Month: October 2016

The High Road release – November 12th

“Don’t look down. Look up.”

In four weeks, on November 12th, you’ll be able to do just that. The High Road will be releasing on Amazon, Nook, iBooks, and… well, everywhere.

The High Road may have seemed more like a long road, to set that release. If you’ve been following this blog you’ll have noticed I’ve been putting it off for some time.

Part of that’s due to sending it through revision after revision. Scenes have been torn down, repurposed into whole other uses or just reshuffled, every time I thought I was done. The opening has gone from a glimpse of madness to a more wistful glimpse to a direct look at the action; the first major fight in the park got rewritten almost as soon as it was done, and so did the action in the alley, the hospital, the Long Night, the second park confrontation, the grand finale—

—Wow, I actually never worked it out before but I think every true fight or action scene got a whole new direction during one revision or another. Except one scene; let’s just say there’s one battle that could never have been sent to the junkyard or changed even a little. You’ll know that one when you come to it.

The other reason is that between revisions, I’ve been poring over the second book of the series. The wait after The High Road to get to Freefall should be much, much less, once you’re ready to follow more of Mark and Angie’s journey.

In the meantime, here’s a small hint from one of the characters, essentially the last thing he wrote. I don’t think it’s every urban fantasy that includes someone giving a warning like this:

 

Click to listen…

 

Don’t trust the words—you have to see deeper to claim what you are.

Don’t turn your back on the greedy—they’ll never stop wanting what they see.

Don’t look down—look up, when the wind howls or the road is blocked.

Don’t forget your friends—but anything I leave you, they can still take for themselves.

But don’t trust yourself—your instincts are the first thing you can lose.

And don’t trust me, for writing this warning. But, I wish I could let you see it.

 

Just which “words” are those, and what is it that friends could take? On November 12th, you can see for yourself.

Just keep an eye out for the owl. If you can.

 

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Finishing a book – thoughts

How does it feel to have a book completed, finally?

A bit déjà vu, for one thing.

  • A couple of springs ago I set down the last words “harder than the gate’s steel” and realized that was the last chapter of The High Road, that I’d actually pushed the story to the end.
  • And then early last year, the night a massive round of revisions came to an end with restructuring the climactic battle—and the agony of finding I was too worn out to write the last pages that Sunday night, and had to stop for some sleep (don’t judge) and sneak the rest in before work Monday.

So “finished” is a recurring thing. If you don’t know da Vinci’s rule “Never finished, only abandoned,” trust me, you will if you write.

Enlarging. Pushing Mark and Angie on their different journeys can fill the head with some odd things.

  • Trying to see the world like Angie does. It’s not that she’s fearless, but a problem looks different to someone who can’t see a problem without already getting a good-enough idea of what to do about it. It’s a rare knack, but the world might be a brighter place for all of us if we stopped losing those first seconds in confusion and outrage.
  • Remembering to make Mark talk to himself at odd moments. If that wasn’t part of his nature, the whole story might not have happened.

Coming home. Most of my life I’ve been dreaming of the certain kind of flying that goes in this book—not rocketing around freely but leaping or catching the wind. So looking back and seeing there’s finally a book of that sensation feels like I’m starting to pay my muse back for all the fun she’s given me.

Discouraging.

  • Good grief, I started this book years ago! I’ve proven I can write a chapter a week if I push myself, even working full-time, so why don’t I have the whole series done by now?
    • Well, half of it must have been that one chapter I started rewriting the moment I finished it, every time…
  • And I still can’t walk up to strangers and say, “Hi, I’m an author.” Maybe after a few more books.

Startling.

  • That cover. That cover, Mark dropping down along a skyscraper with power crackling around him… there’s nothing like opening up a jpeg and meeting the guy I’ve been bullying for so long.

Dissatisfying.

  • The book’s done, what am I supposed to do with my mornings and weekends now? Sure, there’s a stack of reading and an endless supply of TV I keep hearing about, but could you really just go back to taking in stories after so long creating them?
  • (Alright, that one isn’t quite true. I’ve still got the next book to build, so it’s only my evenings that are oddly free again. For now.)

 And then…

Humbling.

  • I’ve still got a few words of advice coming in from this author I know, so we’ll see…

 

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