Actually, I haven’t started this book yet. I’m essentially pantsing it. I know Rosc from Tishla arrives at Ramcat’s orbital city to recruit colonists. I know Tishla’s brother-in-law Brac and her rescuer, Delda, are involved. And I know Leitman shows up to cause trouble at some point. Because that’s what Leitman does. He causes trouble. Best and a new character from The Amortals may appear. Haven’t decided yet.
I decided to do this one longhand for a couple of reasons. One, I’ve only done it once before. It’s a story you’ll never read, but it came out to 25,000 words. I think I can do more. Second, there’s a challenge to writing longhand. Like Storming Amargosa, it will require an extra draft as I will need to transcribe the novella into a Word doc for further revision. Neither Storming nor The Exile are due out until next year. Hopefully, I will be able to give Clayborn’s editor enough time to work on both.
Finally, there’s this little thing I’m doing on Saturday called a wedding. No, I’m not the officiant nor the best man or even the flower girl. I’m the groom. Which means a honeymoon is about to follow. During the honeymoon, my bride will expect me to leave the Surface, my preferred device for all things creative, alone. Whipping out a notepad and a pen will let me work without disrupting the fun too much. In fact, I may very well be writing on the resort’s beachside patio, sipping a fruity drink with an umbrella, and essentially doing nothing else.
But like writing Storming as a screenplay, The Exile in longhand forces me to change my writing mindset. I’ve been developing wrist problems over the past few years, an occupational hazard of writing computer code for a living. My right wrist is fine, and I’m right-handed. And it will make the prose flow differently, just as the screenplay affected Storming. With luck, I will have all my planned writing projects in rough draft by the end of 2018, including a new serialized novella that ties into Storming. Stay tuned.