again. Either that, or just publish it myself.

I want to continue writing a Virginia Reed book once a year, but other than that, I don't have a particular plans for the next book.

I'm sure it will come to me. It would probably behoove me to come up with another creature book, since that seems to be what I'm successful at. I also have a huge backlog of unfinished books, and I keep wavering as to whether I should be trying to revive them or just move on.

New challenges are more fun, but then again...I hate to waste what I've already done.

Sold my novel, "Snaked," to Cohesion Press, an Australian publisher who specializes in 'creature' books. How perfect is that?

As you guys know, I really loved this book. I shouldn't play favorites, but I do think this is my best book so far. It has no fantasy or supernatural elements. It is all possible. A couple of the characters have autism, which the snake venom has an effect on. I thought I pulled that off that characterization pretty nicely.

It starts with an infestation of poisonous sea snakes, as a warning that a tsunami is coming. Originally, I had the tsunami as the main focus in the second half of the book, but the editor, Geoff Brown, quite rightly pointed out that I'd left out the sea snakes too much. So I wrote several chapters at the ending to wrap up the snake line and sure enough it was an even better book.

Looks like it will come out sometime around the middle of next year. Cohesion Press, like Ragnarok, has gone mainstream, so this book should show up in bookstores worldwide.

Cohesion has a legit bestseller out right now, "Fathomless" by Greig Beck, and they seem to have a great reputation. Doesn't seem to matter anymore which English speaking country publishes your book. Kinda funny to have it announced as "US author, Duncan McGeary."

I keep expecting my writing career to peter out, (not the writing, that is still going strong, if a bit slower) but then I find the next thin thread, and so far so good.

I've got nothing against publishing myself, but damn if I sell many books that way. I guess I need publishers unless I can figure out how to promote myself.

I'm going to make the attempt with "Fires of Allah" to expand my search, and not take it unkindly if nothing happens. I have about a year, I figure, while "Tuskers IV" and "Snaked" come out, to try to broaden my markets. (I'll probably put out "Gargoyle Dreams" and maybe another book next year as well, myself.)

If that doesn't happen, fine. I do really like my horror niche. I'm not turning my back on the genre in any event. But I was sorta hoping to do some thrillers too.

"Fires of Allah" can very very easily be turned into supernatural horror, and maybe I should do that anyway, but I'm attempting to do it straight first, just to see what happens.

Anyway, I'm encouraged. This is the fourth publisher in my career who has found my writing worthy. That's got to mean something, right?

1st Chapter remains unwritten tho I'm 56K words into the "Fires of Allah."

This is on purpose. I know what I'm shooting for. I want it to be one of the best things I've ever written.

A long time ago, I read excerpts of Norman Maclean's "Young Men and Fire." (Author of "A River Runs Through It.") I think it must have been in Life Magazine or something.

It was enormously affecting, so I decided that I would save the first chapter for last. I will sit down and read "Young Men and Fire" and soak it up and try to get what I'm feeling down on paper.

I'm still working at a 1000 word a day pace, which is the slowest I've written since coming back. But it seems fine. I'm spending more time with the characters, with the story. I'm almost 2/3rds of the way through, nevertheless.

I'll have this finished by the end of the year, research and rewrites and all.

I don't know if it will be my best book, but it is my most ambitious book.

I sent out queries to six agents who are supposedly looking for horror authors.

I figure I have absolutely nothing to lose. Ordinarily, I'd say this was a little too soon, especially since I haven't actually finished the book, but these agents just lately announced they were looking for horror writers (which is unusual) and who knows what will happen in a few more months?

I actually didn't contact them for my horror novels, for which I'm already established, but for the thrillers I want to write. I have no market for thrillers without an agent. So I'm using my horror credits to try to snag an agent for my thrillers, if that makes any sense.

Worse than can happen is that none of them answer me, which is the same result as not trying at all.

Thing is, I want an agent who wants me, who will work with me. I sent the query in the manner in which I wanted, a sample chapter and a brief description, and if they reject me because I didn't do what they wanted, then I'll know this wasn't the agent for me.

My agent from my previous career never seemed completely sold on me, and I don't want that. Probably better to have no agent than one who doesn't believe in me. 

I'm just hoping, I guess, that one of them will really like my writing and really like the premise of the story. Also, I don't know how many more credits I could have without actually already having an agent!

But I've learned not to expect anything.