Triple-Edged Sword, Day Fifteen

Well, at long last, it is done. After two attempts, 'Triple-Edged Sword' is finally finished and on its way to the beta readers. I can now say with some certainly that it will be on sale on the 29th of February. Oddly, trying this again resulted in one of the smoother writing sessions I've ever managed. The book went pretty much according to plan, with no real writing blind alleys – though I did end up rewriting two chapters when I realized I was following the evil maxim of 'tell, not show', and had to hurriedly fix it...but at last it is done, coming in at just under 71,000 words.

They say you learn a lot more from failure than success, and believe me, that was true in spades as far as this book was concerned. While the second attempt took fifteen days, I've been working on a novel with this name since January 1st, with hardly a break. The moral of the story is that I need to make sure I have a much better outline when I start; last time I was vague about the ending, and it really cost me. This time I had it all planned out, and while I ended up changing the ending...twice...at least I had some idea of where I was going, and that made it a lot easier.

Something else I will stress again – the keyboard was a godsend. Not only was my typing speed slightly increased, but I had far fewer aches and pains after each session. Normally I wouldn't choose to write a book in twelve days straight, but this time I just didn't really feel a need to take a break in the middle...and I think that helped as well, as it meant that everything could flow more freely, and I could keep hold of plot threads more tightly. I've done a lot of work on refining my techniques with this one, and those are lessons that I'm going to be taking full advantage of in future books.

What comes next? Well...a few days off, I'll admit. Oddly, I'm actually a little ahead of where I normally am, as I did a lot of the formatting while I was working this time – I've switched back from Google Write to LibreOffice, and again, that makes a surprising difference – so I've got a little while before I need to think about the next project. Not that I'm not already spinning ideas around for the content of 'Forbidden Seas', and 'Final Testament', the next two Alamo novels in the series. (Technically, I've got four plots for two books, and right now it is a question of working out which ones I use first. Likely you'll see all four of them in reasonably short order.)

I do have another project I've been working on for a while, and that's the 'historical swashbuckler' series. I've been doing research and reading for a while on this one, but I finally decided that the answer was to hit the books hard and start compiling notes. More on this tomorrow – or in a couple of days, depending on how I feel in the morning. Usually, I'm not good for anything much the day after I've finished a book, not creatively, anyway. It's as though all the strings have been cut.

And, of course, the nerves now begin in earnest...twelve days until launch....

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