Wow. Been a while, huh? I knew I hadn’t posted in some time, but 2018? Damn. Honestly though, it makes sense, as 2018 was probably the last time my life was “normal”.
My personal life has been… crazy? Very crazy. Mostly good things, but I’ve picked up a few hundred gray hairs in the course of my wife quitting her job to do a data science program for a year, her getting a sweet gig in Boston, relocating to MA, and me being the primary caretaker for our daughter while working a full time job, coordinating much of the move, selling a house, buying a house, finding a school for my daughter, then leaving my job to be a writer and parent for a while, etc…
Like I said, mostly great things, but a lot of things. We are very happy and very fortunate in most respects. But sprinkle in some medical issues here and there, a global pandemic, general anxiety, and the usual existential crises… let’s just say that I haven’t had a lot of focused time to write, and my mental and emotional groove has been off for quite a while.
But I’m back!
In the past several months, I finished off ‘final, final, final, final, final’ edits of book 1 and got back in the swing of things writing book 2. I’m consistently putting down 1,000 or so good words a day on Fate of Silent Gods, and after a dozen or more iterations on the outline, I’m very happy with where it’s going. Very, very happy. Where Rise of Mages is reminiscent of of Game of Thrones and Red Rising, Fate of Silent Gods tastes a bit like my favorite elements of The Last Kingdom and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, and I couldn’t be more excited about how it’s turning out.
Book 1 Status:
Done. Mostly done? I handed it in to Jen/Tor several months ago, and it should have “transmitted” or will soon. As I write books 2 and 3, I of course compile an ongoing list of things that need to change in book 1, but none of those are showstoppers. Copyedits and whatever else Jen (my editor) wants me to do will be coming soon, I’m sure. Cover reveals, maps, and that sort of thing are right around the corner.
Book 2 Status:
I wrote to about 75% complete in 2019 and early 2020 before I became very uncomfortable with the story. I’m not a terribly fast writer, and I further slow myself by continually changing my outlines, and constantly obsessing over whether I’m telling the story I need to be and whether I’m doing my characters and story justice with the scenes I choose to write. Doubt creeps in, and I tend to go through brief periods of paralysis writing-wise (see also: all the other shit I’ve been doing, listed above), followed by drastic changes to my work in progress.
In the end, I threw a bunch of the original Book 2 (working title Fate of Silent Gods) manuscript away and began rewriting from about the 30% mark. I’m probably back to… 60% complete? 70% if I’m lucky? But that’s just on the first draft, not counting any of my own edits or edits based on editor/beta reader feedback. I’m not even going to try to guess publicly at when I’ll be done at this point, but I will promise an update here when I am.
Book 3 Status:
Still in rough outline form. I know what I’m setting up and what needs to happen for most characters, but not necessarily how it will happen yet.
Which brings me to:
New Publication Dates (until further notice lol):
Rise of Mages: May 2021
Fate of Silent Gods: Spring 2022
Temple of the Fallen: Fall/Winter 2022
I’ll leave you with some proof from my editor that I’m not just making these dates up:
Scott Drakeford 