So, I’ve got a big book in front of me. One that I’ve been avoiding for years because, frankly, I’m afraid of it.
When I finished writing Free Will (soon to be The Vindicators), I was exhausted. Elated, happy, triumphant, yes, all of these. But exhausted, too. I’d never written anything so long, so complex, and so multifaceted. I needed a few days off, and I took them. And then I made my big mistake.
I should have started immediately on book 3. Picked up all the threads while they were fresh in my head, and run them at least through the first third of the book. I didn’t do that, because I was intimidated by what book 3 might mean in terms of commitment, complexity…and, worst of all, what if I wasn’t up to it? Especially now that I was into the nebulous middle part of the series, which I didn’t have well-mapped out? Maybe I needed to do a little growing as a writer.
Well, valid or not (mostly not), that kept me away from book 3 for five years.
In the intervening years, I HAVE grown a lot as a writer. I’ve put a further nine novels and couple dozen short stories on my shelf. I’m about to wrap another two novels sometime between now and September 15. This year I’ve done about 20,000 words for book 3, but it’s scatter-shot stuff. I don’t know how much will survive once I really hunker down and knock this bastard out of the park. And that has to be this year.
It’s time to get back to the scary book.
To do this, I’m going to have to pick up all the threads again. I have to go back and listen through Predestination. I have to finish recording Free Will and read through the whole thing with a notepad. The high-level continuity demands for the rest of this series are going to force me to alter my process a bit. And it occurs to me that it might make an interesting reality show, so to speak.
So, starting on the 15th of September, I’m going to document the production of book 3 of The Mannix Initiative, called The Statesmen (AKA Antithesis 3: Avarice) with daily blog posts here. Now, you will know how it’s coming along, day by day, and with it you’ll also get production updates on the podcast and other such things.
Join me. Help me beat the project that’s got me spooked and you impatient. It should be interesting, if nothing else!
jdsawyer
After a childhood in academia, J. Daniel Sawyer declared his independence by dropping out of high school and setting off on a series of adventures in the bowels of the film industry, the venture capital culture of silicon valley, surfing safaris, bohemians, burners, historians, theologians, adventurers, climbers, drug dealers, gangbangers, and inventors before his past finally caught up to him.
Trapped in a world bookended by one wall falling in Berlin and other walls going up around suburbia and along national borders throughout the world, he rediscovered his deep love of history and, with it, and obsession with predicting the future as it grew aggressively out of the past.
To date, this obsession has yielded over thirty books and innumerable short stories, the occasional short film, nearly a dozen podcasts stretching over a decade and a half, and a career creating novels and audiobooks exploring the world through the lens of his own peculiar madness, in the depths of his own private forest in a rural exile, where he uses the quiet to write, walk on the beach, and manage a production company that brings innovative stories to the ears of audiences across the world.
For news and free stories, sign up for his occasional newsletter. Or find his contact info, podcasts, and more on his home page at http://www.jdsawyer.net
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Blogging Book 3 (Antithesis) http://t.co/CX7BsZBILR
RT @dsawyer: Blogging Book 3 (Antithesis) http://t.co/CX7BsZBILR
RT @dsawyer: Blogging Book 3 (Antithesis) http://t.co/CX7BsZBILR