An indie author’s regular spoiler-free update on his writing, editing, cover design, marketing, publishing, website maintenance, and blogging. Issue 92.
This week in one word: stubborn.
my_writing_week
Previously on WWW…
For the next week, my number one priority will again be The Spike Volume 2. If I feel like doing something different, I want to continue with a blogpost I’ve begun writing, but suspect I’m more likely to carry on with Project Lawless Fang.
I can be stubborn. This week, I used that as a positive.
But that only came later.
I was fully aware that the next chapters I needed to revise for The Spike Volume 2 would be a lot of work, so for the first two and a half days, I procrastinated.
On Sunday, I continued writing a blogpost I’d begun previously, which is part of a collection to be posted around the time of the publication of The Spike Volume 1 second edition. It explains how the structure of the series works, with multiple parts in volumes, and how I came up with the concept.
On Monday and Tuesday, I continued work on the prologue/intro for Project Lawless Fang. There’s not much I can reveal about that now, but when I start work on it properly, I’ll be able to tell you more.
On Tuesday evening, I finally turned my attention to revising The Spike Volume 2.
I got through fifteen chapters last week, but almost all the changes were minor. This week, there were some major revisions to be made, and I completed seven chapters. Two of those seven were mostly rewritten.
I remember very clearly, on the evening after I wrote the second of these two chapters in draft 2, just as I lay down to sleep, I got a better idea for the second, which would mean moving the second up to the first, and writing new content for the second. These kind of heavy changes are one of my least favourite parts of the whole process, which is why I put them off. But now they’re done, and that’s satisfying.
There are eleven chapters plus the epilogue to go on this sweep, and there are some big alterations to be made, though none as heavy as this.
Once this sweep is complete, I’ll go back through this part to crowbar in any changes I didn’t find a place for, then repeat that process for the other two parts.
All this work is why I’m unlikely to write three books at the same time again. Two is more than enough.
Yesterday, I finished reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones and have written my review. I need to read through it once more for editing, and it’s scheduled to go live on Monday.
It’s an interesting story, hindered by being unnecessarily difficult to read. There’s more in my weekly_inspiration below.
This morning, I had a lie-in because I’ve been knackered most of the week (more on that in a sec), and I had a peculiar dream. When I woke, my brain continued with it, and now I have another new idea for a story that won’t fit into the universe of The Spike.
It’s weird, because I went through a spell more than a decade ago of having ideas for stories, sometimes during dreams, and part of the reason for making The Spike a long series was to fit them all together. Every idea I’d had since had been for The Spike.
Now, suddenly, I’ve begun getting completely new ideas. The one last night bears no resemblance to anything I’ve written before or anything I’ve been reading/watching/playing – I haven’t a clue where it came from. But it is tantalisingly good, so I’ve written it down and may work on it in future, just not anytime soon. Probably.
I’ve codenamed it Project Teleport, even though it’s nothing more than five lines of a vague arc at the moment.
I hope my future ideas restrict themselves to the projects I’m already working on. I don’t need any more.
As mentioned above, I’ve been really tired most of the week. I’m not sure what to put that down to, so I do what I normally do now and blame my Crohn’s (fatigue is one of the symptoms).
In prior weeks when I’ve felt like this, I’ve let my writing slide a bit. However, I’ve been on a six-week streak of hitting at least a 50/50 split for my creativity vs consumption percentage, and I was too stubborn to let that end. So I forced myself to write, and I scraped exactly 50% this week.
I’m quite pleased with myself, and am happy to have found a use for my bloody-mindedness, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to continue that long-term. Sometimes, the body and the mind needs a rest.
I won’t let my other writing steak end though – today is my 820th consecutive day working on my writing and I see no reason for that to stop.
Next Monday, my review of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones will be published. Otherwise, my top priority for next week remains revising The Spike Volume 2.
Reading this week: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones and Neuromancer by William Gibson and Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler
Watching this week: Peaky Blinders season 3 (rewatch) and Schitt’s Creek season 1
Playing this week: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
status_report
In addition to the three short stories available to read for free here, there are three more yet to be published that make up The Spike Volume 0. One of the new three is ready to go; the other two require some final editing. I may submit the new three to journals or short story collections, but all will be published by Arrowmaker Books some time before Volume 2 is published.
I’m working on a new cover design for a second edition of The Spike Volume 1, with two different versions being developed in tandem whilst I decide which colour layout I prefer.
I’m also working on covers for the two individual parts, 1.1_Application Infiltration and 1.2_Laying Down The Law, which are going to be published separately for the first time. Both have a similar style and layout.
Draft 3 is under way for The Spike Volume 2!
Volume 2 is my biggest and most complex project to date, containing three separate books from the perspectives of seven characters.
The aim is to finish Volume 2 in 2026.
Early brainstorming has been done for The Spike Volume 3. I know how it must begin; I have an ending that I think will be great; and I have a long list of ideas (that keeps growing) to get from one to the other that needs to be whittled down and put in an order. I’m not intending to do much more work on this until revision is complete on Volume 2.
I have begun brainstorming for Project Lawless Fang, which is unrelated to The Spike series (at least for now).
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I finished reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. My review is scheduled to go live on Monday so I won’t go into detail here, but despite it being difficult to read (for various reasons), I enjoyed the story.
Parts of it are similar to the tone I want for Project Lawless Fang, and there was one particular character trait I may use. There’s a decent chance this book may be a touchstone in future, for the ideas more than the writing style.
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
Arrowmaker Books 