So an update of sorts.
On the writing front – Things are great. I’ve edited the entire novel once more, and I’m back to the FGB. (Final Great Battle.) I suppose you could finish a book without a big fight at the end, but that seems sort of anti-climatic to me. And certainly not the sort of book I’d write.
Anyways, that’s the most exhausting thing about this book and the last part to be finished. The culmination of a dozen characters journeys into a bloodbath of violence and mayhem is always a draining affair.
But hey, JRR Tolkein did it several times. Of course his battles were more like, “And so-and so got knocked on the head. Then woke up after the battle was over.”
But the movies, they got it right. Lots of action!
On the publishing front – I dunno. It’s moving along at a snails pace. But having a sequel finished and polished is a big deal for any publisher. It shows that:
A. I can write.
B. That I will continue writing.
C. That I am getting better the more I write.
D. I want to make both the publisher and myself, very, very, very rich.
All of this makes me a better risk for any publisher. But dang, I’m tired of waiting. It’s been almost a year since I finished West of Prehistoric, and it’s been difficult reading such great reviews of the book from Beta Readers, only to wait to publish it as I finish the sequel. But the good news is that I expect to be done in a couple weeks and sending the sequel out to the Beta Readers.
On the personal front – COVID-19 sucks. Luckily, I am still working fulltime, but I miss my friends, miss my gym, and miss the booming economy we had. (But I’ve great faith in Trump’s ability to get us back to boomin’ again.) We’ve settled nicely into our house, we even bought a bunch of canvas prints for the walls and got them hung. So it feels like our house now. Oh, and we got a new grill for it. Heck yeah, tasty meat.
I hope everyone is staying safe and well.
Wash your filthy hands and keep the cooties at bay!
Gunpowder and Ink! 
Dude…have you *read* The Lord of the Rings? JRRT doesn’t go in for gory description and he narrates with a bit of heroic distance, but none of the battles in those books are glossed over. (Yes, I’m a LoTR dork like that.)
Glad to hear that your story continues to come to life. As one of your highly entertained beta readers, I’d like to encourage you to keep faith — and also not to put *too* much stock in traditional publishing.
Except for a handful of outfits that might be doing okay (Baen probably being one), the whole industry is in severe trouble. There are a *lot* of people out there who will get a huge kick out of your books, and if self-publishing gets them out to the public, that’s got to be better than waiting for an industry run almost entirely by SJWs to unfuck itself. It’s a viable fallback option, anyway.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents…worth exactly what you paid for it, most likely. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve read LOTR. Now I’m going to have to re-read them since I feel convicted about being so wrong!
Yeah, the majority of publishers tend to be NYC liberals/SJW who want stories with a LGBTQ/Trans Gender/Liberal/Anti-Christian bias or storyline. I’ve seen a lot of agents requesting exactly those types of books!
But I’m glad you’re one of my highly entertained beta readers, lol. I’ve still got the faith, but man – it’s a long road. I’d be lying if I didn’t say self-publishing has tempted me. The profit margin would be greater AND the majority of books these days are online anyways. Brick and mortar stores and their filled shelves seem to be a dying business. But I think self-publishing still has kind of a negative connotation to it. I guess because so many bad writers go that route that the market feels flooded… but it’s something to keep in the back of my mind…
LikeLike
As for Tolkien and battles, he did literally do “main character gets bonked on the head and wakes up when the battle is over” in the Hobbit, so you could be remembering that. But that was also written for his 8 year old kid, so there is that.
Yeah, the self-pub market definitely is flooded, and although there are a lot of very good indie writers, there’s also a LOT of crap out there to fuel the negative stereotype. It’s not necessarily an either/or, decision, though. Some very successful people started indie and went traditional. Some publishers actively look for indie authors to poach. It’s how Larry Correia became Larry FREAKIN’ Correia, after all..
But you probably know the ins and outs of that decision better than I do at this point. I’m sure you’ll find a venue that works if you just keep getting after it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh man, Larry Correia is probably my favorite author. I bought a copy of his first book when he self-published because I was reading some of the same gun forums he was moderating at the time. One day I’d like to get it signed so it’ll be worth lots and lots of money, lol.
LikeLike