Sage Mullins: Blog

After an almost two-month gap between updates, Chapter 15 of AUA is complete and has been sent off to the editors. It should be posted very soon. Thanks for your patience.

As I said before, there will be two more chapters after this one, and an epilogue.

On to Chapter 16!

I'm happy to announce that real life, after maintaining its grip on me for much longer than I expected, has finally let go, and I've been back in full writing mode for a few days now. Or, at least as "full" as it ever gets for me.

I had been disengaged from "An Unwanted Alias" for so long that I actually had to re-read the story, from the beginning, to get my mind pointed in the right direction. And the thing is, the upcoming chapter 15 is the most important chapter in the story. That's why I'm taking my time here ... I want to get it right.

At any rate, it shouldn't be much longer before it gets posted. Taking editing time into account, give me another week or so.

Real life has grabbed hold of me big time over the past few weeks. Nothing problematic, it's just that I've been busy and haven't had much time to write. I haven't forgotten about An Unwanted Alias. I have the next chapter partly written, and will be picking it up again soon.

On another note, I just happened to notice that Lightning in a Bottle has been nominated for 2014 Clitorides Awards in three categories. I'd like to thank those who submitted the nominations!

The latest chapter of An Unwanted Alias should be up in the next couple of days. It's likely, however, that the following chapter won't appear until the new year is several days old. Holiday stuff will likely cut into my writing.

There's one rule that many authors subscribe to, and it's one I've recommended once or twice to other authors: Don't start posting a story until it's finished.

Thing is, I'm unable to follow my own advice. :)

With Lightning in a Bottle, I got about 20 chapters written before I gave into temptation and started posting them. By the time I got to about chapter 35, my backlog was gone. Some readers will recall that as a result, there were occasional gaps between updates of two or three weeks - sometimes more.

With AUA, I felt compelled to start posting one chapter a week with eight chapters written. Real life intervened for a while, and once again, the backlog vanished before I knew it.

When I start writing a story, I find that I have a very strong urge to get it out there for public consumption as quickly as possible.

So, you may ask, what's the point here? The point is that even though the chapters are going up at a slower rate, it's not because I'm losing interest in the story. It's because I no longer have any backlog, and the chapters are going up at the rate they are produced.

After chapter 14, AUA should have three more chapters (possibly two, but most likely three), plus an epilogue. Next on my writing agenda is to finish Song of Adelita. I'll go into greater detail on my upcoming writing plans in a later blog entry.

Happy Holidays!

I am back online, and ready to pick up where I left off regarding "An Unwanted Alias."

I was somewhat concerned about the reaction to the sad end to Chapter 12, which went up while I was away. Thankfully, not only did the story score avoid a precipitous drop, it actually ticked up a few notches after 12 was posted.

I haven't started to write chapter 13, but I plan to jump right into it. Don't expect a chapter to be posted on Tuesday, however. It's extremely likely that the calendar will turn over into December before 13 gets released.