Milestone. Resurrected Post.

Last Wednesday I wrote “The End” on the first draft of “Captain.” Saturday I celebrated.

There remains a way to go before I can consider the novel complete, but most of the heavy lifting is finished. Now I need to set it aside, turn my mind to something else before commencing the second draft. That something else is book three of the series: “Warlord.” I began outlining Thursday morning.

Those who write by the seat-of-the-pants dive right in and see what happens. That’s what I’m doing at the outlining stage: seeing what happens. But I do so with less effort and much fewer words. When things go all cattywampus I can correct course without having to re-write the last, I don’t know, fifty pages. And there is no law requiring me to stick to my outline. If I discover a better path forward, or a side plot that demands exploration, I will deviate from the outline without hesitation. But at least I’ll have a road map when I finally sit down to begin Chapter One.

Thank you to those of you who came by yesterday to drink my beer and help me celebrate. Let’s do it again soon. With a three-book series there should be plenty of milestones to commemorate.