Destitution has been out for two weeks, and I’m happy that folks are liking it.
The thing is, I didn’t mean to write it.
After completing Final Justice, I set to planning Heck’s Journey, a story I was excited to write. But one morning, I started picturing a gunslinger riding into a rough frontier town, stopping at a saloon, and being warned by a kid that a shooting war was coming.
Writers are sometimes labeled as “plotters” or “pantsers.” Plotters plan their books. Pantsers fly by the seat of their pants.
I am a planner. Before starting A Man Called Justice, for example, I had a good idea where all three books were going.
But that morning, I just started writing. A couple of hours later, the first two chapters were in the books, Rable was getting curious about the town, and I wanted to keep going.
I forced myself to stop, however, and went back to planning Heck’s Journey.
The next morning, I decided to “warm up” by writing a little more of that gunslinger story. A couple of chapters later, it was a done deal. I didn’t know where the story was going, but I had to write it, had to see how the story would work out.
And yes, I did end up planning the book. That’s a good thing, because the story ended up being fairly complex with a lot of characters working on their own agendas.
But man, that story flew out of me. From that first morning when I started typing cold, through planning, writing, and revision, only took 30 days. For me, that’s quick – but not all that surprising, because I loved the story right from the get-go.
I’m also learning that the faster I write, the better the work is, probably because I’m not slowing down to second guess everything. When my editor returned Destitution, she wrote, “This is your best so far… by far.” She’s my first reader, so that was a happy moment.
If you get a chance to read Destitution, I hope you’ll have as much fun with it as I did. It’s currently available on Amazon in eBook and print formats, and Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read it for free. Soon – probably this fall – it will also be available as an audiobook.
If you’d like to read Destitution, click HERE.
