Episode #193: Thinking. Is. Good!

Cake we had for my grandson's baptism on 10/1/2023. And it was actually good as we took one for the team.

This post is another fine outstanding example of creating something out of a few hundred words that were nuked to Orion's Belt. Or...or....or....realizing that the previous post was gobbledy-gook a nano-second after pressing the "publish" button, then come back an hour later and nuking said post to the previously mentioned star cluster.

Anywho, we decided to give a few writing updates, instead of a dull post about podcasts (what I listen to and how etc), because what I listen to isn't as exciting as what I'm writing.

So things are starting to settle down at the villa, as all the familial obligations and the medical obligations, save for lab work, are basically completed and we can concentrate on getting our Average American Novella published. A few weeks ago, I'd written a post containing the tag line, short blurb and long blurb for my novella, as well as trying to decide what the title should be {see here}. Suffice to say, we've come up with a title: "The Lie Reveals The Truth". So yay to everyone who had contributed their suggestions/votes for the title, and I will have a special shout-out contained in the acknowledgements for a fellow writer who did a great job in turning my original blurb, with a tiny bit of help on my part, to what you see in that previous post.

So really, the only things left on my checklist to complete are: a short acknowledgment section, a short interior blurb section about me and the infamous copyright page, which will fortunately be much, much shorter than the one for one of my short story collections {that one took up about a half page as every previous appearance had to be properly credited}. I also took the liberty of compiling a list on what I want the cover to potentially look like. I figured that being prepared this time will be less of a headache than simply saying, "Well....maybe."

I'm still shooting for an end-of-year release, but this hinges on what the schedules of the graphic designer and formatter look like. Worst case scenario, we get this bad boy released in the spring.

And now, the world famous Hot Mess.

As I'd mentioned in a previous post, my planned trilogy has blown up into a four volume series. This really wasn't originally planned to be a four volume series, but the way everything was unfolding {#1 is the kidnapping, #2 is the chase to recapture the hostage, #3 is the chase 2.0}, the realization that there was no intelligent way to keep it at three volumes. With the two previous volumes clicking it at 26 chapters +/-, it would be sacrilegious to saddle volume three with 35+/- chapters and two plot climaxes: the aforementioned chase 2.0 and the final encounter.

Since I'm a weird stats nut {I've actually mellowed out over the years. honestly}, I figure I would throw a few strange factoids at everyone.

Total word count as 10/16/23 sits at 290,195, which expands out to 65 chapters/640 pages. Originally, the amount I was handwriting versus what I was transcribing was a ratio of 1 1/2 pages written to 1 page typed. In the past sixteen months {yes, you read correctly. I started this bad boy June '22}, the ratio has climbed steadily upwards. Presently I'm transcribing chapter 66 and I'm currently on handwritten pg 16, which now equals 10 1/2 pages typed. I'm kind of at a loss to adequately explain why the differential is so much, except maybe that I write somewhat large {probably the computer equivalent of 14-15 pt}, very clear and concise. The large text part is directly due to me getting rid of 30 years worth of cramping my handwriting in order to fill out forms/reports concisely.

Right now, the chapter count seems to be on track, in that #3 starts at chapter 50, so I should be finishing this volume at chapter 75 +/-. To extrapolate this nonsense even further, my prediction for a final three volume word count is 350k, and for ha-ha's, an overall four volume word count of 500k. And trust me, I will revisit this prediction when all is said and done.

So this is where I currently sit with my two major writing projects, and I actually have at least two other novellas and another short story collection waiting for me in the pipeline. The road to written word salvation is fraught with headaches {need caffeine}, hair pulling {zircon encrusted tweezers and electric razor please} and hangry-ness {we started a diet this past week. a photo was the catalyst that helpfully pointed out just exactly how I presently look}. But the old local {CT} business slogan always applies at the end: Peace Of Mind, Guaranteed.

Have a splendorous week!

{c} 2023 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved