While in the Middle of an Edit

Blog Post No. 425

Editing continues for Break/Interrupt. I’m currently waiting on a couple of reviews. While I wait, I’ve been trying to keep busy with other things. I’ve said it many times, including a little bit in the last post (it’s a long one, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t get through all of it) but I don’t put a lot of stock into things like the new year and resolutions. With that said, it’s difficult to not get somewhat swept up in the feeling of renewed vigor that comes with a fresh start. I’m not so stubborn that I won’t take advantage of the pervasive sentiment (though I am rather stubborn).

I wish that I could say that I took the downtime between reviews to get a short story written or work on the edit for the Invasion Novel, but I’m not quite that good. I do have a laundry list of things to get done ranging from writing tasks like this very blog post to getting some lab work done for an upcoming doctor’s appointment. The new year also bring with it some jobs like minor updates to this website and the Adventure Worlds Press site (not limited to the minor refresh of that page’s layout). I also spent some time getting my day planner set up even though last years was criminally underused since I was at home every day and didn’t need to put in my day job schedule.

Those are all minor things that don’t take a whole lot of time or energy, though. There is a new post up on the Adventure Worlds Press site, however. It’s just a little new year message that talks about what we’re all up to, but go ahead and check it out if you like.

I’ve been thinking about the next novella. It’s that time in the progression of the current one where I start to get tired of the story and excited for something new. While ideas for stories come to me regularly, they are often just disjointed plot points, a neat scene, or a cool character. Sometimes I get a story idea that sticks with me and I write it down in a notebook for future use, but when I have a specific story planned as an upcoming project the ideas tend to orbit that plot.

Since the next book I’m likely to start writing will be the fifth entry in the Synthetic Albatross Series in August (I plan on starting in August again this year) that’s what’s coming to me. I don’t want to give too much away, but right now, the plan is to write the first part of the story about the strange figure that has appeared in both Neon Heart and Broadcast Wasteland. You know the one. The weird door appears and there’s snow. It’s not set in stone, but that’s where my mind is right now.

The biggest project I’ve had over the last couple weeks was going over Brittni Brinn‘s new novel. I was lucky enough to be given the chance to read it and give my impression. I’m not going to give anything away about the story. For that you’ll have to follow Brittni’s blog. I will say that I am genuinely impressed by her ideas and creativity. It’s science fiction and the world she build is very strong with thorough and well though out locations and technology. She generally thinks differently than I do, so I find her stories interesting in that way. I can’t wait to see what the book becomes when it’s finished.

I do have one edit of Break/Interrupt that just came in so that’s my job starting tomorrow. There are two more on the way, too. I hope to get through those quickly and get it sent out to the next batch of people. Ideally the basic story is set by now so it will just be polishing the rough edges and fixing mistakes from here on out. We’ll see what people think. This isn’t the most exciting part of writing, but it is a good feeling to see the story get better and better with more drafts.