I have nineteen chapters of Drawing on the Dark Side of the Brain in the pipeline and I'm well into chapter twenty. Writing is going well at the rate of two or three chapters a week. I expect this to top out around thirty chapters. Pixel the Cat has already asked me about the scope of this story. "How many chapters, btw? I could see this becoming comparable to Model Student, with Jett and his harem (which obviously will grow) going through all four years of college."
Well, if I contain this manuscript to thirty chapters and 100,000 words, it won't quite be the length of Model Student. I am, however, commissioning my daughter to design four book covers. This series, however, might deviate from the standard four years in college. There is ample indication that of the six main characters, more than one might not complete college. Possibly even Jett.
The big difference between developing this series and Model Student is the speed of my writing. I produced Model Student at a rate of six to ten thousand words a day. And there are places it shows. The same is true of Living Next Door to Heaven. But the rigors of getting a mainstream book ready for release and promoting it has slowed my writing considerably. Add to that the fact that I currently have five works in progress on my active list.
Two of them are on the shelf at the moment, waiting for me to start the long tedious process of rewriting. Pretty stories, but no action. It happens. Dark Side is my top priority and I'm maintaining an average of about 1200 words a day most of the time. I've also begun the sequel to Wayzgoose's City Limits. I'm not rushing that project as I have six months to get it written so I can release it next summer.
But the one that has surprised me is the unexpected sequel to Living Next Door to Heaven. At 10,000 words into this story, I can see that it's possible it could be two full volumes. Brian and his crew were mostly born in the early '70s. Which means that their parents were born in the mid to late '40s. Baby boomers. My generation. Yeah. Everything fun was still either illegal, immoral, or would get you pregnant. Focusing on the stories of the parents who allowed their sons and daughters to create a commune, sleep over with each other, have handfasting ceremonies, and live generally lascivious lives-What were they thinking???
My Patreon Sausage Grinder Community-those who like to see the raw meat ground up before Old Rotorhead and Pixel the Cat pack it neatly into skins and grill it until fit for human consumption-have been following along with the development of Dark Side on a weekly basis. When I get the rest of that story in the can, I'll start posting the raw copy of Living Next Door to Heaven 3 for patrons. As soon as Dark Side starts posting on SOL (early July?), I'll start feeding LNDtH3 into the editing channel and hope for a release time on SOL early this fall. So that's my project report.
Quick update on the progress of the release of City Limits. Pre-orders are being taken on both Kindle and Nook. Sigh of relief when I saw orders actually coming in! Orders will be filled by automatic download on June 23.
I still don't have a venue for a reading in the Seattle area on the 23rd, but will be reading and signing books at Chandler Reach Winery Tasting Room in Woodinville, WA on Sunday afternoon the 24th from 4-6 p.m. If you're in the area, stop in and introduce yourself. Enjoy a glass of wine and chat for a while.
On June 30th, I'll be at Book and Game Company in Walla Walla, WA signing books from 11-2. Stop by and chat. I'll be just inside the door. I'm currently working on an engagement in Spokane, but don't have the date tied down yet. More news on that soon, I hope.
And I'm beginning to get requests for blog appearances the week of June 25-29. My promotions person is working on that and hasn't given me the details on which blogs I'll be interviewing on or what days yet. I'm enjoying the partial reviews that are coming in by email, comment, and text message. Great fun!
You can keep up with my busy schedule if you're interested at http://www.nathaneverett.com/events.html. Hope to see you at one of them!