Book 7

Book Progress

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Though it’s been a while since I talked about them, I do still write books. I finished up the first draft of Book 7 late last year; it’s with my beta reader right now. I also have a short story collection ready to put out, assuming I can figure out a cover and get one arranged.

On top of all that, I’ve started work on Book 8. It’s structured a little differently than previous Hazzard stories. Rather than this being one long case, it’ll be a series of shorter cases that all build up to something bigger. I’ve finished the first quarter or so of the book, and I have the other three sections roughly plotted in my head. It’s progressing well; I’m hoping to have it finished by the summer, ready for an autumn 2023 release. We’ll see how the process goes. I still need to get Book 7 edited and a cover made for it, and all that costs money.

So. y’know, if you haven’t already, consider buying one of my books or emailing me at crooked42 [at] gmail dot com to order a CD.

Book 7 First Draft Complete!

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While I haven’t been talking about it here lately, I’ve quietly been working away on Book 7 behind the scenes for a while now. There was a long period where I didn’t get anything written, sadly, but that has given way to a burst of activity over the past few weeks. And so, it is with great relief that I announce that Book 7, The Armageddon Seed, has a completed first draft!

Of course, now I have to set about getting it edited and having a cover made. I already know what I want the cover to look like, and I already have an editor, so it shouldn’t take too long to get those things knocked out once I have the cash to pay those fine folks. With luck, maybe I’ll be able to have this book ready for a Christmas release.

Anyway, I’ll keep folks updated as more things develop with this book. I’m really excited to get it out there for everyone to enjoy. I also still have the short story collection that’s just about ready to go (it just needs a cover), so I’ll probably try to get that released before this book.

A Few Words At A Time

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I started writing again today.

It’s…been a while, I know. Months since my last post here, ages since the last time I opened up the Word document for Book 7 and put words into it. I don’t know. Blame the pandemic, blame my executive dysfunction, blame depression and anxiety, or even just blame me. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t write anything worthwhile (or anything period, really) for about a year.

And I hated it. I would open up Dropbox, look at the file folder where the Book 7 draft is, and just feel…disgusted with myself. Like I knew I should be putting words on the page, even if they weren’t the right words, just so I could knock out the first draft and go from there.

But that’s not my process. My process is more…not a process? It’s sporadic and it’s mercurial and it comes and goes in waves. I don’t know how else to put it, really.

So the document sat there, unchanged, for the better part of a year. Nothing added to it. Nothing removed from it. Nothing about it changed at all. It mocked me. It sat there, unfinished, unfinishable, and I could do nothing about it.

I’ve written about 2000 words on it so far today. I think I’ll knock out another four or five hundred before the day ends. As the blog title suggest, I just want to knock out a few words at a time, see how it goes. See if I can get back into the story. I read back through it yesterday, remembering lines that I thought were amusing, changing a word or two here and there. And it suddenly hit me: that urge to write, to continue telling the story, to crack jokes and put Hazzard in the worst possible situation and see how he gets out of it. I want to write again. It’s a nice feeling. I hope it hangs around for a while.

I guess it all happened because I started thinking about #1LineWed, a hashtag I used to participate in on Twitter every week. You provide a line from your current work in progress (or #wip, if you’re hip to the lingo). I suddenly had an idea for one last night, one that felt perfect for a Hazzard story (maybe even this Hazzard story, who knows?). And I just wanted to get to writing again.

So, here we are. Let’s see if I can keep it up. I also have an idea for a recurring weekly feature to write about here. Maybe I’ll post that tomorrow.

Book Six Is Done!

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This morning, I wrote the last words on Book 6. It is officially drafted!

This one came easily, especially compared to Book 5. I wrote it in fits and starts, grabbing a few minutes here and there whenever I could, but it flowed and came together quickly. I’m actually quite proud of this book, and can’t wait for everyone to get a chance to read it.

That’s going to have to wait, of course. I’m sending it to my editor next week, and then I’ll have to do all the formatting and setup on the paperback copy and all that. I’m thinking I might make this one available in Kindle Unlimited, and maybe even go back and make all of my books available there again (going wide hasn’t done much for my book sales, so there’s really not much point to it).

All that being said, when can you expect Book 6? Probably around February next year. And I’m already elbow-deep in Book 7. I’ve got the rough plot outline done, and I know what I want to do and what’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of getting all the words on the page in the right order now.

Book 6 Underway

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Good morning (or afternoon or evening or whatever. It’s morning as I write this, so “morning” is part of the salutation)! As you may recall, I recently completed the first draft of Book 5, which is fantastic news and gladdens the very cockles of my heart. But did you know that I have already started writing Book 6? It’s true! I’m about 5,000 words into it, which doesn’t sound like much (and, frankly, isn’t actually that much), but this is coming off of a stretch where getting any words to page was a big victory, so I’ll take it!

Book 6 sees a lot of the status quo shaken up. I don’t tend to let things sit for too long in the story if I can help it in general and I’ve been building to this particular book for quite some time. I’ve got a lot of the broad strokes planned out already, and a few fun subplots to keep things interesting while I turn Hazzard’s world upside down again. And all of that leads to Book 7, the culmination of the Hazzard Pay story. Does that mean Book 7 will be the last we hear of Eddie and company? Heck no! Just that the story I’ve been crafting has a definite end game in mind, and we’re moving towards it. In the meantime, I’ve got a dozen or so short stories I’d love to get out there in the world, like Bad Press. I’ll eventually collect all of those into a single volume, too (or maybe two volumes; let’s see how many of them get out there).

All that being said, I’m hoping to have Book 5 ready to go before Christmas. Wish me luck!