Day by Day, Play by Play

[July 19]

I’m pleased to report that I have only a few scenes to write in my long-delayed project, “Heaven in Flames,” the third book in my Metropolitan sequence.

It’s taken me three and a half years to get this far. This is by far the longest amount of time I’ve ever taken to write a single work. That’s crazy.

Though the last years have been full of distractions, I’ve written practically every day, slogging through the subplots I left unresolved in “City on Fire.” Much of what I wrote got chucked out as I found better, more economical and more vivid bways to tell the story.

I had a very good outline, but it didn’t help. I wrote it like a pantser, charging blindly in, then throwing stuff out and starting over. it’s been an exercise in frustration.

But finally it’s almost done. I have two scenes to write after finishing the one I’m working on now, plus another scene set earlier in the story that sets up the finish. Plus a few short scenes to resolve the stories of minor characters. When you consider that the first two books were published in the mid-1990s, this book has been over thirty years in the making.

Coming soon to a bookstore near you, or so I hope.

[July 21]

“Heaven in Flames” watch: Finished one scene yesterday and got stuck into the next. After this, two more scenes to go along with some minor bridging scenes.

Life is good.

[July 22]

“Heaven in Flames” watch, II:

Yesterday’s work was crap. Fortunately there wasn’t a lot of it.

I can count on this happening about once each week. I write dreadful prose, or can’t seem to settle down, or (like last night) both.

If I knew in advance that this would happen, I’d find something else to do with my evening. But I never know in advance, and so I just keep hammering away like an idiot.

[July 23]

“Heaven in Flames” Watch, Part III.

Yesterday’s writing purred right along. I wrote a goodly number of words (for me, anyway), and they read like they were written by someone who knows what he’s doing.

They were also mostly exposition, which is easy to do.

I’ve been castigating myself for taking so long writing this book (over three years), but then I look at the number of pages, and I realized that I’ve written the equivalent of three normal-length novels. This book is very long. Not quite “Game of Thrones”-sized, but right up there.

Makes it more difficult to sell, but I don’t care.