Gone Coding
I can't describe how strange it feels to be done with a book and to do nothing with it. There was a time I even toyed with the approach of writing the first three books in the Peridot Shift series before releasing any of them. Now I can't imagine how I'd do that, though I'm about halfway there, aren't I? So, Flotsam is all but ready to go. I have a final print proof on its way from Lulu that I'll review one more time for egregious errors. I do have a couple more changes I made when I formatted the trade paperback page layout for the "Ladylike" edition I'm sending to my grandfather in May for his 102nd birthday, and those changes are already incorporated into the Scrivener file and my 5.25x8 inch layout. I just need to apply them, and any last catches, to the eBook version. Then Flotsam will be ready for ARCs. Yesterday I asked myself why I was waiting for August to publish Flotsam. I know it was so that I could keep my release dates for the first three books close together. Amazon rewards that, as do voracious readers. Eventually, they'd have to wait for a next installment, but this is the next best publishing schedule from releasing them all together. (If you're curious, when Amazon has a series to release, they release the books only weeks apart. When in Rome, and using Rome's algorithms...) But yes, that means quite a bit of waiting. I don't want to start promoting this book so far out that it's old news or white noise when it does release. I hate when movies do that, and I don't want to do it. So I wait. Salvage, on the other hand, is capable of keeping me busy. It's strange to think that what feels like barely even 'active waiting' is the necessary effort for the next book. I think my mind is tripping up on Flotsam because there's so little left to do other than wonder what the response will be. This week, unfortunately, will see very little progress on anything. But that's fantastic timing. I've decided to give over my Asimov Hours of this week to a work project that I can't seem to get enough time to complete. So starting at 6 AM each morning I will clock into work, rather than to write. I know I'm going to miss my writing, but if I can finish this project I expect I can really knock down my stress levels. Of course, this comes during the first full week of Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm not that worried, though. My project is just to finish my Salvage revision, and I'm halfway through it now. I get a solid 4 hours in each Saturday and Sunday, and during those sessions, I make some pretty dramatic progress. But it's 6 AM now, so I'm off to follow my master plan. Hopefully, in next week's status update, I'll be declaring myself done with the work project and back to writing.