I have been a busy, busy guy in the
last few months. I don't feel there has been time to post. I have no
idea how I had time to post almost daily during NaNoWriMo and still
get my stuff done. No idea.
You may remember I mentioned other
projects in the background during my November posts. Let me give a
rundown of what I have been up to. I submitted a manuscript to Third
Eye Games in August for the game Part-Time Gods. It's a role-playing
game where everyone plays the role of modern-day gods trying to
balance their divine duties with the human side of their lives. They
are only part-time gods. The power that is over at Third Eye Games
liked it well enough to ask me to write more in the same game line. I
submitted the first draft for that on 7 November. Then for a couple
weeks I just focused on my NaNoWriMo.
However, I had also been working on a
very long term project with another guy for Palladium Books. He
declared (and I agreed) after four years of working on it on and off,
2013 was the year to finish. I realized along about 22 November there
was no way I could wait until 1 December to get back to the Palladium
project. At about the same time the edits came back for my Third Eye
Games draft. That's three projects that needed work ASAP!
I worked on The Valley of Insects as a
warm-up or cool-down activity but I considered finishing my Palladium
manuscript my first priority. I was still working on my NaNoWriMo on
30 November, putting in a little bit more here and a little bit more
there. I got just over the mark. I'm a NaNoWriMo winner! There was no
stopping, though, I finishing my writing for the Palladium project on
4 December. Next I re-read the whole manuscript, both my sections and
the sections my co-author had written. It was very helpful to see the
whole project at once for the first time. It's the book we wanted to
write (good thing, right?). There was a little bit of adjusting we
needed to get the tone consistent throughout. My co-author and I met
throughout the second half of December to hash out how to clean up
problem issues and who was going to tackle what. I am very happy to
say we completed all our work on 31 December at 14:00 or so. We were
not freaking out at 23:55 that night. It was great to put that
project to bed, go home and go to bed early myself.
I took the first week of January off
from writing, but it wasn't off completely because my wife and I
always host a big end-of-the-holidays party. There was a lot of work
needed to get ready for that. It was not until 6 January that I first
looked at the feedback I had on the Third Eye Games manuscript. It
needed a lot of work. I assumed I could finish it up in a couple
weeks, but I had submitted such a poor first draft (at least in my
opinion) it all needed to be significantly reworked. It took me most
of January and February to get that done. In Part-Time God,
characters ally themselves with various Theologies (not the same
thing as religions) and for me the hardest part was developing the
special ability which makes each Theology unique. Making each ability
simple, unique and thematic was a tough balancing act. Almost as hard
was crafting the characters which exemplify each Theology. They had
to fit in the game world, into their Theology and into the real
world, at least as I understand it. I think it all came out pretty
well, but I guess I won't know until I get the next round of
feedback.
Of course, I am not just sitting on my
hands while I wait. I have taken the time in the last few weeks to
clean up my NaNoWriMo just enough to send it out to some early
readers. I hope they can tell me if it has potential. If they like
it, I will consider expanding it and possibly sending it around to
see if I can get it published. I also have a few other projects in
mind for Palladium Books. One has already begun!There will be updates
about all of these projects as there are developments to report.
Peace.
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