Balfrith Book Two - Second Draft is Complete!

Yes, you read correctly: the second draft of Balfrith's new book is complete and I have sent it to my editor for her first read-through. It will undoubtedly go through at least one or two more drafts, that's perfectly normal. My goal is still to release it in the first half of 2020, which gives us six months to get through the proofreading, editing, and final drafting processes.

Sorry I've been so stingy with the blog posts this year. Not only has it been a busy year at work and in life, but I really have not had much to say about the book as progress has been slow going. I may be able to post more often as we get closer to the book's release, but I hesitate to make any promises at this point.

On the up-side, I think the book is already a good read even in it's rough draft state. And over the next several months, my editor and I will polish it up even more to make it something that you all will really enjoy. This book is shorter than the first. I can't predict the final word count yet, but I am pretty sure it will be noticeably shorter than The Hand of Tyr. I know I've mentioned that before, but it's worth saying again: the first book was a combination origin story and first adventure for our hero, Balfrith. Book two, yet to be titled, doesn't need any more background/back story for Balfrith, so it is more focused on the adventure at hand.

Anyway, enough chat: I need to get back to work. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and a general happy holidays to all!

...And now it's been another three months

But at least now I can report that I am back at work on Balfrith's book two. Making pretty good progress, and my goal at this point is to finish the second draft by the end of the year. Given the amount of work involved, this may be a bit optimistic. But a guy can dream, can't he?

In the meantime, I bought a toy:

2005 Porsche Boxster S

The top needs a bit of work, but otherwise it's in great shape and super fun to drive. It is a good thing that winter is almost upon us, or I wouldn't be getting any work done on the book.

Hard to believe it's been 4 months

Ouch. I've clearly been too busy with other aspects of my life. Aside from a very small amount of editing, I really haven't touched the book since my last post. And unfortunately it seems that will not be changing for at least the next month or so. I think in September I may actually get back to working on the book, which will be good.

In the meantime, I hope y'all are having a lovely summer.

Late Post, Nothing New Really

I had a business trip last week that included breakfasts and dinners with customers, so it basically shot my week for any kind of work on the book. Got back on track over the weekend, but I still have about a hundred pages to go on my read-through. Probably will be done by next week.

Life goes on....

The Read-through and Edit is Moving Along Nicely

As of last night, I had read and marked edits for the first nine chapters of the book. I'm not sure what percentage of the book this represents... maybe 40% of the rough draft at a guess. Many of my edits are minor, and I have already updated the manuscript. Some of the edits are more complex comments: "re-write this scene from a different character's POV", or "insert a new scene here", or "we need an entire new chapter inserted here". Those comments will wait until the read-through is done, then I will circle back and start working on them.

Bottom line, progress is being made!

The Rough Draft is Complete

I am officially declaring the first draft of Balfrith Book Two, to be done. There are missing scenes, and scenes that need significant re-writing, and possibly even some plot structures that need re-work; but all of those items will be addressed in the next phase of writing.

As of today, I am starting a complete read-through of the draft, something I haven't done up to now. I'm doing some light editing along the way, but mostly at this point I am looking for plot holes, missing themes, and other big-picture items that need fixing. How long that will take... who can say? I don't remember how much time I spent on it with The Hand of Tyr, although at a guess I would say it was over a year.

I don't plan to take that long this time around, of course. As I've said before, having successfully written and published one book, I learned a lot along the way and so this next one should go more quickly. Even if the draft for Book Two took me three months longer than I had planned, it was still quite a bit faster than I did with The Hand of Tyr.

So, the work continues. But I have transitioned from phase one of the project to phase two, which to me feels like a significant step.

I Did Not Intend to Go Dark

Wow, time flies. I've got a big project going at my day job, and it has been taking all of my brain cycles to keep it moving forward. That leaves approximately zero energy for creative writing, which makes me sad. The book has been effectively on hold since January, almost immediately after my last post.

I wish I could promise more posts and more writing in the near future, but I am simply not in a position to do that. After this project goes live in a couple of months, then maybe. I will certainly post something when I'm ready.

Until then, I suggest you find yourself a good book to read. I've heard The Hand of Tyr isn't too bad...

Ideas, and More Ideas, and More Work

As I wrote back around Thanksgiving, I had some new ideas I had decided to add to the story which were going to delay completion of the draft. Well that certain did occur: I haven't written a single word for the draft since then. I did revise the story outline quite a bit, and that work is almost complete. When the outline is done, which includes all the scenes I will have planned to add or change, then I will begin actual writing once again.

Best guess at rough-draft completion is now looking more like mid-Q2.