Can I have a break, please?


All too true. That said, at least I'm enjoying the company of my characters, but it feels as if I'm never 'off duty'. Even when I'm not at my desk, re-reading/revising/writing, my head is in the trilogy. I'd love to take a long weekend off, but my brain just never stops!

Where am I at with it all?? Well, I've just finished the re-reads of the middle book and the final book of the trilogy, converted them to ebooks and sent them off to my beta readers (thank you! You're all amazing!). I'm about to do another re-read of the first book, and look at the feedback my fabulous beta readers gave me for that book, and re-work whatever needs re-working.

I'm then into more detailed edits - character arcs, dialogue, description etc. for all three books of the trilogy, before they'll go off to a professional editor. I'm still hoping that they'll be out in late September, but my original timetable has slipped a bit - a combination of external things taking me away from my desk (and also taking my head away from where it needs to be sometimes, even if I'm at my desk), and finding a few unanticipated issues with the books when I've done the re-reads.

Sometimes, I wish I could take a holiday from it all but even if I decide to abandon my desk for the day, my brain doesn't stop chirruping about it all. I feel as if I haven't had a break from the trilogy for ages. I've been working constantly on one book or another of it now since last summer, and the whole thing has been on/off since 2014. That's not to say that I don't enjoy spending time with these characters. I still love them more than any other characters I've ever written. Just sometimes, I wish my brain would shut up!

In my journal the other night, I wondered if I would ever be able to leave the trilogy alone and actually feel that it's finished. I can see these characters so well and adore them. I can see so much more of their lives than will ever make it into the trilogy! I think I'll find it incredibly difficult to stop writing about them. I already have another Scrivener file of short stories about them or extra scenes. Once the trilogy is published, I'll probably give these extra stories away to my subscriber list.

But, there's a lot of work to be done between now and then. Assuming my brain doesn't explode first!


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