Holday post-mortem

Between being sick and the madness of the holidays, I've not had a chance to do much of anything except try to rest. That being said, I have made some significant progress in the novel in terms of integration of the new characters and the plans necessary to make sure the fourth draft will be successful when the time comes.

First off, the holidays and such. I've been sick for all of it, a nasty cold got ahold of me last Friday night and it has stuck with me ever since. I seem to be on the downhill side of it, but still have a particularly head rattling cough and enough congestion to fill a marine tanker. Outside of that, Christmas and its associated festivities were rather uneventful and atypical to the life in which I live, unlike this time last year when I was in the middle of one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. But since I am doing my best to put that era of life behind me, I won't talk about it. It's a regret I must live with. The only being letting another one slip away in the way she did, one that I felt a great connection to.

As this 3rd shifter 1st shifter moves forward with his life into 2014, my goals are many but the intrinsic structure of them all are nothing to write home about. Obviously, my first goal is primarily finishing this third draft, get it read over and self edited, then get the fourth draft down with the changes I want to include to make it as complete as possible. Secondly, I will looking to travel this year in some form - preferably outside of the country to explore how things are done outside the borders of the United States of America.  Right now, I'm looking at Australia as my number one pick, with New Zealand a close second if I decide to go for more of the scenery instead of hustle and bustle. My only real caveat is going alone, while giving me complete freedom to do whatever I wish, is depressing. A stranger in a strange land, it has that mystique that can be both alluring...and downing. Having someone you already know is helpful, especially when making friends is not a strong point. Having said all that, I look forward to expanding my social boundaries out. If I go to Australia though, I should probably be ready to drink though. Of all things to do, drinking is apparently a favorite past time. Oh boy...

So far, I have started compiling a list of things to do this year and I will do my best to attend all of them. Seeing as how my life as a bachelor is well underway and will remain that way if I have anything to say about it all, I will do the next thing and that's travel and explore.With all that being said, I will also be looking to finish up this novel and get it published in some form, whether in print or e-book form. The new characters have meshed really well with the story at this point and all of them are showing promise for the fourth draft, and perhaps beyond if prequels/sequels decide to come forward in the future. The way it's looking, the chapter total will come out to around 15, give or take 1-2 with around a 300-350 page count. Should make for a decent read for whomever would be interested, and once the fourth draft comes to life, a lot of the loose ends and unanswered questions should come forward toward its finale and the story can draw to a satisfying conclusion.

I had a lot more to write than this, but I think most of it would be nothing more than the rambling mind of a still-sick 1st shifter trying to get everything back in order.

Oh, new computer rig here in a couple weeks - finally, back to having power with my PC gaming and tasks. This poor little laptop screams every time I try to drive it hard, it just can't be done.

Until next time.

Insomnia, brain unloads, and knowing its a six day workweek...yep.

Just gonna stand here and keep being awesome.

That's out of the way, seeing as how sleeping is out of the question for this 3rd shifter today - I decided to look over the amount of writing I had a chance to do at work tonight while expanding the idea of the second book, or just incorporating the ideas into the current work, and thus far - it's leaning toward putting it all into the current book, which would expand it in length and depth. At this point, the ideas of sequels or prequels can wait, and if they come - wonderful, if not, also wonderful. That, along with making sure my ducks are in a row for the following chapters and it all made for a very productive (for me anyhow) hour of my time while we waited all night for stuff to work on. Let me tell you, and I'm sure fellow 3rd shifters can relate, but having nothing to do at three in the morning is a total bummer, and I'm pretty sure that's why I'm wide awake right now. May just tough it out and sleep tomorrow, if I'm not asleep by six or so tonight, that is my case. I should be sufficiently exhausted by then, 12 hours later.

The copyediting and rewriting once I finish this draft will be interesting as I look for any plot holes that I did my best to patch this time around, but I believe I should be able to incorporate the new ideas that would have made the second book, at least a few of them in this draft, before including the rest at a later date. I had contemplated starting over and writing them in now, but that would a step in the wrong direction. Would much rather prefer to keep my current storyline, because the small details I plan to include would be fine in the event that the third draft is the only one I decide to do, which I doubt. I think the fourth draft will be when I finally get everything I want included and will be the one I will take to the publisher, depending on whoever I plan to use.

If all goes as planned, provide my internal clock permits, I hope to have this draft done within a month or so - and given the progress being made on a daily (semi-daily?) basis, it should be an accomplishment easily attained. We shall see.

Short post as a short update, and mainly something to try and wear myself down. I hate days like today. Adieu. 

Two and more

Chapter eight didn't flesh out like I had hoped it would, but I think it may have turned out a bit better than I had envisioned. Right now, a couple glaring questions are looking me right in the face and they are starting to irritate me a bit. Going off my last post, I really don't want to think I'm a one trick pony on this deal, which is why I'm currently looking at ways to integrate a few new topics of conversation into it all for the characters to center around a couple new characters that I feel would make an meaningful impact on the storyline as a whole.

Chapter nine is looking like when the action kicks back into gear and things start to look interesting again. The main bad guy is called to come survey an area that was taken by the bad guys, one that is being used as a forward base. Meanwhile, the main character and his team arrive in Britain for a briefing, given a few hours rest before they are put on a rapid deployment assignment to the same area. By then, the shipment that the bad guys came to survey has already left, but an informant that had relayed the information had been captured and was possibly dead, but SOCA decides to investigate anyway. This leads to a semi-showdown between the main character and main bad guy - which neither one emerging victorious, but hopefully answering a few more questions for the reader along the way.

Onto the previous post, I am currently looking at a con-current book that may run alongside Project Alpha, starring one of the characters that gets a brief mention, possibly appearance later on if circumstances warrant it. This new character, if she holds up, would play a significant role behind the main storyline in some form, but I would have to find a way to establish her character and role and how she would be presented. Several ideas are running through my head and a lot of them I would like to include, but trying to fit her in would be problematic as I would have to justify her appearance and some other background information on her (who does she work for, what role does she serve in that job etc.) Given the current storyline, it could be argued that she is an American working in the British SOCA branch, and if this is the case - it can be argued in some form that her incognito status up to that point can be attributed to her own personal lust of vengeance against someone. Her and her partner (perhaps not necessarily a team, it could be explained that the British SOCA branch operates somewhat differently) are working behind the scenes in the original storyline, and their roles are greatly expanded in the second one.

I just need to start doing my writing and thinking while I am totally out of it. For some odd reason, I do my best thinking when I'm tired as hell. But I must focus on finishing the original book first. But given these new revelations, I think I have some material to help build on while editing and rewriting the final draft of the third iteration. Either way, that previous post may be coming down because I may have short changed myself - which I'm prone to do unfortunately. Perhaps a permanent stupor of fatigue is necessary for me to have success in this business, who knows.

Anyhow, next update should have more details on chapter eight and nine. Maybe even some more about the newer run ins with a tired mind.

Adieu.

One and done?

A lot of discussion lately has been about potential for sequels in this series, but unfortunately - I do not see that happening, for a number of reasons. It has taken me 12 years damn near to get this book to where I wanted it, I highly doubt I have that many years to put together a meaningful sequel.

Put blatantly, I'm a, in my own opinion, terrible storyteller, haha. Given it has taken this long to come up with something I can be happy with, I highly doubt there will be much in the way of anything else beyond this novel unless I change genres in some way, which the ideas I have are good, but not really enough to cause me to devote my life to it. While I enjoy writing, may even be considered a talent, I'd say once this one is finished, that will be all she wrote for my brief authoring career.

The only genre I have any measure of interest in is modern sci-fi and thriller-horror lite such as zombies and mutations ala Resident Evil. However, trying to make anything worth while from that without drifting into survival reads is difficult. If I do delve into another genre, it will be in that mold of Resident Evil in some form - but that's only if I find a way to not stop my retirement after this current project.

Chapter eight should be complete in a few days and the second half is beginning to shape up pretty well. Even if this should be my one and only accomplishment, I hope that its something that I can be proud of because it brings interest from readers that will hopefully enjoy the novel for what its worth.

Short post, but just needed to get that out there. Until next time.

Write it all down on a piece of paper

Chapter eight will soon be underway, probably not today as I business to attend to this morning and it interfered with writing time. But I had a chance to get some ideas jotted down at work that modified a couple plot twists, mainly dealing with the hand switching of power for the bad guys, hints that the agency may not survive the events of the book, or even before, and there are several elements that are a bit more in the way of filler material than actually relevant to the story that I am considering omitting for now, but for now - it will remain. With the way this draft is progressing, it is highly possible that material may find a way to integrate itself into the story. Time with tell.

Expanding on the idea of the plot twist with the bad guys power shift, it involves the main bad guy carrying out his plan and it shows the ends to which he is willing to go to achieve his end by playing multiple sides in order to gain the confidence of everything necessary for his plan. After executing this, a new character was born with relevance to the general leading the Ultranationalist movement the connection to the story will not come until later in the story, near the end, but it is of grave importance and the main character sees a part of himself in them when it comes to life experiences.

After the events of chapter six, the agency is in peril due to the loss of manpower and with issues that arose, the president inside the book is beginning to wonder if it was a good idea to establish it given what it wound up being used for. Donovan Johnson is quick to tell him that it may seem that way, but they are still dedicated to their mission. Depending on how the rest of the book goes, it may be the agency is disassembled and perhaps reformed in some way. An idea that will gain traction later perhaps, but one that has some merit and some definite intrigue for a sequel, if any. Another idea that is on paper, along with many others, so ideas may be gathering for a sequel, who knows. One step at a time though.

The possible omission of what I see as filler material at the moment, may gain some relevance as the story progresses. This third draft, as stated at the start of this entry, has turned out much more detail orientated and a focus on getting the feel to the readers of the situation at hand. There are a couple in particular that serve no purpose to the serve, but have some emotion as they involve the main character and the love interest. One scene in particular occurs a night before the next set of missions take off, involving the loss of clothes and horizontal shuffling. But it serves no purpose in the storyline except a night of intimacy for the pair of them as it yields nothing special in the story, nor was anything brought on by it beside a heat of the moment thing. While it is an important step in their relationship, it technically serves no purpose, which is why its in limbo. The part that leads up to it originally in the second draft was omitted as a last edit on the second one, because it - like the scene that follows, is filler material, something I'm trying to eliminate. Chekhov's gun as they call it.

Now that most of the errands and personal stuff is taken care, I can get back to writing as early as tomorrow morning after work, which I have full intention on. Who knows, I do my best thinking at work apparently, so new ideas or reformation projects for the current ones may creep up between now and then.

Until then.