The first re-write of The Path of Duty (Siobhan Dunmoore – Book 2) is complete. Now it goes to my editor for the first of several reviews and critiques. Her job, for this first round, is to tell me all about the weaknesses in the storyline, the loose ends, dangling subplots, unbelievable decisions and actions by my main characters, and all those things that need to be sorted before the novel is reviewed for grammar, spelling and typos. At this point, the story comes in at around 111,000 words and while it is self-contained, i.e. no cliffhangers at the end that force the reader to buy book 3, it continues along a broader arc that I started in No Honor in Death.
I’m already almost a third into the first draft of Cold Comfort (Decker’s War – Book 2), and that’s what I’ll be working on while my editor does her magic. I’d be further ahead with Cold Comfort, but I decided to realign the story a week ago and had to go back and essentially rewrite what I’ve written to date. The same thing happened with The Path of Duty several months ago, so I’m not surprised.
With the weather abruptly changing from an annoyingly cold spring to something that feels more like early July, the weeds have sprouted in their teeming masses, and I need to spend more time tending to other things. Combine that with the weekly hike in the woods, and my weekend time available for writing is feeling a sharp drop. I think I’ll be taking a hiatus after publishing The Path of Duty in early July, and since I hadn’t expected to put out Cold Comfort until sometime in the Fall, I’ll give myself time off this Summer to enjoy our brief bout of warmth. Working seven days a week can get tedious and make Eric a cranky boy (see my blog post of May 6 below). That means the as of yet untitled Siobhan Dunmoore – Book 3 won’t be out until 2016. I’ve already got the general concept of the story, and a more precise idea of some of the scenes, but I won’t be fleshing that out until Cold Comfort is undergoing the editorial review process.
I want to wish my mother, my mother-in-law and all mothers out there a happy Mother’s Day.
Just finished reading Decker’s War Book 1. Shortly into the book I realized that the author had to be Canadian and quite possible with some military experience as he was writing about an equivalent Candian Army Technical Warrant Officer or Master Gunner and not a US Army or Marine Master Gunner (the differences are vast). To say I was delighted would be putting it mildly. I look forward to reading the second book of the series with great impatience. BA Veysey CWO Master Gunner Retired
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Mister Veysey. Coming from a genuine Master Gunner, it means a lot. I’m half-way through the first draft of the second Decker’s War, so it’ll be a few months yet.
Cheers
FYI, I’m a graduate of Mr Gnr Crse 26 held at the School Of Artillery at the CTC Gagetown. The course has since moved to Kingston. I was employed as the Mr Gnr Infantry at the Trials and Evaluation Section, now the Land Forces Trial and Evaluation Unit at the CTC Gagetown from 1995 until 1999.