I started a new little project tonight. It's something that's been rolling around in my head for a few days so I figured I'd get it out into real words and see where it goes. I got a few chuckles out of Anita in the first page and a half, so that's a good start I guess.

I've been stewing on the Liberator Chronicles the past few months. I have a few beta readers that have provided feedback but I am still hoping to get a little more before I dive headfirst back into that project. I've had conflicting reactions on several of the same points so it's a little hard to judge exactly what I need to do or should do, so it's just still sitting out there for now. I'm hoping additional feedback leads me down the right path, whether that path is to continue refining and seeing where it goes or to just chalk it up as a learning experience.

I have been needing to do SOMETHING creative here recently. I started a new job several months back and I feel like I'm finally at the spot where I'm not overwhelmed and stretched so I can start flexing some other mental muscles. Of course, I also want to get back to watercolors, to painting miniatures, playing with my 3d printer, working on some electronics for some outside lights, and goofing off in my boat, so I could really go for a little pocket dimension of my own where time flows slower or something. If somebody could get on that pronto, that would be great.

Physical drafts

As of last night, mine and Anita's edits through the book are complete.

I've already sent it to a few people in digital format for them to give me some feedback, and I'll be delivering some physical copies of it over the weekend to several more people that are local.

I did manage to nearly kill my little laser printer that I've had for more years than I can remember. Printing an entire book (even at two book pages per physical page) is just too much for it. So I upgraded to a new laser printer that is better suited for my use cases now anyway.

And now there's the dreaded wait for people to tell me how horrible it is. I'll never be mistaken for a glass half full type of person...

We have a name! (at least tentatively)

Two important things tonight:

1. Halfway done with my edit. I still have to go back and incorporate some stuff that Anita found that I missed for a few chapters, but still nice to be halfway done page-wise with my heavier editing. The majority of what's behind me now was written years ago, during some difficult times, so it's been rougher around the edges than I remembered.
2. I finally have a "working" name for the book and the series. The series is now tentatively called "The Liberators Chronicles", with the first book tentatively titled "The Ember of Change". It's exciting to see the name of the book instead of just "Book1" staring at me in Google Docs, even if it does get changed later.

I hope to be reaching out to some people by this time next week for deep feedback. I have several people that have offered to read it already and you're all on my list, but if you've got time to give a first draft a read-through and provide feedback (on everything from characters, plot points, pacing, to over-arching story) on a fantasy novel, please leave a comment below or find me on Messenger. It's currently nearly 88000 words (give or take another 1000-2000 by the time the edit is done) in length - so roughly in line with the first two books in the Harry Potter series, the Percy Jackson books, etc.

As a short synopsis so you know what you'll be getting yourself into, it's a fantasy novel that follows a small group of individuals fighting back against the tyranny of a powerful wizard known as Overlord Vald. They end up rescuing a young fire wizard while they are trying to steal a cache of magic weapons, which sets off a series of events that will pit them against magical beasts, powerful wizards, and treachery within their own organization.

Editing, editing, and more editing.

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Muscle Shoals, AL editing chapter 8 right now. I've turned the first 7 chapters over to my lovely editor-in-wife for her to bleed all over with her red pen. From what I've seen so far, I still seem to be passing her writing course!

I start a new job on April 12th and I have that as a hard date to finish this first round of editing and have the book in the hands of a few people to give me some deep feedback. So far I am on track to easily hit that deadline, and I am not going to let anything jeopardize that.

In the meantime, I am letting the plot points for the rest of the series stew around in my head. It's quite a primordial mess up there.

Can it be?

I'm pretty sure I just wrote the last sentence for Book 1.

That doesn't mean it's done by any stretch, since there's still tons of editing to do and I left a few sections with notes to myself to go back and flesh out descriptions later, but overall... this feels really good.

Word count right now is around 83500. That'll grow by another couple thousand with editing and some more descriptions here and there.

I always intended this book to be an introduction to the series - it's very action packed, throws you right into the middle of the action with the main protagonists, and doesn't slow down. In fact, the entire book takes place over just roughly 21 days. The next book, which is already completely fleshed out in my head, covers a much longer period of time and will probably be significantly longer. I planted so many seeds in the first book that need to germinate and grow in subsequent books.

But for tonight, celebration!

Milestone!

Hit a fun milestone tonight. Finished up the big climatic battle and broke the 80k word barrier. Several loose ends to finish up, a little setup for the next book, then tons of editing ahead of me.

A special thanks to my wife, Anita Powell, for letting me bounce all the action writing off of her, even if I did upset her with some of my decisions. It is my hope that I can get others to make such strong connections with these characters that I know and love.

Excitement (and sleep!)

I had to force myself to stop writing tonight.

It's 12:30 AM, and I'm right at the start of the climax of the book - an epic battle sequence that I've been playing over and over in my head for a couple of years. I want and need to do it justice, and trying to plow through it at this time of night when I am tired and my eyes are giving up is not the time to try it.

Tomorrow we get to meet with the realtor that is going to sell my late mom's house and the house she sold to me several years back. It will be a gigantic load off of me to get that process started and going. My hope is that tomorrow evening I can pour my entire being into putting this scene into words.

I haven't been this excited in a long time.