Now What?

Monday afternoon, or rather evening, I wrapped up the draft of the first RajWorld book. It clocks in at around 80K words, and will probably grow a bit after it sits, cools, and I come back to see what works and what needs fleshing out. So as I write this on Tuesday, I’m brain numb. What comes next?

Used to, when I finished a novel it meant getting a treat, having a little “whee I did it!” celebration and patting myself on the back. After, um, 21 finished novels and more novellas and such, the feeling is more of “thanks be its done.” While flopping back into my chair, arms hanging over the arm-rests, eyes closed, like a nipped-out cat.*

Pretty much this.

The next day, my brain tends to remain in a cabin in the mountains, eating something really good and watching wildlife, while the rest of me has to keep going. Non-fiction I can muster, to an extent, but any creativity is in the cabin with the brain, counting bird calls.

I’m coming to understand that for me, this is normal. The day I “finish” the book, I have all sorts of plans, and ideas, and loose threads to tie up, and the urge to launch into the next volume, if there will be one. As I got ready for bed that night, I discovered that my hind-brain (the smart one) neatly cued up the trigger for the start of events in the next book without my really realizing it. But heck if I could muster a femtogram of energy the next day toward starting said book, or parse much more than “characters older. More royal involvement. Do-gooders mess around. Staré reveal something. Sense of lurking dooooooom.” It did solve the “antagonist or villain” question. (Yes).

Am I worried? No, irritated, yes. I have things to do, books to work on, I want to get the next project started, and that requires my creative brain to return from vacation. Which it will remain disinclined to do for about 48 hours post-book. And then the valve re-opens and I can start work on whatever. Which in this case was getting the Alexi stories pulled together, tidied, and corrected, then formatted, for an omnibus edition. And I have two Cat stories I need to write/finish, a third that probably can be written now, and I need to go over the first Powers book before I send it to the editor in a few weeks. (December release).

And Rigi, Tomás, Martinus, and company will be ready for the next chapter in their own time. And maybe I’ll find out just what Ebenezer Trent did before he became the eccentric language specialist. Because I suspect that m-mule of his has a few more surprises in it.

Time to read Kipling, and Hopkirk, and find out. 😉

 

 

*without the excessive salivation.

Advertisement