I have one more doctor's appointment tomorrow and expect to be cleared for travel. Woohoozah! So, of course, I'm running around like crazy to get things done so I can hit the road Friday. I can hardly wait to get my wheels under me. My daughter will travel with me on Friday because she is not yet convinced that I should be allowed to drive six hours by myself. She'll fly back from Spokane if I pass her test. Then I plan to start my journey south on Sunday.
I had two great SOL lunches this week. The first with GMbusman and his wife. I got a chance to renew my acquaintance with the Washington State Ferry system and had a great adventure. I took him his copy of the limited edition print version of Double Tears. Good food, good friends, good conversation. The next day, I had lunch with Pixel the Cat. Our conversation focused on my new work in progress, American Royalty 1: Coming of Age. He's now completed the first edit of the first four chapters. Of course, those on my Patreon at the $10 tier are reading weekly installments as I get them written and before my editors even get them.
I'm having a huge amount of fun working on American Royalty. This will be a story set in an alternate universe where an active class structure underpins American society. As a result, it's development is a bit different than what we remember. I'm exploring both the relationship of the royal and his servant tutor and the relationship between the classes in general. As the blurb says: In an American society based on class distinctions, someone still needs to teach the heir apparent how to behave like royalty.
I expect American Royalty to be a three book series, including Coming of Age, Coming to Power, and Coming to Grips. It will probably be released as a Wayzgoose story with very little sex. Not none, but very little. If the length holds at around 110-120,000 words as I hope it will, it would be targeted for release in about June but would begin posting here on SOL by the first of May. Now, we'll see how well my predictions hold!
I've begun the final pass and formatting of Wayzgoose's Stocks & Blondes. I expect it to hit prerelease for my Patreon members next Sunday and have targeted release here on SOL in two weeks--or three at the most. This is another Deb Riley mystery and, of course, she finds herself in hot water almost immediately.
It will be difficult to maintain my usual rate of writing when I hit the road again. I will be traveling pretty much every day for nearly three weeks in order to make the journey I intend. The big mountain passes in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado are already snowed and at risk of closure at any time. So, I plan to cut southwest, avoiding the biggest passes by traveling along the Columbia River, to Portland and then head south on I-5. That will bring me right down through the middle of California where there is more risk of fire than snow. I'll cut back east on either I-40 or I-10. depends on how good my timing is. I'd like to be at my sister's house south of Amarillo for Thanksgiving. Obviously, I-10 has lower passes across the continental divide than I-40 but is a good bit longer way around.
Finally, I plan to cut northeast toward Tulsa, Oklahoma to spend a month or two camped near my girlfriend and exhibit at a book fair in Tulsa on December 7. If it gets too cold there, I'll turn south again for the worst part of winter. There is, I'm told, a lovely nudist park just east of Austin.
So, by that time I hope to have Book 1 of American Royalty in the editing and rewriting cycle and be well on the way to Book 2. This could be a very good year!
Double Tears is getting the expected reads and some good comments. You can always read and participate in the comment section found at the end of the current last chapter of the story. I'm really enjoying the initial reactions people are expressing. Voting for the story will open on Wednesday with the posting of Chapter 103. I love seeing how people guess at the conditions of the society, suggest things they want to see, and talk about their hopes and fears of where the story might go. The story is all written and preloaded for posting on SOL every three days. So, I join the rest of you in reading each chapter on the day it is posted so it is fresh in mind as I read your comments.
I think I've hit the end of my spiel for this week. You might be able to tell I'm feeling better (fantastic!) and am getting more focused again. I hope to be bringing you new stories for many years to come.