It’s not what you’re thinking.
Creatively, I go through periods of rapid productivity interspersed with lulls of inactivity. I’ve come to think of this on-again, off-again state as less manic-depressive than as simply a weird sort of rhythm.
I dislike “manic-depressive” because I have experience with mental illness. “Rhythm” sounds so much less pathologic.
But what do you call a rhythm that has no true beat? My mind certainly doesn’t arrange itself in iambic pentameter.
More to the point, when will I resume writing my stories again?
I answered a comment posted by a fan of the Triune Alliance Brides series. She requested more stories in the series which currently has three books. I do have plans for two more books in the series: a follow-up to Triple Burn in which Bran, Gil, and Ursula find a worthy replacement for Crow and a book featuring the feline aliens of Kaan and a new heroine.
But those are ideas sitting on the back burner—the back-back-back burner.
I did being working on a sixth book in the Twin Moons Saga. I got a bit of 20,000 words in, decided I didn’t like the way the story was going, scrapped it all, and started rewriting. There was nothing in the original attempt I cared to salvage. This book comes full circle in the series, bringing back a character who appeared in Daughter of the Twin Moons and pairing him with a character introduced in Champion of the Twin Moons. To give you a hint of what’s to come, Marog (the former prince of the Unseelie Court) gets a chance at redemption. No, he didn’t die when the castle fell on him; Uberon banished him.
He ought to thank his father for that favor. Whether he will or not is anybody’s guess at this point.
We also learn that Iselde is the Oracle’s daughter. In a twist of theme, she’s more powerful than the former prince.
I even have a sequel to Hogtied started. No, it won’t be Bolt’s book because Bolt already got his story as a subplot within the first book. The sequel will feature Black Ice Revolution’s president, Iceberg, as the hero. Another character in the motorcycle club, Angel, is also set up for his own book. To me, Angel is like Joe Pike in the Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais.
Perhaps the reason I’m thinking of the sequel to Hogtied is because I’ve read several MC romances lately? Who knows?
I am also working on the sequel to The Bounty: Jones for publisher 0-0-8 Studios. I was thrilled when the company’s president hired me to write the story. I was even more excited when the studio gave me authorial credit, because most ghostwriting gigs don’t offer that. Putting a cherry on the hot fudge sundae, the company hired me to write the sequel, titled The Bounty: Gerlaugh. In this book, scheduled for publication in early 2025, gunslinger Harriet Gerlaugh is the protagonist. She’s a complicated character, quite possibly psychotic.
Perhaps it’s strange for me to wander through several sub-genres. When I’m speaking to potential customers at the various events I attend as a vendor, I explain the variety in my writing as reflecting the my eclectic reading habits.
I don’t really think about it much, although I do hope my mojo returns soon. I basically follow the same advice I give to other aspiring novelists: Write what you want to read.
It’s that simple and that difficult.
Every word counts.