Back in early September,
You may recall that I revealed that I've resumed writing after a 12-year hiatus while battling depression due to the pandemic. Things were crazy and the story was progressing at a pace that was a little frightening. I don't know if it's because I've had these ideas and concepts and characters in my mind for so many years, but in a little over 5 months I had written 431 manuscript pages.
Well, everything kept falling into place and I continued to write at the same crazy pace. On December 9th, not quite 9 months after starting working on this project, I finished the first draft of
The Evil That Men Do! =)
The plan was to let it lie there for a couple of weeks and then get back in the saddle during the Holidays to work on the 2nd draft. There are two timelines, the past and the present, and à la GRRM early on I elected to work on them separately instead of alternating between the two. Finished working on the past timeline, which represents about 75% of the tale, on September 28th. My crazy pace slowed down a bit when I switched gears, but I was still producing 50+ manuscript pages a month while completing the present timeline's sequences.
As planned, I started working on the second draft on December 27th. Incorporating scenes from both timelines and putting together a cohesive and well-balanced whole was tricky at times, but overall I believe I did a good job. Finished putting the second draft together on Tuesday and now I'm going through another rewrite to make sure that everything works well. The manuscript currently weighs in at about 164,000 words and 593 manuscript pages.
I wanted to wait till the 3rd draft was done before querying my agent to see if he wanted to take a look at it, but I caved in. It's been a decade since he made any money with me, so I wasn't sure if he'd be willing to give the manuscript a shot. But while he waits for the new Tad Williams and Patrick Rothfuss, why not, right?
Well, I'm pleased to report that he's delighted to discover that I've written a new novel and he wants to read it! =) You guys know how hard it is to find an agent, so I wasn't looking forward to going through the process once again. I'll be forwarding him the manuscript as soon as I'm done with the 3rd draft.
I know it doesn't mean anything, but I'm excited! ;)
As I mentioned, it's Glen Cook's The Black Company meets Steven Erikson's The Bridgeburners meets GRRM's
A Game of Thrones. I have ideas for a sequel titled
Blood for Blood and a prequel titled
The Gallipo Uprising.
I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and hope for the best. =) And I'll keep writing, no matter what. That 12-year hiatus was a mistake and I need to make up for lost time!
Wish me luck!