The Rumors Of My Disappearance Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Well, maybe not, actually. My twitter stream has been reduced to a trickle, my facebook page sees more traffic from visitors than it does from yours truly, and my blog has been pretty slow as well, I know. There's a good reason for that.

I'm writing a middle novel. That's a book that takes place between two others in a set trilogy, and I've never knowingly done that before. I knew that the middle act in a play is perhaps the most important. It's where characters are more well developed, struggles gain more importance, plots begin to thicken and we start to get the feeling that not everyone is going to make it to the end of the play, or the act alive. More than anything, the middle book is supposed to get everyone primed for the end.

As it is my outtakes folder measures 37,043 words, and to most of that discarded work I can say; "good riddance." No one will see that material for several reasons. It slowed the story down too much, there wasn't enough character development, and it read much like a few scenes that you can already find in the First Light Chronicles: Starfree Port (book three in the Omnibus), and I hate repeating myself. Writing all that wasn't a waste of time, however. It pointed the main storyline of the book in the right direction and led to the right starting place for Broadcast 6: Fragments. The unfortunate thing is that the right beginning happened at the end of those 37,043 words.

So, I did what many online and offline friends have seen me do before. I cut deep, got over it (which took a couple weeks and the writing of most of a fantasy novel), and changed my thinking. I've also withdrawn from anything that involves the discussion of writing. I find that when I talk about writing I actually write much less, so I've been missing from my writing group, the Kindleboards, Mobileread and Twitter. When I sat back down at the keys it felt like I was writing a Spinward Fringe novel again, with a clearer head and the ambition to finish.

In February I had a decision to make. I could either rush the book to completion and get it out by the end of the quarter, increasing what I'd be living on during the second quarter, or keep working carefully so I could write a better book and release later. The second option meant I would have to have some faith that I could sell enough books so I could afford to keep writing full time from the natural growth of my readership alone. Everyone knows which option I took. I didn't rush Broadcast 6: Fragments, the release deadline passed and sadly, the book was no where to be seen.

It's almost the end of March, and thanks to a growing reader base I can just barely afford to keep writing full time for the next three months. I couldn't be happier. I make a living on my writing, but I don't do it to get rich. I do it so I can entertain people, and the better my work is, the more people I get to entertain, the longer I get to keep doing it full time. It's a cycle.

I am sorry the book isn't out already, and that the last one in the Rogue Element Trilogy isn't finished, but Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments is easily four times the quality it would have been if I didn't cut the dead weight and write something completely different for a while to clear my head. So far it's looking like it won't be an extremely long book, rather a more interesting middle part including the ending of more than one shorter plot line and much more character development. It's a better book and I'm going to be much happier to present it to everyone when it's finished.

So, don't panic of things seem quiet on my end. The less you see me cavorting online the more I'm working on Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments.

RL

Thank you for sticking around, your patience will be rewarded.