A friend once told me that trying to edit an unfinished manuscript is like trying to simultaneously create clay and mold it into something beautiful. In other words, it's exhausting, inefficient, and doesn't lead to good results very often.
Now, I confess to approaching my writing this way for a very long time. So it's with no small amount of joy that I say - I've finished a manuscript and beta readers have revealed a great many holes and inconsistencies.
I'm elated. I love making things better. This is where I feel I shine.
Let this serve as a reminder that "The End" is just the beginning of a whole new journey!
After a little free-thinking, I'll also let you in on a little secret!
This is a whole world I'm creating. I envision another novella in verse. Fuck it-it's fun!
Also a collection of short stories with a mystery/noir kind of feel...and...dare I say it, a NOVEL.
I've tried to write the novel 4 times now and I think I'm getting to it. But I think this stuff needs to come out of me first.
So if you want to explore a brave new world where climate change has morphed the landscape into something unrecognizable; if you want to follow broken characters in a world where The Church rules all with an iron first; if you want to see the awakening of horrifying and ancient powers; if you want to see just how hospitable the "North-South" is when the coasties start moving in...
Well then, I hope you'll join me.