So, what's next?

You tell 'em, Franco.

Before yesterday, I had something to work on.

I had to get III Crimsonstreak in shape. I had to do a significant overhaul of my other work-in-progress--we'll just call it the space station book for now.

I've sent III Crimsonstreak off to my publisher. My current work-in-progress is about as polished as it's going to get.

I'm now in that gray area. I have to decide what to work on next. Do I finish an abandoned work-in-progress written when my writing was in its infancy? Do I return to the half-finished book I was working on before I decided I'd better get III Crimsonstreak and my WIP whipped into shape? Do I start something new?

This is always the hardest thing for me to decide. I haven't been doing the daily grind of 2,000 for a few weeks because I've devoted my energy to re-reading and rewriting two books that needed a lot of work. Now that those two projects are essentially done, I need to decide what to work on next.

Here are some possibilities:

The Exclusive: I've written about 45,000 words on this one--meaning it's about halfway done. It starts out as a crime story featuring a journalist before turning into a paranormal/supernatural mystery. I like the concept and I have the story outlined. If I work on it for a month or two, I'll probably have a first draft ready to go.

Synopsis: TV reporter Kent Carter knows Mayor Harrison Johnson is corrupt--he just can't prove it. Damning documents disappear, witnesses suddenly change their stories, and his talkative sources in the police department don't have anything to say. When a mysterious source steps forward with proof of corruption within Johnson's administration, Kent finally gets his exclusive. He just doesn't expect his lead story to unleash hell on Earth.

Red Plague: I think this was my third attempt at a novel. I've always liked the concept, which involves the bubonic plague, Soviet-era intrigue, and time travel. I would describe it as Crichton-esque in concept (but not in execution). I'm about 37,000 words into this one, but the last time I worked on it was 2010. I tried reading through it a few months ago, and it's cringe-worthy. I can see all of my writing flaws in this earlier work. Still, I, Crimsonstreak had similar problems, and I managed to turn that into a readable book. Part of me thinks I should trunk this version and start over.

Synopsis: A man materializes at a county fair in the Midwest before collapsing, spreading a deadly new strain of bubonic plague that begins sweeping across the world. As millions die, CDC specialist Anna Manning makes a startling discovery: the disease appears to have been genetically altered in the past. The revelation dredges up painful memories of the Cold War and forces Anna to travel back in time, the fate of humanity resting on her shoulders

G-Men: I've had this concept kicking in the back of my head for a long time, and I have a rough outline. It would be a book set in the 50s about a superpowered team of government crimefighters. Basically, a special agent gets Robocopped; super-spy hijinks and Cold War intrigue ensue. Love Cold War Era stuff.

Mortimer: International Man of Taste and Intrigue: I think Mortimer P. Willoughby and the Crusading Comets deserve a book of their own. Or maybe two books. I don't know. Morty is my favorite character in the Crimsonverse. I think a standalone novel in which he recounts the adventures of the various Crusading Comets would be tons of fun. I have an outline for this one.

The problem is I have to pick something. It's a big commitment...we're talking months of work to get a first draft, revisions, that daily grind of putting out 2,000 words.

I'll have to think about it.

Everyone needs a vacation

After finishing up edits on II Crimsonstreak and The Franchise, I took a break. I haven't written any new words in about two weeks. Part of it is that I've been trying to figure out what to write next. Part of it is that I've been reading through III Crimsonstreak as I prepare to get notes back from Super Beta Reader Mike so I can get it ready for submission.

I finally settled on what my next project will be. I'm not going to say what it is--it's an existing draft that needs about 30,000 or 40,000 more words--because I want to keep the concept guarded. I downloaded it to my Kindle so I can read it easily. I already know some changes I want to make, but the first order of business will be to read the current draft to re-familiarize myself with the characters and map out the rest of the book.

You see, even though I wrote it, even though I created it, I don't remember 100% of everything in the book. So I have to go back, take notes, check my character beats, and then map out the rest of the book.

My writing vacation, it seems, will soon come to an end.

I have to finish my new work in progress. I need to revise III Crimsonstreak and write the appendices. I want to work on the chapter-by-chapter commentary for II Crimsonstreak. It all starts next week.

Cover reveal: II Crimsonstreak

And here it is...the cover for II Crimsonstreak!


This is from artist Brooke Stephenson, who also did the cover for I, Crimsonstreak. She really outdid herself this time. I mean that, too.

Check out the back cover:


I love the Silver Age comic panels on the back!

Here's the back cover blurb:

Three years after the climactic battle at the Clermont Institution for the Criminally Insane, Chris Fairborne a.k.a. Crimsonstreak chases down escaped supervillains while working feverishly to reestablish world governments in the wake of collapse of the New World Common Wealth.

His father, Colonel Chaos, sits in front of a Heroic Legion tribunal to answer for crimes against humanity. His mother, Miss Lightspeed, doesn’t seem herself following her unlikely resurrection. To make matters worse, Crimsonstreak encounters a being of pure speed not even he can outrun.

Sounds like the perfect time for an alien invasion, an encounter with a group of snobbish space cops, and the mysterious return of a long-dead friend with an unbelievable secret.

War will strain friendships. A multiversal threat will test loyalties. And you will believe a man-bird can fly in II Crimsonstreak.

All of this comes courtesy, of course, of Candlemark & Gleam.

Another quick update

I plan to turn in "final" revisions on II Crimsonstreak by the end of the week/weekend. My rewrite fixed most of the issues with the book. Obviously, when you rewrite something significantly, you'll always find little bits that need to be tweaked. While reading through the book on my Kindle, I also spotted a few misspellings. I have to correct those and look at a few dozen notes I made while reading the manuscript. We shouldn't be too far off from having a cover reveal.

I'm also rereading III Crimsonstreak and making some notes on it. I want to give it some more polish before sending it to Beta Reader Mike. I need to consolidate a few things that happen in the last third of the book with events from the first third.

After that, I need to figure out which project I want to do next. I have a fantastic idea for another novel (one that's actually not a superhero book). I also have a book that's about 60% finished; I should probably go back and finish that (and re-plot the last act). I'm leaning toward working on the latter. I have a tendency to want to work on something new ("Oooo...ooooo...SHINY!") and leave other projects aside. It's very difficult to finish anything that way.

II Crimsonstreak revisions and notes on III Crimsonstreak

I'm wrapping up the last book in the Crimsonstreak series. I didn't set out to write a trilogy...it just kind of happened. Currently, the end of the book feels a little too much like the end of Peter Jackson's Return of the King. By that, I mean there are several plot threads/character moments to resolve. A few character threads got lost throughout the first draft and will need to be added during revisions.

It's tough saying goodbye to these characters. I'm not saying I'll never revisit them (in fact, I have an idea for a book based solely on Mortimer P. Willoughby that traces the history of Morty and the various Crusading Comets), but I'm going to take a break from this particular group of superheroes. I can't say much about the book (or II Crimsonstreak for that matter), but Christopher Fairborne goes on quite the journey. He has to learn to say goodbye and let go of many of the people close to him. So, as he says his goodbyes, I say my own to those characters. The ending packs an emotional punch...and I hope it translates for readers.

III Crimsonstreak is a long way off, though. That manuscript will have to be revised, I need to come up with some appendices, and my Super Beta Reader will have to Super Beta Read his way through it. Even in the best case scenario, in which I turn it in at the end of summer, we're looking at we're looking at a spring/summer release. But I'm getting waaaaay ahead of myself.

Let's talk about II Crimsonstreak. I received edit notes back from the massive revision I did on the book. Seriously, it was like performing major surgery (or at least my fictional conception of what performing surgery is like). Mastermind Kate at Candlemark & Gleam was very pleased with the edits. I have about two weeks or so to go through the additional markups and make any changes, a process I plan to start this weekend after wrapping up III Crimsonstreak's first draft.

Make no mistake, II Crimsonstreak revisions were a major undertaking. The book had a great concept, but my execution was lacking (I'll do a separate blog post about this soon). I twisted myself up in plot threads, had dodgy character motivations, and underutilized a major character. I some parts, our fair protagonist acted like a jerk simply because it was convenient for the plot.

No more.

I've fixed most of that, meaning that my biggest concern revolves around whether Falcon Gray has a beak or not. I think I can live with that.

We're shooting for an October release.

Boom, baby...times three!

I haven't dragged out the Reggie Miller Writing Continuum in a long, long time. However, after a blockbuster weekend of writing, I needed to do it. I hit the hallowed level of "Reggie at the Garden" on three consecutive days, churning out more than 15,200 combined words on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I'm hoping to finish the first draft of III Crimsonstreak before the end of July. The draft currently stands at about 60,000 words and I'm aiming for 80,000 to 85,000. That does not, of course, include any supplemental materials.

A Quick Smashwords Update

The final numbers aren't in quite yet, but I wanted to take a quick second or two to talk about my Smashwords experience. Working with little publicity and relying on giving away stories for free, I "sold" more than 300 stories in the month of July. Now, "sold" isn't really the operative verb here. They count as sales on Smashwords, but I didn't make any money off those "sales."

I'm fine with that. A few people were even kind enough not to use the promotional code, which means I earned a few bucks (a few).

The Smashwords promotion concludes Sunday, but here's a look at the numbers up through the penultimate day:

Last Stand on Cyclonus Seven: 72
In Memoriam: 61
I Took Over the World for This?: 59
A Wing and a Plan: 58
The Stuntman: 52

I had set a (secret!) personal goal of 300 sales for the month under this free model. I'm pleased with the results.

I'll have the final numbers late tomorrow.

You can see my Smashwords short stories here.

For love or money

Duotrope's Digest lists dozens upon dozens of magazines and online publications. It's one of the reasons it made the list of my favorite writing websites. It's such an exclusive list, in fact, that nobody really cares. I mean...big deal, right? I don't even have a golden seal to give to those websites. Perhaps I should design one this weekend...

Anyway, my total lifetime earnings from writing amount to...well...practically nothing from a monetary standpoint. I've placed stories in publications that don't pay or offer token compensation. "This Mutant Life," offers $8 U.S. for stories or authors can choose to take a second contributors copy of the mag (which is what I usually do). "A Thousand Faces" originally operated under a royalty-sharing plan among authors. That model has since changed and writers will get $10 for their stories.

I recently learned that one of my short stories will be published by "Wily Writers of Speculative Fiction". For the first time, a story will come with a paycheck. It's not a lot--I'll still have to save up for that Writing Yacht I've always dreamed of--but at least it's something.

Everyone has to start somewhere.
I equate the business side of writing to sports (and those who know me collectively roll their eyes, smack their foreheads, and scream, "DUH!"). Single-A ball is getting published by some of the smaller presses and publications. Sure, these may not have the "pull" of some of the larger publications that pay a lot more, but you have to start somewhere. And it's not like it's easy to place a story in these publications either. The editors receive hundreds of submissions and whittle their way down to ten or twelve stories. Just because the publication is smaller doesn't mean the standard of quality suffers. Most of these places pay either nothing or a token amount.

I'm not ashamed to admit it: I miss the Richmond Roosters.

So you made it here. You're not finished. Not even close.
Next is Double-A ball. Now, you're starting to earn some recognition and place your stories in publications that pay semi-pro rates. This still isn't a significant income (unless you've placed A TON OF STORIES AND I MEAN A TON), but at least you're getting something. We're talking in the ballpark of one cent or so a word. For a 5,000 word story, it's about 50 bucks. Consider the time spent outlining, writing, rewriting, editing, and sending off your submission...and you're certainly not making much per hour!

You're rubbing elbows with future stars and washed-up pros. Embrace the former, don't turn into the latter.
So, you place a couple stories in Double-A publications, and now you've moved up to Triple-A ball. This is where the competition is getting really tough; there are fewer Triple-A publications out there, plenty of talented writers, and larger amounts of compensation on the line. Your Triple-A publications pay pro rates...that's five cents or more per word. If you can sell a 5,000 word story, you're getting $250-$500 or so. You sell a couple of those a month consistently, and things start to add up. BUT IT'S HARD.

Even if you make it here, you'll have to produce. Or it's back to the minors, baby.
The Big Leagues? Well, this isn't a perfect analogy because I've been referring mostly to short stories in this post. But to me, the Big Leagues is getting your book published. This typically includes an advance...although first-time, untested authors shouldn't expect to earn thousands upon thousands of dollars. If your name isn't Stephen King or Dan Brown or James Patterson or Patricia Cornwell or Nora Roberts or someone people have actually heard of, that "big advance" won't be that big.

Now to completely nullify everything I've written so far. I've talked about pay scales and earning money for my work. Thing is, it'd be nice to earn a little coin from this and my ultimate goal is to be able to do that. However, and I mean this with as much conviction as I can muster on this random blog, it's not all about the money. And I don't mean this in the pro athlete-in-a-contract-dispute way.

I write because I can. I write because I feel I have a gift for it. I write because there are characters and stories I want to tell and share with others. Are they all great? No! Are some of them good? Maybe! Will anything ever become of this? I don't know! But I do know that I'm passionate about this; that it's 2:42 in the morning and I've had creative writers block but still somehow managed to muster enough energy and effort to write this blog post.

And so even though I'm not raking in the dough from all my great ideas, even though one of my stories can get a rejection faster than Peyton Manning can read the defense and find the open guy, I will continue to write. I have become fully vested in this venture because I believe I can do this. A wise man once said, "If you can dream it, you can do it" (note: that's actually a quote from the coach in "Saving Silverman," so it's probably not the best place to get inspiration). In writing career terms, I'm mired in Single-A ball and hoping to get called up to Double-A. Although if the pros call, I will pick up.

Powers now on Amazon.com!

The Powers Anthology is now available on Amazon.com!

You can also find it at the Pill Hill Press website.

Powers contains 17 superheroic tales from writers of all different backgrounds. Some will break your heart, some will thrill you, and one will likely make you wonder why the author isn't considering a different direction for his career (that would be the author of "The Stuntman" on page 123).

Here's a quick summary of my contribution:

Thrilled that Hollywood plans to make a movie about his life as the Amazing Marvel, Stan Kirkpatrick presses his agent to land him the starring role. But the producers have a different idea, hiring a rising, hot-shot star, and relegating Stan to the role of indestructible stuntman.