Where I’m At – Or it’s nearly over and Done

It’s actually starting to feel like I’m going to deliver book three it in time. I’m halfway through my draft, which sounds like there’s a lot to go, and there is even though my books are shortish, still all but a few of the core scenes are now written. For me the first half is always the hardest, it takes me a while to get traction, but it’s happening and the book is almost all I can think about.

I know how my characters change and grow in this book, the ending is written, and I have the bit that I love most about the initial drafting process to do now. The sorting out, the ordering of scenes and the filling in of gaps. There’s all manner of surprises to come, I know this because in both earlier books I was still surprising myself up until the copy edits, but I feel the bones of the book are sound now.

It’s hard to believe that in a few short weeks this draft will be done. Of course, as we’ve already discussed in this blog that’s only one sort of ending and many more steps lie ahead. But, even though no-one but my editors will be reading this book until next year, I’m going to be moving onto new things. Even while I’m doing structural edits, copy edits and reading page proofs I’ll be tinkering with new things (and wondering if I can sell them).

New books are new starts, and I’m dying to get onto new things. But this third book isn’t finished yet, and there’s still a lot of pleasure to be had from it. I’m going to miss Steven, Lissa and co. And I’m going to miss writing about their peculiar version of Brisbane.

If you’re interested in what I’m going to be like just after delivering the manuscript feel free to come to my book launch on Friday the 13th of August at Avid Reader in West End. There you’ll see a writer with two books finished, one book out, waiting to hear back from his editors about the third, and wondering what he is going to do next.

The major difference between that writer and this one is that a dream of mine will finally be fulfilled: after thirty odd years of writing I’ll have a novel, and one that I adore (written about a city I love)on the shelves.