mind-boggling

I’m doing the galleys for WAYFINDER. There are moments I can tell it’s an entertaining story, but my *God* doing line edits is mind-bogglingly dull. This is at least the eighth time I’ve read this book, and at 150 or so pages in, I’m having a terrible time keeping my eyes open. I trust (and hope!) this is not a problem all y’all will have when you get your hands on it in September. (Or, for four of you, next week: the books went out this morning!).

That said, of course, don’t get me wrong. I have the best job in the world. :)

/Harry Connolly (author of the Twenty Palaces novels, which if you haven’t been reading them, you should be) just commented over on his blog about pots on the fire and making a living as a writer, which reminds me that people keep asking me what I’m working on now that I’ve finished RAVEN CALLS, so obviously I need to mention what I’m working on. Here’s the answer:

Nothing.

No, seriously. I mean, yes, I’ve got the Old Races Short Story Project going, and the RIGHT ANGLES TO FAERYLAND Revision Project (details also at that link), but I don’t actually have another book due until April 2012. Not yet, anyway.

This is mind-boggling as well. WAYFINDER, out in September, will be my 17th published novel. The first one came out in June 2005, so basically any way you cut it, that’s 3 books a year for the past 6 years (the Subterranean Press Old Races collection should be out late this year, too, so yeah, definitely 3 books a year). Plus I’ve published half a dozen short stories or so, two novellas via crowdfunding, and a comic book.

I believe Harry would define that as “a lot of pots on the boil.” I mean, I’ve had to, this is how I make my living. But right now, I’ve got nothing due for a year. And part of me thinks I should probably be concerned about that, but to tell the truth, concern has up and left the building. I have been busting my *ass* the past seven years, ever since my day job went away at the end of 2004, and it is, truth be told, busted. I may be less phlegmatic in another three weeks when a royalty check of uncertain amount shows up (ah yes, the life of a writer: you either know when you’re getting paid, but not how much, or you know how much you’re getting paid but not when), but right now? I’ve got nothing due to a publisher and I’m *loving* it.

Because I’m me, of course, I’m also psychologically incapable of not considering new projects. I dearly want to give e-pubbing a brand-new novel a try. But I keep running into the same catch, there: I could spend 2-3 months writing a full novel on my own time and dime, and release it as an e-book and see how it does…or I could write three chapters and submit it to my publisher who will then give me money to write the rest of it. There’s very little certainty in this business, but the difference between writing 10K or 100K on spec is fairly significant, so I keep slamming up against that in my attempt to expand horizons. (And no, there is absolutely no chance at all that I will do an e-pub with the revised ANGLES, just in case you were wondering.)

Anyway, so yeah. For the first time in half a decade and more, I’m not under murderous deadline crunch. My entire career thus far has been built on MDC, and I have great hopes that the next half decade and more, y’know. Won’t be. But I’ll let you know when that royalty check comes in if sudden panic strikes the heart of a writer… :)