OK…so let’s recap. One book out on submission. The sequel in progress. A third book — completely unrelated — to do during NaNoWriMo. Plus blogging and tweeting, of course.
Speaking of Twitter, a big thank-you to all the recent followers. You are among the chosen, the early adopters. One day, you’ll be bragging on me like the guy who bought the first iPod when it was Mac-only. Meantime, if anyone wants to get a handle on the whole sailing-ships-in-space thing — and yes, I do crash one into a planet — I suggest hitting the About the Book link. You’ll find a short description and links to blog posts where I go a little deeper.
And since we’re taking care of business, I have to give a big shout out to Jason M. Hough, who just landed a three-book deal with Del Rey, thanks to the valiant efforts of his agent and mine, the illustrious Sara Megibow. The Darwin Elevator is coming out in 2013. Put it in your iPhone now. No, really…now. I’ll wait.
Done? Good.
On the writing front, the submission process is basically hurry-up-and-wait. Many an author and would-be author has decried the submission process as a kind of personal Hell, but really, it’s rather like taking a long elevator ride with bad Muzak. You know you’ll get there, but dammit, when? Soon, I hope. As for the sequel, there’s enough done to (hopefully) illustrate that, yes, a multi-book deal is feasible.
And then there’s the NaNoWriMo project, which comes at a good time — I think it’ll be good to change it up from the Spacebuckler universe. (The Bucklerverse? Yes.) This new book is all outlined in Excel, character profiles are done, research is in the can, you name it. It actually started out as another piece of alternate history, a distant cousin to Spacebuckler, but as I developed it, it’s become a bit more clockwork-punk and a bit more fairy tale at the same time, if you can believe it. And it’s about the holidays, which makes November a perfect time to write it.
As I write my way through November, you’ll probably see more blog updates. Doing something as “formal” as NaNoWriMo is new to me; I’ve never slapped a time limit on something as big as a novel. I think it’ll be interesting to share the process, whether you’re a writer or just a speculative fiction fan. See whether or not I make it to 50k words at the end of the month! Or, alternatively, watch me bang my head against a wall repeatedly. We’ll see how it goes.
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Michael J. Martinez 