An indie author’s regular spoiler-free update on his writing, editing, cover design, marketing, publishing, website maintenance, and blogging. Issue 98.
This week in one word: variety.
my_writing_week
Previously on WWW…
Keep an eye out for my review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak on Monday. My top priority for next week will be cover designs, but other than those, it’ll probably be as much a surprise to me as it is to you what else I choose to work on.
For my week off from my day job, the only plan I had was to do what I felt like each day. If that meant sacrificing my streak of 12 weeks hitting at least 50/50 for my creativity vs consumption, then so be it.
I couldn’t have predicted how it turned out.
On Sunday and Monday, I rested. I did about half an hour of writing each day to maintain my run of consecutive days (now up to 862), but that left me about eleven hours behind the 50/50 equilibrium.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I levelled it out and split my time more equally. The gap came down to about nine and a half hours, but with only two days remaining, that was a lot of time to make up.
But make it up I did. Saturdays are often dedicated almost exclusively to writing, but I did the same on Friday too, so my creativity vs consumption number for the week came out at 50%.
Now there’s no excuse not to keep the streak going until at least my next holiday in December.
So, what did I work on?
I completed two more drafts of the recap of The Spike Volume 1 that will be included in Volume 2, cutting it down by about 20%. It’s still longer that I originally intended, and I may choose to cut it down further, but I’ll wait until I’ve read it as part of the Volume 2 readthrough before making that decision.
The completion of the recap means DRAFT 3 OF THE SPIKE VOLUME 2 IS COMPLETE!
It’s now in a digital drawer for at least a couple of weeks, then I will come back to it with fresh eyes for a complete readthrough which will determine how many more story revisions are required.
Finishing that freed me up to work on a number of different things this week. My top priority had been to work on cover designs, but I haven’t touched them.
I posted my review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It’s an excellent book and in the running for my favourite of the 26 I’ve read so far this year.
Today, I finished reading A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick and began writing my review, which should go live on Monday 19th.
I continued writing my publication blogpost series that’s planned for around the time the second edition of The Spike Volume 1 is published. I finished one post that I was part way through, and wrote two others. Depending how I choose to split them, there’s between two and four still to do, unless I add/remove anything.
Also, I began another blogpost series. I’ve been thinking on and off for a while of how to write about the books, films, TV shows, and music that inspired The Spike, aborting a couple of attempts, and I think I’ve finally come up with a format I’m happy with. I’ve begun writing part 1 of a series I’m calling If you like these…, ie if you liked these works, you might like The Spike. They will also likely be posted around the time The Spike Volume 1 is published. I’ll work out a proper plan nearer the time, but it’s good to have material ready.
I worked some more on the back-page blurbs for The Spike Volume 2. It’s always difficult to shrink a whole book down into a couple of teasing paragraphs without spoiling anything. I’ve written blurbs for the three individual parts, which I will surely tweak further later, but still need to write one for the whole volume, which will be even more of a challenge.
On Wednesday, I made my usual holiday pilgrimage to a bookshop. I do like to mix up the genres I read – even the guy behind the till had to comment on the variety this time:
What else? On Wednesday night, I had an idea related to Project Teleport. This isn’t really much of a project at this point: I had a dream about a month ago that I thought I could turn into a good story, so I wrote it down and did some very basic brainstorming.
My new idea involved the structure of the story and how it could end. I never start work on a story until I have an ending I’m happy with, so this has become more viable, but I am currently focussed on The Spike.
The last thing I worked on this week is brainstorming for The Spike Volume 3.
I already had a long list of possible story points, but they mostly related to the main characters. One of the things that makes writing a series unique is carrying forward characters from previous books: I made a list of every person or group that needs at least a mention, including the new characters I’m adding, and there’s forty-three.
Forty-three!
I’ve been going through the list, thinking of what they would do or what would happen to them after the events of Volume 2, and have had some really exciting ideas. Too many, and it’s still growing.
Once I’ve got something for everyone, I’ll sort them out. Some will need to be included in the main storyline; some can be subplots; some can be a single sentence. If I can write some of them out so I won’t need to mention them again in future, that would be helpful, otherwise the list for Volume 4 will be ludicrous.
My plan for the week ahead is to post my review of A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick on Monday, and I definitely want to work on cover designs. When I’m not doing those, I’ll probably do more brainstorming for The Spike Volume 3, and continue preparing blogposts for future series.
Unfortunately, I’ll be back to the day job on Monday so will have less time to write. Holidays are always too short.
Reading this week: A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick and Carrie by Stephen King
Watching this week: Peaky Blinders season 6 (rewatch)
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.
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 of The Spike Volume 2 is complete!
The next step will be a complete readthrough to check if any further story revisions are required.
Volume 2 is my biggest and most complex project to date, containing three separate books from the perspectives of seven characters.
The current aim is to have Volume 2 ready for editing by the end of 2026.
I am brainstorming 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. Outlining may begin soon.
On the back-burner, not currently being worked on are:
Project Fang
Project Teleport
Project Grim
Project Lawless
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I finished my rewatch of Peaky Blinders seasons 1 to 6. It’s very stylish and cool, and darkly funny in parts, and unlike anything else I’ve seen. The finale played on the history of the series really well and is up there with the best I’ve seen.
One of the most famous clips is below. A lot of grooms have worries before they get married, but Tommy Shelby’s are a bit different – he’s very keen there should be no fighting at his wedding. By order of the Peaky Fookin’ Blinders!
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
