Long time no see! Hope you're having a fantastic summer!
Quick Takeaways
- About Simple, Quick Highlights: E.J. Wenstrom does them well in her newsletter. I like it. I'm trying it. Oops... Gotta work on it.
- Ongoing Work: Seven Drifts v4, Act 3 (last part). Grappling with a bunch of scenes that lead to the climactic sequence. The end is nigh. That is good news! Lots more to do after v4.
- New Tentative Release Date for Seven Drifts: September 7th, 2024 (So that's the meaning of "tentative date"!)
- Something Odd: Novel vs Platform - one steals time from the other. Ain't that funny?
- Pending Interview with Author Maya Bairey. Stay tuned!
- Breathing Exercice - Just because it feels good.
- Thanks for reading!
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About Simple, Quick Highlights: E.J. Wenstrom does them well in her newsletter. I like it. I'm trying it. Oops... Gotta work on it.
E.J. Wenstrom does something I like in her newsletter: oftentimes, she gives just a few quick highlights. I like it because it's a fast read, short and to the point, and more often than not, it points me to something new and interesting I would have missed otherwise.
I got to thinking. "Send me a short email," I thought to myself, " I'll read it right away. Send me a longer one, I'll get to it later maybe... Or not at all." Seth Godin has blogged every day for one zillion years. He usually keeps it short, which I'm sure helps.
"Okay then, I'm writing a post as soon as today.... err... this week..."
With that noble goal in mind, I wrote a quick draft of this post. Short and to the point. Nice and tidy. It didn't take me too much time either. No doubt, it was going to be a quick, valuable read.
At the last minute, my life-saving wife pointed out that it came across as not really me (Had my account been hacked, or something?). A weird post, kind of dry, barely comprehensible.
I went for something else. Kind of the opposite, you'll say. So instead of only too-quick highlights, I've used quick takeaways at the beginning of the post, and maybe I'll use only the takeaways in the email, and see how it goes. Tell me how this works for you!
So at last. Here's some news.
Ongoing Work: Seven Drifts v4, Act 3 (last part). Grappling with a bunch of scenes that lead to the climactic sequence. The end is nigh. That is good news. Lots more to do after v4.
Yeah, so I’ve been pushing hard on that last section of Seven Drifts (version 4). There’s a bunch of scenes just before the climactic sequence that need a lot of attention so everything can be setup just right for when the big action comes. Both exciting and excruciating at the same time!
New Tentative Release Date for Seven Drifts: September 7th, 2024 (So that's the meaning of "tentative date"!)
Yup, it's been taking me longer than I would have thought a year ago. One year ago, I though I'd be done and published by September 7th this year! Something must have gotten to me when I thought that. I don't know what it was because I don't usually drink much, and I don't really do drugs either; not at that time anyway. So it must have been just another case of bad mountain-height evaluation. They say we humans are very bad at that. I strive to be a good human though.
But now that the day is almost upon us, the story is nowhere near anything like done. Mind you, it's been growing, morphing and moving forward nicely. I'll be very happy if I finish version 4 by September 7 this year. That's actually my next objective, and that's what I've been pushing for over the last few months. Remember, there's going to be a ton more work to do after that.
So this time, I'm setting my new tentative sights on September 7th... same day, but 2024. There's more passes to do on the story. V4 was a major restructuration, along with a lot of exploration on the external/internal genres. Version 5 will still involve a bit of shuffling scene around from one side of the story to the other, but much less so than v4, I hope (... and it better not, because too much of that can drive you crazy - or make you blind). V5 will also involve a lot of fun playing with settings and thematics, and refining many aspects of the world building I kept loose on purpose while developing the story. I'd like to take special care of some of my dear secondary characters too. Can't wait to tackle all of that! Don't worry, I won't try to do it all at once.
Something Odd: Novel vs Platform - one steals time from the other. Ain't that funny?
While working on my first novel, I've also been developing my author platform over the last 2-3 years: website, blog, newsletter, various interviews. It's a lot of fun and I've met many wonderful people thanks to doing it. One thing I've noticed though, is when I turn my focus on blogposts, interview, website and such, although I'm having a ton of fun doing it, it seems like my work on the novel tends to slow down for some unfathomable reason. So then I turn my attention back to it, and then the newsletter and blog fall back and start to stall.
Seems to me it's kind of hard to keep them both moving at the same time in an even way... And I thought I could do it all!
It's probably the reason why you haven't heard from me lately through this newsletter. Socials are a different story though, because I subscribe to a lot of wonderful stuff and I like sharing a lot of it. It's the least I can do.
Pending Interview with Author Maya Bairey. Stay tuned!
I'm preparing an interview with author Maya Bairey. She's the author of Painting Celia, from which you may read the first chapter on her website. I have to mention the fact that Maya has a very beautiful website. Spoiler alert: it's a lot about the colour blue. Wonderful.
Breathing Exercice - Just because it feels good
Okay. Now simply... calmly breathe in, not even a lot, and out, pause for 3, repeat. 2 minutes. Relax. Play with the numbers. How's it feel?
Thanks For Reading
Thanks for reading so far. If you haven't, thanks just the same. I'll put it up there in the takeaways so you'll know.
Later!
