Project Sirius First Draft (NaNoWriMo 2022 Results)

Hello, there!

I realized that I never followed up on Project Sirius with all of you, following the conclusion of NaNoWriMo 2022!

In short, I finished book 1 in Project Sirius with time to spare! I also came in far below the 50k word goal for the month of November, but that’s perfectly okay, because I did what I set out to do! Mission accomplished, by all accounts :) The full manuscript itself came in at about 88k words, which is just about the right length for a YA Sci-Fi.

So, how do I feel about Project Sirius? I’m cautiously excited! Why cautiously? Because I’ve come to realize that just because I like something doesn’t mean everyone else will ;) But my initial proofread felt good, despite the multiple changes and additions I made to it (which is normal for a first proofread).

I’m also semi-cautious about my optimism because this doesn’t quite follow the normal ‘formula’ for a YA novel, IE the protagonist isn’t in school competing with other students.  Yet some of what Mika goes through still falls well within the experiences of a young adult, while also dealing with extremely extraordinary circumstances.  So I think that while breaking the ‘norm,’ I think it’ll still be enjoyable for all audiences.

At this point, two beta readers have read through Project Sirius, and their feedback was largely positive! However, my wife Beck in particular had a lot of insights that I hadn’t noticed before, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what she noticed that I HADN’T noticed, and what I should do about them. In particular, regarding the protagonist Mika, whom I intentionally made has having a few character flaws, the prime one being a bit of possessiveness. I worry now that I’ve made her so possessive as to be unlikeable as a protagonist.

So, while I don’t intend to do any more actual work on Project Sirius until 2023, I will definitely be thinking about this, and about whether I should adjust her character throughout or not. There should definitely be growth on her part in book 1, but I largely wanted her possessiveness to become more contentious in book 2, and her growth in book 2 will focus a lot on that (if I stick to my current plan).

Having said all of that, I will say that I’m quite proud of the story and characters. It didn’t all turn out quite the way I wanted – I had one plan going in, and adjusted on the fly as the story played out. The story that came out is a lot more fun and intriguing than my original plan, and certainly lends itself to an ongoing story beyond book 1. I also absolutely love how the final climactic scene played out! Writing that scene had my heart thundering in my chest, and reading it during my first proofread created a similar feeling, so it stands up to repeat readings :D

So, what next? Well, next I let it sit for a while. The longer I’m willing to let it sit without another read-through, the ‘fresher’ my eyes will be when I do read it. I’ll hopefully catch more, and will be able to see what needs adjusting, and what works and should be left alone. I am, however, already coming up with details for books 2 and 3, as well as what might possibly come after book 3.

That’s all for today, thanks for reading!

-Jon Wasik

NaNoWriMo 2022 Update – Project Sirius Almost Done!

Hello, there!

It’s just over two weeks into NaNoWriMo 2022…and I’m almost done with the novel I’m writing!

I know, crazy, isn’t it?

In fact, last night, I wrote what has to be the most intense climactic scene I’ve ever written!  I have never finished something I’ve written feeling so euphoric before, it was such a high!  I couldn’t settle down afterwards, not for a while, I was so hyper over it and ecstatic!

And now that I’ve had the chance to sleep on it and think on it, I believe I know why this turned into such an intense scene – it wasn’t just the culmination of the story, it was a culmination of ideas building up to it.

I’ve had an idea for how this particular novel’s climax would play out since about 2017.  It was when my wife and I were still engaged, and in fact I think I started figuring out the climax to the story when we were riding up to our chosen wedding venue with my mother-in-law to show her the place.  Beck and I sat in the back seat and threw ideas around for the story, and as ideas were hashed out, I wrote them in my journal (and let me tell you, trying to write while riding on Colorado roads is not easy.)

Without giving away too much of the story (but perhaps teasing it just a little ;) ) one of the inspirations for the climax came from the movie Alien with Sigourney Weaver.  Not to say that Project Sirius is a horror novel, not by a long shot, but there are some intense and frightening scenes in it, and the final solution to the problems that the protagonist, Mika, faces is to use her wits, intelligence, and cunning to overcome and emerge triumphant.

But ever since I started NaNoWriMo this month, I’ve started coming up with more problems to throw at Mika in that final scene, all based upon the fact that this is a Science Fiction story.  Technical problems upon technical problems, and since this takes place in space, added elements from that, especially things I’ve learned about what happens to an astronaut’s body in zero gravity.

So to partially sum it up, Mika has to fix a technical problem, while enduring zero G’s for the first time, in a bulky radiation suit, all while the antagonist stalks her.  The fate of the entire ship, five thousand people, revolves around her fixing this problem and defeating the antagonist at the same time.  That’s leaving out a few more things that are spoilers, mind you ;)

What’s Left?

For NaNoWriMo, I’m at about 31,000 words.  I’m going to expand a little bit on the very end of the chapter I wrote last night, after I came up with an idea of how to make the ending of it more satisfying (for both Mika and the reader.)  Then there’s maybe 2 to 4 chapters of wind-down/ending to write.  That means that, as I expected, I won’t hit the 50k word goal for NaNoWriMo.  But as I’ve already said in previous posts, that’s okay.

My goal for this project wasn’t to hit 50k words, it was to finish book 1 in Project Sirius.  I expect to be done with the first draft no later than early next week, maybe even by this weekend.

After that, I intend to immediately do a read-through to add in some dialogue for another character.  I’d realized a couple nights ago that I started him off as a character who loves the sound of his own voice, but then about halfway through, I stopped giving him that voice, so he needs more to be true to his character.

Then I’ll probably let it sit for a couple of months before I do a serious (pun intended!) proofread and edit.  After that, it’ll be ready for beta readers.

After what happened with Chronicles of the Sentinels, I think I’m going to try to get Project Sirius into the hands for more beta readers.  I’ll still focus in on my target audience, readers of YA Sci-Fi in this case, but I’m hoping that if there are any major problems with it, I’ll catch it long before publication.

As for when I’ll publish it, well that depends entirely on how all of those steps I just mentioned go.  But I’m hoping for no later than end of next year.

Anywho, that’s all I’ve got for you today, folks!  Except to remind you that if you haven’t already, don’t forget to pre-order the next Sword of Dragons novel, Advent Darkness, coming out in just 2 1/2 weeks!

Thanks for reading,
-Jon Wasik

Featured Artwork by Samuel Nordius

First Week of NaNoWriMo – Struggles and Triumphs

Hello, there!

While today is only the 6th day of NaNoWriMo 2022, I thought I’d give you all an update since I have a little time to spare today.  And I’ll be upfront – I’ve already ‘failed,’ but I’m also here to tell you that that’s okay.

First and foremost, I haven’t actually failed, because I feel like that would imply I’ve given up.  And to all of my fellow writers participating in this, keep that in mind.

You see, I didn’t write every single day.  I skipped Friday, for a multitude of reasons.  One of which is that it has been an absolutely horrid week.  I ended up taking Tuesday off of work just to try to recover my sanity, only to feel like I was right back where I was by Friday.

The other reason is that I was running into a plot wall.

“What’s a plot wall?” you might ask.

It’s just like what runners who run marathons might run into, that ‘wall’ that once they hit it, it stops them cold.  It feels like a literal brick wall.  And even though I knew exactly where the story was going, I no longer knew how it was going to get there.

So I decided to take Friday as a resting day to recover sanity, and work out how I was going to progress the plot.

I wish I could say that I had immediately figured it out.  But knowing that I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t pick up the proverbial pen the next day, I added to a previous chapter on Saturday, and then wrote a new one.  I wasn’t happy with it, and I may go back and revise or even rewrite it, but at least for now, I’m past the plot blocker.

Then came today…and today, everything changed!  As I started writing today’s chapter, all of it just fell into place, and I knew exactly where to take the story!

Only…my best friend is going to hate me for it.  I won’t say why, but what must happen in the story is something that will possibly bring him to tears.  I’m sorry!

In any case, I feel like the rest of the story should work itself out relatively fast and naturally for me.  I won’t say easy, because writing is never easy, but I don’t expect to run into any more plot walls.

And for those who like numbers, as of today, I’m 12,892 words into NaNoWriMo.  The overall word count of the novel itself is up to 65,733.

A Little About The Story

For those who want to know more about this new story, let’s start out by giving it a name.  Sort of.  Not a book title, but let’s call it “Project Sirius”

Why Sirius?  For starters, that’s the name of the giant ship that the characters are on.  And by giant, I mean it’s about 8 kilometers long.  O_o  And is home to about 5,000 people.  Additionally, the Sirius comes from the Sirius binary star system that is home to the brightest star in the sky from Earth’s perspective.

As for the characters, I’ve already given you a brief on that, but I’d like to go just a little bit deeper.  First, this is the first novel I’ve written/am writing that is from the first person perspective.  I’ve written short stories in first person, but never a full novel.

For the longest time, thanks to reading so much of the Star Wars Expanded Universe and the multitude of Star Trek novels, I only thought I could enjoy third-person limited stories.  That’s what the majority of those books were written in.

When I started reading urban fantasy to help me prep for and write Chronicles of the Sentinels, I was suddenly thrust into the world of first person perspective.  And…I liked it.  A lot.  As a writer, in particular, I thought first person made for much more interesting narration.

Then I started reading YA Sci-Fi to help me prep for Project Sirius, and those too are almost exclusively first person.

I also realized years ago that the nature of this story was very personal, very internal for the protagonist, Mika.  So even before I started reading more and more YA Sci-Fi, I knew this would need to be told in the first person perspective.

And that internal struggle?  Well, there’s a lot to it.  Mika basically lives in a society that outlaws who she is on the inside.  Literally, one of the highest laws is that you are only allowed to be with whomever the Oracle decides, and you absolutely will have children with them, but only when and how many the Oracle says.

Thing is, Mika doesn’t like men.

In fact, from the very first page of the book, you know that, despite the fact that it’s forbidden, she loves another girl.  No one else can know.  If they found out, the consequences on her life would be catastrophic.  She can’t even tell the girl she loves, and so she remains friends with Karina, a classic tale of unrequited love.

As to whether or not any of that changes, well…you’ll just have to read the book to find out ;)

Thanks for reading, everyone!
-Jon Wasik

NaNoWriMo 2022 – A YA Sci-Fi 5 Years In The Making

Hi everyone!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for an update on the next NaNoWriMo project by Jon Wasik ;)

I don’t mean to pull attention away from my next big release, but November is just around the corner, and that means National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) for 2022 is about to kick off!  In fact…  *nervously looks around*  I kinda need to start prepping for it!

What Is NaNoWriMo Exactly?

NaNoWriMo is a sort of marathon, where authors the world over spend an entire month writing at least a little bit of their latest novel every single day!  Or in some cases (such as mine,) almost every single day, until the novel is finished.  The goal is to write 50,000 words or more in the month of November by writing every single day.

I think it’s safe to say that NaNoWriMo means something different to everyone.  For some people, the support groups that flock around the NaNoWriMo website, forums, etc are vital to getting the encouragement, or the inspiration, or the ideas to keep going (because writing is freaking hard, and writing every day is even harder.)

For others, it’s simply a set, predictable time frame to buckle down and get to work.  Especially because November often is a good time, or at least most of November is.  For those with houses, there’s less yard work to be done.  Kids are in school, except around Thanksgiving.  And while this isn’t true for everyone, for my wife and I, November seems to be a more laid back month in general.  A break from the crazy life.  And since it’s colder out in the Northern Hemisphere, less inclination to go outside.

Photo by Beck Wasik

For me, it’s a time to usually finish novels that are already in progress.  I first participated in NaNoWriMo in 2019 to finish the 3rd Sword of Dragons novel, Secrets of the Cronal, which at the time was about halfway finished.  I knocked the NaNoWriMo goal of 50k words out of the park by writing 72k words that month (out of what would end up being a 170k word novel).

Last year, I did the same thing for the 4th novel, Advent Darkness, but this time, I didn’t hit 50k words.  Why?  I was already far enough into the novel when I started that I finished writing it after only 48k words.  And that’s just it…the 50k word goal is fine, but it is arbitrary.  The point of NaNoWriMo isn’t to hit an arbitrary number, that’s just something to help writers set a realistic and achievable goal.  The point is to write.

Which brings me to my next project…

NaNoWriMo 2022 – YA Sci-Fi Project

About 5 years ago, I had an idea for an unusual Sci-Fi project.  A story that seemed like a fantasy at the beginning, only to pull the veil back less than halfway through and reveal that it was a Sci-Fi all along.

The idea was to play with Fantasy tropes in a Sci-Fi setting.

As far as the characters were concerned, they lived in a medieval-style village, magic was real, and an all-knowing, god-like being known as the Oracle dictated their laws, their lives, who they could marry, what jobs they fulfilled, everything.

But all is not as it seems.  And when everything goes terribly wrong, the characters soon find themselves thrown into a world of technology far beyond what they understand.  But they must, if there’s any hope of saving everyone they know and love.

The characters who would set out upon this quest?  They are what you might expect to find in any fantasy quest.

• The Fearless (if arrogant) Leader
• The Brute Warrior
• The Wise But Impatient Wizard
• The Wizard’s Young Apprentice
• The Archer/Hunter

And to top it all off is our protagonist – Mika.  A willful teen girl, resentful of the life she has been forced to live, book-smart, and clever, and always speaks her mind, especially when she shouldn’t.

For a long time, I toyed with the idea of not revealing up front that this was a Sci-Fi Novel…but time and experience has taught me that to do so invites disaster from a publishing and sales perspective.  If I market it as a fantasy, and fantasy readers get to the part where it is revealed to be Sci-Fi, I have a lot of angry Fantasy readers who might rage-quit reading the book (except for those who love both.)  And if I’m not marketing to Sci-Fi readers, well I’m not marketing to my target audience at all.

Over the course of the past two years, I’ve written off and on again in this novel (which is to be the first of many in a series,) and have gotten more than halfway through the story.  But life and my aggressive publishing schedule over the past year has largely relegated this book to collect virtual dust.

This November, that will change.  I probably only have about 25k or 30k words left to write in it, which means I won’t hit the NaNoWriMo 50k goal, but that’s okay.  That’s not the point.

The point is to sit down and finish a book that has been 5 years in the making.  And, if all goes well, a book that will be published in 2023.  My first foray into Sci-Fi since I finished my fan fiction over a decade ago.

Why Aren’t You Writing The Next Sword of Dragons Novel?

I haven’t actually been asked this question yet, but to put it simply – I’m not ready for the next Sword of Dragons story.  I’m still developing the plot.  And let’s face it, the Sword of Dragons has been an incredibly complex and deep story, and there are a lot of plot threads that need to come together.  For that matter, I still need to figure out if I can wrap up the entire story in the next book, or if there needs to be two more books.

But at any given time in my life, I have multiple stories brewing in my head, so working on two projects at different stages is nothing new to me.  Right now, not only is there the on-going Sword of Dragons saga and this new Sci-Fi, but I also have a dystopian novel series brewing.  They all develop slowly, bit by bit, as ideas come to me and I write them down and sort them all out.

However, my goal is to have Sword of Dragons 5 ready to write by NaNoWriMo 2023.  It seems as though I’ve been publishing new books in that saga every 2 years or so, and I hope to maintain that pace.

Anywho, thanks for reading, everyone!
-Jon Wasik

NaNoWriMo 2021 Success!

Hi everyone!

It’s been a week since National Novel Writing Month concluded, and while my energy was sapped (for a lot of reasons) and I never posted about it here, my venture with NaNoWriMo was a complete success!

The fourth book of the Sword of Dragons saga has been written to completion :D  Better still, I finally have a title for it!

…but it’s a secret for now ;)

I am incredibly proud and excited for how this story turned out, and I’m so excited to share it with you all next year!  The story turned into something that was so much grander, so much bigger, with a foreboding, ominous feeling pervading the first half and leading into some of the biggest events ever to happen in the Sword of Dragons.

And yet, it was also one of the most personal stories.  The characters developed and changed so much, and my intent to slow down and give them more ‘screen time’ to develop paid off.

At the same time, the part of the overall story that book 4 covers was so grand and encompassing that it became impossible to fit it all into this one book – a lot of what I originally intended to fit in here is going to spill over into book 5, which is okay.  I think what I am holding off on in 4 fits even better in the story I intend to tell in 5.

Strangely enough, length-wise, book 4 currently sits as the ‘middle child.’  The stats of ALL of the Sword of Dragons books sits as follows (with book 4 listed at the end)

Rise of the Forgotten – The Sword of Dragons Book 1
290 Pages
~105,000 words

Burning Skies – The Sword of Dragons Book 2
373 Pages
~136,000 words

The Orc War Campaigns – A Sword of Dragons Story
388 Pages
~152,000 words

Secrets of the Cronal – The Sword of Dragons Book 3
481 Pages
~173,000 words

The Sword of Dragons Book 4
491 Pages
~147,000 words

Wait, longer than book 4, but fewer word count?  How’s that work?  Basically, because book 4 is still in my ‘writing format’ and not the ‘print format.’  Page count is likely to go down when I build the publication package.

Word count is the key here, and while it’s possible that number will grow during edits/revisions, it seems likely it won’t be quite as long as Secrets of the Cronal.

In any case, I’m looking forward to sharing more with you in the future!

But for now?  For now…it’s time to start focusing on the next Chronicles of the Sentinels book, Retribution.  Book 2 is well on its way.  Expect to see cover a cover reveal and release date in the very near future :D

Thanks for reading!
-Jon Wasik

(Un)Prepared for NaNoWriMo!

Hey everyone, to those who celebrate, Happy Halloween!

Wait, it’s Halloween already?  That means NaNoWriMo is tomorrow!  Am I ready for it?

….Nope.  But I’m still doing it.

What is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo is “National Novel Writing Month.”  For the entire month of November, writers around the world spend some time every single day writing.  It could be a book, a short story, poetry, anything!  It’s an exciting time for a lot of writers!

Two years ago, I spent NaNoWriMo finishing book 3 of the Sword of Dragons, Secrets of the Cronal!  I’d written more than half of it, but work had stalled thanks to life ‘getting in the way.’  It was a success, and I’m quite proud of how Cronal turned out!

For 2020, I didn’t have a project ready for it – I was already in between books for Chronicles of the Sentinels and was not ready to start book 3.  But because of the pandemic, I was already writing more than ever, and was on-schedule (actually ahead of schedule!) for getting the trilogy written!

What’s Up for 2021 NaNoWriMo?

So just like 2019, I intend to finish a partly-completed Sword of Dragons novel, book 4 (as-yet untitled.)  Like book 3 in 2019, book 4 has already been started.  In fact, I’m more than halfway through it!

But I had to halt writing it in about May this year due to life events and preparing for Chronicles of the Sentinels – Legacy’s release in August.

It’s been 5 months since I stopped the project.  So, I wanted a refresher.  Just before October, I started re-reading the Sword of Dragons saga, starting with Rise of the Forgotten.  And since book 4 features characters from the Orc War Campaigns, I read that after Rise.

I’m just about to finish Burning Skies.

I still have Secrets of the Cronal to get through, and then I need to read what I wrote for book 4.

That’s a lot to do yet before I can even start writing.  So what does it mean?

Well, October has been as busy as any other month of my life.  I couldn’t dedicate time every day to reading, and there were times when I went 3 or 4 days without reading due to life.

But November, everyone in my life knows it’s my writing month.  So I can at least put in a solid hour or two of reading every day, usually after work on weekdays, and more on weekends (I already got 2 hours of reading in today and it’s still October!)

My goal?  Start writing by the 2nd week of November.

Can I finish book 4 by the end of November?  Well, if nothing interferes, then based on how 2019’s November went, I definitely can!

But…there’s one possible issue looming.  And I won’t know when another Big Life Event (TM) will happen until later this coming week.  That might upend all of my plans for the rest of the year.  We’ll see.

Either way, I’m still pushing for book 4 to be released by the end of 2022!  After the rest of Chronicles of the Sentinels is released!

There’s more news on that, but I’ll save it for another day.  Let’s just say that Chronicles book 2 is proceeding ahead of schedule for the moment :D

I’ll let you all know how NaNoWriMo 2021 goes!  Until then, thanks for reading :)

-Jon Wasik

The Final Book – Not For NaNoWriMo

Hi everyone!

Last year, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the first time, and completed the second half of the third Sword of Dragons novel with several days to spare. I very much enjoyed the experience (and am glad that I have a supportive and understanding wife, who likewise participated in NaNoWriMo) and I was originally planning on participating again this year.

And then something wonderful happened – 2020, for all of its horrors and difficulties, has ended up being the most productive writing year of my life. It began with the final proofreading and editing of Secrets of the Cronal, and its publication in mid-summer, as well as writing a short story that’s been begging to be written (in a single day,) and as of now, I have written two of the books in the Chronicles of the Sentinels urban fantasy trilogy.

Better still, the year isn’t over. I’m not finished yet.

In my previous article, I wrote that I had finished the second novel in the trilogy. As of now, it is in the hands of my beta readers, one of whom devoured it in two days! His feedback was very positive, and he’s very excited to read the final story when it’s finished.

However, as excited as I am to write book 3, I won’t rush it, and it’s still not quite ready to be set to (virtual) ink. Furthermore, if I stick with my normal production process, I will not be ready to begin writing it at the first of November.

Photo by Wayne Adams of Death’s House Productions

Of course, I say ‘normal production process’ when in fact I’ve been writing CotS in a modified fashion from how I’ve written all of the Sword of Dragons books, but I intend to write a full blog on that hybrid approach soon. My intent for the moment is to continue to flesh out my ideas for the third novel while allowing the second book to stew. I know what has to happen in the third novel, I know how it will be resolved, but there’s still a lot of nuances I’m working out, and I want to ensure each of the characters get their moment to shine and a satisfying resolution to their stories.

Once I have all feedback from beta readers, I’ll go through book two for another round of editing and proofreading, so that when I do finally start book 3, I’ll do so knowing that book 2 is a complete package and I don’t have to worry about changing continuity. Additionally, I still like to let a story sit for a while before going back to it, giving myself ‘fresh eyes’ on the story and ensuring I haven’t left out any important information.

So when will I start writing book 3? My target is early December. And since book 2 took me about a month and a half to write, that means the third book’s manuscript won’t be completed until January. Barring any unforeseen deadlines, anyway. As I found out six years ago, I can work wonders when given a pressing deadline on a novel :)

In any case, I’ll be cheering all of you NaNoWriMo writers on from the sidelines this time! Good luck to you all!

Thanks for reading,
-Jon Wasik

NaNoWriMo 2019 and Book 3!

GLaDOS is still alive, too! Image source: syfy.com

Hey everyone, I’m still alive!  And I have great news!

“Book 3 of the Sword of Dragons is done?”

What?  No, that’s just crazy talk!  …but the first draft will be done soon!  :)  That’s what I wanted to write about today.

In my last post, I talked about needing a break from blogging so that I could focus more on writing and other creative endeavors.  I have not been idle!  I mean, it started with good intentions, and I managed to keep to a schedule for writing for quite some time!  But then, as does happen frequently, life decided to rear its head at me, and writing tapered.

However, I am more than halfway through book 3, and better still, my wife and I are going to participate in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo 2019!

What is NaNoWriMo, you may ask?  In the lovely month of November (read ‘lovely’ with sarcasm…I already miss summer,) writers across the globe will spend at least a little bit of time every single day of the month writing!  The goal?  For most, the standard NaNoWriMo is 50,000 words in November, which translates to about 1,667 words per day.

For some, 1,667 words is a difficult goal to achieve in a day, for any number of reasons.  Some folks just don’t write quickly, which is okay and if anyone ever tells you otherwise, feel free to insult them or ignore them.  For others, life can be so crazy busy that getting even a half hour in every day is a challenge at best.

Image Source – https://www.pulseprotects.com

Thankfully for me, I have a supportive wife, who happens to be a writer and wants to participate in this event as much as I do, AND I am a quick writer.  On my best days, I can get 2,000 words done per hour!

So what is my goal for NaNoWriMo?  Primarily, to finish book 3 of the Sword of Dragons series.  How hard will that be?  To put it in perspective, at halfway finished, book 3 is currently 89,000 words long.  Which means I probably have about 80,000 more to write to finish book 3.

Photo taken by Laura Earley

Can I do that in one month?  That’s an average of 2,667 words per day, and yes, I’m pretty sure I can do that :)  It took me about a month to write the first draft of Chronicles of the Sentinels – Legacy, and that was about 70,000 words.

Having said that, it will mean a high level of dedication, and a very patient wife.

The down side, however, is that I had originally planned to be further along in book 3 than I am now, and I’ve been preparing myself to start writing another novel immediately after I finish book 3, unrelated to the Sword of Dragons series.  However, realizing today that I still have 80,000 words to go, I don’t think I’ll be able to do that.

What Comes After?

You may be asking, “Okay, if you finish book 3 by the end of November, when will it be released?”  I’ve found that the best thing I can do for a book after I finish the first draft is to put it down and walk away from it for at least a couple of months.

Artwork by Vuk Kostic

Why?  Put simply, I’m too close to it otherwise.  My head automatically fills in gaps when I come across them in my editing, and so I miss things.  This became exceedingly apparent to me when editing Burning Skies for the 2nd edition, I had missed a lot because I didn’t let it sit long enough, including some glaring plot holes.  As such, I probably won’t pick book 3 up for the first round of editing until February.  (If you want to read more details about my writing and editing process, click here for part 1 and here for part 2!)

After that, it needs to go to beta readers, and possibly a 3rd party editor if I can spring the cash for it.  Then another round of edits after I get feedback.

When all of that is done, things will happen pretty quickly.  I already have a cover design set, it’ll just need to be configured for the book’s final dimensions once it’s ready.  So I’m somewhat confident that a mid to late summer release is doable in 2020.  In fact, I’d really love it to happen in July, like books 1 and 2!

So the next question I’m sure some of you will be asking, “What will you be doing between the end of November and February?”

That’s easy.  First and foremost, I’ll be continuing to develop the plot for book 4 (which has been in development since 2015!) and finalize the plan for it.  I’ll talk more about that later, but it’s changed a lot since I first started jotting down ideas!

Second, I’d like to start writing the other story I mentioned above, but it’s one that I’m keeping a tight lid on publicly.  It’s a unique story, and I’m very excited about it!

Screenshot from The Sword of Dragoncraft. The western gates into Archanon!

Finally, there’s the Sword of Dragoncraft….wait, what’s that?!

Without going into too much detail now, the world of The Sword of Dragons is being built in Minecraft!  For more details, head on over to my facebook page, I’ve posted loads of screenshots of the work in progress!

That’s all for today!  I wish I could say that I’m back to blogging regularly, but honestly, November is going to be a busy, busy month.  But after NaNoWriMo, I’d definitely like to get back to regular blogging again :)

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day, everyone, and for those caught in the snow storm like I am, be safe!

-Jon Wasik